From Shadow To Substance: Aaron to Christ

0:00All right folks. Let's open up our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 5 and manual. Can I call on you to read scripture? Yeah. I just apologize ahead of time if I start coughing I can't help it. I'm just gonna do my best to get through this teaching today and that's why I'm asking manual to read so I don't have to. So it's chapter 5 verses 1 through 10. We root chapter 5 1 through 10. Chapter 5 verses 1 through 10.

1:04Okay and the Lord of God says, for every high priest taking from among men is appointed on behalf of men and things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Verse 2, he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided since he himself also is beset with weakness. Verse 3 and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins as for the people so also for himself. Verse 4, and no one takes the honor to himself but receives it when he is called by God. Even as Aaron was. Verse 5, so also Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest but he who said to him,

2:07you are my son. Today I have be got me. Verse 6, just as he says also in another passage, you are a priest forever according to the order of Mezzan. Verse 7, did I pronounce that right? Okay, so next. Verse 7, in the days of his flesh he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death and he was heard because of his p.a. Verse 8, although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered. Verse 9, and having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation. Verse 10, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Mezzan.

3:11Okay, Melchizedek. Good job. Thank you, brother. Lord, we pray for understanding that we would know our Savior better as a result of looking at this passage and by knowing him better we can love him better. We can appreciate him more. We can give him better praise and worship. So Lord, open up our eyes to behold the beauty of Jesus Christ, our high priest. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. The theme of the book of Hebrews is that Jesus Christ is superior. He's superior to the prophets, chapter 1, because he's God's final word to man. He's superior to angels because he is God made flesh. He is superior to Moses because he created Moses. He's superior to the Jewish high priests because those priests were only a shadow pointing to the substance which is Jesus Christ.

4:19And the title of this message is from shadow to substance, from Aaron to Christ. Aaron was the first high priest of Israel. So we're going to be taking a look at the Jewish high priests and the Old Testament and showing how they foreshadowed the perfect and ultimate high priest of the Church of Jesus. It's interesting that the book of Hebrews is the only New Testament book that explicitly teaches that Jesus Christ is our high priest. I didn't realize that till a few weeks ago. Now there are other books to tell us that he intercedes for us, but this is the only book that identifies him as our high priest in heaven. And this is the truth. This is one of the primary themes of this particular book, the book of Hebrews, that Christ is the high priest of his people. And we already started this extended discussion of Jesus as the high priest back in chapter four, maybe six weeks ago now, versus 14 to 16.

5:24He begins this long extended discussion of Jesus Christ as our high priest. He says, therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now that's not the end of his teaching on Jesus as the high priest. All of chapter five, well, chapter five versus one to ten, same thing. When we get to chapter five, verse 11, through all of chapter six, he goes off on a bunny trail. Because he knows he needs to deal with the spiritual stagnation of the people he's riding to. He needs to address that. And so for 11 to 14 of chapter five and all of chapter six, he's trying to exhort them to pursue their relationship with God and to go on.

6:30To leave the elementary doctrines that they had believed when they first came to Christ and to grow in their faith. But then when we get to chapter seven, it's all about Jesus the high priest, chapter eight, same thing, chapter nine, same thing, and half a chapter ten. So for four and a half chapters, the author wants to fill our minds with the glory of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. So that's what we're going to be today. And as I mentioned earlier today, the text this morning is not about you. It's not about me. The text this morning is all about Jesus. And that should fill you with rejoicing because that means that you and I get to know our Savior better. This text is all about him. And if we know him better, we can love him better. Amen, church. Don't you want to love your Savior? Well, that's what we're going to do as God helping us today. So as we look at verse chapter five, verses one to ten, it breaks itself up into two parts. Verses one to four talks about the Jewish high priest in the Old Testament. And verses five through, you know what folks, I am so sorry, I forgot about these.

7:37Yeah. Sorry, I had him and I didn't think to give him to you. Okay, so let me help you with that again. Verses one to ten, first four verses is about the Jewish Old Testament priest. You got that so far? Verses five through ten is about Jesus and how he is the fulfillment of the Old Testament high priest. Except he doesn't just fulfill it, he goes even further and greater than what we see in the Old Testament. Now, when the author of Hebrews wants to discuss the Jewish high priests, he talks about three aspects of this high priesthood. He talks about their work, their sympathy, and their appointment. So he lets those out for us in verses one through four. And then he starts to show us in verse five how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament high priest's work, sympathy, and appointment.

8:41Only he doesn't do them in that order, he does them in reverse order. He talks about the Old Testament high priest's work, sympathy, and appointment. And then he talks about Christ's appointment, sympathy, and work. And then he works backwards. But anyway, hopefully that gives you a little bit of an idea of how we're outlining this passage and how we're going to tackle it. So let's first of all talk about the work of the high priest. Verse one, for every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Now did you notice he begins this by saying every high priest taken from among men. That tells us he's not talking about Jesus yet. He's talking about the Jewish high priest of the Old Testament. They were taken from among men in order to serve as a high priest. So verses one to four is geared, it's focused on them.

9:46So just what was the work of a Jewish high priest? It says in verse one, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. The entire Jewish sacrificial system and priesthood was designed and created in order to deal with the problem of sin. The whole thing. Chapters and chapters in the Old Testament Bible are devoted to this, the sacrificial system and the priesthood of Israel. And all of it was designed by God to deal with sin. Unless the appropriate sacrifice could be offered, sinners could not approach God and they could not be accepted by God. The ordinary Jewish person could not offer sacrifices for their own sins. They were absolutely dependent on a priest to do it for them.

10:47Now they could bring an animal to the tabernacle or later to the temple. They could bring an animal there, but that's as far as they could go. They were not authorized to execute to kill that animal or to let his blood drip into the basin or to offer that sacrifice up to God as a sweet smelling aroma to God. They couldn't do any of those things. All they could do is bring their animal. They were absolutely dependent upon this man, this mediator who stood between them and God to offer the appropriate and correct sacrifice for sin. Thank you, brother. You see, sin had separated the people from God. And innocent life had to be taken because of that. Blood had to be shed because of that in order to enable the people to be accepted by God. And I think in the back of the author's mind here is a particular sacrifice which he would offer on the day of atonement because in chapter 9, the whole chapter is dealing with the day of atonement.

11:54I think probably in his mind when we come to chapter 5, that's what he's thinking about is this day of atonement. And that's important because the word atonement, if a Hebrew word is cofar, K-A-P-H-A-R, and it means to cover. So the day of atonement was to cover, to cover sins. So on the day of atonement, the high priest would offer sacrifices for sins so that the sins of the people of Israel would be covered over. And therefore, God could continue to dwell in the midst of His people and not break out in wrath to consume them. He could dwell among His people because their sins were being covered over. However, this covering was temporary. It didn't last that long. It had to be repeated one, 365 days later, every single year on the same day it had to be offered again and again and again. Never stopped, which tells you it was not effectual to actually remove sins.

12:59It covered them so that God could dwell amongst His people and He could still have a relationship with His people, but it didn't permanently deal with the problem of sin. That's where the work of Jesus Christ is far different than the work of the high priest. You see, for them, in the Old Testament, it was like putting a bandaid over a sore. The sore never went away, but it covered it over. God covered over their sins like a bandaid, but the sore was still there. The problem was still there. In fact, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 4 says, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. It can't take them away. It just temporarily covered them. And the sacrifice of those animals taught the people several really important things. It taught them the devastating cost of sin. And it prepared them to receive their Savior Jesus Christ when He appeared as the once and for all perfect sacrifice for sin. So all of these animal sacrifices were foreshadowing the great and ultimate and perfect one that would ever be given on behalf of God to sinners, and that was the person of Jesus Christ.

14:09Who had no flaw on him, remember these Old Testament priests had to offer sacrifice for himself. Jesus didn't have to do that because He had no sin of his own. He was the perfect sacrifice offering himself on behalf of his people to redeem them. Now let's look at Christ, the true high priest, and let's look at His work. When Jesus Christ comes into the world, there is a work He has to do. He must save His people from their sins. He must give His life as a ransom for many. He must give His life for the sheep. So let's look at verse 8 and 9. Although He Jesus was a son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, and having been made perfect, we'll get to that in a minute. He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. Now there's our text, the work of Christ. Because of Christ's work, He became the source of not a temporary covering for sin, but eternal salvation from sin.

15:18That's what Jesus accomplished. But there are several things in these two verses that are confusing. When I read them, I was confused. And so let's go over those. How did Jesus learn obedience from the things which He suffered? That's the first question. Verse 8. Jesus was put in situations in which He had to make the decision to obey His Father, even when it meant great suffering for Him. Rather than to give into temptation, He had to face suffering to obey the will of the Father. So Jesus as a man, learned obedience by suffering the consequences of obeying the Father rather than disobeying Him. If I told you, hey, let's say this is 25 years ago, hey, my kids are so obedient. I'll prove it to you. Kids, eat your ice cream. What would you think? Are they being pretty obedient?

16:18See, look how well they obey. They're eating their ice cream. Well, if I told them, kids, stop playing your video game and go clean up your room. That'd be a different story. See, obedience can be very costly. In Jesus' learned to obey the will of His Father was extremely costly. In fact, you and I, we cannot. We will never be able to really understand the depth of the suffering of Jesus Christ. It wasn't just physical, folks. It goes way beyond the physical being nailed to a cross. There was infinite spiritual suffering that we can't enter into because we don't understand it. We can't comprehend it. But it's so deep that Jesus said that He was on the point of death the night before He went to the cross. And His soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. He felt like He was dying, just contemplating what was ahead of Him. So what does it mean when it says He was made perfect?

17:19Although He was a son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered and having been made perfect. Wait a minute. Does that mean Jesus was not perfect before? Does that mean He was morally imperfect? Was Jesus somehow sinful? Well, that's impossible because the same writer has already told us in chapter 4 verse 15 that He was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. So there was no moral imperfection in the person of Jesus Christ. So what is this mean? Having been made perfect? Well, I think the key for that is that this word perfect can mean to be made complete. And in order for Jesus to become our complete and perfect Savior, He had to go through great suffering and ultimately die upon our cross for our sin. But by obeying the Father in every instance, even unto death, Jesus became our complete Savior, our perfect Savior. He was made a perfect Savior because He was willing to follow the will of the Father even though it meant infinite suffering to Him.

18:25Now what was the point of all the suffering in anguish Jesus had to endure? Verse 9. Having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation. That was the work of Christ. The work of the Jewish High Priest was to provide gifts and sacrifices for sin. Just temporary foreshadowings of the great one, the perfect one, the ultimate one. Jesus Christ comes into the world as the true High Priest. Every single other High Priest that has ever lived was pointing to Him. Just like a shadow points to the reality of the person standing there. Here comes Jesus into the world. He's the one. They've all been looking forward. Every lamb that has ever been slaughtered, every goat, every bull, every pigeon, every animal, ever sacrificed and bloodshed pointed to this one who comes into the world as a great sacrifice for sin. That is your Savior, church. And He did not shrink from the Father's will, although we can't imagine what that meant for Him.

19:38So Jesus's work was to offer Himself as the ultimate, final and perfect once for all sacrifice for sin. And He doesn't just cover over sins once a year and have to do it again. He doesn't just put a bandaid on our sins. He heals the deadly wound absolutely and completely by what He accomplishes on that cross. Chapter 1 verse 3 says, he made purification of sins. Chapter 9 verse 12, he obtained eternal redemption. Chapter 9 26, he put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Chapter 9 verse 28, he bore the sins of many. Chapter 10 verse 14, by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. You see what he did was not, it was not a halfway measure. And you have to make up the rest by your obedience and by your works and by your efforts.

20:44What he did, he died for all sin, past, present, future for his people for all time. And he did away with them. He perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But wait a minute, is there a catch to all of this? Because we're told in verse 9, he became to all those who obey Him, the source of eternal salvation. Ho, what if I'm not obedient enough? How do I know if I have obeyed him well enough so that he is the source of my eternal salvation? You see the difficulty that you might struggle with this in this verse? Well let's think this through. Is our salvation conditioned on the perfection of our obedience to God? Oh no, it's not. How does a personal obey the gospel? What is the gospel? And if you were to boil it down to two words, what is it? What does gospel mean? Good news.

21:50Good news. What a ghost God. It means good news. Well if someone gives you some good news, how do you obey that good news? You receive it. You accept it. You accept it. You believe it. You cling to it. You hold fast to it. And if there's anything trying to get you away from that good news, you turn away from that and you turn to the good news instead. So Jesus became to all those who obey Him, who obey his gospel. Remember the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 5 talks about that he's the apostle that brought about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, the obedience of faith, I think is what we're speaking about here in verse 9. That's how we obey him. We believe we accept this gospel. We receive it. We base our entire eternity upon it. We don't put one, one ounce of reliance upon anything else other than this good news of what God has done to save sinners and the person of his son Jesus Christ.

22:56In Mark 1 15, Mark starts off as gospel and he says the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel. Well that's very much I think what we're reading here in Hebrews repent turn away from from anything that will take your eyes off of this good news turn away from that and fasten your soul completely upon the good news of what God has done in his son to die for your sins and rise from the dead. And rise from the dead for your glorification. Scripture says for by grace. I love that song we read or saying this morning about the grace of God. That's where it all comes down to. I hope the word grace is sweet to you Christian. Is it a sweet thought that God has had grace towards you grace is unmerited favor we don't deserve it folks there's not a person in this room that deserve one lick of the grace of God we're undeserving sinners and God has bestowed his unmerited favor upon us though we did not deserve it that's what grace means.

24:05By grace you have been saved through faith so the means is faith the human means is faith the divine substance that brings us about is the grace of God divine grace human faith. And that he says not of yourselves it's the gift of God so it cannot be the reward for obeying because that would mean that it's no longer a gift that would mean that God is paying us back for doing something for him. This the Scripture speaks about salvation being a gift a gift from God. And he says not as a result of works so that no one may boast. So Jesus Christ is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him by trusting him and turning from anything that would keep them from trusting him. The work of Jesus is similar to the work of the high priest in the Old Testament but is far greater far better aren't you glad you live on this side across and not that side we with a we you know hindsight's 2020 is everything we can we can do.

25:19We can see clearly what God was doing through all those centuries leading up to the cross of Jesus Christ. So have you responded in faith the obedience of faith to the gospel of Jesus Christ have you relied your entire soul 100% upon him and in him alone. That's the question every one of us this morning needs to answer and the correct answer is yes if you have not done that do that this morning put all your alliance and trust and confidence in him alone. Secondly the sympathy of the high priest first two the Jewish high priest here the Jewish high priest was just a sinner he says in verse two he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided since he himself was a priest. He himself also is beset with weakness the Jewish high priest was able to deal gently with other ignorant Jews misguided Jews because he knows that he himself has weaknesses he can relate with them he understands their weaknesses he was a sinner like them.

26:32So he could deal gently with those are ignorant and misguided now turn your attention to Jesus Christ the true high priest. He can also sympathize with his people and we've already read that back in chapter four verse 15 we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin he sympathizes the word means he suffers with you. He enters into your suffering with you sympathizes but there is some text here in chapter five that goes a little bit deeper and helps us to understand how Jesus can sympathize with his people. In the days of his flesh that's Christ's flesh he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death and he was heard because of his piety.

27:32Now this is talking about the garden of the Gesemini you're familiar right you remember that on the night before Jesus died he went to the garden he prayed he took three of his disciples with him then he went further a stones throw away he fell down on his knees and he prayed again and again and he was praying father let this cut pass from me. If it is possible let this cut pass from me yet not my will but yours be done. I'll read the text to you it's Matthew 26 38 and 39. Jesus said my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death and I think we need to take him seriously when he says this he's not just using what do you call it when you exaggeration he's not just exaggerating the point I think Jesus is telling truth his soul was deeply grieved to the point of death and he says to these three disciples remain here and keep watch with him.

28:32He's not just saying this is what he's doing with me and he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed saying my father if it is possible let this cut pass from me yet not as I will but as you will and if we were to go over to Luke 22 43 to 44 Luke puts it a little different he says an angel from heaven appeared to him strengthening him evidently Jesus contemplating what he was about to go through did not have the strength and he needed to do that. He was an angel to come to support him in that hour in his humanity he was he was faltering he was I don't want to misspeak and so I'm very careful when I try to explain this because I don't understand it but I know that an angel strengthens them and he wouldn't come if he didn't need him. Jesus was on the point of going to this cross and he was without strength and being an agony. He hasn't even gotten nailed to the cross yet and he's an agony. He was praying very fervently and his sweat he's sweating as he has this is a nighttime and he's sweating and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

29:45You see the agony of soul that this man is under as he contemplates the horrors of what is going to mean for him to become sin to bear the sins of many. To be estranged from his father we don't get it but he did. Now the verses we just read don't speak about loud crying in tears like Hebrews 5.7 does but it fills us in that that's what was happening. Jesus he was crying loudly with tears as he contemplates the horror of what he's it's like he sees what's in this cup it's not just it's not just grape juice it's poison. Poison that is going to destroy him from the inside out and he says father if there's any way if it's possible don't let me don't make me drink this cup but he ends up drinking it down to the last drags of that cup.

30:47Because it was not possible for us to be redeemed and Jesus not drank the cup the cup here is the cup of the father's wrath Jeremiah 2515 and Revelation 1410 speak about the cup of the wrath of God. So Christ was able to peer into that cup and see what he would have to endure by drinking it and in his humanity he shrank Lord if it's possible don't make me do it I don't want to drink the cup. Yet not as I will that's where his victory came he was able to say yet not as I will but as you will wow there's your savior church talk about a hero talk about courage talk about divine love that we cannot understand that's our savior not as I will but your will be done father.

31:54Did his father save him from death in verse 7 it says he with these loud crying in tears he cried out to the one able to save him from death and God heard him but God didn't save him from death he went to the cross he died. Because it was impossible for the father to reconcile us to himself and save his son from death. The point is Jesus understands our struggles and pain and temptations and trials because he faced far greater ones than we ever will. He can relate to you he can sympathize with you he can enter into your suffering he knows what it's like to be a human being and suffer greatly. Okay let's look thirdly at the appointment of the high priest first of all the Jewish high priest first four no one takes the honor to himself but receives it when he's called by God even as Aaron was.

33:08So a Jewish child didn't tell his mom and dad I think when I grow up I'm going to become a high priest. You didn't get to make that choice no one could just sign up I I've volunteered to be the next high priest. You know that looks like a pretty good job I'd have lots of power lots of people underneath me it come with a lot of prestige I'd get to wear all those fancy clothes the high priest gets to wear yeah I think I'll be a high priest when I grow up. There were a couple of people in the Bible that took on them the role of a high priest even though they weren't one let me remind you of those King Saul there was a time for Samuel chapter 13 when Saul was the King and the Philistines were coming against them with this vast army and he was afraid and he wanted God's blessing on the battle to come and he was waiting for Samuel who was the priest to show up and offer the sacrifices to hopefully get them in God's favor so they'd win this battle and Samuel was late.

34:23So you remember what it's all dead he went and offered to animal sacrifices himself but he wasn't a priest he had no right no authority to offer those sacrifices and as a result when Samuel showed up he said God has torn the kingdom away from you and he's going to give it to somebody else he lost the kingdom because he tried to act like a priest when he wasn't one that was house serious it was to just volunteer you. Just volunteer yourself into a role like this you can only be called by God that's it there's another guy his name is King Uzziah he entered the temple to burn incense do you remember what God did to him he smote him with leprosy made him a lepper because he would dare to presume to enter the house of God and offer sacrifices or burn incense which is only the priestess to do that. So no you couldn't volunteer you couldn't just say I'm going to become a high priest you had to be called by God in order for this to happen and Exodus chapter 28 God calls Aaron to be the first high priest of Israel and gives us all of the circumstances surrounding that initial appointment of Aaron to be the high priest but now let's turn our attention to Jesus Christ he also did not volunteer for this job he was appointed by his father for this role.

35:51First five so also Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest but he who said to him you are my son today I have begotten you just as he says also in another passage you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek when we get to chapter 7 we'll really get into some detail about Melchizedek and what that means and how how Christ is of the order of Melchizedek. But you see that the father is one telling his son you are of the order of Melchizedek you are a priest forever so it was the father's appointment of his son to this role. Jesus willingly accepted he didn't do it against his will but he was appointed by the father. God the father chose and called his son to become the high priest of his people Jesus did not glorify himself the father glorified him and gave him this work and this office.

37:05So this did not originate the authority to do this did not originate with Christ it originated with his father it didn't originate with some other human being. The scriptures are clear that God called his son to this role now I'm going to I'm going to go off on a little bit of a buddy trail now it's related but I as I study this I felt compelled to try to make application at this point. Christ was called to this he didn't appoint himself to this and within the church today there are people that are appointing themselves to positions of apostles and prophets especially within the charismatic wing of the evangelical church that's what I'm aware of there might be other. I'm not aware of anything like that happens in orthodoxy or Catholicism but it is happening with an evangelical Christianity and I think it's dangerous and it's something that we need to be aware of so that we're not deceived and fooled by it.

38:07People are self appointed apostles or maybe somebody else appoints them another human being the problem is that's not good enough if you were to be an apostle you were appointed by God himself. In fact in first Corinthians 9 Paul says am I not an apostle have I not seen Jesus my Lord so when he felt one of the call of prerequisites of being an apostle was to see Jesus is Lord and that makes sense because the 12 that Jesus appointed lived with him for a number of years of course they saw him they ministered with him they traveled with him from his baptism to the time when he was taken up. And when they when Judas defected and they had to appoint another one they said we've got some prerequisites if we're going to choose someone they have to be someone who was with us and with the Lord from his baptism to the time he was taken up and they chose one like that. However there are many people today who are calling themselves apostles and prophets who have not seen the Lord nor were they present when Jesus ministered on the earth now the Mormon church the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have appointed 12 men that they called 12 modern day apostles.

39:24I think that fits with with what we're looking at here that they they have been appointed by man not by God but it gets much closer to home because even in our own state of California where we live if you go to southern California you're going to find a woman by the name of Catherine Crick who is she calls herself an apostle appointed by a man in Africa 10 10 Zinea Dr. Gier Davie who supposedly imparted to her this anointing whatever that means and me to her she has a whole book about it so it's very important to her and he gave it to her he took the appointing anointing that he had and he gave it to her she came to California started a church she's become very popular over social media but she is either self appointed or a man appointed person calling themselves an apostle.

40:24The the really grievous thing about it is that both the one who appointed her Gier Davie and her accept praise and I would call it worship from their followers. Gier Davie accepted this giant golden statue of himself from his church followers and he wears a crown and he rides in a helicopter and they roll out this purple red carpet for him so his foot never touches dirt. He they treat him like a God she on her birthday had all these people come up to her to give her gifts and they were everyone bows down at her feet while she puts her hand on them and she accepts it she puts her hand on them and blesses them and they say things like this is verbatim quote I love you so much thank you for laying down your life that we might live and does that sound a little odd to you. That sounds off I'm glad you know that sounds off so no no but she's not the only one folks there's a whole movement within evangelical charismatic Christianity called the new apostolic reformation and this is the big thing they believe that apostles and prophets are being appointed and are coming into the church and that they the church needs them every church need to have apostles over them that kind of thing.

41:47And among these people I just mentioned some names I don't know if you are familiar with these guys or not but all of them are either known as an apostle or a prophet Rick joiner Cindy Jacobs see Peter Wagner Bob Jones Chris valeton of Bethel church and redding and Greg lock if you watch much YouTube and you like to okay you guys watch preaching watch out because these guys can be all over your social media. We just need to be aware and and not just aware but we need to just ignore that side of Christianity because it's not it's not from God. The people are not being appointed as modern day prophets and apostles at least in my understanding the reason I say that is because Ephesians 220 says that apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church Jesus is the chief cornerstone. Now when you build a house when do you lay the foundation first thing you do right now once you build the superstructure on top of that foundation you tear down and build another foundation later every few years to keep building another foundation well that's what they're doing if these if apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church and it's been laid once for us in the apostles that Jesus Christ appointed we don't need modern day apostles.

43:14The modern day apostles to come along and with this great authority the problem with this is that they believe that they exercise is great affording over not just one church but many churches. Now do we have people today that functions similarly in some ways to apostles in the first century yes missionaries do they plant churches which is what one of the functions of a first century apostles. The first century apostle would do he would plant churches like the apostle Paul so there's some similarities in some things that people do today do we have people today who can stand and speak words of edification, exhortation and consolation. Yeah we saw that in our own church today but that doesn't make them a prophet that the church is built upon. Is there any difference? I think the danger is in granting any people power to exalt themselves over the church because I think I fear that they will manipulate and exploit that for financial gain and for power.

44:22The leader chapter 2 has a whole chapter devoted to this he says false prophets will arise and that's exactly what they're going to do they're going to exploit you with false words they're going to be sexually deviant and immoral. I could list names of people you all could do this right this happens more often than we would like to to imagine so we just need to be aware of it so that we're not sucked in by it. Back to our text actually back to a conclusion. I've got three lessons I want to leave you with from our text today. Number one Jesus Christ is a perfect savior that's the first thing I want you to take away with you he is a perfect savior he is the source of eternal salvation. His work on the cross did not just cover sin temporarily like a bandaid but it healed the wound and that wound's never coming back.

45:22All of our sins past present and future were dealt with by Jesus on the cross and his work is finished he doesn't I mean he does continue to intercede for us but the work of suffering and dying on our behalf is done never to be repeated again. And that's why Hebrews 4 10 says that we rest from our works because he already did them all. Jesus did all the works necessary your works are not necessary to add to his in order to make his work effectual he did it all all to him IO sin had left a crimson stain he washed it wide as snow. We are saved by grace through faith his works are sufficient that's why I do not believe in the doctor of purgatory because that tells us that after we die we've got to go suffer some more before we can get into heaven that means Christ work on the cross is not sufficient to get you to heaven you got to suffer some more after you die that to me that's an abominable doctrine.

46:23Any any doctrine that teaches you that the Lord suffer as a propitutory sacrifice that he continues to offer himself as a sacrifice again and again and again in the communion is I believe a false doctrine Christ his already done it Christ died for sins once for all first Peter whatever it is three nine or something once for all the just for the unjust in order to bring us to God it's done it's completed. And whenever we think that we need to add something of our own works to his in order to make his good enough it's like a little kid with a crayon putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa thinking he's going to improve that that masterpiece we just mess it up we we totally destroy it by trying to add something of our own his works in and of themselves were perfect. So when I want to exhort you to this morning is to trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding if you want to be a Christian my friend you have got to renounce trusting in yourself there must be zero percent trust in yourself if someone asks you why do you think you're going to heaven if you say it was because I'm a good person I've got a good heart God knows my heart I try to treat people the way I.

47:43I want to be treated myself you know you come up with all these reasons at all point back to you it shows me you're not trusting in him the only legitimate answer is why am I going to heaven because Christ died from my sin I'm a sinner I've got no right to heaven no right to forgiveness of sins Christ paid at all my only hope you know you talk about people putting all their eggs in one basket and we're told and we're supposed to diverse diverse of I when we get older and we want to. Sure we have money when we finally retire in the Christian life you don't diversify you put everything in Christ not 99% 100% in Jesus Christ and if I would just urge you if you have never become a Christian and there may be folks here this morning it's not like you got to go out and do all these wonderful great things you need to turn the affections of your heart and put your trust in what Jesus accomplished for you.

48:43Are you willing to do that my friend are you willing to turn away from your supposed good works and you're good heart and all of that stuff and put all of your hope and confidence in what Jesus Christ accomplished if you will do that now you will be saved now and I'm urging you to do that please Christ for the love of God for the love of your own soul I mean be a little selfish right now you are going to die and spend eternity in hell unless you put your faith in Jesus Christ do it trust him walk with him. Okay let's go to the next lesson Jesus Christ is a sympathetic savior he understands you he understands your weaknesses and we all have them every single one of them of us here have sins that we have not fully conquered that sometimes get the best of us he understands that he understands the temptations that rip us apart

49:46and you know what he doesn't condemn you there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus are you in Christ Jesus you're not condemned even though you are not yet perfected even though you fall sometimes to temptations you are not condemned I love that song we sang earlier that in the cross through the cross we are flawless is that close to it? I love that we're flawless he sees us like he sees his own son we are in Jesus Christ the perfect one and he sees Christ he's a sympathetic savior and rather than condemn us for our weaknesses and the temptations that we face he urges us to draw near that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

50:46So instead of our sin causing us to stay away out of shame out of guilt the biblical exhortation is drawn here do not stay away he loves you you're not condemned if you were in Christ Jesus draw near find mercy and grace to help in time of need it when you sin you're in a time of need that is the worst thing you can do is to stay away from Christ at that hour run to him with all your heart lay yourself out before him confess your sins to him ask for his mercy again he will not abrade you he loves you he loves to show his forgiveness to his children and if some of you are feeling shameful or guilty this morning come to him come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Jesus said come to him come to him third lesson from this passage Jesus Christ shows us the true purpose of prayer I want to show you that now you and I kind of instinctively think that the purpose of prayer is to get God to do what we want him to do

52:06right we go to guide him prayer because I've got something I want him to do and I'm going to tell him about it so they'll do it I didn't Jesus ask his father to do what he wanted on one hand yeah he said father if it's possible remove this cup that's what Jesus wanted because he saw what it was going to cost him but Jesus went a little bit further and he said nevertheless not what I will but what you will after this intense and lengthy time of prayer the father made a crystal clear to Jesus that he had to drink the cup I think it was through prayer that this was solidified in Jesus' mind and he had this firm conviction that he had to drink the cup he started off praying and he did it three times after three times he knew God had spoken God had revealed this is what I am requiring you to do my son

53:13and from then on there was no question he was absolutely yield yielded and submitted to his father's will from that moment on so through prayer the father's will was made clear to Jesus Jesus submitted to his father's will and then he allows himself to be arrested condemned suffer and die from that point on but it's a little confusing because it says that Jesus was heard because it was not a good thing because of his piety right verse 7 he offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying in tears to the one able to save him from death and he was heard because of his piety God heard Jesus's prayers but did not answer them in exactly the same way Jesus asked right Jesus asked him to remove the cup the father didn't do it but God heard him and God strengthened him he sent an angel to strengthen him

54:13and that's the same way with us many times folks you go to prayer and you say God this is what I want you got your laundry list of things you're shopping list I want this and this you know when you think about it that way prayer can be so selfish can't it it's all about me but when Jesus taught us to pray he said how were father who art in heaven how would be your name he starts with God exalting God holy be your name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is heaven he's praying for God's will and God's kingdom and God's name to be exalted in the earth that's that's the heart of a true Christian he loves God and he wants God's will to be done and then yeah he gets around to give us this daily bread but it's not the first thing on his heart and you know our requests sometimes don't line up with God's will

55:18and so it's only wise and good for God to deny those requests when they don't line up with his will is anyone here ever had a crush on somebody and prayed and oh God please make that person my wife 20 years later you look back and think oh God thank you that you didn't let that person be my wife right because God knows so much better than we do we we think we know what we want and God doesn't God knows what we really need yes Scott that's true and Scott's absolutely right sometimes it's no I'm not going to do that but I am going to do this over here instead so the purpose of prayer is not to get God to do it I want but to align my will with what he wants do you hear that let me repeat that again the purpose of prayer is not to try to get God to do what I want him to do although sometimes he will do that but it's ultimately to align my will with God with God's will

56:23so prayer is not just about here's my list of things I want from you God and please have him here by Friday it's not that at all what happens if a person only prays to get God to do what they want him to do when God decides not to give them what they wanted they'll start praying because they'll say well that didn't work I prayed nothing happened I guess I'm not going to pray anymore prayer doesn't work well prayer is not about that yes you can bring your supplications to God but prayers a lot deeper and a lot bigger than just getting your supplications met by God prayer is a relationship with God and you want to develop that relationship and the only way we can do that is by having a relationship talking how do you have a relationship with anybody you talk with them right you communicate they share their thoughts with you you share your thoughts with them you get to know them they get to know you that's what it is with God you get to have to get to know him and prayer is the vehicle God has given us to foster this relationship

57:25so it's not primarily about getting all your dreams met and coming true it's about you getting to know God so prayer is a beautiful glorious vehicle for coming to know a deeper relationship with God I think I think that's good enough for this morning I'm going to stop there may God help us to trust in our Savior draw near to our Savior and learn from our Savior this morning pour out your spirit upon your people Lord and help us to make advances Lord review us and correct us discipline us when necessary Lord we pray that we might be the people you want us to be Lord there's so much in this passage help us just to be enthralled with a view of the beauty of our Savior as our perfect high priest

58:26we thank you Lord that we can approach you with no condemnation and that your work has been accomplished and that we can just enjoy God we can be reconciled to our Father in Jesus name amen