I invite you to turn in your Bibles again to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter five. We continue in our study of this book. Last week, we began to look at more in depthly Jesus Christ as our great high priest, that here on earth he became, if you will, qualified to become our great high priest in heaven, as he was tempted in all areas as we were, and yet without sin. And so we are bid to come to him, with great boldness and great confidence to the throne of grace that we might find that help in time of need. And so today we're going to continue in the exposition of Hebrews 5, looking at more of what the writer of Hebrews has in store for us concerning Jesus, our great high priest. And to do that this morning, we're actually going to begin looking at the earthly high priest here in verses 1 through 4. Let's just read our text this morning starting in verse 1 and go through verse 10. For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people. No one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And he says also in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God as designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. So if you're taking notes, we're going to simply just start off looking at verses 1 through 3, looking at the job, if you will, of a high priest. What was the job of a high priest according to this text? Well, if you start in verse 1, it makes it very clear that a high priest was chosen from among men and he was to act on behalf of men in relation to God. What you see in verse 1 is that there is a solidarity among the high priest. In other words, they had a lot in common with mankind. They were from among men and they were to act on behalf of men in relation to the things of God. And later we're going to see that they had solidarity as well in their weaknesses. Now, a high priest was a fellow man rendering service on behalf of men in relation to God. When you read the Old Testament, you see that the high priest played a vital role in the life of the worshipper of God. And as we see and we read in the narratives in the Old Testament, and we see very clearly in Hebrews chapter 7 as it teaches us, there was a problem with the high priest in the Old Testament. They kept dying. Death kept knocking these guys off and so they would not remain in their position Perpetually as Christ did because of their death and and and so these high priests played a vital essential role in the life of the believer but just simply looking at their expiration, if you will, it should have been obvious to the Old Testament believer that there was still yet a more permanent high priest to act on their behalf. Now, what was it that they did? Look at verse 3 here. It says, because of this, Now what is this referring to? Look at verse 2. It says he can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weaknesses. So here the high priest says he can deal gently because he's beset with what? Weaknesses. And verse 3 says because of this, because of his weaknesses, he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he did or does for those of the people. So The high priest's ministry is in relation to sin. It is to deal with sin. It is to cover sin. And we've already seen, if you go back to chapter 2 verses 17 and 18, that Jesus Christ's ministry as high priest was in relation to Him making propitiation for sins. Now, do you remember what propitiation means? It means that He appeased the wrath of God for sins. So here Jesus Christ as High Priest comes, offers himself as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of God that was to be unleashed on those outside of Christ. And so what the High Priest does is he offers sacrifices for sins. Now as you can already tell here in verse 3, there's a great difference between Jesus as High Priest and the men as High Priest. Jesus did not have to offer sacrifices for himself. He was perfect. But the high priest, earthly, had to offer first for himself and then for others. And so what is this drawing our attention to? It's drawing our attention to the sacrificial system, isn't it? It's drawing our attention to the sacrifices under the Old Testament. Now there are many scholars out there who seem to limit this solely to the Day of Atonement. And I definitely would say the Day of Atonement is involved in here, but I think it's viewing all of the sacrificial system, all the sacrifices that are being brought to the priests, that they were to stand on behalf of man in the sight of God. So, what did they do here according to verse 3? They offered sacrifices for his own sins, and then for the people. And in fact, you see the sequence, and the sequence is very important. Could you imagine being a high priest, being unclean, uncovered by this sacrifice, and going into the Holy of Holies? Oh, you have to deal with your sin first. You have to deal with your sin before you go deal with the sins of the people. And you see this sequence in Leviticus chapter 16, verses 6 through 14. And so what they did is the priest would first and foremost recognize and confess their own sin. See, the life of the high priest was to be exemplary in godliness. They were to be, as we would view elders today, they were to be above reproach, right? But nowhere in scripture does it say that the high priests were ever to be perfect. That's only in Christ. So because they were not perfect, they first had to deal with their own sins before they dealt with the sins of the people. In fact, you see this, I want you to go to Hebrews chapter nine. Hebrews chapter nine, starting in verse six. These preparations, having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only, the high priest goes. And he goes, but how many times? Once a year. And he does not without taking blood, which he offers for himself, and then for what? the unintentional sins of the people. Again, the sequence is you've got to deal with your own sin before you can deal with the sins of the people. And that's exactly what the high priest had to do. Now, let me ask you this question. What does this sequence practically do for the high priest? Now it's already been stated, we've already read it, you know what it is. What does the sequence of dealing with the priest's own sin first do in relation to his dealing with the sins of the people? Look what it says here again in verse two. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward. Why? Because he's wearing the same shoes. He's got the same heart. He's got the same propensities. See, because he was sinful and he saw his sin in that sacrifice for sin, he was very aware of his own propensity to sin. And so what does he do? Here comes the sin of the people, whether it was specifically the Day of Atonement or there's daily sacrifices by the people for their sins, it allows him to not be overly harsh. It allows him to not be overly judgmental towards the sins of the people. Because he himself was in need of that same forgiveness, wasn't he? Now, the high priest, as one commentator said, he said this, he had an awareness of his own frailty and sin which causes the high priest to moderate, now listen to what he says, to moderate his justifiable displeasure and anger towards the sins of the people. Are we to be angry at sin? Are we to call sin, sin? Are we to confront a brother? Are we to rebuke a brother? Are we to correct a brother? And the answer is yes. But what this does is it moderates. It tempers the tone, it tempers the attitude, it tempers the judgmentalness that goes when we think that we are somehow more superior than a brother. And so the high priest comes, he deals with his own sin, here comes the sins of the people, and what must he do all of a sudden? Yeah, you do sin. In fact, you sin more than you think you sin because God allows us to have sacrifices for your unknown sins that you sin. But I am not. going to stand as your judge. I'm not going to be overly harsh to you. Now look what this says here in verse two. It says he can deal gently. That phrase to deal gently means to be wise, to be gentle, and to have patient restraint. Dads, do I need to say any more? We need to have this type of patient restraint in relation to our children's sin, right? Okay, this is not some sort of turning our head in which we condone the sin, but it does give us sympathy, it gives us compassion, because we ourselves are guilty of sin, are we not? Okay? So we could, and the high priest can, he could exercise patient restraint toward his sinner because of God's patient restraint toward him. See, the high priest says, you know what? I'm guilty of the very death that this sacrifice represents. But instead, God is accepting that on my behalf. And here comes all the people. And they themselves need that. And because God was patient with me and gentle with me and merciful to me, I can therefore be merciful to you as well. And may I say on a very practical level, this is the type of compassion, this is the type of sympathy and mercy and grace that we ourselves need to be able to dispense towards others as we minister to one another. Kent Hughes writes this, When one is truly aware that he or she is a sinner, and couples this with the interior awareness of human weakness, this person will deal gently with others. Conversely, a harsh, judgmental, unsympathetic spirit is a telltale indication that one has outgrown his sense of weakness and awareness of sin. See, it's when we lose sight of our own propensity to sin, then we make ourselves impotent to help others. And if you're wondering where you're at on that compassion meter, on the ability to help meter, then all you have to do is listen to yourself and how you talk about other people's sin. Yes, they sin. And yes, that may need to be confronted. Yes, that may need to be dealt with. But in the way that you talk about them, and in the way you talk about their sin reveals whether or not you are still aware that you are still a sinner. And when you forget your own sin, you are unable to help the one that you are criticizing. Remember, Log must come out of your own eye. before you seek to remove that wee little splinter in your brother's eye. So the high priest then was to offer sacrifices on behalf of people, but while he was doing this, he had this close connection with him because he too was a sinner in need of that saving grace. Now, prior to moving on to our next section here in our sermon, I want to just put at the forefront of our mind that these sacrifices that were being offered here were only temporary in nature. Let's look at this here. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. If you remember from last week, this whole section is going to begin to present for us a contrast between the old and the new. The news better Christ is a better priest of a better covenant and look what this says here in Hebrews chapter 10 beginning in verse 1 And we'll go through verse 4 just for since the law has but a shadow of good things to come Instead of the true form of these realities it can never now listen as it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? since the worshipper, having been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." So understand, as the high priest was continuously offering up his service on behalf of man to God in these sacrifices, it was only temporary. It was still a picture that, you know what, something is still yet future that's going to deal with this temporary nature permanently. See, under the old covenant, the nature of the sacrifice demanded that it be temporary. What was the nature of the sacrifice? Bulls and goats. But under the new covenant, the sacrifice is permanent. Because what's the nature of that sacrifice? The very blood of Jesus Christ. I want you in the same chapter, go to verse 11. Hebrews 10 verse 11 it says in every high priest stands daily at his service Offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins 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 enemy should be made a footstool for his feet for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being Sanctified and therein is the great difference between the sacrifices of the earthly high priest and the one sacrifice of our great heavenly high priest Jesus Christ so the earthly priest offered sacrifices on behalf of men to God now, let's look at How they got in this position? How did they get to this position of offering sacrifices? And if you're taking notes now, we're going to look at the calling of a high priest. The calling of a high priest. And one thing we learned very quickly about high priests is this. High priests were appointed. You just didn't have one day a little Johnny come up to you as dad and say, Dad, I know what I'm going to do today. And when I get older, I know what I'm going to be. I'm going to be a high priest. And dad had, sorry, but wrong genealogy. You came from the wrong tribe. Because what we're going to find out here is it was through one tribe. You had to have the right genealogical framework in order to be a high priest. You were appointed by God. Look what this says here in verse 4. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. God had objective standards by which we were to know whether or not somebody was a true high priest or not. And believe it or not, we do have those still today with pastors and elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 as to what the qualifications were. So in order to be a high priest, you had to have the right genealogy and you had to be a son of who? the son of Aaron, right? Okay, and I'm just going to read these to you for the sake of time. You can follow along quickly if you want to go there or not. But there's a few passages in the Old Testament that make this very clear to whom the high priest belongs. The first is found in Exodus 28 verses 1 and 2. This is what God says to Moses. It says, Near to you Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve Me as priest Aaron and Aaron's sons Nadab Abihu Eleazar and ithmar Who were to be the high priests? The high priestly ministry belonged to Aaron and to his sons. Now what I think is so fascinating, which is a parenthetical thought here in our sermon, Exodus 28 verse 2 says this, and you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother for glory and for beauty. for glory and for beauty. In other words, God says, listen, you are going to have priestly garments which are going to be spectacular. They are going to be aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. They are going to represent the creativity of God. They're going to represent His glory and His beauty. Now, just as a side note, God's not against beauty. God's not against glory. He's not against things looking right. Sometimes in Christianity we like to make everything so drab. But it doesn't need to be that way. Now back to the sermon. What does this mean? Here you have these high priests that are looking good on the outside. They're looking dazzling. But let me ask you a question, does external appearance reveal internal realities? When you look at the Old Testament, does every high priest represent faithfully what God had called him to be? Absolutely not. So here you had this external beauty and there should have been a Corresponding internal reality to that again in numbers 18 verse 1 It says so the Lord said to Aaron you and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear iniquity Connected with a sanctuary and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood That's big responsibility, isn't it? Remember what happened when his sons offered up wrong sacrifice, wrong incense? Getting dead. Now, if these weren't clear enough that the priesthood belonged to the sons of Aaron, I want you to listen to this. Numbers chapter 3 verse 10. And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death." You could not be high priest simply because you had aspirations. You had to be appointed by God to be high priest. Now, please remind yourselves here for a moment that this is exactly what the Old Testament people understood. It was through Aaron that the high priest existed. Remember that this is the same understanding when Jesus Christ came to earth. Where did the line of high priestly ministry come from? Aaron, what line is Christ from? Judah. Different lines. I am beginning to grow in my confidence that part of Paul's apologetic when he would go into the synagogues to prove that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, he was also proving that Jesus Christ was High Priest. And you're going to hold on there, just hold on to your seats for a second. Because remember, if any stranger came to represent the High Priest, what were you supposed to do? put him to death. Now remember, it makes it very clear, verse 4, no one takes his honor for himself but only when called by God. And it is so with Jesus Christ as well. Look what it says in verse 5, so also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son today, I begotten you. And he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So Aaron and his sons were earthly high priests because they were appointed. Jesus Christ is heavenly high priest because he was appointed. They were both appointed by the same person. One is earthly, one is heavenly, one is temporal, one is permanent. But where did Christ come from? Now, I'm not talking about He's deity, I know that, but how did He get into this high priest thing when He's not from the line of Aaron? Now, what the writer of Hebrews does at this time is he brings in two Psalms. Two psalms as a citation. The first one is, you are my son today, I have begotten you. That's out of Psalm chapter two, verse seven. And we've already looked at that when we looked at Hebrews chapter one, verse five, when it quoted that. Psalm two is a messianic psalm. It's just showing that Jesus is the Christ, which says, today I have appointed my son, I have begotten him. And it says, he is enthroned on my holy hill. This is saying that Jesus Christ is what? King. Jesus Christ is reigning, He is on the throne, and He is reigning from heaven. And so what this is simply saying is that the God who decreed the Son as King is the one who decreed that Jesus be what? Priest. Now, look at verse 6. And he says in another place, you are priests forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now this is the only book that this is found in. And this is a citation from Psalm 110 verse four. And you already know what it says, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, Melchizedek causes heartburn for many people. And there are certainly mysteries and there are certainly questions, but I want to say that there's not, it shouldn't be that difficult. So just hang on with me for a minute. You're gonna see Melchizedek again in chapter five, verse 10. You're gonna see him, actually, in chapter five, verse 10 again, chapter six, verse 20. You're gonna see this quoted in chapter seven, verse 17, and verse 21. In fact, when you get to the end of chapter six and into chapter seven, you're gonna see at least eight different references to Melchizedek as high priest. Let me just say this very clearly, and hopefully it's clear. If you don't understand Melchizedek, you don't understand your high priest. And if our high priest is there to offer us help in the time of need, maybe we're not getting the help we need because we don't understand his relationship to Melchizedek. The writer of Hebrews, remember, where is he marching us to? He's marching us to go outside the camp to suffer the reproaches of Christ. And in order to do so, He elevates the ministry of Jesus Christ as High Priest all the way explicitly from chapter 2 verse 17 all the way to the end of chapter 10. We want to go outside the camp and be faithfully suffering for Jesus Christ. We have to understand the high priestly ministry of our Savior. And if we are to understand the high priestly ministry of our Savior, we need to know what Melchizedek is doing here. So we see Psalm 2 is in reference to Christ as King. We see Psalm 110 as Christ in reference to his priesthood. Now, just interestingly, just what you find here in Hebrews chapter seven, just as introductory comments, you find something very interesting about Melchizedek. You see that in chapter seven, verse one. And you also see this in chapter 14, verse 18 of Genesis, that Melchizedek is both king and priest. When you think of Jesus Christ in the order of Melchizedek, it is not simply his priesthood, but it's also his kingship. Let me put it this way, and we're gonna unfold this, not today, but as time goes on, there is a connection to Jesus Christ enthroned as king in his priestly ministry. Now, there is much to Melchizedek. And we're gonna look at him briefly next week, and then when we are able to pick him up again at the end of chapter six and into chapter seven. Now what I want you to do is I want, I'm just gonna give you a little taste here. Look at verse 10. It says, being designated by God as high priest after the order of Melchizedek. About this, verse 11, we have much to say. So the writer of Hebrews is getting ready to wax eloquently on Melchizedek. He's gonna go deep. And then all of a sudden he's reminded of his hearers. And here's what I wanna say about this. There is much more that we could learn about Melchizedek had the recipients of this letter been more ready to hear it. He had to stop. He could not go as deep. He could not unfold as much about Melchizedek as there is because the recipients of this letter, as it says, had become dull of hearing. Now we're going to look at this next week, but we need to make sure that our immaturity in Christ is not prohibiting others from learning more about Christ. See, we need to make sure that we are not on milk so long that the people around us are unable to feed on the meat of the Word. See, the writer of Hebrews says, listen, I want to share something about Christ and His ministry that's going to give you power and help in the time of need. Oh, you can't understand that yet. I forgot. Stop. We're going to look at that next week. But I just want us to understand that there's a lot there that He's going to unfold more later The fullness is covered because the recipients were unable to hear it and to understand it. And so we're gonna come back and look at that more later. Understand that Jesus Christ was appointed to be high priest by the one who appointed Aaron as high priest. He was appointed Jesus Christ as high priest after this great order of Melchizedek. Now I wanna spend the remainder of our time this morning fleshing out verses seven through 10, looking at the qualifications of Jesus as high priest. Don't you just kind of, does it bother you that we just got to Melchizedek and we just dropped him? Yeah, that's what Hebrews does though, doesn't it? Just trying to be faithful to the text. So let's look at qualification of Jesus as high priest. Now remember, this is not the first time Jesus was mentioned as high priest. Let's go back to chapter 2 again. Chapter 2, in verse 17 and 18, 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. So Jesus Christ comes to earth, just like his brothers in every respect, becomes high priest, so that he's able to help those who are being tempted. Then in the next six verses, he says that Jesus Christ is better than Moses. See, Moses was faithful to what God had called him to do, and Jesus was faithful to what God had called him to do, but there was a big difference. Okay? The difference is this. Moses was faithful only as a servant. Jesus was faithful as what? as a son. And based upon that faithfulness as son, we were treated to this great challenge from verses 7 all the way to chapter 4 verse 14 to make sure that we are not like the Exodus generation. who had all of the commands of God, the revelation of God, who saw the miracles of God, the deliverance of God, and yet got to the edge of the promised land and could not enter. Why? Because of their unbelief, because of their unsafe state. He said, so don't be like them. But what you need to do is you need to understand that we have a great high priest where he picks that up in verse 14. Again, so what you see here in this context and this flow is that Jesus was faithful so we are to be faithful and how do we remain faithful? By going to our high priest when we are in need of help So we're to go to Christ or go to Christ in prayer so that we could get help Now what I want you to just stop for a moment Because we've read this text already. I want you to think about this just for a moment in Chapter 4, verse 14, all the way to chapter 5, verse 10, and even going on from there, there are not too many calls for us to action. It tells us in verse 16 to pray, let us with confidence go, but then after this, it just simply elevates Christ as our High Priest. It simply just tells us who He is, it unfolds who He is, it explains who He is. You know what this is calling us to do? It's calling us to gaze at the glory and the beauty of Jesus Christ. If I was to say there's one major sin in our American church today, it's that we run to application. We want to know what we're supposed to do before we know the what of what we're supposed to do. We want a list before we know what it says. But there's something very powerful, I think, that this is telling us to do here. It just simply wants us to set and gaze on Christ. Because when He finally starts rebuking them again in Hebrews chapter 5 and following, what does He do? He doesn't really tell them to go do anything, He tells them to do what? Start studying. Know your theology. Know who Christ is. And may I say to us today, that let us not have a knee-jerk reaction to say, I'm going to go do this all the time, because sometimes the proper response to a biblical text is to sit there and worship God. Yes, beloved, He does call us to live a Christ life, a Christ likeness in our life. He calls us to go out and evangelize. He calls us to go do all that type of stuff, but sometimes you know what we gotta do? We gotta sit in glory in our Redeemer, and to worship Him as who He is, and to gaze into what He has done for us. And this is what Hebrews is doing for us. Listen, you wanna go outside the camp and suffer? Don't look for a to-do list. Know more about who Christ is. Know more of what Christ is doing in your life. And I love this about Hebrews, because remember what Hebrews chapter 12 does for us after that great chapter of faith? It says, fix your eyes on the author and perfecter of your faith. So you want to live godly. Fix your eyes on Jesus Christ. Look what this says here in verse seven, in the days of his flesh. This is taking us to the incarnation of Christ. This is taking us to the earthly ministry of Christ. And it says, in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard because of his, Reverence. Now, there are many, many people who simply see verse 7, that loud cries and tears, as only referencing Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Remember when he cried out to God that, may this cup pass from me? Not my will, but your will be done. And I've got no doubt that this is that that prayer is part of it. But I think this is referring to the complete earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. I don't think that Christ just cried out once. I think he cried out many times. And I don't even think that you could even ultimately say this has to do with the crucifixion. Think about the 40 days of not eating. Remember, Jesus just didn't get up and go, okay, now I'm strong. What happened? The angels came and ministered to him. I'd even say all the way back there, Jesus Christ is crying aloud to the Father. See, what we have in Jesus Christ is the God-man who cried to God with tears, and he was heard because of his reverence. And we know with Jesus Christ, when he cried out, he never sinned. In all the moments of temptation, He never sinned. But He was heard. Now, have you thought about that word heard? That's big! I don't want us to go over heard too quickly. Look what this says. And He was heard because of His reverence. Now, Jesus Christ is a high priest. What does a high priest do? He represents man to God, right? When you go to the Father, who do you go through? Jesus Christ, your great High Priest, right? How good of a High Priest would Christ be if God did not hear Him? I want you to think about this. Jesus Christ on earth claimed that He was God. He claimed deity. He said, I am here to deal with sin. I've come here to take away the sins of the world. And when this says God heard him, this is God's sign of approval. God put His stamp of approval on the Son by saying, I heard you, just like the resurrection proves His Sonship. When we look at Jesus Christ and we read the Gospels, We have to see that He was the God-man crying out, and the Father heard Him every single time. And that has huge implications for us in thinking about Him as our great High Priest. Now remember from last week, It was the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ that enabled Him to be our great heavenly High Priest. Because what does the High Priest do, remember? He's able to sympathize, right? You know, with a High Priest, men High Priests, they could sympathize because of what? Because they were fellow sinners. Jesus Christ could sympathize with us, not because He sinned, but because He knows what the temptation is like. and yet he does so without sin. Look at verse 8. It says, although he was a son. Now, this is important for us to see. It does not say because he was a son. Although he was a son, it's almost like the writer of Hebrews said, listen, Jesus Christ is the eternal Son. He should have not had to learn this. Where we know as our sons, they have to learn because they are sons, right? is by mere sonship, and that's what the writer of Hebrews picks up later. If you're a son, what will happen to you? You will be disciplined, but if you're not disciplined, it shows that you're illegitimate. Here, it doesn't use the causal effect because he's a son. Yes, he's a son, and yet he's still learned. This got the writer of Hebrews in, it's just like a great thought, although he was a son, what happened? He learned obedience. He learned, now, when we think of learn, we must not think of learning that, and somehow that Jesus went, underwent some sort of remedial or corrective learning. Jesus didn't go through some sort of moral learning. There wasn't some sort of corrective nature in his learning. He was not learning to unlearn some wrong behavior or attitude or belief. Remember, Jesus Christ was perfect. See, He learned in the sense that He was bearing up and enduring every temptation that came His way. He learned the fullness of temptation on earth through the suffering. And in each and every situation, He never sinned. Now remember, just as we read in Hebrews 2, He had to become like us in every way. That's why he was learning. He wasn't learning to become better. He was learning the brunt of temptation, and yet his learning never failed. He learned what was necessary to fight temptation that every human faces. Every temptation we face, guess what? Jesus Christ has already learned how to endure it and yet without sin. That's why we have this great high priest who does not sympathize with us because he's a sinner like us, but he can sympathize with our weaknesses. because he's endured it but without sin. Gerhard Voss writes this, so important for us to listen to what he writes. Learning obedience signifies bringing out into the present conscience experience of action that which was already present in principle. So it's bringing out what was already present in principle, and he goes on to explain. There is a great difference, of course, between the mere principle and even the desire to obey and the actual carrying out of the desire. What's he saying? We knew that God was perfect. We knew that we could obey, right? But the fact that he could obey only was proven when he did what? When he obeyed. And so he's learning obedience and it's unfolding his faithfulness to God. Remember this, Jesus Christ did not come to do away with the law. He came to fulfill the law. And as the fulfiller of the law, He fulfilled it completely. And that was the law that we could not fulfill, we could not obey. So what is Jesus Christ doing in this aspect of learning? He's living that perfect life that we could not live in order that he might be our great high priest. And again, this enables him to be a great high priest. Verse eight, it says, although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered and being made perfect. Again, Jesus Christ wasn't just evolving into perfection. He was always perfect, but this is being made perfect, being made complete in the sense that he is now The perfect, the complete, the sufficient, the only sacrifice acceptable to God so that man may be right in the sight of God. So you know what Jesus has all of a sudden with us? Solidarity. Earthly ministries as high priest had solidarity with humans and Jesus Christ due to his incarnation and his suffering, he has this solidarity with us. That's why Hebrews 2 verse 17 says that he had to be made just like his what? Brothers. He'd be made like his brothers. William Lane writes that, quote, although Christ is the transcendent Son who is now enthroned in the Father's presence, He is related by experience to a humiliated and suffering community. The way that led to glory was that of complete solidarity with the human condition. And look at verse 9. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Again, simply stated, those who believe in Jesus Christ will obey. We will not be perfect, we will sin, we will have periods of sin, but we have our Savior as our high priest who is interceding for us, who is our advocate for us, with the Spirit indwelling in us, who will not let us go. But characteristic of a believer is what? Obedience. And that's why chapter three at the end of it, it tied in Israel's disobedience to their disbelief. That's why Christ ties our obedience to our faith. Now I want you to see this again, this solidarity. And we've seen this, but I want you to just hit us again. Chapter four, verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Go back to chapter two, look at verse 10. For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist and bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." And again, verse 18, "'For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.'" Do you see the solidarity there? Do you see that Jesus Christ went through what He did through on earth for you in what you're going through today? That's why Jesus Christ is such a great high priest. And it's because of his perfection, it's because of his adherence to the law that we now have salvation. I want you to see this. There is never need for another sacrifice. There is never a need for another priest. There is never ever another need for atonement. Jesus Christ has completed our salvation. And in order for us to live faithfully outside the camp, suffering the reproaches of Jesus Christ, we need to know that your salvation is finished and it is complete. And when you are weak, when you are struggling, you need to know that Jesus Christ is there to give you that grace to enable you to endure without sinning, and yet we sin. And so there we have our great High Priest again, there to forgive us, to cleanse us, to give us a clear conscience again, to serve Him with all of our hearts and soul and mind. Beloved, Jesus Christ, as our great high priest, has been given to us according to the book of Hebrews for our obedience and for our perseverance. Let's look to him this week as we go through the providences that God brings into our life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much that Jesus Christ is not like Aaron, but like he is in the order of Melchizedek. Thank you, Father, that he lived and suffered, but Lord, never sinned. Lord, what confidence we have for assurance of our salvation. Lord, I thank you that the writer of Hebrews took pains to tell us so much about Jesus, our great High Priest. And I pray that as we walk through these verses and chapters that our presence at your throne would increase. Because Father, that should compel us to want to be with you more. Knowing what this High Priestly ministry entails and what it provides, and again, what it assures. Lord, I ask you that if there's any in this room today that does not know you as Savior, that your Spirit would work in their hearts to confess their sin and to trust Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins. Lord, I pray for us who know you that we would be faithful this week to you, That we'd be faithful with the opportunities given to us. Lord, that we would look for opportunities to share Christ. Look for opportunities to minister to one another. And I pray, Father, that as we interact with the world, and especially with our brothers and sisters, that we'd remind ourselves that we must take the log out of our own eye first. before we take their splinter out. God, give us compassion and sympathy in order to help one another as we are called to do. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our great and merciful High Priest. Amen.