Jesus Sympathizes.
Hebrews 4:14-16NKJV
Mark Twain once said: “Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I have always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand.”
Paul mentioned Christ as our High Priest before in (Hebrews 2:17,3:1), but did not attempt to prove it until now, which he does at great length in Hebrews 4:13 through Hebrews 10:39) in over 5 and a half chapters.
Hebrews 4:14-16NLT So 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. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So 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.
This mornings text—Hebrews 4:14-16, should be understood, and applied. And when it’s fully understood it produces…stronger faith, greater authority, powerful prayer, and maturity. P.H
We have been called to ‘consider Jesus’ as our Great, Faithful High Priest of our profession— (Heb. 6:1). The token of Jesus’ finished work is, He passed into the heavens—(Heb. 4:14b).
He is there seated, His work completed, He’s seated at the right hand of God (Heb.12:2). There He forever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).
This morning, I want us to study these 3 verses of scripture.
Therefore, we begin by looking at, Hebrews 4:14NKJV Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Notice Jesus is called a great High Priest.
The Aramaic High Priest can be translated, “One who has sorrow with us in our affliction.”
The priesthood of Jesus is superior to that of Aaron. One of the themes through the Book of Hebrews, is that Jesus is greater than!
Thomas Goodwin—This High Priest can relate, even though Jesus is now in heaven, He is just as open and tender in His embrace of sinners and suffers as ever He was on earth.
Again, Hebrews 4:14TPT So then, we must cling in faith to all we know to be true. For we have a magnificent King-Priest, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rose into the heavenly realm for us, and now sympathizes with us in our frailty.
How can I be sure Jesus sympathizes? Because Jesus knows what it is to be thirsty, hungry, despised, rejected, scorned, shamed, embarrassed, abandoned, misunderstood, falsely accused, suffocated, tortured, and killed.
He knows what it’s like to be lonely.
Illustration: Did you know that the number one threat against seniors is loneliness?
Brothers and Sisters, Jesus is the only cure.
The Bible proclaims this about Jesus in, Isaiah 53:2TPT He sprouted up like a tender plant before the Lord, like a root in parched soil. He possessed no distinguishing beauty or outward splendor to catch our attention—nothing special in his appearance to make us desire him.
NKJV, For He shall grow up before Him…like a tender plant in parched soil.
This represent both the barrenness of humanity before God and the barren season of Israel’s history when Jesus appeared.
The Passion Translation says this—A root cannot live in dry ground, yet we see a hint here that the Messiah would be miraculously born. A root in dry ground is an allusion to the virgin birth of Jesus, who was conceived without a human father.
Jesus’ friends abandoned him when he needed them most—If He had lived today in the 21st Century, every last Twitter follower and Facebook friend would have un-friended him.
Hebrews 4:14a So then, we must cling in faith to all we know to be true.
When you obtain knowledge, plus experience through God manifestations, you know what is true—what matters.
Hebrews 11, list many men and women in faith, who clung to Jesus’ faith.
The Message Bible from Hebrews 4:14 Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers.
“Decide today to make a new faith grip.” P.H
Hebrews 4:14b For we have a magnificent King-Priest, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who rose into the heavenly realm for us, The Son of God rose into the heavenly realm for us. —Jesus paid sins debt in full.
Listen to these powerful verses from, Colossians 2:13-15TPT This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!
14 He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us. He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation.
15 Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!
Think about this, Satan and all his cohorts are prisoners to Jesus Christ, our faithful High Priest!
Hebrews 4:15NKJV For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus sympathizes over sin and weaknesses. Verse 15, the middle verse, holds the other two together (Vs.14&16).
So here’s the key verse once more, Hebrews 4:15TPT He understands humanity, for as a man, our magnificent King-Priest was tempted in every way just as we are, and conquered sin.
He understands our weakness—Translated— “Tribulation.”
Jesus is our perfect High priest—What were the duties or office of a High priest?
The high priest was the supreme religious leader of the Israelites. The office of the high priest was hereditary and was traced from Aaron, the brother of Moses, of the Levite tribe (Exodus 28:1; Numbers 18:7).
Because the high priest held the leadership position, one of his roles was overseeing the responsibilities of all the subordinate priests (2 Chronicles 19:11).
The high priest offered a sin offering not only for the sins of the whole congregation, but also for himself (Leviticus 4:3-21).
The high priest had to be “whole” physically (without any physical defects) and holy in his conduct (Leviticus 21:6-8).
Again, Hebrews 4:15TM We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin.
The Greek is, “He (Jesus) was without sin” (sinless).
All our weakness in action or deeds, all of our life is tainted with sin. If sin were the color blue, we do not occasionally say or do something blue; all that we say, do, and think has some taint a blue. Not so with Jesus he had no sin.
He was and is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners.
CS Lewis made this point by speaking of a man walking against the wind. Once the wind of temptation gets strong enough, the man lies down, giving in—and that not knowing what it would be like 10 minutes later.
Jesus never laid down; He endured all our temptations and testings without ever giving in. He therefore knows the strength of temptation better than any of us. Only He truly knows the cost.
Every test—Jesus was faithful.
Think about this, “He said ‘No’ to sin, by saying Yes to His Father every time.” P.H
Jesus said, Yes, to grace, and yes to mercy—every time..
Hebrews 4:16NKJV Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Here’s the good news—In your time of need you can come boldly to Jesus.
Need more grace?—Come boldly to obtain grace…
Need more mercy?—Come boldly to obtain mercy…
Hebrews 4:16TM So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.
Jesus alone can pull us out of the hole of sin; He alone desires to climb in and bear our burdens.
Jesus is able to sympathize. He co-suffers with us.
Listen to the heart of Jesus—Matthew 6:5-13TPT “Whenever you pray, be sincere and not like the pretenders who love the attention they receive while praying before others in the meetings and on street corners. Believe me, they’ve already received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your innermost chamber and be alone with Father God, praying to him in secret. And your Father, who sees all you do, will reward you openly. 7 When you pray, there is no need to repeat empty phrases, praying like the Gentiles do, for they expect God to hear them because of their many words. 8 There is no need to imitate them, since your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray like this:
‘Our Beloved Father, dwelling in the heavenly realms, may the glory of your name be the center on which our lives turn. 10 Manifest your kingdom realm,[and cause your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is in heaven. 11 We acknowledge you as our Provider of all we need each day. 12 Forgive us the wrongs we have done as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who have wronged us. 13 Rescue us every time we face tribulation and set us free from evil. For you are the King who rules with power and glory forever. Amen.’
Hebrews 4:16TPT So now we draw near freely and boldly to where grace is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.
Some truths to hold:
We have a faithful High Priest.
Let us hold fast our confession.
He withstood all temptation for my behalf.
Come boldly into the throne-room of grace.
Jesus will be there in your time of need.
Benediction.
