Jesus Christ's humanity and suffering are central to his role as a merciful and faithful high priest. The sermon explores how Jesus, though divine, experienced human temptations, weariness, frustration, and even sorrow, as evidenced by his human reactions and the Old Testament passages he identified with. This shared human experience, sin apart, qualifies him to understand and aid those who are tempted and struggling. By identifying with humanity through his incarnation and suffering, Jesus destroys the power of death and offers salvation, not to angels, but to the 'seed of Abraham,' enabling believers to approach God with confidence.
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If I had my choice, I would seldom be the next person to speak after special music because it is always appropriate to say something about the music that precedes you, you understand. And sometimes that will put a preacher in a place of having to tell a lie. You understand? Say, that was really good. Or good effort. I use that one. But that doesn't work too well. But I can say, honestly and enthusiastically, that was really good. We enjoyed that. I'd like to know how parents can arrange to have a bass, a tenor, an alto, a first soprano, and a second soprano.
I've heard of Planned Parenthood, but that's ridiculous. That was really very fine. It made me think back lots of years ago when I first came to Iowa when... I came to speak at the Atlantic Conference, as a matter of fact. We were in Chicago, big city. And I grew up in a big city. And you all know there really aren't any big cities in Iowa. We're all little cities. Des Moines is an attempt, but it's really not a big city, as we understand it. And here we were coming to then, I'm not sure what, twenty years ago maybe, the Atlantic Conference.
in the middle of a lot of corn and soybean fields, right? And agricultural center. And I remember then the first group that I heard sing was a ladies' trio. And it was wonderful. And I remember a student of Animaeus named Annette Millett. That was a great name. It's not that any longer. Dippy now, but What a beautiful soprano voice, and on and on it when it was like being in the middle of a talent context here in Iowa.
Well, little did I know that the school would move to Dubuque, Iowa, and we would be native islands now, and I'm proud of it. Right? There was a recent... piece on the radio in which they rated states in which is the best place to live. Do you know what state was number one? Iowa. I like that. Now, I know there's some people here from other states. Where do we have Nebraska? Oh, my friends from Nebraska. That's okay. You'd have been in the top ten, too.
Minnesota was number two. And I don't remember the rest, but it was this cluster of Midwestern states from which we are very proud to come and happy to live in this setting. My daughter grew up in Chicago area, and then we moved to Dubuque, and she was there for four years. And after going to school, came back here to live, and coming home one time, she says, Dubuk traffic is too heavy. I can't wait to get back to Atlantic. So I think we really are native islands by now.
And we do appreciate being with you folk again. As our brother has said, the love of the saints is a very important thing, and being committed to them. And enjoying the fellowship of God's people is a wonderful part of the Christian experience. I am for conferences. They are in decline. You understand that? And folks don't attend as much as they should. But that doesn't mean we should stop having them. We shouldn't punish the good people because of the stupid people, should we? Is this being taped? And it is really very good to be with you and to share in the ministry of God's Word.
If you don't have one of these, please, has that been done? This is all the verses in the book of Hebrews on the concept of the priesthood. The main theme of the book of Hebrews is the priesthood of Jesus Christ. I chose that subject, as I mentioned last evening, because we all need to learn to take advantage of the sustaining ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ as he is our great high priest. I thought it particularly fitting for those in this part of this state who have had struggles of late. As I say, I'm in close contact via Steph and Linda and contacts we have, and life is not always easy, and it's been particularly difficult for a number.
And I know about that. There are many others that I don't know about that struggle in their Christian experience. in the everyday trials of life and beyond that, in those burdens that we cannot bear alone, where we must have the empowerment of God, the high priest, the Holy Spirit, and even beyond that, the fellowship of the saints, where we are exhorted by Paul and Galatians six, when those overwhelming burdens come to bear one another's burdens. We need all of that as things get harder and harder in our day-by-day experience.
And I want your attention to Hebrews chapter two. The reference is the top of page one, where it is the author's second reference. If you want to know who the author of Hebrews is, we'll talk afterwards over a piece of pie or a second or third piece of pie, whatever. as we have some time. But the author of Hebrews in chapter two makes his second reference to the priesthood. He made it in those two statements that we looked at last evening when he said, having made purgation for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
At the end of chapter two, in verse seventeen, and this is on your first page, Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. Chapter two does not deal with the priesthood of Jesus Christ. But as he comes to the conclusion of it, the content of chapter two has led him to get to this theme that is going to be introduced again in chapter three, commented on in chapter four, the qualification stated in chapter five, and then in seven, eight, nine, and ten, fully expanded to demonstrate what this priesthood is.
Why did he think of priesthood as he is coming to the close of chapter two? very logical reason. In chapter one, he has shown the superiority of Christ to angels because of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are seven citations from the Old Testament that show the deity of Christ. The Lord Jesus is also better than angels because of his humanity. And in chapter two, after the first four verses, which are the first warning passage of the book, After those first four verses, he will demonstrate to us the humanity of Jesus Christ.
It is introduced by this, to which of the angels, or he did not say to any of the angels, that they would inherit the age to come. Now, the author of Hebrews, though he looks at the whole spread of God's people from Abel all the way down to the New Testament saints, is a very good dispensationalist. He's not a dirty our mill. He's a dispensationalist. I shouldn't have said that. He's a dispensationalist. He's got it nailed down. He understands this. And he says there is an age to come. And not to the angels did he say, you will reign in that age to come.
But he says that to someone else. He did not put in in submission to angels all that is to come. And then there are three quotes from the Old Testament in the rest of this passage. Now, the author of Hebrews thinks that we can think. Is that good? It's a compliment. He doesn't even give us the reason. He just gives us the quotes. It's an interactive study. It's like our correspondence courses where you have to interact with it. He puts up a quote and it's up to us to say, oh, I understand what you mean. This is what you're saying in that quotation. He did it in the first instance when he has seven quotations showing that Christ is superior because of his deity.
He never says, do you see what I mean? This is the deity section. He says, understand that. You can figure that out. It's a compliment to his readers. He thinks we can think. Is that justifiable? I think it is. Now, how is this going to work? I want to read the first quote. The first quote is a quote from Psalm eight. It begins in verse six. Don't you like the way he introduces this? But one testified in a certain place. A literal translation of that verses. Somebody somewhere says.
Now, I use introductions like that when I make a quote. when I don't know where it comes from, someplace in the Old Testament. You ever do that? This man knows the Old Testament. In none of his quotations does he ever quote the human being. Because the presupposition of his book is this, God has spoken. That's why this is an anonymous book. He doesn't even call attention to himself. God has spoken. He has spoken finally in a sun kind of a revelation. So when he introduces this quote, he doesn't even say where it's from. Somebody someplace said, and then he quotes precisely, so I know he knew it.
What is man that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man that you take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor. and set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet. Does anybody know where that comes from? Where is it? Psalm eight, right. It's a quote from Psalm eight. Now here's a harder question. Where does Psalm eight come from? Psalm eight comes from Genesis one. It is a poem that David writes about creation.
It's one of those poems he thought about when he was out there as a boy on the hillside, seeing the stars, the moon, later the sun, all that God had made. And he writes a poem about that in his later days, someplace along the line, describing this experience that he had when his breath was taken away with the majesty of God's creation. And he's thinking back on the creation account. Psalm eight is not a psalm about the lowliness of man. It is a psalm about the greatness of man.
Psalm eight says, What is man that thou art mindful of him? Yet you have made him little less than Elohim. It's the word for God. It's the plural that would show up often describing pagan gods. It's the plural that describes the one true God. You have made him little less than the gods or little less than God. You have put all things under the submission of man. He is the king of the earth. Dismiss from your mind once and for all that we are worthless. People say that.
I heard it preached over and over again. You are a worthless person. No. We are made and only we are made out of all of God's creation in the image and likeness of God. We are something worthy of God's consideration. Because He made us that way, not because of ourselves. He made us that way. What a piece of work is man. We are so God-like. And God says to that original man, Now, everything that I have made, I put under your control. Go out and subdue it. Take charge of it.
And that's not all He says. As you read on, he says, and be fruitful and multiply. That is so God-like. You see these little children? Do you hear that little child? You hear that? Do you know what mother and father have created in a moment of time? They have created a forever being. Is that exciting? We finite folk can be so godlike we can create someone that will last forever. That's exciting.
Now it may be a forever good, forever with the Lord. It may be a forever bad, still forever. Bishop Ryle, great Anglican bishop said, we only have one thing really to teach our children. how to come to God and have this sins forgiven. That's the only important thing we need to teach our kids, because time is that fast, and the forever part is still at this. It's important. Man is so high, so great. The image and likeness of God. Francis Schaefer is right when he says when we think of God and man and a personal God, it is God, it is man, and then the chasm between God and man and the rest of creation.
The chasm is after man. We are very much like God. I want to suggest to you when Jesus Christ came in the form of man and he took on human flesh, it was a comfortable fit. We are in the image and likeness of God. It is because of that that James will say to the brothers and sisters in the early church, we use our tongue to bless God and to curse man. Brethren, these things ought not to be because man is made in the similitude of God. And he is saying that even of twisted, sinful man, the drunk in the gutter is still in the image of God.
the worked and twisted. And he is valuable to God. How valuable. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And David is saying, I can't believe this. All that God has made. He is given to man. to subdue, to bring into order. Man is the king of the earth. The author in the rest of verse eight emphasizes that.
For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing. Do you hear it? Nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. Now I want you to identify that pronoun. Under him. Under who? We do not see all things under who. Give me an answer. Under who? Man, who said that? Right answer. Really spiritual people say Jesus.
Wrong answer. We do not see all things put under man yet. Man has never occupied his place of ruling over all that God has made. That is one of the strongest arguments for a literal millennium, where finally a man will rule. That's the way God designed man to be. That is his initial responsibility given to man. And it's never been there. We do not see all things subject to man. We know that. We had thirteen inches of rain.
We do not see all things subject to man. We had El Nino that did billions of dollars of damage across the country, spinning off tornadoes and flooding and erratic weather. Hundreds died. Millions of dollars, billions. We would not have chosen that, would we? We've seen that all things subject to man. We don't even see good government on this earth, do we? To break your heart, to see what's going on in the country I love.
I mourn for righteousness. Then it may be re-established, and we should pray that way. We see not all things subject to man, because of man's corruption. Will it ever happen? Well, what we do see is Jesus, but we see Jesus. Who in the structure of God, angels, man, was made a little lower than angels for a particular purpose to reverse the consequences of sin in the human existence.
And in this chapter, more than that, to reverse the consequences of sin in the world, to take care of all of the curse of sin, so that one day this good earth that is now under a curse will have that curse removed. And the desert will bloom like a rose. And the knowledge of God, the holiness of God, will cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. The bumper stickers will be holiness to the Lord. Now in order to do that, he must take care of sin. And in order to take care of sin, God...
must become a man because there is required an infinite value to the sacrifice that no bull or ram or sheep or any single individual human being could do. It must be infinite. Hence the God-man. So we do not yet see all things subject to man, but we see Jesus. Very significant choice of name. What name is that? It's a human name. We see Jesus.
Now, if Jesus is going to come as a man and reverse the consequences of sin, it is fitting for him. I love that word. It's fitting for him. to experience all that we experience. And this is where he's going to take us in this argument. Verse ten, it is fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation experientially perfect through the things which he suffered. For he who sanctifies Jesus, and they who are being sanctified are all of one, can I have a little different opinion, one family, one race, it is God's family.
But of one race, of one human continuum, we are all of one. The one who sanctifies Jesus and we being sanctified are all of one. We are the same. And consequently, he is not ashamed, hear this, to call us brothers and sisters. If Jesus would come in this room today and address us, he would take our name on his lips and to me would say, Brother David, it is good to see you.
And I could say to him, it's hard to say, isn't it? Brother Jesus. Why? He could come and address my wife as Sister Melzi. How can he do that? Because he took on himself perfect humanity. and experienced all that you and I experienced as human beings sin apart. He is not ashamed to call us brother. Do you rejoice in that?
Look, many of us have brethren have been Understand how I say this. So strong defending the deity of Christ that has been under charge and under attack that we have allowed the humanity of Christ to slip in our understanding. Do you hear what I just said? We don't think of as humanity as much as we should. There are certain verses in Scripture that identify that. There are certain words. that to mention them brings responses, are you Orthodox?
Look, the Lord Jesus Christ grew in wisdom. That's a quote from Scripture. I'm not making that up. He grew in wisdom. He was tired in the back of the boat. Remember? He was asleep. He was thirsty and hungry in the time of his temptation. He was weary at the well when the woman of Samaria came. He was frustrated. Do you get it? Frustrated with his disciples when he says, how long am I going to be able to teach you? You don't get it. I understand that.
Frustrated. It gets stronger. He will say, I don't know that one. Not even the Son of Man knows that hour. Do you know what that means when he says that? I'll tell you exactly what it means. Listen. Not even the Son of Man knows the hour. That's what it means. That's safe, isn't it? He comes into the Garden of Gethsemane. We'll make reference to this later when we get to chapter five. He comes into the Garden of Gethsemane. And the verses and the Gospels are so clear. He was. Here's a word. He was. depressed, distressed, perplexed, astonished, surprised.
Do you hear all those words? Aren't they human words? And don't blow them away, so hold on. That's not God. That's not my Jesus. Yes, it is. He was in all points tempted as we are. He was angry. He was disappointed. He was betrayed. He had all the human experiences that you and I had. Sin apart. That means he didn't respond in a sinful way. He had no temptations that arose out of his own sin nature. But all those from out there, he experienced. And every once in a while, I'd like to choke preachers who come along and say, you should never be under the circumstances.
You should always be over them. Do you like it when they say something like that to you? I tell you what, if I'd get them outside, they'd be under some circumstances. They make us be holier than the Bible. Don't be frustrated. Don't be discouraged. Tell that to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Hey, come on. Get up off your knees. What's your problem? Would you dare do that? He had to have angels come and minister to him. He needed help from outside himself, didn't he? Didn't he?
Yes? Come on, I don't see that. Yeah. After his temptation, the biggie, forty days and forty nights, the angels came and ministered to him. He was exhausted. He couldn't put one foot in front of another at that point. He needed some angels to come along and give him sustenance and help just to make it back to the ministry that he was on. Don't we rob ourselves of help from our priest when we think our priest never experienced those things? He did.
And the verses he quotes will say that. The first quote. He is not ashamed to call us brethren, saying, verse twelve, I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly, I will sing praise to you. He just puts it there. Isn't this neat? The author of Hebrews thinks we can think. And he just gives us the quote that he knows proves what he just said. He's not ashamed to call His brethren. Now we have to interact with that verse to see how it proves that. Now this is a verse from a great psalm from Psalm twenty-two.
Now does that ring a bell with you? Did the Lord Jesus know that psalm? Where does he quote it? Where does he quote Psalm twenty-two? On the cross. Do you mind if I ask questions like this? The author of Hebrews expects us to interact. I expect we should. Jesus on the cross cries out, My God, my God. Why has thou forsaken me? And the author of Hebrews is saying, Look, when he did that, the whole psalm flashed through his mind.
The whole psalm was in his mind. Well, that psalm was originally written by David. It wasn't describing an experience that he had had in his own life. The kingdom had been taken from him. Absalom had abscounded with the kingdom, and it was gone, and there are enemies of David mocking him as he flees. And David says, my God, why have you forsaken me? Everybody's circling around to kill me. He speaks in hyperbole in describing how they are going to try to destroy him. They're like circling animals. They pierce my hand and my feet.
They're looking for my every move to come in and destroy me. And he says, my father's trusted. They trusted. You delivered them, but I am a worm and no man. And you're not helping me. And one of the structures of a lament psalm, of which Psalm twenty-two is a perfect illustration, the psalmist will go back in their lives to remember times when God had intervened in a lamentable situation. That's why we pray with thanksgiving. It's not some prolific leap into the future to thank God for what he's going to do. We look back on how he's worked already. And the psalmist looks back on times when he had to thank God for his intervention.
The only thing David can think of, this is pathetic. The only thing you can think of is this. You gave me hope when I was on my mother's breast. That's really big, isn't it? What could David have thought of when he recounted over his history the things that God had done for him? Well, he took him out of the sheep coat, made him king. That's pretty good for starters. And he had killed the lion already. And he had killed the bear empowered by God. And then there was a big guy named Goliath. And he said, I'll do this in the name of God. And he brings him down and says, Praise God. The only thing David can remember as he's trying to remember God's working is, you gave me an instinct for life.
That's about the only thing you've ever done for me, guy. Is that true? No. You ever get so down? Well, David, after he... puts it all out on the table in his lament before God. He says, God, I'll tell you what. This is the part of a lament psalm. There's a vow. When you bring me through this, I'm going to go back to the congregation of Israel, and I'm going to declare your name in the midst of the congregation. Lord Jesus is on the cross. And he cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Had God forsaken him? Yes. Had not forsaken David, had forsaken his son. Pleased the Lord to bruise him. And that whole psalm, the author of Hebrews is telling us, goes through the mind of Jesus on that cross. I understand why you forsake me. You are holy, O thou who inhabitest the praises of Israel, and I am being made sin. I understand the forsaken. But when we are through this, when we are through the suffering, when we are through the resurrection, when it's all over, I will declare your praise.
in the midst of the congregation. As we get to the end of the book of Hebrews, it says, I love this portion. We have not come to Mount Sinai, but to the heavenly Jerusalem. We have come to the angels in festal array. We have come to the Old Testament saints now made perfect. We have come to the General Assembly in church of the firstborn. We are come to God, the judge of all. We are come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. And we are come to the blood of sprinkling. Now the Holy Spirit's there. The shy member of the Trinity is there. It does not mention himself.
It's all of God's people. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all the holy angels, all the Old Testament saints, all the New Testament saints. And there is Jesus. And there is the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel. And Jesus, in the midst of the congregation, here on this good earth, leads all of his people in praise to God. He is the one who says, let's sing the doxology. And Jesus is standing in the midst of his people singing, praise God, from whom all blessings flow. I'm not sure that'll be the exact song, but it'll be one like that.
He will lead praise in the midst of the congregation. And He will be one of us doing that. He's Jesus. He's not ashamed to call His brethren. And He will be with us, leading praise in the midst of the congregation. We are so caught up with the rapture that we overlook the millennium. We're going to be on this earth with Him. We will be ruling as a kingdom of priests. and we will be involved in worship that Jesus himself will lead. He will lead praise in the midst of the congregation. That gets me excited. I look forward to that day.
There are two more quotes. These from the book of Isaiah, Isaiah eight. And here they are. I will put my trust in him. That's the first one. And the second one. Here am I and the children with whom God has given me. Boy, the author of Hebrews can see things in the Bible that I'd have a hard time seeing. He quotes these verses about Isaiah, the prophet, and Isaiah's family. And he says, that's me, or that's Jesus. Now, it's a little tricky the way this works, and I'll just put it out for your interest.
The Lord Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. As kings, many things are said in the Old Testament relating to the kingship. That applies to all the kings that come out of Judah, but specifically to Jesus. Second Samuel seven, Psalm two says, I will be to him a father, he shall be to me a son. In Second Samuel, it goes on to say, when he's good, I'll be with him. When he's bad, I'll chastise him. But I'll never take away the kingdom as I did from Saul. There were some bad kings. But that verse is used in the application of Jesus because he's in that line.
Now, obviously, he never did any bad. But he's in the line, and it applies to him because it's in the line of the kings. Jesus is also the antitype of all the prophets. And what is said about the prophets can find application or typological relationship to Jesus. And that's what the author does here when he takes a look at the great prophet Isaiah. And he says, you know, Isaiah says of his family, I trust God. And that's indicative of Jesus as a human being. He trusts God. Now, you and I may not understand how he can make that connection.
I've given you a suggestion, but that he makes that connection cannot be debated. And we have to look at Jesus as a human being, as well as fully God, but as a human being, being one who trusts God, like we trust God. Now, the word trust involves something of an unknown. If I say to you, just trust me, we'll get there. I'm asking you to trust me because you don't know the way and I do. Right? Trust implies that. Trust implies an unknown. And Jesus is like us in his human experience here on earth.
He trusted God. He could just as heartily sing our song, Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in God. Not Jesus, but to trust. and obey. You see? He trusted. And then the next quote, the next quote says, Here am I, Isaiah saying that, and the children whom God has given me. He says, Put that in the Lord's mouth. He is related to us in a filial way. We are children. He is father, in that sense, in the picture. We're related. We're human beings.
He's not ashamed to call us brethren. He experiences all that we do. Then the author goes on to say, look, inasmuch then as children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself Christ likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. He takes the weapon of Satan, death, and using Satan's weapon destroys death itself, and the devil... and the grave. He is victorious over all that. And he releases those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetimes subject to bondage.
I want to underline verse sixteen for you. It's a hard verse to translate. Good translation goes like this. He did not take hold to help angels, but he took hold to help the seed of Abraham. The seed of Abraham being people who exercise faith. He took hold to help human beings. He did not take hold to help fallen angels. That tells us a lot about our God. It tells us he is free. He is not obliged to save anyone. He is sovereign. He can make choices. And to the grace of God, he chose to help human beings.
And the incarnation and the death of Christ is the statement that He took hold to help us. Is that wonderful? Are you glad for that? Holy, holy, holy is what the angels sing. And I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring. But when I sing redemption story, angels fold their wings. For angels never had the joy. that my salvation brings. He did not take hold to help angels. In his sovereign plan of grace and salvation, in an eternity past, there was planned that great first Christmas, the incarnation, when God becomes man.
And he takes hold to help us. And it leads him to the cross. And in between, he experiences all that we do as human beings. Look, if he's going to be a good priest, it's fitting that he should do that. It's fitting that he should taste death for every man because that is something common to every one of us. It's fitting that he should stand at the grave of Lazarus and weep. It's fitting that he himself should go the whole way to death because it is appointed unto man once to die. And after that, the judgment. And the Lord Jesus identifies with us in our totality.
And consequently, we finally get to the priest first. Consequently, he can be a qualified priest for us. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people having made purgation. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help us in our temptation. And when there is struggle and trial and burden, when I am being overwhelmed, when I am distressed and perplexed and surprised and frustrated, I can go to Jesus and say, Jesus, do you understand this?
What's the answer? Been there, done it. He understands. And He's able to help us. We need to know that because we need that help. We need it every day. We need it in the small struggles of life. We need it in the overwhelming struggles of life. It is the only way We will come to conformity to Jesus Christ, to get the mercy and help that only Jesus can give.