Participants: Ty Gibson, James Rafferty
Series Code: BOTB
Program Code: BOTB00006A
|
00:20 Hi friends, and welcome to our program, Books of the Book.
00:24 I'm your co-host James Rafferty, I'm here with Ty Gibson. 00:27 We're looking at the book of Hebrews and we are in Chapter 4, 00:31 the latter part of chapter 4, right now James. 00:33 It's been an exciting study so far. 00:35 We want to look at verses 14-16 to close out chapter 4 00:40 because that is actually a more natural break, as we've noticed 00:45 here as we've looked at the Book of Hebrews, because now the 00:49 Apostle Paul having laid the foundation, chapter one, 00:52 Jesus is God, none other than 00:54 the Divine Creator of heaven and earth. 00:56 Chapter 2, Jesus is human, he's taken upon himself 01:01 our very humanity. 01:02 Then in chapter 3 we've looked at how the Apostle Paul 01:06 builds this bridge into the subject of the humanity of 01:11 Christ and begins to introduce the idea 01:14 of priesthood a little bit. 01:15 Chapter 4, he gets into the Sabbath as a symbol 01:20 of salvation and rest. 01:21 And then at the latter part of chapter 4 01:24 seeing then, seeing therefore that we have a great high priest 01:31 who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. 01:35 Let us hold fast our confession for we do not have 01:40 a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses 01:43 but was in all points tempted like as we are 01:47 yet without sin. 01:49 Well wait a minute, tempted like as we are I mean 01:51 some of us are tempted to do drugs, some of us are tempted 01:54 sexually, Jesus was celibate, Jesus never did drugs, 01:57 Jesus never partook of some of the sins we partake of, 02:00 How can He be tempted, like we are, if He was holy, 02:05 harmless pure, if He rejected all forms of sin? 02:09 I think that it is important to realize that the language 02:11 Paul uses here James, is tempted in all points like 02:16 as we are, Jesus wasn't tempted in every particular 02:20 in every sin that any human being has ever been 02:23 tempted to commit, but the fact is, that in principle 02:28 at the level of the human will, Jesus was tempted in the 02:33 same way and in all points like as we are. 02:37 Okay, So we are talking now about the essence 02:40 of our temptation, and that is when temptation comes to us, 02:44 it comes to the place where we make a decision, it comes 02:47 to the will, and in that sense we are left with a choice, 02:51 are we going to do our will or are we going to do God's will? 02:54 And Jesus also experienced that level of temptation. 02:58 Well I think it reached a climax where He Himself, 03:00 in the garden of Gethsemane expressed the real 03:04 essence of His temptation process. 03:06 He said, praying to the Father, He said, Dear Father let this 03:11 cup pass from Me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. 03:17 Not My will but Your will be done Father, so Jesus in His 03:25 humanity, having taken our humanity upon Himself, 03:26 experienced the crossroads between knowing God's will 03:31 and yet feeling the inclination to move in a different direction 03:37 and Jesus in every experience, and every particular of 03:41 temptation, according to Paul here, He did not sin, He 03:44 never yielded to that temptation but He experienced it on a 03:49 fierce and very real level. 03:51 So the essence, then of all temptation, is when the human 03:54 will crosses with the will of God. 03:56 With what we want to do, crosses with what God 03:59 wants us to do, with relying on ourselves verses 04:02 relying on God. 04:04 Is that why when you see Christ in the wilderness 04:06 of temptation, when the Devil comes to Him he tempts 04:09 Him to turn stones into bread? 04:11 Which I have never been tempted to do 04:13 and I don't think you have, no matter how hungry we would 04:16 ever become, we would never be tempted to turn stones 04:20 into bread because it is out of our realm, 04:21 it's out of our league, we're just... 04:23 Yes but not only that, what is so bad about 04:26 turning stones into bread? 04:28 I mean I can think of a lot of things I would be tempted 04:30 to do, but what is so evil, what is so wicked 04:33 about turning stones into bread, especially if you are hungry? 04:35 Well Jesus in the wilderness of temptation, again, was 04:39 experiencing the devil pitting his will against God's will. 04:44 Jesus had to make a choice in those situations. 04:47 And really, if we are understanding the divinity of 04:52 Christ correctly, what we're saying here is that Jesus in the 04:55 wilderness could have turned stones into bread, 04:58 He could have relied upon Himself, He could have in His 05:02 own nature manifested that power, but because 05:05 He was a man and He divested His divinity, used any of that 05:09 divinity, because He acted as we are to act, 05:12 relied upon the Father, He did not reached into Himself 05:15 He did not rely upon Himself, He was tempted to self-reliance 05:19 and He turned to God. 05:20 We are tempted to self-reliance, and we are to turn to God 05:23 and that is where He can help us, He can aide us, He can 05:27 sympathize with us in our temptations. 05:29 I really think it is important to emphasize here 05:32 that the priesthood of Jesus, in the context of Hebrews, 05:36 is a priesthood that is under girded by this idea of sympathy. 05:42 Jesus is a sympatric high priest why, because He has entered 05:46 into our experiences. 05:48 He has moved through the human experience in a very 05:52 real way, He knows exactly what it is like to be a human 05:56 being, to struggle through this territory, of humanity, 05:59 and to come through it victorious in the end. 06:02 So He sympathizes. 06:04 I love that, because when you look at our temptations, 06:06 when you look at the struggles we go through, 06:08 and you look at Christ in the wilderness, He covers every 06:11 point there, the Devil comes to Him and tempts Him. 06:14 not once, not twice, but three times. 06:16 When you look in 1 John, and this is just a few pages over, 06:19 1 John chapter 2, and it begins here in verse 15, it talks 06:24 about these three areas of temptation. 06:26 It says in 1 John chapter 2, "Love not the world, neither 06:29 the things that are in the world if any man love the world 06:32 the love of the Father is not in Him, for all that is in the 06:35 world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 06:38 and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of world. " 06:42 Now here is an interesting point, all that is in the world 06:45 John here is talking about all that is in the world, 06:48 everything that is in the world and then he sums it up with 06:51 in these three areas, the lust of the flesh, 06:52 the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. 06:55 All that is in the world all the temptations in the world, 06:57 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 06:58 and the pride of life. 06:59 That is all encompassed in that. 07:01 When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He was tempted 07:04 on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, 07:07 the pride of life. 07:09 The lust of the flesh, turn these stones into bread. 07:11 Forty days of fasting, He's hungry, His human body 07:15 wants to eat as bad if not far, in far more desperation 07:18 than maybe a drug addict wants to get a fix, 07:21 an alcoholic wants to get a drink, 07:22 in far more than a sex addict wants to be satisfied, 07:26 He wants that food, that nourishment, and so He 07:30 is tempted in that area, the lust of the flesh, 07:33 the lust of the eyes, the whole world is set before Him. 07:37 He is tempted to give up all to receive that worldly praise 07:41 worldly honor, worldly riches, and then the pride of life. 07:45 Throw yourself off the temple, it's okay God will send 07:47 send His angels, He'll protect you, etc. etc. 07:49 All these three areas are brought to Christ. 07:51 Yeah, we are so thankful that Jesus, in being tempted 07:56 as we are, was victorious on every point and 07:59 that is where Paul begins to reason through in Chapter 5 08:03 and he explains that while Jesus went through this very real 08:07 human experience, went through temptation, Jesus perfected 08:12 humanity through that process, having never yielded to 08:16 temptation, He perfected humanity, Paul brings out, 08:20 down in verses 7 and onward. 08:22 "Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers, 08:27 and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to him who was 08:31 able to save him from death, and was heard because of his 08:34 Godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience 08:39 by the things which he suffered, and having" verse 9 08:43 "been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation 08:48 to all who obey him. " 08:50 So humanity in Christ was perfected and that was the 08:55 authorship of a whole new humanity. 08:57 A whole new way to be human, if you will, which was the 09:00 original way that God intended, for us to experience our 09:03 humanity, victorious over sin, rising above, living in 09:08 communion with God, living in fellowship with God in which 09:13 like Jesus we love righteousness we hate sin, we learn to love 09:18 the things God loves, to hate the things that God hates 09:21 and we lose the taste for iniquity. 09:23 I love this because you know the whole context here 09:25 is taking us to a different direction. 09:28 We've looked at the rest, we've looked at salvation, 09:30 but again, we are now looking at the theme 09:33 of how this plays out in our lives, 09:35 how this plays out in relationship of overcoming sin. 09:38 Not just saying thank you for the gift Jesus Christ 09:41 I'll continue to live my life as I want. 09:42 but saying thank you for salvation, 09:44 how does this change me? 09:47 And I love it because verses 1 and 2 of Hebrews 5 09:50 "For every high priest. " This is the earthly priesthood, 09:53 "taken from among men, is ordained for men 09:55 for things pertaining to God that he may offer both 09:57 gifts and sacrifices for sins, Who can have compassion on 10:01 on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; 10:03 for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. " 10:06 In other words, Paul is going back to the earthly priesthood. 10:08 You know, I remember I was doing a camp meeting recently, 10:10 and a lady came to me and she we were talking about raising 10:14 children, I was telling her, I was explaining to her how 10:17 when my kid, when I make mistakes with my kids, when I 10:20 get impatient with my kids, when I do something wrong 10:23 that I know is not right with my kids, how I, it is difficult 10:27 for me as a parent, and a preacher, it is difficult for me 10:30 but I want to humble myself and I want to ask my children 10:32 to forgive me, please forgive me, daddy shouldn't have done 10:35 that daddy shouldn't have said that, and she looked at me. 10:37 She said, "but your a Godly man, you're a preacher. " 10:42 And the implication was two, two fold, first of all how could 10:46 you be impatient with your kids, and secondly, how could you 10:50 ask forgiveness of your kids? 10:53 Because you are suppose to be a Godly man, you don't need 10:56 to low... and I thought that's why I ask forgiveness. 10:59 If I am going to be Godly I am going to humble myself and 11:01 secondly, here it is right here, the priest, the leader of the 11:06 Old Testament Israel, the leader the guy that was up front 11:10 that was offering the sacrifices, was one who could 11:13 have compassion with them, in other words, preachers aren't 11:16 above congregations, pastors aren't above, they have 11:19 compassion, they are surrounded with the same weaknesses, 11:23 they understand and therefore Jesus came to have compassion 11:27 on us, He was surrounded with those same weaknesses. 11:28 Amen! This is so important for us to realize in Hebrew 11:31 here he is bringing out this idea again of Jesus being a 11:35 compassionate high priest. 11:37 One who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities 11:40 you know James, we often think of God in such lofty terms, 11:44 that we fail to recognize that yes God is high and holy, but 11:49 at the same time, we often fail to realize that God is 11:54 also touched with the feelings of our infirmities. 11:58 Jesus brings that out in the open by taking our human nature 12:02 coming into the world, He very clearly demonstrates 12:05 the heart of God. 12:06 All the way back in the Old Testament we see the passion 12:10 of God coming through. 12:11 We see the feelings of God coming through. 12:14 I love, for example, where in Chapter 63 of Isaiah, 12:17 verse 9, God told the Israelites in all your afflictions I'm 12:22 afflicted, you don't experience anything that doesn't touch 12:27 Me because I am a God who is infinitely invested in you 12:32 I made you, I love you, you're mine, 12:35 and I feel whatever you feel. 12:38 I also love, this is one of my favorite Scriptures on the 12:44 compassionate, the emotional side of God, in Chapter 56 12:49 of Psalms in a poetic language, David is voicing the 12:54 sentiments of God and God says through David, 12:57 I have collected all your tears in a bottle, now that doesn't 13:01 mean they are alphabetized bottles on shelves in heaven 13:04 and you follow them to the G's Gibson and then you follow 13:08 to the T's then you find Ty, and then you see a certain 13:11 amount of saline, liquid tears that have been collected. 13:14 It's poetry that is intended to make a point and if you 13:18 were to unravel the poetry, basically, when Scripture 13:21 says that God has collected our tears in a bottle, God is 13:24 saying to us, you never experience anything that I don't 13:28 take notice of, that I don't Myself experience. 13:31 The resonance with, I know what you are going through, 13:35 I feel your feelings, I hurt when you hurt, My 13:39 experience is dove-tailing with yours by virtue of 13:42 My love for you. 13:43 Powerful, He's compassionate He's sympatric, He understands 13:46 He is surrounded with our weaknesses, we have a God 13:49 Who can relate to us, we have a God Who is tempted like 13:52 we are, we have a God Who is our advocate in heaven and 13:55 He knows how to deliver us and we are 13:57 going to continue to understand 13:58 more about this God in the person of Jesus Christ as we 14:00 continue our study so don't go away we'll be right back. |
Revised 2014-12-17