The Same, Yet Superior

Let's take the scriptures this morning and turn to Hebrews, book of Hebrews chapter 4. And I'll be reading chapter 4 verse 14 to chapter 5 verse 10. You follow. 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 weaknesses, but one who 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 time of need 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.

And 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. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after 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 a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Let's pray together. Father now take this text these words on the page and remind us that these are living words help us to hear the good news of the gospel found in this text and we pray that you would give us hope Thank you now for your word in Jesus name amen Do you know that God requires that you go through a priest in order to approach him?

Yeah, some of you are thinking, wait a minute, Pastor Tim, are you going Catholic on us now? Is this going to be some kind of a revelation of a sermon that says you're becoming a Catholic? No, no, not at all. But the reason is that God has established another priesthood that is vastly superior to any priesthood we could come up with and even superior to the priesthood that he had once established under the old covenant.

We still need a priest. And that is described for us in our text. Now recall for a moment the theme of this epistle, this written sermon. It's all about the superiority of Jesus. And you recall that our writer has asserted that Jesus is superior to the angels. You recall as well that he has made the case that Jesus is superior to Moses and to Joshua.

And now, as we saw last week, Jesus is superior to the priesthood of Aaron, even the priesthood that God established in the Old Covenant. He is superior to that. And we saw last week in verses 14 through 16 of chapter 4, a writer begins this theme, as he begins this theme, he doesn't give you a lot of theological abstractions. Rather, he tells you that because Jesus is a superior high priest, you can hold fast your confession.

You remember that this is part of the theme that weaves its way through this book. Don't lose hold of your confession. Don't let Jesus go. And here, last week he said, you can hold fast your confession because of what Jesus is and what he does, because Jesus has been exalted to the presence of God, because he sympathizes with your weaknesses and temptations, and because he generously gives you mercy and grace, you can hold fast your confession.

Now, as we proceed through the text, as he unwraps the idea that Jesus is superior in his priestly ministry he tells you why you should hold fast. He tells you why you ought to hold fast because of the nature of the ministry of Jesus He does this by comparing and contrasting the priesthood of Jesus with that of the Old Testament In every way in every way it is like the priesthood of the Old Testament the priesthood of Aaron. Yet, it is different in a way that is better and that is superior.

It is the same in terms of its representation. All priests, including Jesus, must represent men to God through offerings and sacrifice. His priesthood is the same in terms of its solidarity. All priests, including Jesus, are drawn from mankind. They are no different than the rest. It is the same in terms of its appointment. all priests including Jesus are appointed by God to the office of high priest and yet the priesthood of Jesus is different than that of the high priest under the old covenant for its superior in every respect it's in respect to its representation in respect to its solidarity in respect to its appointment it's superior in every one of those so why must you hold fast because of the nature of Jesus' priesthood.

That's why you hold fast. Because of the superior nature of the priesthood of Jesus. Now let's look at this text, okay? And essentially it's divided into two sections, verses 1 through 4 and verses 5 through 10. And in verses 1 through 4, he says, know the nature of that old covenant priesthood. Know the nature of priesthood, if you will.

Verses 1 through 4. The first thing he says is, Priests were selected from among men to represent them before God with gifts and offerings. So we're talking about representation here. They essentially served as mediators between man and God. Verse 1. 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 they essentially served as mediators then they presented gifts from God's people to God this includes the burnt offerings the grain offerings the fellowship offerings the thank offerings the gifts that you would bring to God to express gratitude or thanks and things like that But they especially offered sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people.

The atonement for transgressions were especially important on the Day of Atonement, when the high priest offered atonement for sins committed for the entire year. Always once a year there is this great day of atonement. You will know it if you heard it. It's on your calendars. Every calendar you buy, you find it. Yom Kippur.

When you get your calendar, look for it. Yom Kippur. It's the day of atonement. That is the day in which sacrifices were offered. Now these priests, he says, act on behalf of men. They acted on behalf of men.

Now imagine you become aware of a transgression. Let's say you're living back then under the old covenant. And you become aware of a transgression. And you need to offer a sacrifice to God to deal with it. You can read about all those in the Torah, the first five books. Now, you become aware.

You know a sacrifice is required. You can't just pick out a lamb and then slit its throat and cart it over to the temple or the tabernacle courtyard, go in, walk over to the altar and offer it to God. You can't do that. What do you have to do? You have to bring that lamb to the priest himself. And he will do everything that needs to be done from that point on.

He would then kill and sacrifice the animal on your behalf. Now that's especially true on the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement was the day in which the nation's transgressions were taken care of. It was one time a year. It was that time of year. And you couldn't offer that to God on your own.

Neither could you choose representatives who would do that for you. No, the high priest alone could do it, and he would enter the Holy of Holies that one time in the year to offer that ultimate sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation of God's people. So God required priests as representatives or mediators to stand between him and his people. Priests, he says in verses 2 and 3, Priests also stood in solidarity with these people.

They were selected from the people to offer these sacrifices. Now, these priests did not belong to a different class of humanity. They weren't different from anybody else. Of course, each priest acts on behalf of sinners to God. He represents the ignorant. those who through ignorance violate the commandments of God. By the way, don't make any mistake about it.

If you're unaware that you have broken the law of God, you've still sinned. You've broken. You've transgressed. You have sinned, even if you're not aware of it. And so he would offer sacrifices for the ignorant and the wayward, those who would wander away from the statutes of God. And yet, our text tells us, they could still relate to those whom they represented, because they too were wayward and ignorant.

They too had the same weakness. Now look at verse 2. Since he himself, he can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. That doesn't mean, in this context, it doesn't mean frailty necessarily. because in verse 3 it says, because of this, because of that weakness, right? Because of that weakness, he's obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins.

The weakness of sin. They too had that weakness. And because of that, they could and they must restrain their anger and pride towards sinners who would come to them. No anger. Boy, this guy. How many times have I seen him?

Boy, is he ever going to get his act together? And there's no judgmental, high horse, look down your nose kind of attitude. They deal gently with those sinners. He says, he must say to himself, I must deal gently with you because I am a sinner too. because he's obligated to offer sacrifices for himself as well. He must make atonement for his own sin just like he does for everyone else This is especially true on the Day of Atonement I want you to look back at Leviticus 16 By the way, Leviticus 16 is like a red star chapter in your Bibles.

I mean, this is an important chapter in the Old Testament, because it describes for us the Day of Atonement. Now, I'm not going to read through the whole chapter. I'm going to pick out certain parts so you can see what our writer, what our pastor who wrote Hebrews is talking about. Leviticus 16, verse 3. I'm getting old. It's hard for me to see the numbers anymore. but in this way Aaron shall come into the holy place with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering he shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarments on his body and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist and wear the linen turban these are the holy garments he shall bathe his body in water and put them on and he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

Okay? Drop down to verse 11. Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself and he shall take the censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not die.

And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side. And in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.

Thus he shall make atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting which dwells in them in the midst of their uncleanness. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.

Drop down to verse 20. And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent of meeting in the altar, he shall present the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins. He shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.

The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat free in the wilderness. So you see, on the day of atonement, he must make atonement for his sin, for the sin of the priests, and then he must make atonement for the sin of the people. That's what our writer is referring to. his own sin and the sin of the people and listen you cannot have any stronger I can't say that there is an unbelievably strong bond of solidarity that then the bond there is an incredible bond of solidarity solidarity between the priests and the people and it is this they're all sinners they're all sinners he is no different and so a solidarity existed between the people and the priests and then finally he tells us in in verse four the priests held their office by appointment the priests held their office by a point and no one takes this honor for himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

No one took the honor of the priesthood on himself. The priesthood was not a democratic office. Moshe Cohen could not say, I want to be a priest, so I'm going to campaign for the position. And so he's meeting with his team one day and he says, okay, we need more posters in Judah's tribal encampment, and then tomorrow afternoon I've got to meet and greet with the tribe of Asher.

Right? None of that happened. Why? Because it's not a democratic office. God appointed you to that office. Look over at Exodus 28 for a moment and you see that appointment You see that appointment in Exodus 28 Verse 1, Then bring near to you Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the people of Israel to serve me as priests, Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

So there it is. Aaron and his descendants were appointed to the priesthood. God had to appoint them. So men occupied the office of priest by God's appointment. So he's kind of outlined for us the basic idea of the priesthood under the Old Covenant. And now our writer deals with the same characteristics of Jesus' priesthood, but in reverse order, right?

For them, he says, representation, solidarity, appointment. Now he goes appointment, solidarity, representation. So he picks up with appointment right away and moves up, if you will, on those three characteristics. And Jesus shares all of the characteristics of that old priesthood. Nevertheless, his priesthood is superior. so know the superior nature of Jesus priesthood verses 5 through 10 again all right the last thing you mentioned was appointment so that's where he picks it up Jesus occupies his priestly office by God's appointment by God's appointment verses 5 and 6 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've begotten you.

As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus occupies his priestly office by God's appointment. In some way, it's the same as the old priesthood. Like the priests of old, Jesus did not exalt himself to the honor of high priest. He did not take that honor for himself. He did not do miracles and teach in a campaign to achieve the highest honor.

That's not why he did that. He humbly did the will of his father, never deviating from the ministry assigned to him by God. He did not take that honor to himself. Rather, God appointed him to his priesthood. And yet, in that appointment, he shows that he is superior to the old. In what way?

Well, look at what he says in verse 4. You are my son today, I have begotten you. God appointed him as high priest because he is the very son of God. He's the high priest because he's the son of God. Now, here he quotes again, Psalm chapter 2, verse 7. He's quoting the Old Testament here.

And we've seen this quote before. He quoted it in chapter 1, verse 5, to show that Jesus is superior to the angels. Why is he superior to the angels? Because he is the son of God. That's why he's superior to the angels. But this text says nothing about priests.

It says nothing about priests, but instead it emphasizes kingship. Speaking of the promised Davidic king who would inherit the nations and rule over them. Alright? So why does he do that? Because Jesus is a particular kind of priest. He is, unlike all the others, a kingly priest.

He serves not only as priest, but as king. And that is a superior priest. That is a superior priest. And then he confirms what he just is trying to prove in verse 6, where he quotes Psalm 110, verse 4. You should have heard that very same verse today in the Old Testament reading. Now, if you look at Psalm 110, verse 4, if you listen carefully, you notice how it starts out.

The Lord said to my Lord. Yahuwah said to my Lord. so David is acknowledging that the promised one who was to come was his ruler he was higher than David David recognized the promised figure is his ruler whose reign if you listen would extend over the nations and over his enemies but he adds another dimension by saying that this king this promised king is a what? He's a forever priest.

He's a priest forever. And so in Psalm 110, David says this is going to be my Lord and he going to be a priest forever And so here the promised ruler also serving as the promised priest Now what the point Psalm 2 says Jesus is king and Psalm 110 says that king will also be a priest. That's his argument. Jesus is king, the promised king. And by the way, that promised king is also going to be a priest and he's going to be a priest like Melchizedek now what is that all about some of you're thinking going okay I think I heard of that guy once before but I'm not sure I'll Mel what's that name again because you only find him twice in scripture before this.

Alright? Psalm 110, Genesis 14. And by the way, later on, he's going to make a big deal out of this guy. So we've got to know who he is. So turn back to Genesis 14 for a moment. I think I preached on this probably ten years ago.

Is that when I was in Genesis? Genesis chapter 14. Since I preached on it ten years ago, you should all remember this. all right genesis 14 now here we find the story you remember of abram abram strapping on his sword and going to war against these five kings and he utterly defeats them and then we read this beginning in verse 17 after his return from the defeat of of cheder laumor and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Shavah, that is the king's valley.

And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God, of the God, of God most high. And he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram by God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. What do we find here? We find here that Jesus is just like Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was a priest and Melchizedek was a king. Both of those are true Melchizedek only mentioned there was a priest of God the true God Isn that amazing Somehow he was a priest of the true God and he was the king of Salem. And so Jesus is just like Melchizedek, who was a king and a priest. So Jesus did not take this office to himself, but God appointed him to it.

Not in the line of Abraham, but in the likeness of Melchizedek. And so his priesthood is superior. Now, verses 7 and 8. Just like the old covenant priest, Jesus stands in solidarity with his people. In that sense, his priesthood resembles the old priesthood. jesus is not now jesus is not one with us in our sin we saw that last week he made that point very clear jesus is not one with us in our sin but he has shared the anguish of the human experience he does know the anguish and our text talks about in the days of his flesh so verses seven and eight 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. Now our text talks about the days of his flesh, the days he shared in our flesh and blood. He knows the frailty and weakness, the heartache and the sorrow of human experience. and like us in our weakness and frailty he was absolutely dependent on God just like you he was absolutely dependent on God like you like us he pleaded with God tearfully and loudly desperately asking for deliverance now this may sound like the garden of Eden I'm sorry the garden of Gethsemane.

But the text says this happened in the days of his flesh, pointing to his life, not just one incident. Sorrows and tears were a regular occurrence for Jesus in his entire life And God heard him because of his reverence Because of his fear of God he gave himself completely to doing the will of God He never deviated from that Never Now, some of you might be saying, what do you mean God heard? Jesus died!

Yeah. But did God deliver him? Yes, he did through the resurrection. okay footnote not in my notes and not as part of this text this isn't the purpose of the text but it does tell me something when you say I ask God to do so and so and he didn't do it he may have done it but in a way that you don't recognize did God save Jesus yeah he delivered him from death itself through the resurrection, just like he's going to do for you.

All right. But the point is, the point is that here is Jesus in solidarity with us, suffering and tearfully, loudly crying out to God for deliverance. Now, remember, these folks are facing persecution, threats of death, the sorrow of ostracism. They were probably praying the same thing. God, deliver us from this, right? Isn't that what you do?

When things get difficult, what do you do? God, deliver me from this. And yet here is their glorious new priest who has experienced all that they have experienced and prays like they pray. He's one with us, folks. He knows what it's like to be in desperate circumstances and crying out to God. Your Savior knows what that's like because he's done it.

And so this high priest, like the old covenant high priests, stands in solidarity with us. He's one of us. And yet this new priesthood is superior and more glorious. How so? well his priesthood is superior because he learned obedience in his suffering although he had a unique relationship with God as the son of God nevertheless he learned obedience in his suffering now the process of learning here does not imply that Jesus move from the posture of disobedience to obedience.

That's not what it means. When we say that Jesus became, as we've seen earlier, Jesus was a merciful and faithful high priest. Does that then mean that, does that imply that he was formally callous and unfaithful? No. No, it doesn't mean that. Listen to Thomas Schreiner as he describes this.

I love this. This verse emphasizes Jesus' humanity. He learned how to obey in the anvil of human experience as he experienced life day by day. in particular he learned obedience in his suffering when suffering strikes human beings are inclined to do whatever it takes to avoid it to find another path where there is joy and refreshment jesus however learned how to trust god and do his will in the midst of suffering His first aim was not his own pleasure and comfort, but the will of God.

Isn't that amazing? What do you do when you suffer? When you suffer, right? Boy, I tell you, when I'm in pain or I'm suffering, again, I've said this before, my universe ends right here at the tip of my nose. This is it. This is my entire universe.

I want to be out of it. Not Jesus. he never deviated from trusting and doing the will of God even in the midst of suffering as the rest of us do so although he is the son he learned obedience he did not fail he did not bail out he remained faithful to God and so established a superior priesthood and then verses 9 and 10 just like the old covenant priest he represents you to God he represents you to god in one sense this representation is like the other priests verse 10 god designated him high priest god appointed him as high priest he was designated by god for the office and god called him to represent his people just like all the other priests now it unique and that he he a representative in the same way that Melchizedek was But nevertheless just like the old covenant priests he represents us to God He was designated, he was appointed by God to that very thing. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

So in one sense, this representation is like all the others before. But, in another sense, Jesus' work of representing you is different and vastly superior to the old priesthood. How so? Jesus experienced superior equipping to enter his office, to enter the task of representing you. Now remember, in the book of Hebrews, when you see that word perfect, it's talking about he is perfectly equipped. he has been perfectly fitted to occupy the office when you say again when you look at a man and say joe is the perfect man for the job are you asserting that joe has no moral imperfections no what you mean is he has the right personality and the proper vocational skills to do the job same with Jesus Jesus was fitted for his priesthood by his suffering and his obedience in the midst of suffering the process he experienced was vastly superior to all other preparation for the priesthood vastly superior to the equipping of other priests again listen to this writer Jesus' obedience was an abstraction until he obeyed God in the concrete realities and travails of everyday human experience.

His suffering and death equipped and qualified him, equipped and qualified him to serve as a priest. He learned what it was to please God as a child, a teenager, an adult. Jesus' perfecting and obedience had to be worked out in everyday life and at every stage of his life. Jesus' suffering was not merely moral, it is also vocational, fitting him for his role as high priest.

You see his preparation is vastly superior Why Because he suffered and never sinned He is perfectly qualified to represent us because his equipping produced obedience. His suffering produced obedience. His priesthood is superior by virtue of his preparation. And that suffering produced obedience. And so what? this high priest does not need to offer sacrifices for his own sin.

In the midst of the crucible of human suffering, he never sinned. He always did the will of God. And because of that equipping process, he has proved himself a perfect high priest. Perfect now in the sense of, I'm using the word, no moral failure at all. He does not need to offer a sacrifice anymore. Now because of that, Jesus has a superior ministry as high priest because he offers so much more.

As your representative, he is what? He is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. Now very quickly, remember that although faith and obedience are distinguishable, faith and obedience are not the same thing but even though they're distinguishable they're inseparable keep that in mind as you read through this book they're distinguishable but inseparable faith and obedience are not the same thing but you can't have faith without obedience following this is perfectly summed up in chapter 11.

I want you to, Abraham's known as the man of what? The man of faith, right? Well, watch what Hebrews 11, 8 says. This, I think this tells us very clearly how they're distinguishable and yet inseparable. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. There it is.

God said, Abraham, I'm going to give you this land. And Abraham believed him So what did he do He obeyed and went Now here the point that our writer is making Could any of the former priests offer the people eternal salvation No We going to see that much more clearly in chapters 9 and 10 But this priest is indeed superior because that is exactly what he offers, rescue from the wrath of God. he is the source of your eternal salvation this is the word superior doesn't even do justice to it now does it this is unbelievable this high priest can offer you eternal salvation and so he presents you to God as a friend as a child of the father since he is the source of your eternal salvation Jesus priesthood is superior by virtue of what he offers now do you see the difference between the old priesthood and the new the question is does it make a difference to you does it make a difference to you can you see the glorious thing that Jesus has achieved we will always need a priest to come to god but we have a priest who is far superior to anything in the old covenant or even anything we can come up with today why would you abandon this jesus since his priesthood is so much superior to anything else Jesus bestows eternal salvation because he is the priest who reigns at the right hand of God he's a priest who rules the world God appointed him as priest like Melchizedek because in his suffering and anguish he obeyed God even unto death you have a high priest who like all the others identifies with you, but who, unlike all the others, has the ability to save and deliver you. This is what Jesus has accomplished.

This is what he is. God help us to flee to him in our sin and to find refuge in that high priest. Father, thank you for our high priest, the Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord God, for him. Father, I confess that I don't know how glorious this is. I'm afraid we're jaded and we cannot taste the goodness of all of this like we should.

Oh God, help us. Help us to see Jesus as this superior, glorious high priest. And Lord, let us hold fast our confession, because this is what we have. God help us, we pray. Amen.