Our Great High Priest Jesus Christ

I. EXORDIUM:

Do you still sin?

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show that our Great High Priest can able to understand, and sympathize with us, and His Perfection is our Perfection in the eyes of the FATHER GOD.

IV. TEXT:

Hebrews 4:15 (Amplified Bible)

4:15 For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.

V. THESIS:

I am Perfect in the FATHER GOD's eyes, because when He looks at me, He looks at me thru JESUS, my Great High Priest.

VI. TITLE:

Our Great High Priest JESUS CHRIST

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Date of writing: Before AD. 70

B. Style of writing: Best Greek style

C. Authorship: Not specific, but generally attributed to Apostle Paul. Can be also ascribed to Barnabas, Luke, Apollos

D. Audience: Hebrew Christians

E. Theme: Christ is superior to the prophets; Christ is superior to angels—J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible

F. Purpose: The chief doctrinal purpose of the writer was to show the transcendent glory of the Christian dispensation, as compared with that of the Old Testament.—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

G. Keyword: better

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. Our Great High Priest is able to understand and sympathize with us

"For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation,"

Philippians 2:7-8 (Amplified Bible)

2:7 But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.

2:8 And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!

Isaiah 53:4-5 (Amplified Bible)

53:4 Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy].

53:5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.

Matthew 8:16-17 (Amplified Bible)

8:16 When evening came, they brought to Him many who were under the power of demons, and He drove out the spirits with a word and restored to health all who were sick.

8:17 And thus He fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, He Himself took [in order to carry away] our weaknesses and infirmities and bore away our diseases.

Infirmities came from the Greek word: "astheneia" meaning:

1. want of strength, weakness, infirmity

2. want of strength and capacity requisite

3. to bear trials and troubles

4. to do things great and glorious

JESUS, the ALMIGHTY GOD from Ancient of times, limited Himself to weak human beings, so He can bear trials and troubles for us, so He Himself, can depend on GOD, the FATHER for want of strength and capacity to do great and glorious things.

B. Our Great High Priest has been tempted in every respect, yet without sin

"but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning"

Tempted came from the Greek word: "peirazo" meaning:

1. to try whether a thing can be done

2. to try, make trial of, test: for the purpose of ascertaining his quantity, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself

Sin came from the Greek word: "hamartia", (noun,feminine) also equivalent to "hamartano" (verb) meaning:

1. to miss the mark

2. to err, be mistaken

3. to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong

4. to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin

We, human beings, have been delivered by JESUS by His finished work on the Cross, from sin as noun,feminine but not yet from sin as verb, because we keep on doing sin while here on earth and while we live on this body. But CHRIST has no sin (verb and noun) whatsoever, even if He experienced for Himself, as a human being, all the trials, temptations, and troubles in this life for 3.5 years.

Isaiah 53:9 (Amplified Bible)

53:9 And they assigned Him a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.

1 Peter 2:22 (Amplified Bible)

2:22 He was guilty of no sin, neither was deceit (guile) ever found on His lips.