May we pray, O gracious Father, to think
that we may own that name, that we
are called by that name, Christian, except our
praises, gracious Father.
And enable us, we pray, to enter in,
in an ever fuller measure, into the possession
of our possession, because of the glory of
the name, because of the glory of the
great work of redemption consummated by our Lord
and Redeemer.
We ask it in that worthy name which
is above every name, the holy name of
Jesus, our Redeemer.
Amen.
I cannot go forward in the presentation of
the message of the afternoon without giving expression
to the joy and gratitude of my heart
for these days and all the blessings that
I've received.
You've all been so gracious.
I know you've prayed for me.
I've been the object of your care and
your love.
I just thank the Lord for you.
Brother Ehler has been talking about seven years.
This is the seventh, and truly it is
the happiest of all.
Praise the Lord, it's been so wonderful.
And now we move into, as Brother Ehler
said, into the Spanish sphere.
Well, we'd love to have you come, even
though you may not understand the Spanish.
You can rejoice in the spirit of Christian
fellowship, and if you cannot come, do pray
for us.
That this rising tide of blessing may just
flow out, overflow now into the hearts of
these dear young people who are preparing for
the ministry in the Rio Grande Bible Institute.
This afternoon, I want to meditate with you
upon a theme that is rarely taken up
by Christians, expounded from the pulpits of our
churches, but oh, how very necessary today, when
people are turning prongs at the doors of
psychiatrists, seeking for their spirits, for their hearts,
the solution of their many tensions, complexes, guilt
complexes, seeking peace.
Christ, our great High Priest, among
the needs of hearts, the hearts of the
children of men, with their doubts and fears
and their uncertainties and their sense of guilt,
their longings for security, for peace, for
joy.
No doubt, the one which takes precedence above
all others is the need of a priest,
witness to great bodies, castes of priests
in the natural religions, and there's Romanism, endless
hierarchies of priests.
Now, the Lord himself took this into account,
you know, back in the early days, when
Israel was called to prepare the way, as
the chosen people were the coming of the
Redeemer, an entire tribe given over to this
function, the tribe of Levi, the High Priest,
who alone was permitted to enter into the
holy of holies, and that once a year
no more, however not without blood, representing the
people, bearing upon his breast, from that breastplate,
the names of the tribes of Israel, as
he entered into the holy of holies, representing
his people before the Most High God.
But all this has passed away.
All this ceases now to have any meaning.
There is but one priest, the great High
Priest, Jesus Christ the Lord.
Now, let us first of all think of
him, our great High Priest, as to his
capacity.
Who is he?
Is he able?
There are no stronger words than those that
we find here in the epistles of the
Hebrews, regarding the nature of our great High
Priest.
My friends know that this is the one
book of the New Testament dedicated to this
matter, the tendency among Jewish believers to turn
back to the ceremonies of the temple, to
priests, to sacrifices.
And so out of that need came the
epistle to the Hebrews, which was an effort,
it reads here on the part of the
Apostle Paul.
We are not sure as to whether Paul
was the author.
It had been the conviction of the Church
through the years that it must have been
Paul.
It's surely Paul's theology.
On the part of Paul the Apostle, to
throw up a dike and turn these heathen
Christians that were turning away back to the
Savior, our great High Priest.
There are no stronger words in all holy
writ regarding the deity of our Savior.
I don't know what those who do not
accept this fact do with Hebrews.
Where we have the Father, this is not
the voice of some Bible teacher, of some
theologian.
This is the voice of the Father.
Thy throne, O God, it is the Father
speaking as we have it here in verse
8.
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of
thy throne.
Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity.
Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And thou, Lord, the Lord Jesus, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the works of thine
hands.
They shall perish, but thou remainest.
They all shall wax old as doth a
garment, and as a vesture shalt thou pull
them up, and they shall be changed, but
thou art the same, and thy years shall
not fail.
But to which of the angels said he
at any time, Sit on my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
This as to the deity of our great
high priest, by whom all things were made,
and who by the word of his power
upholdeth, as we have it here in the
epistle to the Hebrews, the first chapter, all
things.
But our great high priest is not only
the Son of God, God manifest in the
flesh.
Our great high priest is a man.
We have it here in the epistle to
the Hebrews, the 4th chapter.
You've noticed how from time to time I
stumble about in my Bible, but for 40
years I've been working in my Spanish Bible.
And I'm not at home here in this
Bible.
415, yes, here in the 4th chapter of
the epistle to the Hebrews, we have that
word regarding the humanity of our Savior.
It doesn't seem to be just a passage.
Inasmuch as they all partook of flesh and
blood, he also partook of the same.
214, for as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same, that
through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is to say,
the devil, and deliver them who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage.
For verily he took not on him the
nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore in all things it behooves him to
be made like unto his brethren.
Yes, in all things it behooves him to
be made like unto his brethren, that he
might be a merciful and faithful high priest
in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people.
For in that he himself has suffered, being
tempted he is able to succor them that
are tempted.
Now here we have the fulfillment of that
passionate yearning expressed in chapter nine of
the book of Joel.
Joel there, overwhelmed by sorrow and shame, this
man who had been the richest of his
time, reduced to utter poverty, the victim of
a loathsome disease.
Some commentators state that it must have been
a form of leprosy.
There we have him, unable to understand the
mysterious providences of God.
He thinks that it's the Lord himself who
has smitten him.
Well, the Lord permitted it.
Yes, it did come to him along the
line of the permissible of God, but the
immediate agent was the devil, who raised a
doubt, you know, as to Job's loyalty.
And he said, if you will just permit
me to strip him of his wealth, this
man that you say is so loyal will
curse you to your face.
He's in your hands.
Now the blows fall.
Job can't understand.
We have him in the ninth chapter saying,
beginning with the twenty-ninth verse, If I
be wicked, why then labor I in vain?
If I wash myself with snow water and
make my hands never so clean, yet shalt
thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine
own clothes shall it pour me.
For he is not a man, the Lord,
he is not a man as I am
that I should answer him, and we should
come together in judgment.
Neither is there any day's man between us,
betwixt us, that he might lay his hand
upon us both.
Ah, if there were but, it reads in
the Spanish, un arbitro, an arbiter.
If there was but an umpire is in
one of the margins of a version that
I have seen.
Here it reads a day's man.
Paul's word, you will recall, is the meteor.
We might say a high priest, a priest.
Oh, if there was but one who could
bring us together.
But he would have to be as high
as God, and he would have to be
as low as man.
He would have to be in a position
to perfectly represent God before man, and to
perfectly represent man before God.
Oh, if that could but come to pass.
Ah, how the messianic hope throughout the pages
of the Old Testament moves in what varied
forms, it appears here, the groaning, the agony
of this great patriarch who feels the need
of a mediator, a priest, who could arrange
everything, who could take care of his sin,
who could meet all the needs of his
soul, who could intercede for him, who could
represent God before his conscience, and his conscience
before God.
Well, we have the answer, for we have
just read here in Hebrew that this high
priest, none other than the Son of God,
the one to whom the Father speaks, saying,
Thy throne, O God, forever, and the one
who in the virgin breast took upon himself
the form of a man, that he might
be tempted in all points, like as we,
and so be a sympathizing, a compassionate priest,
fully understanding our life.
Now, let us turn to the epistle and
look upon some of the statements there as
regards the high priesthood of Jesus our Lord.
In the sixth chapter, where we read in
verse 20, here the sacred writer speaks of
how Jesus had entered within the veil.
The forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus
made a high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek.
Or as it is in the fourth chapter,
where we read beginning with the fourteenth verse,
it is seen then that we have a
great high priest that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
Let us hold fast our profession, for we
have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmity.
No.
Whatever the nature of the trial, well, the
Lord Jesus went beyond.
No matter.
He knows more about it than you do.
He went to deeper depths than you'll ever
be able to go.
His footprints are there in the sands beyond.
And that's what we read here.
For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmity, but was in all points tempted like
as we yet without sin.
And friends, I wonder if one would not,
it's not written here, but I do believe
one would dare to say, and tempted as
we never will be.
Because, you know, to be tempted as Jesus
was, you'd have to be as great as
he.
Oh yes, to be tempted as was Jesus,
you would have to enter into the fulfillment
of a mission, a mission of redemption as
great as was his.
No man.
Well, only Jesus in the hour of trial,
in the hour of temptation, only from the
brow of our blessed Redeemer, have fallen great
drops of sweat as though they were blood.
Yes, the bloody sweat.
In that hour when he was tempted, friends,
to seek another way farther, if it is
possible.
As we said the other evening, we may
be sure it wasn't just the fear of
death.
No!
Christian martyrs have gone to the stage singing,
inspired, upheld by the Redeemer and all.
Ah, there was something mysterious in that cup.
If it be possible, let this cup pass.
Well, the Scripture tells us, He was to
be made sin, he who knew no sin.
Paul says, putting it in even stronger terms,
made a curse.
Ah, the curse of the sin of the
world!
Do you wonder that for a moment as
a man he staggered and he felt prostrate,
saying, Father, if it be possible, let this
cup pass.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.
Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need.
And then, in the third chapter, where we
read in the first verse, Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.
Well, we're doing that this afternoon.
Are we not, friends?
Or as it is in the fifth chapter,
beginning with the twelfth verse, beginning with the
fifth verse, reading to the eleventh.
So also Christ glorified and wrought himself to
be made an high priest.
But he that said unto him, Thou art
my son today, have I begotten thee?
As he saith also in another place, Thou
art a priest forever, after the order of
Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death, and
was heard and that he feared.
Though he were a son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered in
being made perfect.
He became the offerer of eternal salvation unto
them that obey him, called of God and
high priest, after the order of Melchizedek, of
whom we have many things to say and
hard to be uttered, seeing that ye are
dull of hearing.
And then in the seventh chapter, beginning with
the twenty-sixth verse, For such an high
priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens.
Who needeth not daily as those high priests
to offer up sacrifice, first for his own
sins and then for the people's?
For this he did once.
Recently a priest was converted in Bolivia.
I received a letter that he was coming
up to visit Mexico, Jose Rico.
He tells the story in a book he
has written of his conversion, and he states
that it came out of a consultation he
went to the Hebrew, epistle to the Hebrews,
in a controversy with another priest over a
matter.
He went to the epistle to the Hebrews,
and when he came upon this fact, For
this he did once, a sacrifice for the
sins of the people.
This he did once, when he offered up
himself.
In the book, Jose Rico states that he
was arrested at that point.
And I, who state every time that mass
is held, that I am sacrificing afresh for
the sins of the people, the body of
Christ, Well, he realized that he had been
proceeding with a great lie upon his lips,
and it led to the conversion of this
priest.
The law maketh men high priests, which have
infirmity, but the word of the oath, which
was since the law, maketh the Son, who
is consecrated for us.
Now let's turn, friends, to the official, to
ask the question, to find the answer to
the question, what has he done, our great
high priest?
What has he done for us?
It all comes out in the third verse
of the first chapter.
This is one point among others which has
led me to believe that the author can
be none other than Paul.
This is one of the characteristics of Paul's
epistles.
You will invariably find there in the first
chapter at the very beginning, a verse that
sums up all that's to follow.
And here you have it.
Who, speaking of the Son, being the brightness
of his glory, the Father's, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down
at the right hand of the Majesty on
high.
Ah, think of his greatness to be able
to do that.
You know, for some reason, this rings the
bell in my heart, if I may use
that expression in a very special way.
You hear it so much in the Latin
lands, this term.
I was talking with Brother Friesen this afternoon.
He's holding a service over in the prison
on the other side of the river for
inmates of the prison.
And we were speaking about prisoners.
In the Spanish, it's purgar una pena.
Fulano está purgando una pena.
He's purging a pain, purging a condemnation, a
judgment.
His sin, purging.
How?
Through his suffering.
Now, there have been cases in history, we
know that, of one man giving his life
for another, making himself responsible for his crime.
This has happened, yes?
Ah, but here we have one friend, so
great, that through his bitter suffering and death,
the sins of all men were purged.
I don't know of a book in the
Bible, friend, so designed, so effective, in bringing
to the heart of the believer a sense
of utter security as this book.
And it is here in this book that
we read about the full assurance of faith,
faith coming to full bloom.
Well, this is the epistle that does it,
friends.
If this fact does not bring peace to
your troubled conscience, well, I shouldn't put it
that way, it cannot fail to bring peace
to your troubled conscience and to establish you
in a perfect sense of security in the
presence of the Most High.
In chapter 10, beginning with the 14th verse,
we read, For by one offering he perfected,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Can you accept that?
You must.
I, with all my blemishes, well, the moment
I looked at myself, I see nothing but
corruption.
Perfected, yes, perfected forever, them
that are sanctified, so great is the sacrifice.
Now, of course, we know that it does
not mean that as to our moral condition,
we are without sin.
Because we are told, John tells us in
his first epistle, the first chapter, that if
we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves.
That's not the meaning.
Ah, so great is the sacrifice, that you're
standing before God.
Friends, it's a perfect standing, perfected.
Why you stand where the sun stands.
You sit where the sun in heavenly places,
co-heir of God with Christ.
Your mediator, your high priest, places you there.
I wonder if you'd forgive a very, sort
of a ridiculous illustration, but it was so
much in my mind this afternoon, down in
Mexico, the great day of the year, the
4th of July is the 16th of September.
Oh, great marches, soldiers, and the president on
the balcony of the presidential palace and great
thrones gathered in what is called the Zocalo.
Well, my wife and I never attempted.
It's very difficult to get in and to
see it, unless you have some privileged position.
One day our boy came home.
It was the 16th of September.
He'd been out with a neighbor boy.
They were just lads.
Couldn't have been much more than six, seven
years.
Where have you been?
Oh, I was down at the destini, the
16th of December procession.
Oh, you were.
Yes, with Godo.
Oh, with your friend Godo.
Where?
You saw it?
Yes, I saw it.
Where?
From the presidential balcony.
But my dear boy, what are you talking
about?
Where Godo's papa happens to be close to
the president.
And the boy, our boy went forth in
his overalls and playing in the streets just
as he was, and there he stood beside
the president in his overalls.
I can just see those two lads walking
in there, this little one Godo coming up
to his father, and of course our boy
with him, and the father beside the president
there in the balcony taking in the great
procession.
Well, friends, yes, there's one, the son.
The son just takes us right there into
the presence of the father, perfected our position
forever.
And then in the ninth chapter, where we
read beginning with the 24th verse, For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made
with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us, nor
yet that he should offer for himself often,
as the high priest entereth into the holy
place every year with blood of others, for
then must he often have suffered since the
foundation of the world.
But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself.
And as it is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment, so
Christ was once offered to bear the sins
of many.
And unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation.
Now this is what our great high priest
has done.
Let us look for a moment at what
he is doing, for he ever liveth, as
it is in chapter 7, verse 25,
he ever liveth to make intercession for
the saints, wherefore he is able even to
save them to the uttermost, them that come
unto God, unto God by him seeing, he
ever liveth to make intercession for the saints.
When my dear friend and brother Gordon asked
for the passage, scripture reading of the afternoon
hour, I said, oh, the high priestly prayer
of our Redeemer.
You heard his voice.
You recall how he prayed for Peter.
There we see how effective is his ministry
as a priest interceding.
Why, he foresaw it.
Simon, Simon Satan hath asked for thee that
he might sift thee as wheat.
But I have prayed.
You know, you wonder sometimes how Peter ever
got out of that hole, don't you?
It was very deep and it was very
muddy.
You wonder how he got out of that
hole, don't you?
Having denied his Lord three times, finally with
cursing.
Yes, you just wonder.
Ah, friends, here is the answer.
I have prayed for thee, and when thou
art converted, confirm thy brethren.
Often in an hour of need, we go
about seeking for someone truly spiritual to pray,
to pray for us.
We go to the pastor.
Well, in every church there's some dear saint.
I remember one down in Mexico in the
city of San Luis Potosi, Panchita, oh, the
moment Panchita, she visited all the churches, when
the moment she entered, spirits began to arise,
here is Panchita, there's going to be a
blessing.
There's going to be a blessing.
For she lived in the spirit of intercession.
I say we seek someone.
Friends, let us not forget that our great
high priest is forever interceding for us.
Now, that will establish you in a sense
of utter and absolute security in the presence
of the Most High.
That will remove all your doubts and all
your fears and all your qualms and all
your anxieties.
And all these hidden, ah, here's the reason
for it, the throngs searching for help through
psychiatry today.
These hidden guilt thoughts.
Here's the remedy, friends.
And now finally, as we close, one other
point, which we find in the twelfth chapter.
You will recall that the great high priest,
the high priest, I should say, in the
days of the Israelites, as he entered into
the Holy of Holies, there was a breastplate
upon which were the names of the tribes.
He took them in representative fashion before the
presence of the Father.
But that's only a shadow.
And Paul speaks of these matters that took
place in the tabernacle of the Old Testament
as shadows.
Ah, the reality.
The fulfillment is all in the Lord Jesus
Christ, our great high priest.
Ah, we shall read from the eighteenth verse.
We are not come, no, we are not
standing where the Jews stood.
We are not come unto the mount that
might be touched and that burned with fire,
nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, and
the sound of a trumpet and the voice
of words, which voice they that heard entreated
that the word should not be spoken to
them any more, for they could not endure
that which was commanded.
And it so much as a beast touched
the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust
through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight that Moses
said, exceeding me quite.
Fear in Quaker, the mount where the law
was given.
All this to signify the majesty of the
law.
Ye have not come.
We don't stand there.
That has all been superseded.
That has all passed away forever.
Where do we stand?
Well, we read in the 21st, the 22nd
verse, ye are come.
Now he's speaking to Christians.
Ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto
the city of the living God.
He doesn't say we hope to come.
We are come.
We've arrived.
Just see what this does for your fears
and your doubts.
How it establishes one in a sense of
eternal security.
But ye are come unto the mount, Mount
Zion, unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company
of angels, to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
unto God the judge of all, and to
the spirits of just men, made perfect, and
to Jesus, of course.
You've come.
You've come to the mediator why he has
you upon his breast.
You've arrived.
Yes, you've arrived.
But God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us even
when we were dead in sin, hath quickened
us together with Christ by grace your Saviour
hath raised us up together, made us sit
together.
We've arrived.
You've come.
The mediator has placed you, made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
We have no words, gracious Father, with which
to express our gratitude.
Were it not as we have just read
in the epistle to the Hebrews, like Job
of old, there we would be in our
anguish, groping in the dark, thirsting after thee,
not knowing what to do with our sins.
But, Father, we have it in thy word
that the Son, having purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high, and we are in him, the
risen Christ.
How we do thank thee, Father.
And may all this be burned into our
innermost consciousness, that it may be the end
of fears and the end of doubts and
the end of secret guilt complexes and the
end of frustrations and the end of discouragement
and the end of all satanic oppression, that
we may be more than conquerors, for thou
dost tell us that that is indeed our
status through him who loved us.
Amen.