Turning to the Law Offices of Melchizedek

Sermon Transcript

Imagine for a moment with me the unpleasant scenario that a nicely dressed lawyer comes knocking on your door tomorrow morning with subpoena in hand, stating that the loan that you have on your house is not quite as good as you thought it was. As a matter of fact, this loan that you’ve had on your house for the past 20 years really wasn’t decreasing your principal every month. It was increasing your principal every month. And that the contract clearly read that that accumulated balance needed to be paid off in full every four years. And if it wasn’t paid off in full every four years, they severely penalized the entire balance of your loan.

 

Now, that had happened five times in the life of your loan, and your loan had ballooned out of control. You don’t check the fine print on your mortgage bill every month. You just pay it. So you didn’t know. You didn’t realize it. And they go on to state that there’s one more clause in your loan that you didn’t read about, and that is that the holder of the note reserved the right to, at any time, call for the complete payment of the balance of your loan, and that the lender had decided that they wanted all the money back right now.

 

And the reason they decided to get all the money back right now is because as they were going through your files at the bank, they recognized that your father and your grandfather and your great-grandfather all had the same exact kind of loan and never paid it off in their lifetime. As a matter of fact, all the accumulated balances in their loan, according to law, had now been tossed into your loan. So they said they thought they should get the money out of you.

 

So, he, at the very last moment before he leaves your front doorstep, pulls out a spreadsheet to show you what you owe. And he points to the little box in the corner, which reads, $842 million, due immediately. Assuming this would go to court, they said, we just want to let you know, court date is set for next Friday.

 

He leaves. You’re devastated. You go to the file cabinet. You try to find the loan papers. Sure enough, you find them. You pull them out. You lay them on the kitchen table, and you and your wife look at them, and you recognize that everything the lawyer said is exactly true.

 

What do you do? Flee to Costa Rica, right? What do you do? I would venture to say that you would probably call a lawyer. You’d want to find a lawyer that knew about electricity and about loans, knew something about banking law. You would hope to find a lawyer that maybe even had a concern about you, because one more thing I forgot to tell you, the lawyer also said that if you don’t pay in full, that they have the right to throw you and your entire family in jail.

 

So, this is quite a loan. You don’t want one like this. You need a lawyer. You need representation. You need someone who cares about you and the future of your family. You need someone to save you from the penalty that you rightly owe.

 

You see where this is going, right? This is not much different than the situation that exists between us and God. He’s made it very clear that the rules are as they are, and there’s no getting around them, that you and I owe a tremendous debt before God—debt that we personally accumulated before God, and debt that’s been passed down from our forefathers—and we’re in a heap of trouble.

 

And God, though He allows us to enjoy the benefits of walking around and enjoying life on his planet, he does reserve the right to call you to account at any time. As a matter of fact, there’s already a subpoena that has been drawn up, and some angel holds it in hand. He’s got one with your name on it, and there’s another angel that’s got one with my name on it. And at any time, he could call you to court. We need a lawyer.

 

The high priesthood in the Old Testament, as we’ve already learned last week in Hebrews chapter 5, was designed to give us a sense that God is concerned with us having representation. The whole reason for the priesthood was sin. You and I have a sin problem, and we need representation before God.

 

Everything about the priesthood symbolized the ultimate solution that God had in mind, and that is that there would be someone to stand in the gap and plead the case before an almighty, perfect, and holy God and us as sinful individuals. The problem is that the Old Testament priesthood, as we saw last week, was severely limited.

 

Pick it up with me, if you would, where we left off last week in Hebrews chapter 5, and let’s study today for just a few moments verses 6 through 10 and see if we can’t get to the place of recognizing that we should be greatly relieved that there’s not only representation available, but it’s representation that works—qualified, sympathetic, and effective.

 

Beginning in verse number six, let’s just read this entire section, verses six through ten, in Hebrews chapter five, where he quotes Psalm 110, and he says in another place, it says, “You are a priest forever,” speaking of Christ, “in the order of Melchizedek.”

 

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. And once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, and was designated by God to be high priest—here it is again—in the order of Melchizedek.

 

1. Understand Christ’s Qualifications

 

Number one on your outline, it’s important for us to catch what verse 6 and 10 are referring to. Certainly, the dropping of Melchizedek’s name in the middle of this, this obscure Old Testament character, is trying to tell us that the representation that Christ brings before the Father comes with full credentials, that he’s qualified.

 

Number one on your outline, let’s jot it down this way: we need to understand Christ’s qualifications. Understand Christ’s qualifications. And once you write that down, circle the word Christ, because there’s an overused word that often we don’t pause long enough to think about.

 

Underneath that, you might want to note—let’s just throw it up here on the screen—the concept of what it means to be called the Christ. I don’t know if you can read these tiny words up here, but to have oil poured on you. Now, that sounds like a strange concept. That’s because we’re all Western Americans here.

 

Next slide. What English word for this is the word anointed. You’ve heard the word anointed. It’s a greatly abused word today in the modern church. But the word anointed simply means that you’ve had oil poured on top of you, which doesn’t sound very inviting.

 

Next word. The Hebrew equivalent of the word anointed is the Old Testament transliterated word Messiah. Now we’re getting familiar words here. Messiah. Messiah. And you do know the difference between a translated word and a transliterated word? Translated word, we have a whole new word for it. Transliterated, we just take the Hebrew characters and turn them into English characters, English letters, and we come up with the word Messiah.

 

Of course, the Old Testament language was Hebrew. The New Testament language was Greek, and the Greek word for this, next slide, is the word Christ. Christos. It means the one who has been anointed, the one who’s had oil poured on top of his head.

 

Now, all you Thursday Bible study people going through Romans go, oh, we’ve already been through all this, right? We had a big chart on this at one time. Why in the world is this word anointed Messiah in Christ? Why are these, this concept, why is it so important?

 

Next slide. Because of this, to have oil poured on you means that you’ve been authorized by God. That’s what the concept means, that you have been authorized by God.

 

Now, there were two primary categories in scripture that throughout the Old Testament history were needing the imprimatur of God. They needed the authorization of God. They needed to have a clear and decisive symbol or sanction on them that these two offices were sanctioned or authorized by God.

 

The first one is kings. As a matter of fact, you can think back in your minds to David. You can even go before that. The very first king of Israel, his name was Saul. And you can remember that Samuel the prophet took a flask of oil and found Saul and God picked him out and he poured the oil on top of his head. That’s literally what happened. Therefore, at that point, he became authorized by God to lead the people.

 

And when he veered off the course, Samuel then took his flask, got on his donkey, went out and found Jesse and his sons and looked for the next king of Israel. And then God said, he’s the one, brought him in from the field. And again, Samuel poured the flask of oil on his head—anointed, authorized by God.

 

The next category that needed to be authorized by God throughout Old Testament history were the priests. The priests needed to be authorized by God, and the way that they were visibly and symbolically picked out from the crowd and authorized to do their job was through anointing, pouring oil over their head.

 

Let’s pause there and take a look at this, because this is a great text in Exodus chapter 30, where we get introduced the concept and how it works. Exodus, second book in the Old Testament, gives us an idea of what this was like.

 

You could have read about Samuel’s anointing in 1 Samuel 9, David’s anointing in 2 Samuel. You can look at anointing throughout the history of Old Testament kings—43 in all—thinking through the lists. All of them anointed, poured oil on top of their head.

 

The priest, Exodus 30. Drop down to verse 30. You can remember this text, 30, 30. Here’s the word—and again, it’s unfortunate. It’s the old English word here: “Anoint.” All that means is pour oil over Aaron and his sons and consecrate them, authorize them, set them apart so that they may serve me as priests.

 

Say to the Israelites. This is my sacred oil—over the top of the head oil, right—for the generations to come. The anointing oil. Do not pour it on men’s bodies and do not make any oil of the same formula. It is sacred. It’s special. And you are to consider it sacred. Special. Set apart.

 

Whoever makes perfume like it and whoever puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from his people.

 

It smelled good. As a matter of fact, the instructions for how to make it were in the scriptures. And it was this good smelling lotion, if you will—the oil poured, fragrant oil poured over their head. Set apart.

 

Now, in Israel, the concept of the representative to stand before God representing men or as a king to lead the people, both of these were considered at the top of the heap, the top of the top. And those were the top categories in Israel.

 

Both of them, by the way, the Israelites soon recognized these are imperfect reflections of something perfect. This isn’t going to work. Even our best king, King David, in the history of Israel, he’s fraught with weaknesses and sin. Even the priesthood, full of political infighting and problems, not perfect.

 

Therefore, next slide, what we saw in scripture was an expectation of an ultimate king. That’s what we saw. An expectation of an ultimate king. And all of a sudden we started to see in 2 Samuel chapter 7 that one day the son of David, the ultimate king from the line of Judah, would take charge of the nation. And this would be called the anointed one, the Messiah. He would be the Messiah.

 

What was true for the king—and this is where most of our Sunday school knowledge ends—you need to recognize was true for the priest.

 

Next slide. There was an expectation of an ultimate priest. An expectation of an ultimate priest. That one day we would have someone that not only ruled the people perfectly, but we would have someone else who would stand in the gap between men and God.

 

Next slide. It led a lot of people to expect two messiahs. As a matter of fact, if you skim through, even in a bookstore, the extra-biblical writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls—39 books of the Old Testament, 38 of them represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and then a bunch of other books, a lot of them commentaries on the Old Testament biblical books. They were buried in the first century. They were written, most of them, between the third century BC and the first century BC, and we have all these Jewish books, and in them were a lot of writings anticipating two messiahs.

 

One day, we’ll have the ultimate king, and we’ll have the ultimate priest. There’s a book called The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. Very popular extra-biblical writing, and it went through every tribe of Israel, and we expected a Judaic king, messiah, someone from the line of Judah, and we expected a Levitical messiah, a coming great and perfect priest.

 

Two messiahs. You had a lot of people in the first century saying we want the messiahs to come.

 

Problem is, Jesus comes on the scene and claims to be the Christ. 532 times he’s called the anointed one, the one from God. And what he does is he claims that he is the ultimate revealer of God. He is the ultimate prophet. And he is the ultimate king from Judah and also the ultimate priest. And that’s where people scratch their heads. Well, I don’t know about that. We believe in the separation of church and state. We can’t have a religious leader and a political leader all in one office. We’re not sure that that’s right.

 

Enter the book of Hebrews to make it crystal clear to everyone that this is not a novel idea.

 

Next slide. This brings up what we’re here to talk about for a little bit tonight, the concept of Melchizedek. And before you turn to Psalm 110, I want to take you back to the first occurrence of Melchizedek in the scripture. And that is in the book of Genesis chapter 14. Let’s go back and find out who he is and how he enters the scene.

 

And if you know anything about biblical chronology, this happens in the life of Abraham. Is that before or after Moses? Before or after Aaron? Before or after David? It’s before all of that. We’re in the 19th or 20th century BC. We’re a long time before Moses. We’re a long time before Aaron. We’re a long time before the first king of Israel, Saul. And we have an encounter of Abraham with a guy named Melchizedek. Melchizedek.

1. That’s easy to remember too. Exodus 30. Genesis 14, 14. That was not on purpose.

 

Verse 14. By the way, if it’s long before all those, it’s not long, but at least three or four generations before two guys that would become very important as it relates to kings and priests, Judah and Levi. This is generations before Judah and Levi. This is their great-grandpa. Take a look at it.

 

Genesis chapter 14, verse 14. When Abram heard that his relative—that’s Lot, who’s a real piece of work, different sermon—he had been taken captive. Now, Abraham, he was such a good uncle that Abram, at this point, that was his name before it had been changed, chapter away, he said, I’m going to go out and get Lot back.

 

So he takes 318 trained men born in his household, and he went in pursuit as far as Dan, these enemy kings that had come after his nephew. During the night, verse 15, Abram divided his men and attacked them and routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions together with the women and all the other people. Amazing victory. Yay, Abram.

 

Verse 17. After Abram returned from defeating the king and all the kings that were allied with him, the king of Sodom—circle the word king—came out to meet him in the valley of Sheva. That’s the king’s valley. We’ve got a whole discussion about kings here.

 

Then Melchizedek. Now he’s clear to make sure that we understand he’s a part of this too, this royal line. Circle this word. He’s the king of Salem. He brought out bread and wine. Now look what else he was. He was a, what’s the next word? Priest of the Most High. And he blessed Abram saying, blessed be Abram by God Most High. El Elyon, creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God most high, who delivered you from your enemies into your hand.

 

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. He tithes part of the spoils of this war to this king. I mean this priest. I mean this king. What is he?

 

There are inscriptions, by the way. King is important. You circle that. Circle the word Salem. Salem. We have copies of ancient extra-biblical letters about this place and its earliest name, Salem. It was also known by the 15th century BC as Ur-U-Salem. Ur-U-Salem. Ur-U-Salem.

 

Which later became the word Jerusalem, which was later inhabited by the Jebusites, which was later conquered by David, which was later then a threshing floor set aside for the temple mount. And the wandering tabernacle came to be built by Solomon on that very temple mount, on that threshing floor, which now the Dome of the Rock Mosque occupies. And it sits there as the center of worship.

 

And God had in his providence, in his sovereignty, hundreds and hundreds of years, almost a thousand years before David took over that place, sent out a guy named Melchizedek, who was both king and priest, who functioned as a priest and king in the city that God had set apart for himself, Ur-Rusalem, Jerusalem. God had a plan.

 

It was not the separation of king and priest. It was the confluence of church and state, if you will. It’s England or America. But God’s plan was to have perfect political power and perfect religious power blended into one.

 

The writer of Hebrews goes, oh, so you’re looking for two messiahs? You need someone from Levi’s line and you need someone from Judah’s line? Let’s go back and talk about the founder of Israel. His name was Abraham, and he gave his spoils after war to a king slash priest.

 

There wasn’t two messiahs. There was one. At least in God’s mind, and if you’re wondering about it, here’s the passage we need to look at. It’s the one that the writer of Hebrews quotes, Psalm 110.

 

So let’s leave the historical narrative in Genesis 14 and look at Psalm 110. This is what is called a messianic psalm. It’s been quoted many times already in the book of Hebrews, and it’s a discussion about the coming anointed one, the one who’s had oil poured on his head, or another way to say it, one who’s been authorized by God.

 

And what you’ll find is that in Psalm 110, we have the blending of church and state, the blending of political leader and religious leader, Psalm 110.

 

This is verse number one, the superscript. It’s even in front of verse number one in our Bibles. In the Hebrew Bible, it’s not. That’s why the verses are always messed up when you’re studying your Hebrew homework and doing your translation. It never seems to match our English ones because the subscript, the superscript, if you will, rather, is a verse.

 

Here’s what verse zero says for us. It’s a psalm of David. David, the great king. David, the great king who God made a promise that his descendant, the son of David, would be the ultimate king. He would be the anointed one, the ultimate anointed one, the Messiah with a capital M.

 

Yahweh, here comes the psalm now, says to my Lord, that’s Adonai. Yahweh says to my Adonai. Adonai is Lord, boss, king, one in charge: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

 

Now this is hard to figure out, but you got the king with a crown on his head saying Yahweh, creator of heaven and earth, says to my Adonai, my Lord, you now, Adonai, come sit by the right hand of Yahweh until all the enemies of Adonai, the great king, are put under his feet.

 

Yahweh will extend, speaking now of Adonai, your mighty scepter from Zion. You will rule in the midst of your enemies. Does this sound political or religious? Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Political or religious? Political.

 

Arrayed in holy majesty from the womb of the dawn, you will receive the dew of your youth.

 

And Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a king forever.” Is that what it says? Correct me if I’m wrong. Priest.

 

Now, all of a sudden, we have a priest who’s also a king. Problem. No, not a problem. It was a plan, and it was based on the archetype of the priesthood and the kingdom. And that is in the order of, guess who? Melchizedek. He shows up again.

 

Now, Melchizedek was the confluence in an archetypal pattern of the ultimate king and the ultimate priest. Israel started to get confused. We need someone from the tribe of Levi and someone from the tribe of Judah. We need a priest. We need a king. And God says, I’m going to give you a priest and a king. Perfectly united.

 

There was a time, it’s an interesting, I’m quoting lots of extra-biblical writings and I apologize for that, but there is an interesting passage in 1 Maccabees 14. Aren’t you glad? It’s been a long time since you’ve heard Maccabees quoted in church.

 

Maccabees is a historical account of the intertestamental period and the point that in about chapter 14 we’re at about 150 BC before Christ. Judas Maccabeus led this revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes, and you know that may sound boring but it was a very dramatic battle. He wins.

 

His youngest brother is a guy named Simon. He’s the last living Maccabee. And Simon is a guy who takes now all the power, all the authority, all the accolades of all that has happened with his family, this great family, and he is now brought before the people.

 

And here’s what it says in 1 Maccabees 14:41. The Jews and all their priests were happy to have Simon Maccabeus and his descendants as their leaders and their high priests. And then this interesting phrase: until the true prophet appears. Simon shall govern their country and have charge of the temple and be the military commander.

 

In the intertestamental period, there were groups and pockets of people, even those in Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, who were saying, now, wait a minute, maybe there will be a unified prophet, priest, and king.

 

The writer of Hebrews goes, oh, yeah, there is. He’s Jesus, but he comes in the order of Melchizedek.

 

Back to Hebrews chapter five. If all of that’s a fog to you, which it wasn’t. No, it was crystal clear, wasn’t it?

 

Take a look at verse 11. This long-distance letter, or at least we think it is, this is beyond our text for today, but he says we have much to say about Melchizedek, about this. That’s the antecedent, Melchizedek. But it’s hard to explain because you’re slow to learn.

 

I’m not trying to make any application right now in this room. But what I am trying to say is if you start talking about Melchizedekian priesthoods, that’s a few layers deep than your average Sunday school flannel graph lesson, right? I mean, this is not your—they’re not teaching this in Awana, okay?

 

So what we’re saying here is, man, you got to really get a sense of what this is, and you need to know some history and some background and some theology.

 

He takes a pause right here in verse number 10, designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. He pauses, and he slams him for not growing up fast enough. Those will be fun sermons coming up after Tom comes next week.

 

And then he gets back to it. As a matter of fact, if you’ve got your Bible, turn to page chapter 7. It should have a heading that now again we talk about: Melchizedek.

 

So more to come. So all I’m saying, if this wasn’t enough, you’ll get more. And if it was too much, you’ll have a couple months to grow in chapter 6 so that you can get hungry for the Melchizedekian sermons coming up in chapter 7.

 

Because we’re going to take a little excursus along with the writer of Hebrews in chapter 6 to talk about our spiritual life and our spiritual growth, which should come, I trust, as a breath of fresh air. As a matter of fact, in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 6 in Hebrews, he talks about we don’t want to go and lay another foundation of all these elementary principles. We’re going to go and take at least two weeks to talk about those elementary principles.

 

So we’re going to have some easy weeks as we get into spring here. That’ll be great. After Easter, Lord willing.

 

Understand Christ’s qualifications. There’s more to it, and that’s coming. We’re going to do a whole series on Melchizedek coming up and why it’s important to us now.

 

But suffice it tonight to say, hey, we understand that he is the ultimate king and the ultimate priest. He is fully qualified to be our representative.

 

Verse 7, Hebrews 5:7. During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, which is a good translation of the idiom here, when he lived here on the planet, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.

 

What does that bring you back to in the life of Christ? What do you picture there? Gethsemane. And he was heard because of his reverent submission.

 

Although he was a son, verse 8, he learned obedience from what he suffered. And once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

 

Look at this again in verse number 7. This is an interesting discussion here about Jesus’ life on earth. Offering up prayers, petitions with loud cries and tears. And in verse number 8, he learned obedience from what he suffered.

 

All of this now goes to what we started to look at in verse number two. Look at verse number two. In verse number two, it said—we should get verse number one—high priest is selected from among men. He’s appointed to represent them in matters related to God. He’s able to, verse two, to deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray since he himself is subject to weakness.

 

That’s why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the sins of the people.

 

Now, all of a sudden, he says, this picture of this intercessor, that was good because in one way that intercessor could share in our weakness. He knew what it was like to be one of us. Oh, look, he even had to represent himself before God by giving sacrifices for his own sin.

 

Now we turn to Christ and we think, well, wait a minute, he’s not a sinner, so he can’t sympathize with us. Now, in our verses 7 through 9, he’s saying, no, no, no, wait a minute, he can.

 

He can because when he came from heaven to represent us, because only God could meet God’s standards, and that’s what was needed. He also took on complete humanity. And when he took on complete humanity, now all of a sudden he’s subject to all the weaknesses and frailties that we are. He also had to cry and he shed tears and he suffered.

 

2. Appreciate His Sympathetic Intercession

 

Number two on your outline. We need to, here it comes, appreciate his sympathetic—there’s the key word—intercession.

 

The point now is we do have a lawyer that’s going to plead our case before the Father, but here’s what you need to know. He feels your pain. In part because he’s like us in knowing the weaknesses of humanity. But more than that, he knows what it’s like to feel the effects of sin.

 

Oh, he’s not a sinner, but he knows what it is like to live in a world that is laden with sin and even to be the target of sin’s consequences. He knows what that’s all about.

 

But let’s clear this up if we can in verse number 7 and verse number 9. And I guess verse number 8 as well.

 

Look across page chapter 4. It’s ping pong preaching. Chapter 4, verse 14. We’ve got a high priest who’s gone through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

 

For we do not have a high priest who’s unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who’s been tempted in every way just as we are. Now underline this phrase. Four words: yet was without sin.

 

Did Jesus ever sin? No. The writer of Hebrews has just made that point.

 

Now back to chapter 5. I want to deal with two issues and get them out of the way before we look at the issue of empathy.

 

Verse 8, he learned obedience from what he suffered. That can be a disturbing statement because I’m thinking, I thought Jesus had never sinned. How can you learn obedience through the things you suffered if you didn’t have a string of defeat, right? Don’t you have to fail if you’re going to learn obedience? Answer, no.

 

Let me give you an example. I introduced you to a boxer. Here’s the greatest boxer to ever live. He’s undefeated. He’s undefeated. If I said, I got a boxer right here, he’s undefeated. And then I say this, he learned to win from all the things he suffered. His training taught him to learn to be a winner.

 

If I say all of his training taught him to learn to be a winner, you’d say, well, then he must have failed. No, he’s undefeated. He learned obedience. Every battle that he fought with sin, he learned to win through all the suffering that he went through. Doesn’t mean he’s failed. That’s one.

 

Secondly, look at this phrase in verse number eight—I’m sorry, verse number nine—“And once made perfect.” There’s a concern for people too. Made perfect.

 

Now, you know, I’m not playing tricks with words here because you’ve heard me preach on the word teleos a hundred times, right? There’s a Greek word in the New Testament, teleos, and it’s got a family of cognate words. This is the first cousin of the word teleos. It’s the same root. It’s the same basic word. Teleos.

 

Teleos is the word often translated perfect, but it’s the word that I’ve taught you to recognize in the New Testament as, ah, just right. And I often illustrate it by talking about how my dad was always really uptight about using the right tool for the right job. And when we were kids, we used the wrong tool for the wrong job, we are in big trouble. You always need the teleos tool for the right job. Use the right tool for the right job.

 

And what that means is that I’m making sure that it’s just right. The concept here is that he was made just right. For what purpose? To be our intercessor. To be able to do what he needed to do as high priest. He was made perfect.

 

If he was made perfect, does that mean he wasn’t perfect? That just means that in his life and his upbringing and his development, he was someone who was being made just right for the job. Doesn’t mean he was a sinner and doesn’t mean he’d failed.

 

And I only bring that up because I get a few people that are going to say, well, it looks like he sinned here. Well, it’s got to be against the backdrop of chapter four, verse 15. Clearly the writer of Hebrews doesn’t think Jesus had ever sinned.

 

And the concept of learning obedience from what he suffered. I got a prize fighter who’s never lost undefeated and he learned to win by all the things he suffered. Doesn’t mean he’s ever lost. And he was made teleos. He was made one who was just right for the job through all the things that he went through.

 

All right, enough of that. Side note. Let’s go back. Sympathy.

 

Are you glad that Christ can have sympathy for us as an intercessor? And the answer is yes.

 

My kids are now in Little League, which is a whole new world, right, of just all kinds of bizarre, interesting things that happen. And one thing that happens is we go out there and we watch these coaches—sorry coaches—coach our children playing baseball. Wow. Okay. I’m thinking it ain’t the World Series, right? But these coaches, they’re just, they’re dead set. I mean, they’re going to win, man.

 

I watched the coaches. Now we got a good coach. I’m not talking about our coach. If you know who our coach is, he’s a great guy. But there’s a lot of coaches out there that I’m watching, and I’m thinking to myself, I sure hope you know what it’s like to stand on the mound when everybody’s watching you and the pressure’s on you. I sure hope you know what it’s like to drop a fly ball. I sure hope you know what it’s like to stand with the bat on your shoulder and have that pitch coming at you. I sure hope you know what it’s like to feel the sting of getting beamed by a fastball.

 

I hope you know because when our kids are there and they’re hurting and they’re scared and they’re nervous, I hope you can sympathize with them because I don’t want anybody coaching my kid who hadn’t been in a little league, right?

 

That’s my out because I never played in a little league and I’m saying I ain’t coaching, right? So I got to rake the field or whatever I got to do. I don’t want some guy like me coming in there who doesn’t know what it’s like trying to tell these kids how to do it.

 

We have a high priest that can sympathize with us because he knows what it’s like, tempted in every way as we are yet without sin. He succeeded, okay? He never dropped ball, but he did know the sting of getting pelted with a fastball, and he knew what it was like to feel the nerves of all this. In his weakness, in humanity, he knew what it was like.

 

That’s all empathy, and that’s sympathetic, and that’s great, and that’s emotional, and that perhaps is spiritually encouraging.

 

I think of a song, I looked it up this week, that we used to sing when I was a kid in church, Does Jesus Care? Any of you old-timers remember this song?

Does Jesus care when my way is dark? With a nameless dread and fear, as the daylight fades into deep night shades, does he care enough to be near.

Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed to resist some temptation strong, when for my deep grief there is no relief, though my tears flow all the night.

Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed to resist some temptation strong, when for my deep grief there is no relief though my tears flow all the night long?

Oh yes, he cares.

Oh yes, he cares. Here’s the chorus coming up. I know he cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary and the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.

 

Now, I remember as a little kid singing that hymn in church and recognizing that I may wonder about an ethereal God who dwells in unapproachable light and some fire on the top of Mount Sinai, but I know that the flannel graph stories of Christ make me recognize that the person that I’m called to obey, my coach, has stood in the batter’s box and he knows what it’s all about. And yes, I know my Savior cares. That was a good old hymn for us to learn the fact that he is an empathetic God. So I’m grateful for that.

 

But you do recognize that the concern of the book of Hebrews, though it at times is to make me an encouraged person, fortified that God cares and that Christ has been there and he cares in an empathetic way, the real concern is forensic. The real concern is that I can’t have a high priest who is going to do anything about my case unless he is a part of my class. Only God could meet God’s requirements, and only man could pay the penalty for man.

 

I had to have someone who is laden with all the weaknesses of humanity. I had to have someone stand in the gap for mankind who is man, because the ultimate price to be paid is human life. It’s not dollars. If I have an $842 million debt with my bank, I hope I’ve got someone who can pay it off for me, and I’ll love them forever. If I have a debt before a holy God and the wages of sin is human death, then I sure hope I have someone to die in my place. And I can’t have God do that. I’ve got to have man do that.

 

See, that’s why the confluence of God and man— all God, all man, humanity, deity and humanity in perfect symmetry — that’s what Christ’s deity is all about. That’s who Jesus was. And so there’s an emotional empathy, but there’s a judicial representation that requires that he knows the weaknesses of my human life, the frailties of humanity. And it’s also required that he’s without sin.

 

In the days of Jesus’ life, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears. And if you have time, jot down Mark 14. It’s probably the best synoptic picture of what happened in Gethsemane. And I wish we had time for it, because we can get a lot from that. But what we need to know is that in verse number 9, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

 

He represented for God what I needed to pay God, and it’s not money. He doesn’t accept currency. He needed to see holiness punished in humanity. And the only way that could take place was for the lawyer to stand before the holy God and take the hit for me to grant me forgiveness.

 

Hebrews chapter 9, if you’re still in Hebrews, turn a few chapters later. Chapter 9, verse 25. The end of this chapter. What a great statement about him standing as our judicial forensic representative.

 

Just jump in the middle of this great discussion. Verse 25. He didn’t enter heaven to offer himself again and again the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Verse 26. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

 

You’ve got an $842 million debt. He’s got to do away with the debt of sin. How did he do that? By the sacrifice. The only way he could do it — by the sacrifice of himself.

 

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment — here it comes, court date set — so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. I hope you’re included in that. And he will appear a second time, not to bear sin — he’s already paid the debt — but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

 

He’s going to put his arm around us and say, “Hey, see the judge? He’s your friend. He’s been paid for. Justice has been settled. Into heaven we go.”

 

Judicial representation. Appreciate his sympathetic intercession. He intercedes and stands in the gap empathetically and sympathetically. He does it emotionally — we connect with him in prayer. And judicially, forensically, the debt is paid for me.

 

3. Obey Him as He Wins Our Case

 

Number three. Bottom of verse number 9. He became the source of eternal salvation — there’s this little phrase I want to deal with just for a couple of minutes — for all who obey him.

 

Box this one off. For all who believe in him. Is that what it says? For all who pray a prayer? For all who sign the little last line in the booklet of the gospel tract?

 

He’s become the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

 

Interesting way to put this. Context is the priesthood. The context is my representation before a holy God. The context is I’ve got a debt I can’t pay. I need a lawyer. Help me.

 

The context is Christ says, I can help you. I sympathetically help you. I perfectly help you. Now I’m thinking to myself, if I had a lawyer that said, I know how to deal with this problem of your $842 million debt with your lender. I know how to solve the problem, and I can solve the problem, I can take care of it, but here’s what I need you to do. Don’t apply for any more home equity loans in the next two weeks. Don’t go out and put any more credit cards on your credit report. Sign this power of attorney for me, because I’m going to need that in court. And pick up some Taco Bell on the way to my office.

 

If your lawyer says, I can get you out of this $842 million debt, are you going to open up a line of credit in the next two weeks? No. Are you going to sign the power of attorney papers? Yes. Are you going to pick up Taco Bell for him on the way to his office? Would you like a Diet Coke with that? I am going to obey him.

 

Because I’ve aligned my life with him, and I recognize he’s my only hope before a holy God.

 

There’s a lot of talk in the fourth chapter of Hebrews — and we’ve already studied it — on trusting him. We have to have faith. The 11th chapter is going to give us great examples of faith. What a wonderful preaching series we’ll have then about these great examples of faith.

 

But you do recognize that faith is one side of the coin. The other side is a word in the Bible that you know — that Jesus came preaching the gospel of God, and he had two words. He had the word faith, and he had the word repentance. He wanted people to repent.

 

And for all those that will stand up and tell you repentance is nothing more than just changing your mind about God and it’s just a synonym for faith, you need to read verses like this. Repentance is a change of direction in my life.

 

I got into this $842 million debt by doing things my way. The lawyer comes in and says, listen, I can fix your problem, but please obey me. And you know what? If I’ve really aligned myself with that lawyer, I will obey him. Perfectly? No. Sometimes I’ll get mild sauce when he wanted hot sauce. I don’t know. I’ll mess it up sometimes. But if he wants me to stop at Taco Bell, I’m stopping.

 

I will do it because you are my Savior. And if you’re my Savior in court, guess what? You’re also my Lord. I’ve got to be able to do what you say. That is the commitment that we have to Christ as repentant people.

 

First John chapter 2. Please turn to two more passages with me. I want to show you that obeying your lawyer is the hallmark of those that have retained him for representation. If you don’t obey your lawyer, then guess what? He’s not your lawyer. Because he’s going to represent you if you’re willing to cooperate. And cooperation is an analogous concept of repentance and faith. You trust me and you do what I say. Sign the power of attorney, please.

 

1 John 2:1. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin — which of course is a reality — we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense.

 

Isn’t that a great text? He is our intercessor. He is our — actually the Greek word here is our counselor, our parakletos — which is counselor not in terms of sit down, put your feet up on the couch, let’s talk about your mom, right? Counselor in terms of attorney at law. He is our counselor. Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

 

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He paid the $842 million debt for you. And not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

 

Verse 3. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

 

That’s not perfection. That’s direction. That’s trajectory. That’s alignment. If he is my advocate, my intercessor, my high priest, my king, then my life bends toward obedience. Not flawlessly. But genuinely.

 

Number three on your outline: Obey him as he wins our case.

 

He is going to win our case. He has already made the payment. One day I will stand before the tribunal of God. Not only have I been saved, I will be saved. When I stand before the judge, my defense lawyer will stand with me. And as he wins my case, as he pleads my case before the Father, I want to make sure I do what he says. That’s the commitment we need to have.

 

One last passage. This is the last text I’m going to turn you to. Romans chapter 8. I just want you to be confident. Nothing will help your obedience better than this. Nothing will help you walk the path of obeying your spiritual attorney like knowing that he is going to win. There is no doubt.

 

Romans chapter 8, verse 31.

 

What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

 

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life —is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

 

Do you see that? The very one who died for you is now standing at the right hand of the Father interceding for you. Who’s going to bring a charge? Who’s going to condemn? The judge is the one who sent the Son. The Son is the one who paid the debt. The Son is the one now pleading the case. You win.

 

Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Nothing.

 

The question is, do I trust him? And have I repented? Is he my lawyer?

 

And you’re not going to get there by minimizing the debt. You realize that? A lot of people say, “Well, it ain’t that bad. Not a big deal. God loves me. I know it’s fine.” This is not a lunch money problem. This is a debt so massive that it took the death of Jesus Christ to pay it.

 

There was a headline in the Chicago Tribune years back. It read, above a picture of a guy hugging what the caption said was his sister, “Guilty Plea Sets Prisoner Free.” Guilty plea. And you look at that and think, what in the world?

 

You read the article. It was a guy who had been in prison for eight years. The DA came to him and said, “If you’ll just plead guilty, we’ll let you out for time served.” So the deal was struck. All he had to do was come out and say, “I did it,” and he’d walk free.

 

Now the situation is a lot different, but the headline reads the same. You will not be freed from the penalty of your sin by hiring a lawyer and claiming your innocence. You have to come before the Father and lay down before the Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and plead guilty. It’s the only way.

 

If you plead guilty, that’s recognizing your sin. That’s admitting you owe a debt you cannot pay. You repent of your sin. You sign the power of attorney. You trust him.

 

Nothing will separate you from that arrangement. That contract is solid. It’s done.

 

Guilty plea sets prisoner free.

 

I hope that’s true for you.

 

Let’s pray. God, there are some here who aren’t sure about that. I pray that right now, after this discussion of the high priestly work of Christ in the order of Melchizedek, that there might be some here today who stop claiming they’re innocent, who stop thinking it’s not that bad, who throw themselves at the feet of our Advocate, our attorney, our lawyer, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and plead with him to represent their sin before the Father.

 

God, it’s not a time for manipulation. Not a time for altar calls or soft music. But if that’s a reality in someone’s life here today, I pray they would make that clear with you. State it. Sign the power of attorney. Sign over the fact that they are now going to listen to you — their King, their Savior, and their Lord. That you would be for them the anointed High Priest and the anointed King.

 

And God, that today would be a red-letter date on their calendar. That today would be the day they got their act together with you.

 

If that’s the case, God, I know they will tell their friends. I know they will tell people in their Bible study group. I trust they’ll tell people here at church. And we’ll see them one day in a baptismal pool, proclaiming their new life in Christ.

 

We look forward to that, God. Do your work in human hearts today.

 

And God, for those of us who have a clear testimony of when that took place for us, I pray we would celebrate the wonderful work that Jesus has done on our behalf. That nothing can separate us from the salvific, atoning work of Jesus Christ because he loved us and paid the penalty for us.

 

Thank you so much for this reminder.

 

In Jesus’ name, amen.