Jesus Christ is presented as both a Prince and a Savior, a foundational dual title rooted in Old Testament messianic predictions. As Savior, He fulfills the name Jesus, meaning "Jehovah is the Savior," and is the sole source of salvation, as declared in Isaiah. As Prince, He is the originator, author, and leader, exemplified by His role as the Captain of the Lord's host and the Prince of Life. The sermon further explores Christ as an Apostle, a sent one and messenger of God's revelation, and as the High Priest, who through His suffering and sacrifice, reconciles His people to God. These dual titles—Prince and Savior, Apostle and High Priest—anchor believers to the person and work of Christ, urging them to hold fast to their confession of faith.
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We're continuing tonight in our thoughts on the dual title of our Lord. It's found in the book of the Acts, in the Hebrews, and in the Revelation. So I invite you to turn with me tonight to the book of Acts chapter five. Acts chapter five. And we begin our reading at verse twenty-nine. Acts chapter five, verse twenty-nine. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Spirit whom God has given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. Now the verse that we're working from is verse thirty-one. Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior. Here is a dual title. He is a prince and a savior.
Now let's pray together. Our Father, we praise you for the revelation you've given to us concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, whom men hated, whom men crucified, but you exalted. And we praise you for the privilege of looking into your word and gleaning precious truth from us. Tonight be pleased to speak to each of our hearts through these portions of the Word of God. that reveal thy dear Son to our heart in such a great way. To this end, we just commend ourselves to you in order that we might be well pleasing unto thee, for the Lord Jesus' sake.
Amen. Let's watch the evening as we began this series. We looked at Acts chapter two, at the foundational dual title of the Word of God. that God hath raised up Jesus and made him to be both Lord and Christ. The fact that Jesus Christ has been announced by heaven to be the Lord of heaven and earth is the foundation of all the titles of our blessed Lord. We saw that we call God highly exalted, our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he is both Lord And by that we mean he is Jehovah.
He is the despotic king of the universe. This is what that text means. Now, the very one whom men reject us, God says, I will highly exalt him. Now, it is upon this foundational title that the other titles in the New Testament rest. and they reveal God the glorious relationship of our Lord both to his work and to his people. And if we're the people of God by divine grace, we must remember that we are those people because of our relationship to him.
He thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. in our text tonight. He is both a prince and a Savior. Now the word Savior is implied in the name of Jesus. We noted that and we spent time with it last week. He was called Jesus of Nazareth. And the word Jesus is a common word. It was a common name in Israel. It is the same as Joshua of the Old Testament. Jehovah is the Savior. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. When Peter announced here to the Sanhedrin that we must obey God rather than men, and that God has raised up Jesus to be a prince and a savior, we find that the expression savior here is used in a messianic sense, the sense in which it is used in the Old Testament.
And in order that we lay hold of this, let us turn to Isaiah, chapter forty-four. Isaiah chapter forty three excuse me Isaiah forty three and in this section between Isaiah forty to the end of the chapter we have some blessed expressions concerning the messianic person and character of our blessed Lord verse three says for I am the Lord thy God the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt what I ransomed, Ethiopia, and Siba for thee.
And this follows those great first two verses that I think every child of God probably has underlined in their Bible. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Why? Why, because the Holy One of Israel is the Savior. That's what we read in the next verse. Look down at verse eleven. I, even I, am the Lord.
And beside me, there is no Savior. You can't get any more empathic than that. And when Peter renounced that God has exalted him to be a prince and a savior, it is a title that is full of messianic meaning. Look at chapter forty-five for a moment. Isaiah forty-five and verse twenty-one. He says, Tell ye and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who have declared this from ancient times? Who have told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And there is no God beside me, a just God, and a Savior.
There is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. What an expression. So you see, when Peter says that God has exalted him to be a prince and a Savior, it has its root in the messianic predictions of the Old Testament. Now a Savior from sin implies suffering. And when John the Baptist introduced the Lord, he introduced him as the Lamb of God who takeeth away the sin of the world. But in Messianic meaning, the Savior implies suffering, but it also links him with that glorious person who is known as, in the Messianic writings of Isaiah, the servants, of Jehovah.
And both the Savior and the servant have reference to the Messiah. Note chapter forty-two of Isaiah. One of the early servant chapters in Isaiah in this section. Notice verse one. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking plaque shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
And then the next verse, he shall not fail nor be discouraged. And we can move on and on and on. Here is a description that is also used by the Spirit of God in the Gospel by Matthews to show that the servant of Jehovah, Isaiah forty two is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ and then in chapters fifty two fifty three we shall not read them but we'll just notice a verse or two Isaiah chapter fifty notice verse four Isaiah fifty verse four the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that he's weary.
He wakened us morning by morning. He wakened us mine ear to hear as a learner. And here is a verse that deals with the bond servant that our Lord was. He wakened us mine ear morning by morning. The bond slave of Exodus chapter twenty-one had his ear pierced. And he had it pierced. with an all in the doorway. In other words, he would be obedient going out, and he would be obedient when he came in. So the servant and the Savior are one and the same person. So we see that the word Savior is implied in the very name of our Lord Jesus, and it is certainly embedded into the character of the Messiah.
And he is indeed the Savior of the world. But more than that, Peter said, God has highly exalted him to be a prince and a savior. Now that word, prince, that word really means originator, author, ruler, or file leader. The ideas of originating and governing or leading an army are all combined in this title, prince. Now, he is a captain of the host of the Lord. Joshua chapter five, verse fourteen, when Joshua was by the walls of Jericho and as a general viewing, how are we going to take this city with its great wall?
There stood a man over by the wall of Jericho and Joshua moved to him and he said, are you with us or are you against us? Whose side are you on? And he said, I'm not on either side. I'm the captain of the host of the Lord. Take the shoes from off your feet, for the place where on our standard is holy ground." Brother McNeil visited us on Friday evening, and we always have a little Bible reading, and we prod each other's minds a bit. And this is one of the areas in which we work the other evening when we were together.
And he said, what does that expression mean to you in Matthew chapter twenty-four and verse fifteen? Now, when a man who's been teaching the word and knows the book like he does, and he asks you a question, you know, what does it mean when he said, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place, then let him that is in Judea flee to the mountain? What does that mean? He said, what makes a place a holy place? The presence of the Lord. You see, Jericho was an unholy place.
The ground was unholy. It was spewing out the inhabitants. But yet it became holy because it was there that our Lord met to the people. The ground of Israel wasn't holy until... God rested above the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle. Then that became a holy place. The presence of God. Our Lord says today, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.
And therefore, when we're gathered together in the name of the Lord, it is a holy place. But that verse in Matthew chapter twenty-five, you see a lot of people make statements about the rebuilding of the temple and everything. When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place. And this morning as I was preparing my own heart in coming to the Lord's Supper, When Israel sinned so grievously with a golden calf, Moses took a tent and he set it up without the camp, outside the camp.
And Moses and Joshua went into the camp and into the tent and when they entered into the tent, the crowd descended and God communed with Moses. That was the holy place. When did David build the temple? He didn't. But he brought the ark to Jerusalem and he put it in a tent. There's a lot of talk among evangelicals about their temple has to be rebuilt. Who said so? We know there's going to be a millennial temple.
from Ezekiel chapter forty through chapter forty eight there's going to be a millennial temple but you see there could be a temporary structure as it was for the ark of the covenant before while David was king so that God could dwell in the midst of his people before that temple was ever built and the temple wasn't built by David the temple was built by Solomon whose kingdom was a picture of that millennial reign of our blessed life. Ah, he gave me some new thoughts on this, and I've been working on them ever since. You see? Look, we can be so dogmatic on prophecy that we think we have all the answers when we haven't really thought the thing through.
It may not be quite the way we expect it. And therefore, when I thought this thing over, concerning the holy place, I couldn't refuse what he said. It gives you some good thought. A prince, the captain of the host of the Lord. Now, in Acts chapter three and verse fifteen, Christ is called the prince of life. And Peter is preaching to the multitude at the beautiful gate of the temple. And it says, you crucified the prince of life. And as a prince of life, He is the leader of the redeemed host of the Lord, whose names are written in the book of life.
In Hebrews chapter two, in verse ten, he is the captain or the author of salvation. As the author of salvation, he is the one in whom the redeemed were chosen. Ephesians one, verse four. They were chosen according to the eternal counsels of God. who worketh all things unto the counsel of his own will, and they bear his image. Hebrews two, verse ten, he is the captain of our salvation. In Hebrews chapter twelve and verse two, we see him as the originator and the perfecter of our faith, where it tells us that looking unto Jesus, the author, the originator, and the finisher, of our faith.
Who for the joy that was set before him? He endured the cross, despising the shame. He is the originator and the perfecter. Now the title perfecter or finisher occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. You won't find that word anywhere else in the New Testament. See, he is the leader who exemplifies faith in its completest form. We have in Hebrews eleven that great cloud of witnesses who became valiant for God through faith. But our Lord is the originator of faith.
He is the object of faith and he is the perfecter of faith. And as such he did it in his own life. He brought faith to its sovereign power. In his suffering he endured linking him with every member of his body, and providing them with their assurance for the final triumph over all their foes. Now, in each reference, the encouragement to our faith is the fact that the leader himself first partakes of that which he establishes. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, he's the leader.
He is the prince of life. As a leader, he established everything in his own person into which we enter. You have that in Hebrews chapter two. And verses ten through twelve. Notice that for a moment. Hebrews two. And verse ten. And on to verse twelve. Where we read. For it became him. For whom are all things. You see, he's the prince. And by whom are all things? He's the originator. In bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.
For both he that sanctify us, and they who are sanctified, are all a one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. That is one of the great sweet texts of the Word of God. God is not ashamed of us. We are one with him. we're all alone. And for that reason he's not ashamed of us, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And in chapter four and verse fifteen we read, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
God has raised him up to be a prince and a savior. As a savior, he's the suffering servant of Jehovah, bringing his people to God. And as a prince, he is the originator and the author of our faith. In his death, we behold him as a prince of life. In his resurrection, we behold him as a prince of salvation. In his coming, we shall behold him as the prince of peace. God has raised him up to be a prince and a savior. Well, let us move on to another dual title. We want to try to get over to tonight.
Hebrews chapter three. Hebrews chapter three, verse one. We have a blessed dual title of our Lord. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. Now keep that expression for you that's found in verse one. He is an apostle and high priest of our confession. Now these two expressions, apostle and high priest, must be viewed in their context.
for they appear at a very crucial point in the disclosure of, in Hebrews, of the unique person of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom God demonstrates and reveals the scheme of redemption and revelation. Divine revelation and divine redemption all are found in him. Now Jesus is previously spoken of in Hebrews chapter one and chapter two as a messenger of God's final revelation. Some of the most glorious words of scripture are found in the opening verses of the book of Hebrews.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us in his son Whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Here we find that Christ, is the author of divine revelation.
God has spoken in his son. How great is it? Notice chapter two and verse three. He says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord? Our Lord revealed the salvation of God. For you see, there's a great contrast here between angels and Christ. For in verse two of chapter two it says, if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, everything that angels said had to be obeyed immediately. If the word of angels was steadfast and every disobedience and transgression received a just recompense of reward, the father of John the Baptist argued with the angel and he was smitten with dumbness.
He couldn't speak. until after John was born. Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompensive reward immediately. So now if the Son is greater than the angels, he says, How shall we escape if we neglect? Do I pay attention to the word of God? How shall we escape if we neglect? Christ is the author of Revelation. God has spoken in His Son, but He's also the author of salvation, and as our faithful high priest. In verses nine and ten of chapter two, which we have already looked at, and then in verse fourteen, again in verse seventeen, and again in verse eighteen.
In verse fourteen we read, For as much men as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. And in verse seventeen, wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation to the sins of the people. What a person. So let us look at the expression, our high priest. In the old dispensation under the law, because of human limitation, it required both a Moses and an Aaron to act on behalf of the people and for God.
Aaron was a priest and Moses was a prophet. You see, Exodus seven, it clearly teaches us this truth. Now, both offices... prophet, and priests are gloriously and supremely fulfilled in one person, the Son of God himself. So he says, consider him. You see, the writer to the Hebrews is building up to establish the fact that Christ Jesus the Lord is our great high priest, who will never die, to whom we can come continuously and continuously find grace to help in time of need.
He says, consider him. He's far greater than Moses, and he's far greater than Aaron. He is greater than both of them combined. And more than that, he is not only our prophet and our priest, he is also our king. So he's our high priest. Consider the apostle. And that word apostle speaks of a sent one. Moses was sent by God. And that word apostle means envoy. It means ambassador. And it was used on numerous occasions in the Old Testament. Let us turn to one or two. And there are you concerning Moses. Notice Exodus chapter three, verse ten.
Exodus three and verse ten. A very interesting verse and says, I have Exodus ten, verse three. I mean Exodus three, verse ten. It says, Come now, therefore, and I will send. And it's in that word, send. Apostle. I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people and the children of Israel out of Egypt. Notice verse thirteen. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of our fathers have sent me unto you.
And they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? Verse fourteen. And God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me. unto you. And you have this again in verse fifteen. But first Samuel. First Samuel chapter twelve. And this is an interesting passage. First Samuel chapter twelve. And verse eight. Where we read.
When Jacob was come unto Egypt. And your fathers cried unto the Lord. Then the Lord sent. Moses and Aaron. So here's the thought of one who has been sent by God, an apostle. Consider the apostle and high priest of your confession. So Christ then in the Christian confession is the bearer of the message. Just as Moses when he went to Egypt was a bearer of the message of God to Pharaoh, And to the children of Israel, our Lord Jesus, when he came, was the bearer of the message of God to men.
Now the leader of the great deliverance out of Egypt was none other than Moses. But the leader of the great deliverance of men out of the bondage of sin and into the glorious liberty of the sons of God is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. For he has delivered us from the power of darkness. Colossians chapter one, verses thirteen and fourteen, and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Christ is a supreme teacher and ruler. But he is no less our great high priest.
He goes within the veil, and he goes to represent us before God. and because he is our high priest as well as our apostle he is able to represent us before God he is able to succor those that are tempted for he also has suffered being tempted now that is why when you get to chapter four of Hebrews and I want you to notice this verse Hebrews chapter four and verse fourteen we read seeing then that we have a great high priest who is passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
Let us hold fast our confession. In chapter three, verse one, he said, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. Now he says, let us hold fast our confession. And then he tells us why. It is because of who he is. You see, he can easily do this. He compared Christ to Moses and to Aaron, and he found that he is far superior, and therefore he could say to his own people here, consider him.
Hold fast your confession. Now, if you're going to hold fast to your confession, you have to know what your confession is. He is Jesus, the Son of God. As Jesus, He knows all the needs of the human family. He is the human person, the person of Jesus. He is the child that was born, but He is more than that. He is the Son of God. As a Son of God, He is the one who came forth from the Father, and is now veiled in a body of flesh. as Wesley put it in his hymn. But he is all that God is.
All the attributes of God reside in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is Jesus, the Son of God. Consider him who was sent. He's the apostle. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And God has highly exalted him as a prince and a Savior. But he is also the high priest. And because of that, we can cast every heartache, every loneliness, every pain, every care upon him, because he cares for us and he's able to lead us as our heavenly, great, high priest. God has exalted him as a prince and a savior.
But he's also exalted him as an apostle and high priest of our confession. The central theme of the confession of the child of God is who Jesus Christ is. He is Jesus, Son of God. Let us lay hold of that. And to lay hold of that means knowing it, I can now come boldly to the throne of grace. Why? I have there a high priest who is touched with a feeling of our infirmity. And I can find grace to help. in time of need consider the apostle and high priest of your confession Jesus Christ have you ever confessed Jesus Christ as Lord that means have you trusted him in a genuine way as Lord and Savior and what you have confessed should have real meaning and you should know who he is that you confess and why you confess him and that's what he's saying in Hebrews chapter four hold fast the
confession without we will I believe that our world in which we live is going to get worse and worse I believe that persecution is going to come to this country just as sure as you are sitting here tonight. It's coming. I believe that the saints of God are being lulled to sleep today with a false sense of peace and security as Israel was in the days of Jeremiah when the false preachers and the false prophets were crying peace, peace, when there is no peace.
And Jeremiah standing as a lone prophet in all his loneliness and in all his faithfulness to God. And you can read about it in the book of Lamentations, how it broke his heart. But no matter what you say about Jeremiah, in all his loneliness, there's one thing that stands out about him. You know what it is? There's a day in the life of our Lord when our Lord said to his own disciples, He said, Whom do men say that I, the son of man, am? Well, they said, Some say you're Elijah, and some say you're Jeremiah. Of the greatest honor that Jeremiah ever got.
People said he was like Christ. Oh, that I might be. And, beloved, if we're going to hold fast our concessions, We have to know what that confession is. And one thing these dual titles of our Lord do, they anchor us to the person at work of our Lord Jesus Christ. If I take time out to understand the meaning of those simple words. A prince, a savior, an apostle, and high priest. Let us hold fast our confession.
Now the problem in the book of Hebrews, they weren't doing that. This is where their failure was. They failed in this matter of holding fast their confession. May we not fail. May we realize who he is and that I have truly trusted him and I know the reality of eternal life. Now let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the riches of your grace We thank you that you're made known unto us in those scriptures of truth. And we thank you for all that is ours in him.