We went “mining” during our camping trip this past week.  In my last sermon, I joked about the place to go on vacation is the beach. Well, God has a sense of humor because I was originally planning to be at the beach over fall break. As I found myself camping in Kentucky, I realized I needed to apologize to all you mountain people because I didn’t think there was anything worse than the mountains. We had a great time actually! Our campground had an activity where the kids could go “mining”. It consisted of pre-made bags that the kids learn to sleuth through. They pulled out all of these cool rocks and gems from the dirt. As they went through their new found treasures, they didn’t take a moment to think about where the gems or rocks came from. And just so you know, I don’t take every  opportunity to preach to my kids…I actually let them be kids sometimes. But you are not off the hook today!

As I thought about the process of how those rocks and gems got into those bags, I thought about the business that assembled the bags. I thought about the people who mined them from the earth. And I thought the about the Creator who put in them in the earth. While my kids marveled at their gems, I marveled at the source of their gems. Today, we reach a passage in Hebrews that calls us to do the same with our lives. We reach a passage that calls us to marvel at the source of our lives. We reach a passage that calls us to marvel at the source of salvation. Today, we see a theological truth that needs to permeate in your heart. Jesus is the only one who could become our source of salvation. Go ahead and turn to Hebrews 5. We are in our current Sermon Series: The Book of Hebrews - The Complete Work of Christ. I feel like the book of Hebrews has been like a mining expedition. It’s tough work, but the gems that are in there are marvelous. Let’s open up God’s Word with expectancy. Read Hebrews 5:1-10. Pray.

We got introduced last week to the concept that Jesus is our High Priest. What we see in our passage today is what it took to be a priest in the Old Testament. And then we see that Jesus exceeded every requirement needed to be a priest, specifically the High Priest. I want us to start this morning by looking at what was required to be an Old Testament priest. And more importantly, why that matters to us. Here’s where we start: We all crave acceptance.

1) We all crave acceptance. (vs. 1) I think a fair question we can all ask is “what does an Old Testament priest have to do with me?”[1] And “what does an Old Testament priest have to do with acceptance?” What was the purpose of a priest in the Old Testament? We touched on this last week, but I want us to go a little deeper this week. We see a general answer in verse 1: ¹ Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins. A priest would offer a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. There is a whole priestly, sacrificial system in the Old Testament. Certain animal sacrifices would atone for certain sins. The job of a priest would to be a representative for the people to God. A priest was a bridge builder for people to God. People did not have direct access to God. In particular, the high priest, held the highest religious position. The high priest was the only one permitted to enter a special place in the temple. He was allowed to enter only one time a year on a special day. This place, which was veiled off for anyone to see, is where God would allow His presence to be among His people. A special sacrifice would be made on this one day to atone for the sins of people. It was called the day of atonement. If you lived in the Old Testament as part of God’s nation, there was a whole system established where one man would be your representative before God. 

Now, back to the question, “What does this have to do with me?” We have to go back to the garden of Eden to get an even deeper understanding. Do you remember what happened in the garden with Adam and Eve? They sinned against God. And what did they immediately recognize about themselves? They were naked and needed to be clothed. They felt shame and guilt and wanted to cover it up. They knew they were disconnected from God. Since that moment in the garden of Eden, all humans have been feeling the shame, guilt, and disconnection. We are all born into sin and born disconnected from God. Everyone, whether they realize or not, is trying to cover themselves up and earn approval. Everyone is trying to find something or someone that brings connection and validation. Everyone is trying to build a bridge to worth and acceptance. What every person does, knowingly or unknowingly, is creating their own type of priestly system. 

You can look back on the Old Testament and read about the priests and sacrifices and think, “I’m glad we don’t do that anymore,” but without Jesus, you are actually caught in the same system. Without Jesus, we are all caught in the system of seeking approval and acceptance. Your mind may deny this need, but your heart knows it fully. Illustration: As a kid, I wanted to get approval from an older neighborhood kid. I would go out and play baseball with him. I’d lose and go back into the house upset. I wanted to win and I wanted his approval. The reality is that kind of mentality doesn’t change when we enter adulthood. We are still craving the acceptance of a spouse, a parent, a parent who has passed away, a boss, a pastor, a sibling, and even just a community that exists around us. We all crave acceptance. So, we look back and read about a high priest who was the only one who had access to God and a group of people that wanted acceptance, approval, and access – and we see that we are just like them. We all crave acceptance – lasting acceptance – which only comes from God. 

The problem we see in verse 1 is that acceptance from God comes through another human. There is not direct access to God. Now, God loves His people and wants direct access with them. God created a way for us to have direct access and direct acceptance through Jesus. What was established in the Old Testament priestly system was an extremely high standard of who could be the mediator between God and man. What we see next is Jesus exceeds every standard needed. 

[1] Influenced by https://summitchurch.com/GetFile.ashx?Guid=d73aef09-6e31-4813-9e67-1182dcf8f044

2) Jesus exceeds every standard needed. (vs. 2-8) Not anyone could be the high priest in the Old Testament. There was a high standard set for the high priest and the writer of Hebrews gives us a snapshot into these qualifications. What we see in verses 2 through 4 are two overarching qualifications. Verse 2 and 3 deal with the high priest’s heart. Verse 4 address the high priest’s calling. Look at verse 2: ² And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses. When the writer of Hebrews using the word “ignorant” he wasn’t talking about people who did not know about Jesus. In the Old Testament, every Israelite was very familiar with God’s law. It was a part of their culture and their calendar. What ignorant and wayward mean is those who are being unfaithful to the knowledge they have of God. The high priest had to have a gentleness in his heart towards God’s people because he was just as prone to unfaithfulness. And that’s what verse 3 shows us: ³ That is why he must offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as theirs. The high priest is a sinner just like everyone else.

The second part of the high priest qualification was that he was chosen and called by God. Look at verse 4: ⁴ And no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honor. He must be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was. There wasn’t an election that took place. There wasn’t any campaigning – it was all God’s choosing. The office of high priest held a lot of dignity. Why does the writer of Hebrews lay out these two qualifications? Because what he does next starting in verse 5 is show that Jesus not only met every qualification of the high priest, but Jesus exceeded the qualifications. Jesus could have appointed Himself as the High Priest. Jesus was the only One – as both fully God and fully man – who could have stepped in and said, “I’ll take the High Priest role” But He didn’t. Jesus let the Father appoint Him. That’s what verses 5 and 6 show us: ⁵ That is why Christ did not honor himself by assuming he could become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.” ⁶ And in another passage God said to him, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” We are going to get deeper into these verses in a few weeks when the writer of Hebrews comes back to Melchizedek. For now, here’s what I want you to see: The Father appointed the Son as the High Priest.

What about the other qualification? What about the heart? Look at verses 7 and 8: ⁷ While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. ⁸ Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. When Jesus was on earth, what did Jesus earnestly pray for? What is that He prayed for with a loud cry and tears? We read this passage and we are immediately drawn back to the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed for another way to see salvation accomplished. In these verses, we get an overarching view of Jesus’ life. It was all throughout Jesus’ life that He prayed and pleaded with God. Jesus knew there was something much worse than physical death. Jesus knew what disobedience and sin could do. Jesus knew about our condition – which is being disconnected from God. And Jesus did not want anything to come close to that. So, when Jesus prayed, Jesus was praying for perseverance and obedience because Jesus was experiencing every temptation and testing that we experience. It was in Jesus’ obedience that Jesus was proven. Jesus endured a lifetime of warfare against sin for us.  

This shows us two things:

1. We should feel the same way about sin that Jesus felt about sin.
   • When we think about what sin does to us in how it disconnects to God, we should have loud cries and tears and plead with God to give us the obedience we need
   • We should hate our sin.
2. Jesus felt everything we felt
   • He sympathizes with us in a way that no other human priest could have sympathized
     • In fact, Jesus felt temptation all the way to the end
       • Because Jesus never sinned, He experienced the temptation to sin in a way that none of us ever will
     • He gets it. He get us.
   • You can turn to Him in every season of life because He’s been there and He’s done it better than anyone else
     • If there ever was a t-shirt for Jesus, it would “Been there. Done that. Better than you.”

We all crave acceptance from God. God wants us. So, Jesus stepped into the role of the High Priest. Here’s what that means: Jesus is the source of salvation and acceptance.

3) Jesus is the source of salvation and acceptance. (vs. 9-10) As we look at these final two verses, I want you to put yourself in the position of the group of people that read this letter for the first time. Remember, Hebrews was written to Hellenistic Jews, Greek Jews. Their whole religious system was built on a human high priest. The writer of Hebrews dropped this major truth bomb on them in verse 9. Look at verses 9 and 10: ⁹ In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. ¹⁰ And God designated him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. We can sit here as Christians, and go, “Yeah, of course Jesus exceeded the qualifications. He’s Jesus.” But think of this through the lens of Jews during the early church. Can you imagine having a conversation, as a Christian, with one of the recipients of this letter? “Hey, you don’t need to the high priest anymore.” “What, what are you talking about? Without him, I’m lost.” “No, really, you don’t need to make sacrifices anymore.” “If I don’t make sacrifices, then I’m left guilty before God.” “Jesus has come. He sacrificed Himself. It’s the final and full sacrifice. His sacrifice lasts for eternity. What you seek from another man is now found permanently and fully in Jesus.” Their whole way of life was built around a person giving them access to God. This was a paradigm shift. Do you ever see those memes that say, “I was this old when I learned…”Do you all know the cookies that are called “Chips Ahoy?” I learned this week that it’s a pun for “Ship’s Ahoy.” I also learned this week that owls have really long legs. Show Picture. You’ll never look at an owl the same! Every time you look at an owl, you’ll remember that he skips leg day at the gym.

For the Jew reading this letter, they are being told that they need to never look at the sacrifices at the temple the same again. Now, they are being told there is something better and greater that has come and He changes everything. No longer do you find acceptance and salvation through a human high priest’s sacrifice. Now, you find acceptance and salvation through the sacrifice of The High Priest. Do you see the significance of when Jesus died on the cross and the veil in the temple that was torn from top to bottom? In that moment, their framework was ripped apart. The need for the holy of holies, the need for the residing place of God in the temple, the need for the human high priest, and the need for sacrifices were fulfilled. The acceptance they crave was now found in Jesus. I want everyone in this room to know this truth: What you crave can only be found in Jesus. I want everyone in this room to have the paradigm shift that you don’t need to find acceptance in anyone or anything else in this life. Because Jesus is the only way – Jesus is the only source of salvation. Jesus is the only One who can take you from disconnected to connected. From craving to satisfied. From death to life. The reason so many of you are so tired is because you are craving what won’t satisfy you. The reason so many of you are missing rest is because you are running after things that make you tired. See who Jesus is. See Him as the eternal source of salvation. See Him as the acceptance you are craving. 

When we were mining for gems this past week, two of my kids got weird looking rocks. Breaking open the geode. After some research, we found out they were geodes that you crack open with a hammer. I found myself camping in Kentucky, now hitting a rock with hammer. It’s not the same experience as the beach…We cracked open one of the geodes and inside was this beautiful, white crystal formation. I researched these geodes and found they are rocks with air pockets. Over time, water seeps in and brings in minerals. The water evaporates, but the minerals stay creating crystals. These geodes are formed from the inside. Their worth comes solely from what’s inside of them.

I want you to leave this place to see that your worth comes from what Jesus has done inside you. I want you to see He was the only One that could change you from the inside out. I want you to stop craving what you found on the outside when the only acceptance you need comes from the One who rules your heart. Jesus is our High Priest. Jesus is our source of salvation. Jesus is the only One that we can find satisfaction in. Let’s pray. 

Transition to Lord’s Supper and Prayer Time

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