Hebrews 5 - Talk

Christ or Caesar?
Christ went to such great lengths as our supreme High-priest to faithfully confess us, how can we now slide back from faithfully confessing him?
Action; (PRAY and obey)

Introduction;
"They have burned the church and killed the pastor," was the anxious report given to Nigeria's national director. "My wife and children... We are hiding.". Over the year, most of the project Philip Bible study leaders in one region were killed. Many churches were destroyed. Widows of church plants wept as they told how their husbands were slaughtered. A son told how the hands of his fathers were chopped off while taunted who will feed you now old man?

Recently Kath and I have been working our way through the Bible league's prayer diary, and this was the entry under Nigeria. The persecution these believers face, is something that many of us have never known. For them the opposition to Christ is clearly confronting, and the cost of following Christ is exceedingly high.

Well our Hebrew brothers who received a sermon that bears their name, just like the Nigerian believers, also faced the very real prospect of physically having to pick up their cross to follow Jesus, and to die to follow their saviour. And understanding this fact, brings to life the passage before us today. It is an extremely challenging passage, it really wants us to ask the question, what would we do? What would we do if that day came to us?

Will we unashamedly profess Christ as our Lord?
Or will we bend the knee to Caesar?
Do we profess Christ or do we deny him, when we are faced by opposition?

This passage before us today, challenges us that Christ went to such great lengths as our supreme High-priest to faithfully confess us, how can we now slide back from faithfully confessing him?

Intro to the passage;

Now as a reminder that context of this letter is that it is written to Christian people, Christian people of the Hebrew background, who are suffering persecution -- real physical danger from the Roman Empire for professing Christ.

In the context, our smaller passage today, fits in the wider section of the letter to the Hebrews that goes from 4:14 through to 7:28, which is all about Jesus the supreme High-priest.

Our section of text today breaks into five parts;

1.Jesus is the supreme High-priest (5:7-10)

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.
8 Although he was a son,
he learned obedience from what
he suffered
9 and, once made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him
10 and was designated by God to be high priest
in the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus is the supreme High-priest, the perfect High-priest, and this is really the fountainhead of everything else the preacher says in this section, everything else flows from the fact that Jesus is the supreme High-priest.

Christ is the supreme mediator between God and man. The high priest who is really able to deal with God, because he is God. But he can do it on mankind's behalf, because he is really man. The perfectly obedient man, the son of God.

Christ is the supreme High-priest our preacher tells us, because he is the one source of all people salvation. He is the one who was both, able and willing to offer the sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, of himself. Our passage from last week's sermon reminded us that Christ is both faithful and merciful, to intercede for his people as the supreme High-priest.

And the summary of this idea comes in 4:14-16 which begins this whole section in the letter on the priesthood of Christ, in which we read;

14 therefore, since we have a great High-priest who has 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 is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

So the main point of this section is clear, Jesus is the supreme High-priest on our behalf, Christ is for us, in our weakness.

But as we read those verses from 7-10, I'm sure you (like me) had a bunch of questions, maybe thinking, "what is going on here?".
For instance whose is Melchizedek?
And Jesus prayed to the one who could save him from death, how was he heard? (Because last time I checked in the end of each GOSPEL he dies doesn't he?)
And In what way did Christ learn obedience?
And How was Jesus made perfect? (Wasn't the son of God already perfect?)

Well what is going on here?

Well good questions, (thanks for asking) let’s try and offer a few suggestions to these conundrums as we briefly as we move through!

Firstly, who is Melchizedek?
Well that one can hang around to next week, because Melchizedek gets a big run then and we don't need to go over that ground now.

Secondly, what about Jesus prayer?
I mean it says that Jesus prayed to the one who could save him from death and then it goes on to say, that he was heard because of his reverent submission. How was he heard it he died?
Jesus the man of God, the son of God, the God man, offered up prayers and petitions, with loud cries and tears, in the darkness, hardness and the cruelty of this world. V7 tells us, With loud cries and tears he prayed to his father, the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

It couldn't be clearer in what it says; but how was he heard when he died?
And he didn’t just die in his sleep either, but a terrible and cruel death (a thief's death) upon a Roman cross. How was his prayer answered?

Well it seems in the context Jesus did pray to him who could save him from his death, but it seems more likely that what he prayed, was not to escape the death – (which is what he rebuked Peter for as you may remember in the Gospels). But it seems in the context he prayed for the strength to be obedient to even death.

To be obedient, and to reach his goal which was to be the source of salvation for all, and this would mean his death. He prayed for the strength to make the faithful confession in the face of a certain execution.
And Jesus prayer was heard and answered.


Thirdly, how did Christ learn Obedience?
Well in particular, Christ as the obedient son expressed his obedience to his father. Christ did it, within the context of hardship that is being humanity in this fallen world. Christ learnt the hardship of obedience, through being tempted like no man before or since has been tempted, and yet resisting and was without sin. He resisted even the shortcut to avoid his faithful death altogether, and that is what the writer to the Hebrews is challenging us to do also.

Christ learnt Obedience in a personal way. Christ learned Obedience in a deep and profound personal way, by taking on humanity to himself and living a sinless life in a fallen world, filled to the brim with temptation.

And finally, how was Jesus made perfect, wasn't he already perfect?
Well the word perfect here means achieved his goal. Christ came into the world and achieved his goal of being the obedient Son who died on the cross to win a salvation, an eternal salvation, to all who would have faith in him.
Christ had to reach his goal in this world, he couldn't win Salvation for his people from the sidelines. Mankind had to pay it’s debt to God for sin, and in the God Man Jesus Christ that debt was paid.

Jesus is the supreme High-priest! that is what this passage is all about, this passage sees him praying and petitioning with tears and loud cries, and so what does that mean for us? I mean what is the cash value here?
Well it encourages us to have confidence and to pray when we face hardship, trial, and persecution in this life.

But when you face persecution and hardship in this life, how do you respond?
When you get tempted in life, what do you do?
Are you a binger?
Someone who turns to food, drink, or even sex, from comfort?
Or do you withdraw? Do Separate yourself off from people, or more importantly separate yourself from God?

This passage about Jesus our supreme High-priest, is an example and the grounds for us to pray confidently in the face of hardship. And we see in this Trinitarian nature of Christian prayer, because we pray to the father, because of and through Jesus who intercede for us, and we do it in the power of his spirit.

Christ's piety or his reverent submission, is the grounds for us to be confident that the father will here our prayers also. Prayer is the essential response for Christians as it was for Christ, That we would live the obedient life in this world even in the face of temptation, trial, suffering, and even persecution that ends in death.

Our response to hardship is to be like the supreme High-priest and to pray to our father, because we have a supreme High-priest.

2.stop acting like infants! (V:11-14)

11 We have much to say about this,
but it is hard to explain
because you are slow to learn. [sluggish/lazy]
12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you
the elementary truths of God's word all over again.
You need milk,
not solid food!
13 Anyone who lives on milk,
being still an infant,
is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
14 But solid food
is for the mature,
who by constant use have trained themselves
to distinguish [perceive] good from evil.

This section the letter is quite a stinging rebuke for the Hebrew recipients. It seems to be quite heavy on the sarcasm in quite a negative assessment of their current spiritual development.

He tells them in this first exhortation in no uncertain terms to stop acting like Infants!

Twice he says to them, ‘you apparently need breast milk not solid food’, it is quite a barbed piece of rhetoric. Because let's face Infants are cute, but adults who act like infants are not.

Like if you come to my place on a hot day and see my little one-year-old daughter walking around in her nappy with a little belly hanging over the top, that is cute. If you come around to my place on a hot day and see me doing the same thing, that is quite clearly not cute. In fact it is very undignified!!
Very, very undignified!!

Our preacher to the Hebrew's wants his hearers, to be embarrassed by their current state of spiritual undress.

And the particular issue, is their unwillingness to hear. They are people who are hard to teach, because they have made themselves hard of hearing. They are unwilling to hear the teacher speak to them, like some smart Alec teenage schoolboy, who replies, "what was that teacher, what was that?".
When both the teacher and him, knows that he has heard the instruction perfectly clearly, but chooses not to obey.

Like one of my mates, of immigrant parents, who used to pretend that he couldn't speak English, when he didn't like the English he had just heard!

The Hebrew recipients of this preaching, are showing too much of a family resemblance to do them any good. Because their ancestors were always slow to hear. Even though the great creed of the old Testament, was to, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is one’.

These Hebrews ought to be teachers by now, but they are not because they have not put their learning into action, into Obedience. And in v14 we see the results, they are not mature in their behaviour, because they are not listening and applying what they know.

It seems that the constant use of the Gospel, ‘the teaching of righteousness’, for a Believers life, is like exercise of their spiritual muscles, it builds up strength and more purposeful usage. The Gospel applied to life builds strength in the believer and through constant use enables them to distinguish good from evil, in their actions and in their life.

The challenge to those who hear this sermon is, that if they won't stand for Christ and obey Christ in the small things of this life, how will they cope when the big troubles come?
When suffering comes, when persecution comes, when even martyrdom comes -- who can say it won't happen?

Don't be hard of hearing!
But here the word, believe the word, and obey the word.
Don't be like the pagans, who say I'll get to it later. But today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, like they did in the wilderness.
Stop acting like infants!

3.Be mature! (6:1-3)

6:1 Therefore let us leave
the elementary teachings about Christ and
go on to maturity [completion],
not laying again the foundation of repentance
from acts that lead to death,
and of faith in God,
2 instruction about baptisms,
the laying on of hands,
the resurrection of the dead,
and eternal judgment.
3 And God permitting,
we will do so.

The second exhortation our preacher gives today, is to be mature!

His words compel his hearers, to move past the entry gate of faith and to go on and reach their goal of maturity, of obedience even to death, just like Christ their supreme High-priest did. He wants them to move on from then dipping a toe in the water like infants, of questioning the basics of the faith again, rather than going on into Obedience and maturity through putting their knowledge into action, like mature adults striding into the surf.

Christians are not to be armchair experts talking about the events of life from the safety of the stands, or the commentary box like a retired competitor, but we are to live out our knowledge of the gospel in the combative arena of the life that the Lord has given to us.

Now if you decided to go bungee jumping, there gets to a point where you just can't talk about it any longer, things have been checked and double checked, and to start time to put the talk into action. It's time to go after the goal, it's time to jump, because that's what you came here to do in the first place. Maturity is about commitment, it's about putting knowledge into action.

The mature, are not anxious or introspective about the foundations of our faith in Christ, they go on to maturity -- to reach our goal -- of obedience to God in the face of opposition, in the face of temptation, in the face of persecution, and even who can say, in the face of martyrdom.

In V3 reminds us that this is a profoundly spiritual exercise, we should pray that God's spirit would work on us, and God willing we would be mature.

Hear the word, believe the word, obey the word and Pray that we may;
Be mature!

4. Hear the warning, it is impossible to be restored from apostasy! (6:4-8)

V:4-6 only
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift,
who have shared [partake] in the Holy Spirit,
5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God
and the powers of the coming age,
6 if they fall away, [apostate]
to be brought back to repentance,
because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again
and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Hear the warning, it is impossible to be restored from apostasy!

Now there are two really important words in these verses we have just read. The first in v4 is the word ‘impossible’, the second in v6 comes from the phrase ‘fall away’, and the root word means ‘apostasy’.

Now all of us being good legalists, want to know does ‘impossible’, really mean impossible?
Well yes it does, because it uses the exact same word in 6:18, 10:4, and 11:6.
In 6:18 he says, ‘it is impossible for God to lie’
in 10:4 He says, ‘because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin’.
And in 11:6, he says, ‘And without faith it is impossible to please God’

So yes when he says ‘impossible’ he really does mean ‘impossible’.

And secondly, what does ‘apostasy’ mean?
Well apostasy is to deny the faith, and to do that publicly. It is where a person who has previously professed Christ, now publicly renounces any part with him.

Now while this passage is not the sum total of all Bibles teaching on this issue, we do need to hear the preacher clearly, this passage is a real warning telling real Christians, to not turn their backs on Christ.

If they turned their backs on Christ, all then they lose all the benefits that Christ brings -- and this includes most importantly Salvation. And in turning their backs on Christ it is worse than just losing their salvation, they become like the pagans who exposed the son of God to shame in public disgrace all over again.

Brothers and sisters, when hardship and trial and suffering and temptation, and even persecution -- the very threat of physical violence or even death -- come our way, do not the ashamed to confess Christ. Do not be ashamed to call him your Lord. Christ is the supreme High-priest, he is supreme in all things, better than Angels, better than Moses, better than Obama (would you believe it!)

Because he is the supreme son of God, but the supreme High-priest was not ashamed to make a faithful confession of you in the face of persecution, how can you now be ashamed to confess him?

The challenge of the book of Hebrews, is this; is Christ your Lord, or Caesar?

In this warning is consistent with the message Jesus brought in the Gospels, we read in Luke 12:8-9;
‘and I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the son of man will also acknowledge him before the Angels of God. But he whoever disowns me before men, will be disowned before the Angels of God.’

The Christian person, should hear this warning to them and not presume of a second chance to profess Christ. The apostasy that the Hebrews were in real danger of, was to fall under persecution, to renounce Christ.

To deny God is God, and Christ as your Saviour, is to sin with a big S. And the road to that big S, is paved with a whole lot of Little s sin, little denials of the lordship of Christ in respect to our lives along the way.

People who are faithful with little things, will be faithful with big things when they come.

The other question you may have is, ‘well what about my family or friends who once professed to be a Christian but have now turned away?’.

Well this passage isn't actually written to them, it's written to you; it’s a warning to not be like them!

But does ‘impossible’ mean no chance, well I'm not going to answer that today because that is not the question that texts sets out to answer, and really we don’t have time.

But when you get a chance to think about it, maybe later on today, maybe have a think about the apostle Peter and how his life sheds light on the God who delights in saving people, we maybe ardent legalists, but God is gracious.

The real application of this section is:
are you mature or immature?
Are you ashamed or unashamed?
who is the Lord you serve, Caesar or Christ?

And our preacher goes on to remind us that Obedience to Christ results in fruit, and disobedience results in judgment.
V7&8
7 Land that drinks in the rain
often falling on it and that
produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed
receives the blessing of God.
8 But land that produces thorns and thistles
is worthless and is in danger of being cursed.
In the end it will be burned.

Hear the word, believe the word, obey the word and you will produce fruit.
But hear the warning, it is impossible to be restored from apostasy.

5. We are confident of better things in your case, but do not be lazy! (6:9-12)

9 Even though we speak like this,
dear friends,
we are confident of better things in your case—
things that accompany salvation.
10 [for] God is not unjust;
he will not forget your work and the love
you have shown him as you have helped [served]his people [in his name]
and continue to help them.
11 We want each of you to show this same diligence
to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
12 We do not want you to become lazy,
but to imitate those who through faith and patience [long suffering]
inherit what has been promised

Jesus said in Matthew 7 that a good trees produced good fruit,
and it seems our preacher is confident for his hearers because of these sure things;
They have shown fruit from the work of God's salvation within them, that has expressed itself in their work and their love and the service of the saints of God in God's name. And God has seen their works and he is just.

But the preacher wants them to press on to the very end, to run all away to the finish line and not get lazy, not get lazy or walk the last few miles, or just give up altogether.

As he says in 12:1 ‘let us throw off everything that hinders and the end Sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the Joy set out before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’

We are to imitate those who exhibited patience in suffering and went on to inherit what has been promised.

Brothers and sisters the preacher is saying, we are confident for better things in your case, but don't be lazy!

Hear the word, believe the word, obey the word, and in the face of hardship and persecution be both; faithful in prayer, and be faithful in our profession of Christ.

Do not be ashamed to confess our faithful High-priest because he was not ashamed to confess you. Persevere in the face of difficulty and hardship, that we would learn obedience like the Son did, that we would produce fruit like the Son did, and that we would reach our goal like the Son did.

Let's pray.

Christian Martyrs