Hi friends, and welcome to
our program, Books of the Book.
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I'm your co-host James Rafferty,
I'm here with Ty Gibson.
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We're looking at the book of
Hebrews and we are in Chapter 4,
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the latter part of
chapter 4, right now James.
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It's been an
exciting study so far.
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We want to look at verses
14-16 to close out chapter 4
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because that is actually a more
natural break, as we've noticed
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here as we've looked at the
Book of Hebrews, because now the
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Apostle Paul having laid
the foundation, chapter one,
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Jesus is God, none other than
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the Divine Creator
of heaven and earth.
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Chapter 2, Jesus is
human, he's taken upon himself
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our very humanity.
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Then in chapter 3 we've
looked at how the Apostle Paul
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builds this bridge into
the subject of the humanity of
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Christ and begins
to introduce the idea
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of priesthood a little bit.
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Chapter 4, he gets
into the Sabbath as a symbol
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of salvation and rest.
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And then at the
latter part of chapter 4
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seeing then, seeing therefore
that we have a great high priest
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who has passed through the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
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Let us hold fast our
confession for we do not have
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a high priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses
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but was in all points
tempted like as we are
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yet without sin.
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Well wait a minute,
tempted like as we are I mean
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some of us are tempted to do
drugs, some of us are tempted
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sexually, Jesus was
celibate, Jesus never did drugs,
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Jesus never partook of
some of the sins we partake of,
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How can He be tempted,
like we are, if He was holy,
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harmless pure, if He
rejected all forms of sin?
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I think that it is important
to realize that the language
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Paul uses here James, is
tempted in all points like
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as we are, Jesus wasn't
tempted in every particular
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in every sin that any
human being has ever been
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tempted to commit, but
the fact is, that in principle
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at the level of the human
will, Jesus was tempted in the
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same way and in all
points like as we are.
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Okay, So we are
talking now about the essence
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of our temptation, and that
is when temptation comes to us,
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it comes to the place where
we make a decision, it comes
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to the will, and in that
sense we are left with a choice,
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are we going to do our will or
are we going to do God's will?
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And Jesus also experienced
that level of temptation.
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Well I think it reached
a climax where He Himself,
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in the garden of
Gethsemane expressed the real
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essence of His
temptation process.
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He said, praying to the Father,
He said, Dear Father let this
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cup pass from Me, nevertheless,
not as I will, but as You will.
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Not My will but Your will
be done Father, so Jesus in His
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humanity, having taken
our humanity upon Himself,
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experienced the crossroads
between knowing God's will
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and yet feeling the inclination
to move in a different direction
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and Jesus in every experience,
and every particular of
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temptation, according to
Paul here, He did not sin, He
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never yielded to that temptation
but He experienced it on a
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fierce and very real level.
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So the essence, then of all
temptation, is when the human
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will crosses
with the will of God.
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With what we want to
do, crosses with what God
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wants us to do, with
relying on ourselves verses
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relying on God.
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Is that why when you
see Christ in the wilderness
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of temptation, when the
Devil comes to Him he tempts
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Him to turn stones into bread?
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Which I have
never been tempted to do
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and I don't think you have,
no matter how hungry we would
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ever become, we would
never be tempted to turn stones
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into bread because
it is out of our realm,
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it's out of our
league, we're just...
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Yes but not only
that, what is so bad about
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turning stones into bread?
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I mean I can think of a lot
of things I would be tempted
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to do, but what is so
evil, what is so wicked
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about turning stones into bread,
especially if you are hungry?
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Well Jesus in the wilderness
of temptation, again, was
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experiencing the devil pitting
his will against God's will.
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Jesus had to make a
choice in those situations.
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And really, if we are
understanding the divinity of
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Christ correctly, what we're
saying here is that Jesus in the
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wilderness could have
turned stones into bread,
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He could have relied upon
Himself, He could have in His
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own nature manifested
that power, but because
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He was a man and He divested
His divinity, used any of that
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divinity, because He
acted as we are to act,
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relied upon the Father, He
did not reached into Himself
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He did not rely upon Himself,
He was tempted to self-reliance
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and He turned to God.
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We are tempted to self-reliance,
and we are to turn to God
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and that is where He can
help us, He can aide us, He can
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sympathize with us
in our temptations.
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I really think it is
important to emphasize here
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that the priesthood of Jesus,
in the context of Hebrews,
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is a priesthood that is under
girded by this idea of sympathy.
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Jesus is a sympatric high priest
why, because He has entered
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into our experiences.
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He has moved through the
human experience in a very
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real way, He knows exactly
what it is like to be a human
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being, to struggle through
this territory, of humanity,
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and to come through
it victorious in the end.
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So He sympathizes.
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I love that, because when
you look at our temptations,
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when you look at the
struggles we go through,
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and you look at Christ in
the wilderness, He covers every
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point there, the Devil
comes to Him and tempts Him.
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not once, not
twice, but three times.
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When you look in 1 John, and
this is just a few pages over,
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1 John chapter 2, and it begins
here in verse 15, it talks
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about these three
areas of temptation.
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It says in 1 John chapter
2, "Love not the world, neither
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the things that are in the
world if any man love the world
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the love of the Father is not
in Him, for all that is in the
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world the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes,
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and the pride of life is not
of the Father but is of world. "
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Now here is an interesting
point, all that is in the world
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John here is talking
about all that is in the world,
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everything that is in the world
and then he sums it up with
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in these three areas,
the lust of the flesh,
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the lust of the
eyes, the pride of life.
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All that is in the world all
the temptations in the world,
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the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes,
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and the pride of life.
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That is all encompassed in that.
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When Jesus was tempted in
the wilderness, He was tempted
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on the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes,
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the pride of life.
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The lust of the flesh,
turn these stones into bread.
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Forty days of fasting,
He's hungry, His human body
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wants to eat as bad if not
far, in far more desperation
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than maybe a drug
addict wants to get a fix,
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an alcoholic
wants to get a drink,
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in far more than a sex
addict wants to be satisfied,
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He wants that food,
that nourishment, and so He
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is tempted in that
area, the lust of the flesh,
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the lust of the eyes, the
whole world is set before Him.
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He is tempted to give up all
to receive that worldly praise
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worldly honor, worldly riches,
and then the pride of life.
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Throw yourself off the
temple, it's okay God will send
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send His angels,
He'll protect you, etc. etc.
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All these three areas
are brought to Christ.
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Yeah, we are so thankful
that Jesus, in being tempted
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as we are, was
victorious on every point and
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that is where Paul begins
to reason through in Chapter 5
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and he explains that while Jesus
went through this very real
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human experience, went through
temptation, Jesus perfected
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humanity through that
process, having never yielded to
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temptation, He perfected
humanity, Paul brings out,
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down in verses 7 and onward.
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"Who in the days of his flesh
when he had offered up prayers,
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and supplications, with vehement
cries and tears to him who was
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able to save him from death,
and was heard because of his
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Godly fear, though he was a
son, yet he learned obedience
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by the things which he
suffered, and having" verse 9
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"been perfected, He became
the author of eternal salvation
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to all who obey him. "
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So humanity in Christ was
perfected and that was the
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authorship of a
whole new humanity.
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A whole new way to be human,
if you will, which was the
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original way that God intended,
for us to experience our
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humanity, victorious over
sin, rising above, living in
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communion with God, living
in fellowship with God in which
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like Jesus we love righteousness
we hate sin, we learn to love
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the things God loves, to
hate the things that God hates
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and we lose the
taste for iniquity.
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I love this because you
know the whole context here
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is taking us to a
different direction.
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We've looked at the rest,
we've looked at salvation,
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but again, we are
now looking at the theme
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of how this
plays out in our lives,
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how this plays out in
relationship of overcoming sin.
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Not just saying thank
you for the gift Jesus Christ
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I'll continue to
live my life as I want.
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but saying thank
you for salvation,
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how does this change me?
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And I love it because
verses 1 and 2 of Hebrews 5
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"For every high priest. "
This is the earthly priesthood,
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"taken from among
men, is ordained for men
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for things pertaining to
God that he may offer both
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gifts and sacrifices for
sins, Who can have compassion on
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on the ignorant, and on
them that are out of the way;
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for that he himself also
is compassed with infirmity. "
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In other words, Paul is going
back to the earthly priesthood.
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You know, I remember I was
doing a camp meeting recently,
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and a lady came to me and she
we were talking about raising
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children, I was telling
her, I was explaining to her how
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when my kid, when I make
mistakes with my kids, when I
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get impatient with my
kids, when I do something wrong
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that I know is not right with
my kids, how I, it is difficult
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for me as a parent, and a
preacher, it is difficult for me
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but I want to humble myself
and I want to ask my children
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to forgive me, please forgive
me, daddy shouldn't have done
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that daddy shouldn't have
said that, and she looked at me.
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She said, "but your a
Godly man, you're a preacher. "
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And the implication was two,
two fold, first of all how could
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you be impatient with your kids,
and secondly, how could you
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ask forgiveness of your kids?
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Because you are suppose to
be a Godly man, you don't need
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to low... and I thought
that's why I ask forgiveness.
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If I am going to be Godly I
am going to humble myself and
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secondly, here it is right here,
the priest, the leader of the
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Old Testament Israel, the
leader the guy that was up front
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that was offering the
sacrifices, was one who could
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have compassion with them,
in other words, preachers aren't
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above congregations,
pastors aren't above, they have
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compassion, they are surrounded
with the same weaknesses,
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they understand and therefore
Jesus came to have compassion
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on us, He was surrounded
with those same weaknesses.
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Amen! This is so important
for us to realize in Hebrew
00:11:28.87\00:11:31.38
here he is bringing out
this idea again of Jesus being a
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compassionate high priest.
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One who is touched with
the feelings of our infirmities
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you know James, we often think
of God in such lofty terms,
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that we fail to recognize that
yes God is high and holy, but
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at the same time, we often
fail to realize that God is
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also touched with the
feelings of our infirmities.
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Jesus brings that out in the
open by taking our human nature
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coming into the world,
He very clearly demonstrates
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the heart of God.
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All the way back in the Old
Testament we see the passion
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of God coming through.
00:12:10.20\00:12:11.64
We see the feelings
of God coming through.
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I love, for example,
where in Chapter 63 of Isaiah,
00:12:14.17\00:12:17.82
verse 9, God told the Israelites
in all your afflictions I'm
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afflicted, you don't experience
anything that doesn't touch
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Me because I am a God who
is infinitely invested in you
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I made you, I
love you, you're mine,
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and I feel whatever you feel.
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I also love, this is one of
my favorite Scriptures on the
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compassionate, the emotional
side of God, in Chapter 56
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of Psalms in a poetic
language, David is voicing the
00:12:49.85\00:12:54.32
sentiments of God and
God says through David,
00:12:54.36\00:12:57.11
I have collected all your tears
in a bottle, now that doesn't
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mean they are alphabetized
bottles on shelves in heaven
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and you follow them to the
G's Gibson and then you follow
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to the T's then you find
Ty, and then you see a certain
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amount of saline, liquid
tears that have been collected.
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It's poetry that is intended
to make a point and if you
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were to unravel the poetry,
basically, when Scripture
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says that God has collected
our tears in a bottle, God is
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saying to us, you never
experience anything that I don't
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take notice of, that I
don't Myself experience.
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The resonance with, I know
what you are going through,
00:13:31.51\00:13:35.88
I feel your feelings,
I hurt when you hurt, My
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experience is dove-tailing
with yours by virtue of
00:13:39.25\00:13:42.55
My love for you.
00:13:42.59\00:13:43.73
Powerful, He's compassionate
He's sympatric, He understands
00:13:43.76\00:13:46.86
He is surrounded with
our weaknesses, we have a God
00:13:46.89\00:13:49.71
Who can relate to us, we
have a God Who is tempted like
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we are, we have a God Who
is our advocate in heaven and
00:13:52.63\00:13:55.44
He knows how to
deliver us and we are
00:13:55.47\00:13:57.48
going to continue to understand
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more about this God in the
person of Jesus Christ as we
00:13:58.68\00:14:00.47
continue our study so don't
go away we'll be right back.
00:14:00.50\00:14:02.25