Been There, Been Tempted To Do That
Hebrews 4:14-16
Intro: A man had placed a claim with his insurance company for injuries that he had received and they sent him a letter asking him to explain and justify his claim. This is his reply.
. Dear Sirs,
I was recently moving 500 pounds of bricks from the top of a 5 story building. It would take too long to carry them down so I put them in a bucket, and lowered them by a pulley which I fastened to the top of the building.
After tying the rope securely at the ground level I returned to the top of the building, tied the other end to the barrel, loaded it with bricks and swung it over the side of the building for the descent.
Then I returned to the sidewalk and untied the rope: holding it securely to guide the barrel down slowly. Since the bucket weighed 500 pounds and I weigh only 150 pounds (before the accident}, the force of the descending bricks jerked me into the air so quickly that I did not have time to think about letting go.
As I passed between the second and third floors I met the barrel coming down. This accounts for the bruises and lacerations on my upper body. Still, I held tightly to the rope until I reached the top where my hand became jammed into the pulley, this accounts for the broken fingers.
At the same time, however, the barrel crashed into the sidewalk and the bottom broke out. With the weight of the bricks now gone, the barrel weighed only forty pounds. Thus, my 150 pound body began a swift decent.
My decent was slowed only slightly as I met the bucket coming up...this accounts for my broken ankles.
My decent continued until I crashed onto the pile of bricks... this accounts for my sprained back and broken collar bone. At that time, I guess I lost my presence of mind completely, and let go of the rope.
The empty 40 pound bucket then came crashing down from 5 floors on top of me... this accounts for the head injuries.
. This guy had a bad day didn’t he?
. Have you ever felt like that? No matter what you do or did, things just didn’t go the way you had planned.
. Usually when something goes wrong you want to talk to someone who understands.
. Maybe someone who has been there and done that.
. In our scripture this morning, one of the points is that Jesus has been there. No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in Jesus understands.
. Our scripture describes this Man who we can go to. The one who has been there, been tempted to do that.
Hebrews 4:14-16
. 14So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
15This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
16So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
.The first thing we see here is a title or description of the one who understands.
. He is our Great High Priest.
. Look here again at verse 14:
. 14So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
. As Baptists we look at this and I don’t know if we fully comprehend what this is saying and how wonderful this fact is.
. We are good at getting people to pray a prayer for salvation and then not grounding them in why Jesus had to die the way He did for the forgiveness of their sin.
. To understand we need to take a minute and look back at the Old Testament.
. After God had delivered His people out of bondage in Egypt, He set up a system of how they were to worship Him.
. He chose for Himself a tribe to serve as priests and servants in the Temple. This was the tribe of Levi.
. Well out of that tribe one would be chosen to serve as the High Priest and he and only he could go into the presence of God.
. He was the only one who could enter the Holy of Holies.
. He had other responsibilities but his greatest was to make the sacrifice of atonement for the people of Israel.
. He would do that on the Day of Atonement. Sacrificing a ram for their sins and placing their sins on another and sending it into the wilderness carrying the sins of the people. We know this goat as the scapegoat.
. He would then enter the Holy of Holies and make a sacrifice for the people.
. We have come to know this day as Yom Kippur and the people of Israel do things a little different today.
. To the Hebrew people though, this High Priest that the writer called Jesus was a big deal.
. He was the one that made the sacrifice for their sins.
. While Jesus was here on earth, He taught and modeled for us the Christian lifestyle that we should follow but that wasn’t His main purpose.
. His main purpose was to make the sacrifice for our sins that the High Priest would make.
. Jesus did it with His own blood though rather than the blood of the ram.
. Jesus was the sacrifice that God required for the forgiveness of sin.
. God had always required the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sin and Jesus not only understood the role and performed the duty of the High Priest, He became the sacrifice that was required for this forgiveness.
. The writer here tells us that Jesus is our High Priest and that our sins have been laid upon Him.
. Next we see that Jesus is in the new Holy of Holies. He has Entered Heaven.
. As I said earlier, the High Priest had to go through a curtain to enter the presence of God.
. Jesus has passed through the heavens as the NKJ version says.
. Jesus has went through the heavens and is in the presence of God .
. He made the sacrifice and is now in the heavens.
. He is in the ultimate holy of holies.
. The earthly high priest had to go through a curtain but Jesus went through the heavens and He is there right now.
. When the High Priest would come out from behind the curtain the people would know that their sacrifice had been completed.
. When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave folks, we can know that the sacrifice for our sins is complete.
. Verse 14 here says that our High Priest, the son of God has entered the eternal holy of holies and our sins have been atoned for.
. He then tells us that since our High Priest performed the work that God has laid out for him that they can hold firm to what they believe.
. They still need to believe that the forgiveness of sin comes through a sacrifice of blood, and that sacrifice was performed by a high priest but Jesus takes the place of the Levital high priest and becomes the sacrifice for them.
. Hold firmly to that the writer says.
. Know that the sacrifice for you sin has been performed and you can know that your sins are forgiven.
. Hold firm.
In verse 15, the writer says that this High Priest, this Jesus also understands what you are going through.
. 15This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
. The first thing we see here is that Jesus understands.
. I have had people say to me Pastor, how can Jesus understand me. If He is God like you say He is, how can that be?
. Folks the writer here says that he understands and if we look over in Philippians chapter two we can see where the apostle Paul clarifies this for us.
. In theological circles this is known as the great kenosis or transformation.
. Philippians 2:6-8
. 6Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
. Paul writes that look, He was God but He didn’t want to cling to His divinity or godship.
. Instead, He gave all that up. His divine nature. All the privileges that come with being God. He said I need to become a human so that I can experience and understand all that mankind goes through so that I can empathize with all people.
. Basically he said that I renounce my right to be God.
. I do this so that I can understand all that you go through.
. There was a little boy sitting at his desk in a second grade classroom. All of a sudden he looks down and the fronts of his pants are wet and a puddle appears on the floor. He looks and is so ashamed and embarrassed. He is also afraid. What is going to happen when all the other boys and girls see what has happened? The boys will laugh and the girls will just ignore him forever. He doesn’t know what to do so he bows his head slowly and prays saying, Jesus this is an emergency. I need you now. I need help. Do you understand the situation that I am in?
. He looks up from his prayer and the teacher is heading toward him looking down at the puddle on the floor and she has a frown on her face. He just knows that the teacher has already seen his accident and the rest of the class will soon know. As the teacher is coming to snatch him up, a classmate named Susie is carrying a gold fish bowl that is filled with water.
. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl in the boy’s lap. The boy pretends to be angry but all the while is saying, "Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!"
Now all of a sudden the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the children are on their hands and knees around his desk, cleaning up the mess. The sympathy is wonderful! The ridicule that should have been his was transferred to someone else, Susie. As the day progresses the sympathy grows better and Susie’s ridicule grows worse.
At the end of the day they are waiting for the bus. Susie has been shunned by the other children. The boy walks over to Susie and says, "Susie, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?" Sue whispers back, "I wet my pants once too."
.The story illustrates a simple point: Since Jesus had become human, had fully entered in and participated with us and lived our life with us, He understands, He sympathizes.
. He knows what it feels like to stub your toe. Don’t you think that in all his life walking around in those sandals that He didn’t stub His toe. Don’t you think that the human side of Him wanted to go **#@!**.
. He knows what it is like to be hungry and thirsty and dirty and cold.
. He knows what it feels like to be joyful and to be angry, to be sad, to be betrayed by a friend. The hurt that others can cause you.
. Can you imagine the hurt He went through when one of His apostles betrayed Him? He understands.
. He knows, He sympathizes, He understands.
. This verse also says that he understands our temptations to sin.
. Look at verse 15 again:
. 15This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
. He had all the temptations or testing that we have but did not sin.
. We are told of the temptations that Satan threw at Jesus in Luke chapter 4 and how He would not sin.
. Do you really believe that He faced no other temptations?
. Scripture doesn’t lay them out but we know that Jesus was human, just like you and I.
. I don’t know what He faced but I do know that scripture lays out plainly that He was a man who was tempted but did not sin.
. He has been there.
. He understands our temptations.
. He says Been There, I Understand those temptations and I made a way for you.
. I became the High Priest and the sacrifice for your sins. All you need to do is accept that sacrifice that I made for you.
. In verse 16 the writer tells us what all this means for us.
. 16So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
. He says that since Jesus is now our High Priest, we have access to God ourselves.
. Before they needed a go between, they needed a priest but Jesus removed the necessity for that priest.
. When Jesus died on the cross, the bible tells us that the curtain that established the holy of holies from the rest of the temple was torn. Giving everyone access to God.
. No longer did man need a go-between in order to talk to God.
. Now we can come to the throne of our gracious God and talk to the one who understands and will grant us mercy and give us grace when we need it most.
. We don’t need anyone else to talk to God for us, we have access to God through our faith in the death of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
. Praise God for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Jesus The Priest, Steven Samala Grant
Jesus The perfect Example, Rodney Buchanan
