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  HEBREWS 5
  by Don McClure
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Summary: Jesus Christ, as our high priest, represents humanity to God,
having compassion on our weaknesses and failures, and offering us
forgiveness and salvation.

Duration: 44:05 Topics: "Sin And Corruption", "Repentance And Shame"
Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 5:1-6

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the story of Aaron and the
golden calf from the Bible. He emphasizes how easily humans can fall
into sin and corruption, just like the Israelites did. The speaker
highlights Aaron's role in leading the people astray and making them
naked to their shame. He also discusses the excuses and rationalizations
people often make when they sin, claiming they don't know how it
happened or that it just happened without their control. The sermon
serves as a reminder of the need for self-reflection and repentance in
the face of our own sinful tendencies.

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CONTENT
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Who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason
thereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself to offer for
sins. No man taketh this honor for himself, but he that is called of
God, as was Aaron.

So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he
that said unto him, Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee. And he
also said in another place, Thou art a priest forever, after the order
of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications and strong crying and tears unto him that was
able to save him from the death, was heard in that he feared, though he
were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation to all
them that obey him, called of God a high priest after the order of
Melchizedek, of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered,
seeing that ye are dull of hearing.

For when in times ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach
you again the first principles of the oracle of God, are become such as
have need of milk, and not strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is obeyed. But strong
meat belongeth to them who are of full age, even of those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Lord we thank you for your word, it's so wonderful, and Lord I pray that
today that as we look at this tremendous chapter, Lord, that the
insights, the things that you want us to know and understand about you,
and your work, your ministry, Lord, so basic, so pivotable in the
Christian life, Lord, things that take us literally from being unskilled
and skilled, from a babe to mature, to those who ought to be teachers of
the great oracles of God, Lord, that you would teach us these things.
Help us Lord to put them in our life, so that we can grow and mature.
Thank you for your word now, we ask your blessing upon it, in Jesus'
name, Amen.

But here though, this morning, looking at Hebrews chapter 5, the
wonderful, wonderful book of Hebrews, as you'll recall as we've been
going through it here, the author of Hebrews is wanting to prove to us
again and again and again how that Jesus Christ is, as I have said
innumerable times, better than anything and anybody that ever came along
because very simply put, he is the fulfillment of them all. He is better
than Moses, he is better than Aaron we'll see today, he is better than
the priesthood, he is better than the law, he is better than the
sacrifices, he is better than Joshua, he is better than all of these
things because Christ is the fulfillment of all of these ministry roles
that happen on the outside for people in the Old Testament, now when
Christ is living within my life personally. I have all of these
ministries under my own skin, I don't have to go looking for a Moses,
looking for a Joshua, looking for the law, looking for the priesthood,
looking for the temple, looking for the sacrifices, they're all met
within my daily life and my fellowship and my relationship with Christ
and this is what Hebrews is so much a part.

The author of Hebrews wants to tell us about Jesus Christ as our high
priest and about his work that he has, he correlates him of course with
Aaron as he tells us there that as Aaron was chosen to be high priest.
But here he tells us here essentially in this chapter the work of a high
priest and I pray that I'll be able to convey this as it's written
because it's so important, it is so critical for us to understand some
of the aspects of Jesus Christ as our high priest. But here the Bible
tells us here first of all for somebody who is going to be qualified for
a high priest, here are the basic qualifications.

Chapter 5 verse 1, he says, every high priest taken from among men is
ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both
gifts and sacrifices for sins. Here simply put, the very first
qualification, the first responsibility that when God calls God ordains,
God sets aside a man and he says, you're a high priest. The very first
thing that God wants is, he says, I want you to understand that you are
there to represent men to me.

You are there to represent men who have failed, men in their sin, men
who need to get right, how to get right, the offerings and the
sacrifices for their sins and it's going to be your task to take fallen,
struggling, weak human beings that have struggled with their own life. I
want you to come and represent them to me, bring them to me, plead their
cause, put them right before me. How wonderful it is here that God in
the Old Testament, this is the way that he felt.

He knew, like we all know, we're all sinners, we've all fallen short of
the glory of God but here the very first role that God wanted in a
priest, he said, yes, okay, they've sinned, they've failed. Yes, they've
got all sorts of problems. Your job is to bring them to me and present
them in a way that they're forgiven, in a way that there's a sacrifice
that is made for them, that they can be right with me, that they can
know that they are right with me.

What a wonderful thing to think here, God is looking there at a high
priest, you come and you represent men to me. And of course the ultimate
role of a high priest, the most thrilling of all of them, the greatest
experience was once a year on the great day of atonement, when a high
priest, when all of the people gathered together outside of the
tabernacle, there is the high priest went in with the sacrificial blood
of the lamb who had been slain to represent them and their sins, now
went in and he sprinkled the blood within the holy of holies, there for
atonement, for forgiveness, for acceptance before God. And they're
seeking this wonderful sense of forgiveness.

That was not only, of course, a once in a year opportunity, but it was
also something that happened daily, the high priest, as individuals came
in, there was once a year, the great day of atonement, that in a sort of
an all-encompassing day, where all of the people, they were told by God,
you are loved, you are forgiven, you're put right with me, not because
you're right in and of yourself, but because I have forgiven you because
the lamb, his blood has been shed for you, and you are therefore loved
and forgiven by me. God wanted them to know this, but then also, any and
all the time that any individual ever wanted to come daily, the high
priest were there within the temple, that anybody could come and say, I
need to know I'm forgiven, I need to be right with God, I have failed.
That then they had the daily sacrifices, the daily offerings that they
could come and get right with God.

This was the work of a high priest, God ordained it to be such, God
didn't have to have his arm twisted for this, not to be manipulated,
come on God, help us find a way, God initiated the way. He wants us to
be right with him far more than we do ourself. But also though, another
work of the high priest is not just to sort of mechanically do that, but
also emotionally, to deeply care, it tells us in verse 2, who can have
compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way, for that
he himself is also compassed with infirmity.

He says, I want a high priest that even he himself, he has something
within himself that he understands weakness, he understands infirmity
himself, in such a way as that he himself, when people come in and they
have failed, when people come in and they've gone out of the way,
they're ignorant, they've blown it, they're in trouble, that here, that
I want somebody there that he knows man, he is a man, he's wrapped up in
humanity, he understands the weaknesses and the failures and the
struggles and the burdens and the pressures and the temptations of a man
that when he can look at somebody, he has compassion upon them.

When somebody comes in and says, I've blown it, I've done wrong, he's
got an empathy, he's looking at them and he says, yes, I know, I
understand, and he's able to bear it rather than being, you did what,
then he's irritated with them or he's frustrated with them or he's
annoyed with them, that a priest there, when somebody comes in a week
later after we just went through an atonement, he walks in and says, oh,
please, I need to be right with God, say, wait a minute, weren't you
here last week, what are you doing here again this week, what is your
problem, you ignorant, stupid, sinner, get your life together, that he
wouldn't be somebody that's like this, he wouldn't be impatient, he
wouldn't be frustrated, he wouldn't be uptight, he wouldn't look
somebody there as just a lost fool that's

continuously repeating his failures and saying, can't you get your act
together, but rather than that, he would be somebody that he looks at
each one as a child of God who something has happened and he needs help
to get right with God, this is what God says, that's what I want, this
is his role, he can't be, he's got to be somebody that he understands
it, it's not an easy job, it should be for anybody, but it isn't, I have
a wonderful father-in-law, he's in heaven now, but he would love the
Lord and he's a wonderful man, but one of the things that I observed
about him is he was kind of born and grew up through the depression and
grew up through a lot of struggling times, and there was some poverty
and there was some tough times, but it was something there that he was
kind of taught, you

go do something, if you want to do it, you can do it, and he did, he got
himself through college, got an education, worked hard, became a
physician, decided then he wanted a specialty, so he went back and
specialized, worked hard, was diligent, accomplished things, came from
Mayo Clinic, had some very impressive credentials, but one of the
interesting things about him is he had a tremendous, God changed this as
he got older, but he used to be very impatient with people, he would
look at people and just say, why in the world, if somebody wants
something bad enough, why can't they just apply themselves, anybody
could do anything, if they really truly want to do it, they're lazy,
they're bums, they're just, they're cowards, they don't want to go do
what they got to do and it's time to do the

whole thing and now they're just irresponsible or they're slothful, and
he could be that way sometimes, he could be so impatient when you look
at somebody and say, why don't you just decide you want to do it and
then go do it, but here was something that God said, I want a high
priest that when somebody comes in, you're not going to get that rap,
he's going to be somebody that looks and he says, I understand, I care,
I want to help you, and interestingly enough, the very high priest that
he chose, as it says in verse 4, he says, no man taketh this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, and now here the
Bible tells us that this isn't an honor that somebody just says, I want
it, God calls them, just as God called Aaron, the first high priest, and
Aaron, what an

interesting person for in a sense for God to pick, because when you look
at somebody there and the one that God made the first high priest, let
me just read a little to you about Aaron, out of Exodus 32, you can turn
to it if you'd like, but Exodus 32, Moses at this time, he's up on the
mountain of God, waiting, you know, and standing before God there and
listening to God and getting many, many directions from God during this
period of time, but Exodus 32 says, and when the people saw that Moses
delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron, and they said unto him, up, make us gods, which we
shall go before us, and as for this Moses, the man that brought us up
out of the mountain, come of him, and Aaron said unto them, break off
the golden

earrings, which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your
daughters, bring them unto me, and all of the people, they break off the
golden earrings that were in their ears, they brought them to Aaron, and
then he received them in their hand, and he fashioned it with an
engraving tool, and after it, he made a golden calf, and they said,
these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt, and when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before the Lord, and
Aaron made a proclamation, and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord,
and they rose up on the morrow and burnt offerings, and they brought
peace offerings, the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they rose
up to play, here are the children of Israel looking around, where is
Moses, we don't know what

happened to him, Aaron, you're his brother, make us gods, we need to
worship, we know somebody delivered us, help us with this thing, and
what do we do, and Aaron says, well, go get all your gold, all your
earrings and stuff, all these people, and he says, give it to me, so
they bring it all, and then Aaron takes it, he molds it in, and he
fashions it with a tool, and he makes this golden calf out of it, then
all the people, he tells them now, they built an altar before, and he
says, now tomorrow is going to be a feast day, let's get ready to party,
and we're going to eat, we're going to drink, and we're going to play,
now, I'm not going to read all of it, but then next thing you know, up
in the mountain, God watches and sees all of this, verse 10, it says,
now, therefore, the Lord says,

let me alone, that my path, my wrath may wax hot against them, and that
I may consume them, that I may make of thee a great nation, here he
looks at Moses, God looks at Moses, he says, this is so unacceptable,
this is so wicked, this is so terrible, I'm ready to destroy them all,
I'll start all over again with you, Moses, I'll make of you a great
nation, then Moses intercedes, wait a minute, Lord, God has this
wonderful way of pulling Moses' heart right into it, to where he cares
and wants to intercede for people, and there as he does this, then God,
Moses said, well, I'm going to go down, now, hold on, Lord, I'm going to
go down and deal with this thing, and so in verse 21, it says, Moses
comes down, Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee that
thou hast brought, so great a

sin upon them, he says, what in the world happened, Aaron, that you, you
have led these people into such a terrible, terrible sin, what's come
over you, and Aaron said, let not thine anger of my Lord wax hot, thou
knowest the people that there sat on mischief, he says, come on, Moses,
give me a break, you know they're all a bunch of miserable sinners, you
know, sort of a thing, and for they said unto me, make us gods, which
shall go before us, as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of
the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him, and so I said,
well, whosoever has any gold, let them break it off, so they gave it to
me, and I cast, listen to this, this is what he says, I cast it into the
fire, and there came out this calf, he said, they just gave it, I just
threw it in,

and poof, out came this golden calf, is that weird or what, you know, as
he's kind of looking at Moses, I have no idea how a thing like this
could happen, but isn't that not also the way that we so often are, how
many times, that when we've blown it, we've done some stupid, ignorant,
sinful, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb thing, and yet, our own analysis of it,
is you know, I don't know what happened, I have no idea, I just came
home after a hard day of work, I opened up the door, and then, you know
that woman I married, you know those children, and next thing you know,
they're just yelling and screaming, out popped this golden calf, it just
happened, I don't know how it happened, it just came from nowhere, I was
just doing nothing, you know, I don't know what happened, I just, I
don't know how I

got in this kind of trouble, I just went to a party, I just went to a
party, that's all I did or something, we've got some sort of a thing,
what do you mean, what do you mean a girl is pregnant, I don't know, I
don't know how it, I just went to a party, and just had to enjoy the
people, and the next thing I know, some girl calls me up and says, I'm
pregnant, you know, and how human beings, we fall, and we fail, and
corruption happens in our life, and we just go from one thing to another
radical thing that has happened, and where we've lost it, we fail, and
verse 25 says, and when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron
had made them naked to their shame among the enemies, here Aaron out
there, literally, look at this man, he led them into it, he did it, then
he doesn't even want

to take the blame, he finds an excuse for it, and here the nation is
running around naked to the shame of their enemies, what a party they
had, and here is this party has gone on that just kind of came out of
nowhere, and all of this trouble, and this sin, and this ungodly,
wretched human behavior, it just seemed to pop out of the fire, does not
that happen so easily to us, we hear, what a way to be, and yet, here is
Hebrews, as we just read, you know, for no man takes this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, God then is now
choosing a high priest, as he's establishing the nation, here he's got
Moses, and who does he choose now to be the high priest, for the people,
he looks to who, Aaron, Aaron you'll be a great high priest, boy do you
ever, can you ever sew a

great story, you know, sort of thing, boy can you ever, you know, come
up with somebody, but there it was something, interestingly enough, when
you meditate on that for a moment, here was something as God is now
leading, is setting up the nation, Moses is coming down, he's got the
Ten Commandments from the mount, he's got the plan of the temple, he's
got the sacrifices, he's got the priesthood, and now he's going to
establish the priesthood, and choose a high priest, and who does he
choose, Aaron, this man, the one who actually led them right into
corruption, the one who was even personally responsible for their sin,
and it was something that was so terrible that God literally up on the
mountain when he saw this, the people were to be condemned terribly for
it, and then God turns around

and he says, Aaron, you're the high priest, what a way, what a way to
learn compassion for people, what a way there to have something there
that for God to look and say, if there's somebody that can understand
the weaknesses of sin, and of problems, and the things that'll happen,
when you think about this, for the rest of his life, Aaron would always
be known to the people, always be known to all of the congregation, as
somebody that they would be remembered by him, that there he was as a
man who was now representing them before God, he was a man that he
himself had been guilty of the worst of sins, that now anybody that
would ever come to Aaron and say, Aaron, I've sinned, Aaron, I've
failed, Aaron, I've made a mistake, Aaron could say, I know, yeah, I'm
sorry, rather than being angry or

judgmental, how could he ever look at somebody ever from this point on
and say, you what, don't give me that stupid story, make up a better one
than that, he'd already made up the greatest, hadn't he?

But here the amazing thing when you look at this, is that God wanted
there somebody that all the people could always look at this man Aaron
and know he'll have compassion, that they would always know that he was
somebody that when they would fail, when they were sorry, when they had
blown it, there was somebody they could come to, and God would appoint
him, and God appointed him for this role. And here the ultimately, this
in a sense, was exactly the thing that when God appointed Jesus Christ
to be our high priest, he wanted somebody there as the ultimate high
priest that all the world would have confidence in, know he cares for
him and he understands him, somebody who wouldn't judge them or hate
them or accuse them, but rather somebody that would present their cause.

And as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, he says, thus
Jesus became sin who knew no sin. The Bible tells us literally about
Jesus Christ, and make no mistake about this, he himself never sinned,
never. Never for one moment did he himself ever, ever fail, did he ever
fall short, did he ever turn away, did he ever reject, ever for a
moment, but so that he may be a faithful high priest.

He was somebody there that the Bible says, he who knew no sin became sin
for us. He literally there when Jesus Christ went to the cross, he took
upon himself all the sins of all the world of all time. And there,
guilty for nothing himself, he took the place of all of it.

Every bit of it, think of it, Jesus Christ, the only pure and perfect
one who has ever walked this planet, took the sins of the world upon
himself so that he would forever be able to identify within. He just
didn't simply stay lily white, stay flawless, and then just simply say,
here, put all the sins over there, and here, I'll pay for them. But
rather than that, he left them now guilty for nothing, he became guilty
for everything.

He took all the guilt of it upon himself. He allowed it to come to him
in such a way that all the sins, he understood them. He experienced
them, never doing them himself, but even greater than that, taking the
guilt of them, the sin of them.

You may say, how much? You know, it's interesting, in the Old Testament,
in the book of Hosea, it tells us, in the beginning of the word of the
Lord unto Hosea, the son of Beric, and he makes it, here's this prophet
Hosea. God instructs him in Hosea chapter 1, he says, go and take the
wife of Harlotri and children of Harlotri. For the land hath committed
great Harlotri, departing from the Lord.

God looked at Hosea, and he says, Hosea, I know you're pure, but for you
to be an understanding leader of the people, I want you to go and marry
this Harlot. And all the way through their marriage, she went out and
she was unfaithful, and she had children out of her unfaithfulness. And
then God told Hosea, now you take them as your own children.

You love them. You care for them. And here you identify with them.

And here there was something there that when Jesus Christ came for you
and he came for me, he took all of this upon himself, that when Jesus
one day would stand at the well and talk to the woman there at the well
in John 4, and here sees this lonely woman with all the guilt and the
shame and the sorrow of sin upon her life, and he would be able to look
at her and say, you've had five husbands, and the one that you now have
isn't your husband either. But to be able to look at her, not in anger,
not in hostility, you ignorant woman, what does it take? How many
husbands do you have to have before you realize how stupid you are? But
rather than that, he looks at her and he says, I know exactly what
you're going to do. I know the suffering.

I know the loneliness. I know the grief, not because I've done it, but
because I've taken it. I know the separation, the loneliness, the
rejection, the sorrow.

I know the failing that there is. And here there is something to where
Jesus knows the suffering. He knows the shame.

He knows the sorrow. He knows the guilt and the loneliness. He knows the
struggle of every murder, of every lie, of every adulterous behavior, of
every deception, of every backslider, of every single human being,
everything that you and I have ever done because he has taken upon
himself all of it for the whole world, let alone mine and yours.

And it is something there that the ultimate high priest, that you today,
I today, can now come to him. That's why Hebrews, where the last verses
of the previous chapter, it says, See, then we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold to
our profession, for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like
as we are yet without sin.

Therefore, let us come boldly before his throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. God says, Listen, I
don't care where you've been. I don't care what you've said, what you've
done.

I don't care your story that you want to make up explaining it and how
you did this and this popped out. Heard them all. God's heard them all,
but what he longs for is that somebody would realize that when they can
look at Jesus Christ, they're looking at somebody.

He says, My role is to represent you before God. Please let me do my
role. Please come in honesty with me.

Come with the failings, the ignorance, the struggles you've got. I
understand all of them, not just you. I understand them, all the
billions of the people that have ever lived.

And the wonderful thing when I realize that is when I look at Jesus
Christ, who I ought to know is there. But a high priest, as this chapter
tells us, is not only to be able to represent my failure to God, but he
also is a high priest. It's got to be somebody that represents God's
keeping power to me.

A high priest represents man to God, but he also is somebody that now is
an intercessor and an intermediator. He now represents who God is back
to the man. And this is what Jesus Christ did so, as did his well.

For in verse 7, it says, Who in the days of his flesh, when he had
offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cried and tears unto
him, was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he cried,
though he were a son. Yet learned he obedience by the things that he
suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal
salvation to all them that obey him, called of God a priest after the
order of Melchizedek. Here now, a high priest not only is now coming
before God and saying, Here he is, and he's loved and he's forgiven and
he's human and he's failed, but I've blotted it out, I've forgiven it,
my blood has been shed for him.

To hear Jesus Christ, the high priest, he says, Father, forgive them.
I'm bringing them home. I've got him.

But now he also turns back to us and he says, Now, I'm here also to not
only represent your failure to God and get that piece of business done,
but I also want to represent God's power and his ability to keep and to
strengthen you as well. For here there is something there that now the
high priest also, as it tells us there about Jesus, who in the days of
his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, strong
crying with tears, here there was something. He has got to show me not
only how to get right with God, but he's got to show me how to daily
live before God, how to be acceptable before God.

He has got to reveal God to me in a way that I don't lose hope when I,
instead of continuing to fail and fail and fail and come in week after
week, forgive me, I did it again, forgive me, I did it again, yes, in
which we will always be doing until we go to heaven. But hopefully in
the process there is something that I'm also turning to high priest and
saying, Will you help me? Since you have great access to God, does God
have any help for me in the process while I'm trying to grow? And here
the interesting thing is it says, who in the days of his flesh, Jesus
Christ took upon himself human flesh so that he would understand, he'd
be encompassed with the Bible says the feelings of our infirmities, he
would know suffering, exhaustion, he would know the human frailties, he
knew hunger and he knew thirst, he knew what it was to be tired, he knew
what it was to cry, he knew rejection, he knew what it was to have all
sorts of human struggles within his life, he knew what it was to pray in
silence, he knew what it was to cry out to God, as it says with a raised
voice, he knew what it was to weep, asking God to help him and if there
be any other way I would that you remove this cup from me. He put him
through some great and terrible trials, didn't he? The greatest of all.

As it says in verse 8, that though he were a son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered. Here the high priest comes
back and he says, not only can I tell you how to get right with God, I
love doing that, I also love wanting to show you how to stay right with
him. I want to show you that in the processes and the struggles that
even though I am a son, I had to learn to be, what an interesting thing
by the way, when it says there about who Jesus was a son, he learned
obedience by the things that he suffered.

Now you may think, now that's an interesting thing. Jesus learned
obedience? That's almost with an assumption, he must have been
disobedient. How can somebody learn obedience if they're probably not
disobedient? Well, no, that isn't what it means.

It's just that when now Jesus was in a human body, he had to do
something as man that he'd never done before as God. Obey. One of the
nice little side benefits of being God is you obey nobody.

You're God. You make up the rules and you don't obey anybody. But now
when he became a man, he had to do something he'd never done.

He had to learn obedience through the things that he suffered. You know,
you don't learn obedience except for through suffering. It's the only
way you learn it.

You know, obedience without suffering isn't obedience. It isn't that at
all. If I come to you and say, listen, folks, before you leave here
today, I don't care how you think and what you feel about it, but at the
end of the door when you leave here, I don't want any arguments about
it.

I want you to accept it. But when you all walk out of here, we have a
million dollars cash for every one of you and you will take it. Do you
understand me? And then you'll also all get, we have a, you know, an
airplane that's going to take everybody to Europe for one month.

First class, five star hotels. Everything's taken care of at work.
Everything's there.

You're just going to go have a good time. Now, no arguments. Well, when
you say, okay, I'll obey, that isn't obedience.

It's obedience if I tell you, by the way, you've got a million dollars.
Give it to me. I wouldn't do that.

But the, now you suffer, you know, something. Now the obedience may, you
know, have something there, you know, you know, but the point of it is,
is that you learn obedience only when you suffer. And here there was
something about Jesus that he might represent the sufficiency and the
power and the adequacy of God to every human being in every trial that
we would ever be in our whole life, every difficult time, every form of
suffering, every time where I would pray, every time that there would be
something I may be going in and through that I want to, that I'm crying.

I'm crying out with, with, with loud, as it says here, the days of his
flesh, he offered a prayers and supplication, strong crying and with
tears to him that was able to save him from death. He went to him and
said, you can save me God. Father, you can, you can come up with another
plan.

I don't have to go through this. And here there was something there that
as he cried and as he wept and as he prayed, there was something there
that he knowing that God was able, as it says, to do something
different. But God said, no, you will go all the way through the trial.

The answer is no. By the way, sometimes, you know, we ask God, we say,
God didn't answer me. No, he does answer a lot.

The answer is just no. We just don't like it. So we say, God isn't
listening to me.

Oh, he listens. He listens real good, but he, but his answer to us is
you will stay in the trial. You will stay in the trial.

I will give you the strength. I'll give you the power. You can cry, you
can weep.

And I know it hurts and I know you don't want it, but you'll learn
obedience. You'll learn the power and the strength and the blessing of
obedience. Even if it takes you all the way to death, whatever it is,
but you will find the strength.

You know, there's sometimes, you know, God's, you get greatest answers
that he'll ever give us are the no's. The yes's are when, the moment I
get a yes, pressure's off, trial's over. It's the no that said you'll
stay in it.

Perhaps you've heard and know the story of Amy Carmichael, the wonderful
missionary, on how that as a little girl, she was once told on how that
Jesus Christ, he hears our prayers. If I ask anything, according to his
will, he'll do it. Anything in his name, he'll do it.

And there, young little Amy Carmichael, this young, precious Christian
girl, she just loved the Lord with all of her heart. And she, there was
just one thing she wanted with all of her heart. She wanted blue eyes.

She had brown eyes. But there, with all the faith of a little child,
when she went to bed, she said, Jesus, give me blue eyes. That's all I
want.

And just knowing he could do it, all the innocent, precious little
faith. And she fell asleep. And can hardly, the next morning, she wakes
up, runs in the mirror, looks in there to see her precious, beautiful
blue eyes, they're brown.

So she prayed again, and she prayed again. Maybe she wasn't praying
right. And so she went back and forth, seeking.

There, where are the blue eyes? The blue eyes didn't come. Well, she
went on. It stumbled her for a while.

She struggled for a little while. But then, later on, as she continued
to grow, she felt God calling her, you know, to India, and as a
missionary. And here she is now, over in India, many years later, taking
compassion on all these little Indian girls who are now being offered in
these Indian sacrificial temples there, where they would now, they were,
the way they would support the temples is that they would, people would
actually give their baby girls to the temple because they couldn't
afford them.

They needed a healthy boy to go out and plow fields and make a money.
They didn't have a use for the girls at the time, so they would go give
the girls to their temples, who would raise them up in prostitution to
support the temple. And here God puts little girls on Amy's heart, and
she finds herself going into these temples.

And there she took tea leaves, dyed her skin so she would look Indian,
and dressed the whole way. She would go in after she saw a woman taking
into offer a little baby girl at the altar. She would follow them in.

And then when they would walk out, before somebody could come and pick
up and take the child, she would then pick up the child and take it and
raise it in an orphanage to know Christ. One day when she's walking out
of the orphanage, she's going home just praising God, and she's got this
orphanage full of little girls. She's just praising, thanking God on how
wonderful it was that He had called her and used her to do such a
wonderful thing.

And out of nowhere, the Lord spoke to her, and He says, Amy, this is why
I never gave you blue eyes. Indians don't have blue eyes. They have
brown eyes.

And they'd know you. You could never go into their temple. And sometimes
God puts us through these short-term things that can be so difficult.

Why must I go through this? Ultimately, that when He gives us the no,
and the no, and the no, and the no remains a no, and that the trial, you
know, continues. But through it, then one day, you begin to find His
yes. You begin to find His answer, because God makes character perfect
through suffering, the Bible says.

Romans 5 says, for us it says, and not only so, but we glory, Paul said
in Tribulation. Trials, difficulties, the no answers that God gives us.
Paul says, as a Christian, we glory in them, knowing this, that
Tribulation worketh patience.

Patience, experience, and experience hope, or character. Patience, or
character is what it means, but it's called experience. And experience
hope, and hope maketh not a shame, for the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit that's given to us.

Paul says, we grow through the no's. We grow through the difficult
times. And here, the wonderful thing about Jesus Christ, He is not just
simply the one who goes to God and says, forgive them, but He is the one
who comes back from God and says, I'll enable you through the no's and
the difficulties, and the times where you cry, and the times where you
ache, and the time where you have to stand, and to be consistent for
whatever it is that He has for you.

Sometimes deliverance in the trial, instead of from the trial, a far
greater answer. Sometimes when He gives us this wonderful peace. How
often, my nature, I can be in the middle of a trial.

I know the perfect capacity to deliver from death, change anything
whatsoever, just in a flash of light. He can change it, He can alter it,
He can fix it, no problem. And He isn't doing it, okay Lord, take
another day, that's okay.

What, you want a week? You don't know if it's a week. What do you mean
it may not be a week? Give me a time, just give me a time, so I just
know how to pace myself. You know, sort of a thing.

How long is this going to go on? No answer. And sometimes God's no, I
won't even answer. You know, to me, God's no answers are so often this
great vote of confidence in us, somebody once said, until we're in the
trial.

And I want to look at the Lord and say, Lord, I think you're a little
overconfident in me or something, or whatever it is. But when God looks
at us, maybe in our marriage, maybe in our career, maybe in our family,
maybe in whatever it is, where He says no. Where He now looks at us, I
hear your tears, I know your struggle, I know your longing, but I also
want you, I'll never leave you or forsake you.

That He was there, as it says in Hebrews verse 9, it says, who being
made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all that obey
Him. And when that means eternal salvation, it's not just meant the
ultimate salvation when the role is called up yonder, I'll be there. But
the daily, ongoing, saving power of God is what it means.

He became the author, to me now, of God's ability to say, I can carry
you through anything. I can save you every day, always. I'll never leave
you.

And I know sometimes you want to change. I know you don't want to go
through this. But when it says He is the author of eternal salvation, it
means He writes the book.

He writes the book on being saved. He writes the book on being saved
daily, being saved in this trial, through this trial, through all the
issues of life. Jesus wants to say, I can not only represent you to God,
but I also represent all of His power to you, and all of His ability,
and all of His strength.

You see, Alan Redpath, he once said, God has had one son without sin,
but none without suffering. And so often God puts us in a thing. He
says, you must suffer, because through that suffering is how you learn
to cry and say, Jesus, I need your power.

I need. You know, when you went through it all the way to death, you
went through it all the way to the cross, crying, waiting, and yet you
remain obedient. Know that when we learn that the most basic thing here,
this is the essence of this chapter, that the most basic aspect of the
Christian life is, I have a priest.

God looks at every one of us and He said, you and I, every one of us
need a priest every day of our life. I need a priest to represent my
ignorance, my foolishness, my failings, my inadequacies, my rebellion.
All and whatever the spectrum is, I need, Jesus, would you please,
please present me to the Father.

But then the Father also looks and He says, and you also need a priest
every day of your life to present me to you. My power, my strength, my
ability to keep you. And when I think I don't need both of those, here
as far as the Bible is concerned, as far as this chapter is concerned,
He now stops and in verse 11 He says, of whom we have many things to
say.

He says, I've got a lot more to tell you about Jesus Christ and who He
is. And He says, but of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be
uttered, seeing that you are dull of hearing. For when in times you
ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again the first
principles of the oracles of God, and become such as need milk and not
of strong meat.

He now looks and He says, if you don't grasp this about Jesus, He says,
I've got a whole lot more to tell you about Him. But if you don't
understand this fundamental knowledge of who He is, if you don't
understand that He looks at you every day and He says, come to me. I'll
take you to the Father.

I'll present you. I'm wrapped up in you. I know your weaknesses.

That doesn't bother me. I'm not tired. I'm not irritated.

I'm not at the end of my rope with you. I'm not angry. I'm not about to
wring your neck.

I love you. You've got to know that. That's basic.

But He says, you've also got to know, I also turn right around after I
turn and say, okay, here, I'll go present you. Then I'm going to be
right back in a moment to present something from Him to you in the midst
of your trial, in the midst of your struggle, strength to carry on. And
He says, and if you don't know this at a time that you ought to be
teachers of the oracles of God, that you ought to be able to turn around
to the rest of the world and say, this is who Christ is.

If you don't know this fundamental, basic truth, you're still on milk.
You're not ready for meat. We can't go on to other things.

This is as fundamental and as basic as the Christian life is all about.
And that when I realize this, you realize this. When we realize there,
the Lord looks at us.

In time and I ought to be capable of helping others, ministering to
others, letting my light so shine, preaching the gospel, communicating
His power, being a building block and a blessed person to other people
to help strengthen and encourage their life. I am still struggling in my
own skin with my relationship with Christ and the most fundamental sin.
And here He looks at us today.

I believe the Lord just would love to say, let me be a priest. Can I be
your priest today? I know your struggle. I know the pressure in the
home.

I know the struggle at the office. I know the problems with the bills. I
know this and that.

But I want you to know the answer may be yes and it may be no, but that
doesn't change the fact that either I'll give you the answer you want or
I'll give you the strength to live as you ought to, to live full, rich,
complete, strong lives. The time when you ought to be there, the word
teacher, there a master. You know, that's what it actually means that
you ought to have mastered these things and you ought to be able to tell
other people this is who Christ is.

He says, we need to go back and do it again. How many times do I have to
have that? Do I find myself embarrassed or ashamed? Find myself ashamed
there that in my own impatience or frustration when God's answer is no,
or maybe, or later, or I'll think about it, or I'm having fun thinking
about it. Sometimes I feel He's doing that.

Lord, are you just, am I entertaining to you watching me go through
this? Yeah, kind of. You're my little kid and I just like watching them
grow up and you're doing it very slowly, you know, or something. But
whatever it may be, to have Him look there and say, I am committed to
making you a man or a woman of God.

Today, I would just encourage you as we close, maybe some of you today,
you're here and you're in guilt and you're ignorant and you've failed
and you maybe think about Jesus Christ that He is somebody, He must be
so angry with you, He's so frustrated with you, He can just hardly wait
to smack you. I'm serious. I'm sure there's something here.

May I tell you then you need to go back and understand one of the most
basic things about who He is because God has ordained Him and set Him
aside to say, I want you to be so wrapped up in people that when they
come to you, they know you care and you feel with them. You want them
more than anything to be right with me. That's who Christ is.

But also He looks and He says, and I now. Also, you know, the wonderful
thing about Jesus is now you show them the strength and the power and
the ability to live victoriously to whatever the answer is, that the
important thing isn't how they get through it. The important thing is to
have a high priest with them in all of the issues and the circumstances
of life.

Many other things we'll be looking at here in the book of Hebrews, but
this is about as basic as it can get. Maybe today you just need to say,
Lord, forgive me. I've been wanting out.

You've been wanting in. You've been wanting, you know, to be stronger,
and you've been wanting to show me your sufficiency. You've said no,
that you might say yes to a greater thing.

Show me the greater, even today. Amen? Now, we sang a song just before,
take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord of thee. And it's
interesting, we can so often do that.

We're great singers, aren't we, so often. But then we say, take my
hands, take my feet, take my voice, you know, take my silver, take my
gold, take my heart, take my will, make it thine own. Oh, when we can
say that and come to our high priest and say, here I am, I'm yours.

Father, we thank you for your love and your goodness, and I just pray
that today that we may wonderfully, Jesus, just realize who you are. To
know that you look at us and you love us, and you care. And yes, we
fail, Lord, immeasurably every day.

But to realize that in the midst of all of this, you look at us and
said, well, I am fully committed to you, and I love you. And I'm going
to present you faultless to the Father. I also want you to let me
present the Father faultless to you, powerful to you, strong to you.

Lord, I pray that today that we would understand these basic things of
who you are, the very milk of Christianity, that Lord, out of this, that
we could then go on and grow, and we could instruct others for the great
truths of the oracles of God. Father, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/8/SID8811.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/don-mcclure/hebrews-5/
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