Hebrews 4:14
Jesus A Better High Priest
Outline:
I. \\#1:1-3\\ Meet the New Speaker
II. \\#1:4-8:6\\ The New Is Better
A. \\#1:4-14\\ Jesus Was MADE Better than the Angels
B. \\#2:1-4\\ Sermon: Listen to the New Spokesman
C. \\#2:5-18\\ Jesus Was MADE Better than the Angels
D. \\#3:1-6\\ Jesus Better than Moses
E. \\#3:7-4:13\\ Sermon: What You Need to DO.
1. \\#3:7-12\\ Dear Unbeliever
a. \\#3:8\\ Harden Not Your Hearts
b. \\#3:12\\ Take Heed
2. \\#3:13-4:13\\ Dear Believer
a. \\#Heb 3:13\\ Exhort one another.
b. \\#Heb 4:1\\ Let us fear.
c. \\#Heb 4:11\\ Let us labor.
F. \\#4:14-10:18\\ Jesus Is A Better High Priest
1. \\#4:14-5:14\\ Jesus is a Better Priest
a. \\#4:14\\ Jesus is better High Priest because He is
passed into the heavens.
b. \\#4:15\\ Jesus is better High Priest because He has
better compassion.
c. \\#4:15\\ Jesus is a better High Priest because He
required no sin sacrifice
d. \\#5:4\\ Jesus is better High Priest because He has a
better calling.
2. \\#6:1-20\\ Sermon - Let’s Grow On
3. \\#7:1-28\\ Jesus Has A Better Priesthood
4. \\#8:1-13\\ Jesus Has A Better Covenant
a. \\#8:1-6\\ A Better Covenant
b. \\#8:7-13\\ A New Covenant
5. \\#9:1-10:18\\ Jesus Has A Better Sanctuary and Sacrifice
a. \\#9:1-10\\ Old Covenant’s Sanctuary and Sacrifice
b. \\#9:11-10:18\\ New Covenant’s Sanctuary and Sacrifice
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high
priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
\\#4:14-10:18\\ Jesus Is A Better High Priest
I. \\#Heb 4:14\\ A Preacher Winding Up
A. I don’t know why I have never noticed it, but this writer goes
back and forth throughout the whole book between teaching and
preaching.
1. I suppose every good preacher does, but seeing the writer
do it, makes the book so much easier to understand.
2. The writer taught for a few verses then he preached for a
few, sometimes even interrupting his teaching time to
preach.
a. His lesson on angels \\#Heb 1:4-2:8\\, was interrupted
for a sermon \\#Heb 2:1-4\\.
b. His lesson on the high priest \\#Heb 4:14-10:19\\, was
interrupted for a sermon \\#Heb 6:1-20\\.
B. The writer was teaching so that he could preach, not preaching
so that he could teach.
1. This is a section in which the writer was teaching, but he
will start preaching in a few verses.
2. Remember the difference:
a. Teaching educates. It gives information.
b. Preaching incites a response. It demands action.
3. Pastors are called to do both, but some preach so they can
can teach.
a. They are teachers first.
b. Others teach so that they can preach.
c. This writer seems to be the later.
C. All ready he is into his wind up.
Heb 4:14 …let us hold fast our profession.
1. This has been and will be the writer’s sermon through the
entire book.
2. Throughout this book, the writer has expressed his doubts
in the salvation of some of his readers.
Heb 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more
earnest heed to the things which we have heard,
lest at any time we should let them slip.
Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation; which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him;
Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if
we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast
unto the end;
Heb 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise
being left us of entering into his rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it.
3. Here he made a bold, direct plea.
a. Don’t abandon Christ!
b. You have made a profession. Make sure it is a
possession.
c. That message still preaches!
(1) Don’t stop short of the Promised Land.
(2) Trust Jesus as your Savior and surrender your all
to Him.
4. As I have said repeatedly, some would say these are verses
suggesting one can lose their salvation.
a. They could be; BUT IF THEY ARE, the Bible is fake!
b. Such a conclusion would create a contradiction with
other, plain-spoken Bible verses.
c. Believe you can lose your salvation if you wish; but
if you can, your salvation is not eternal.
II. \\#Heb 4:14-5:14\\ A Preacher Giving Truth
A. The writer’s goal was to get these people saved if they were
not and grounded if they were.
1. His means was to teach them that Jesus is better than
anything or anyone from the Old Covenant.
a. \\#1:4-14, 2:5-8\\ Jesus is better than the angels.
b. \\#3:1-6\\ Jesus is better than Moses.
c. \\#4:14-5:14\\ Jesus is better than the high priest.
2. The writer will prove that last point by both comparing
and contrasting Jesus to the Jewish high priest.
B. Why is Jesus a better High Priest?
1. \\#4:14\\ Jesus is better High Priest because He has a
better location.
Heb 4:14 …that is passed into the heavens…
a. This is a contrast with the earthly high priest, and
one that will be brought out more in
\\#Heb 7:23-25\\.
(1) For the time being, we will just say that a
earthly high priest is only a high priest while
he lives.
(2) His office passes to another with his last
breathe, as it must be if he is to intercede
between a living humanity and God.
(3) But Jesus has already passed into the heavens;
yet; being the omnipotent God, He can still
fulfill His duties to both man and God.
(4) And better, I might add, than any earthly high
priest ever could!
b. Because of this:
Heb 4:16 (We can) come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace
to help in time of need.
(1) Jesus being in the heavens does not limit what He
can do for mankind, but His presence there
gives us direct contact with the Father!
(2) And so God through this writer encourages us to
take advantage of the better High Priest!
(a) Come boldly, with confidence and assurance.
(b) Unto the throne of grace, God’s throne.
(c) To obtain mercy and find grace, to receive
forgiveness (mercy) with purpose and power
(grace).
(d) In time of need, when you need it most.
(3) Jesus is a better High Priest because He gives us
direct contact with the Father.
(4) Since we have a better High Priest, we certainly
should take advantage of it!
2. \\#Heb 4:15\\ Jesus is better High Priest because He has
better compassion.
a. This truth is revealed in several Bible verses:
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 5:1 For 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:
2 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.
Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he
had offered up prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to
save him from death, and was heard in that he
feared;
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience
by the things which he suffered;
b. Both New Testament servants and Old Testament priests
must be people of compassion or they do not qualify
to hold a position.
(1) Compassion on the tempted is so important to God
that even Jesus had to experience it.
(2) So compassion is something that Jesus had in
common with Old Testament priests; but without
doubt, Jesus’ compassion is infinitely greater
than any human being’s compassion could ever be.
(a) As long as you are alive, God’s compassion
on you, regardless of how wicked you have
lived, is virtually unlimited.
(b) At any point that you will repent of your
sins, God will forgive you, cleanse you,
and welcome you into His family with all
the rights and privileges of the purest
saint.
3. \\#Heb 4:15\\ Jesus is a better High Priest because He
required no sin sacrifice.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin.
a. Every Scripture and every truth learned from Scripture
is important, but the truth declared here is of the
utmost importance.
b. This verse is stating two truths:
(1) Jesus faced everything you and I will ever face.
(2) Jesus faced it without ever sinning.
c. There is nothing you and I can or will face that Jesus
did not face, nothing.
(1) Betrayal - Judas
(2) Abandonment - 11 disciples
(3) Poverty - He had to borrow a tomb.
(4) Riches - He left heaven.
(5) Misunderstood, lied about, imprisoned, beaten,
convicted, sentenced to die - Just read the
story of Jesus’ human life.
(6) I continue to pray for the many Afghan Christians.
(a) They are paying the ultimate price, but that
very price is what Jesus told every
Christian we are obligated to pay.
(b) And Jesus paid it first.
d. Yet in being tempted in everything that you and I
would ever face, Jesus did not sin.
(1) He did not sin in His heart, head, or actions.
(2) When it came His turn to cry and shed tears, He
did that without sin. \\#Heb 5:7\\
(3) When it came His turn to face the fearful, He
did that without sin.
(4) When it came time to obey, He learned how without
sin. \\#Heb 5:8\\
e. Because of this, Jesus was different and better than
every other high priest.
(1) Every other high priest needed a sin sacrifice.
Heb 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for
the people, so also for himself, to offer for
sins.
(2) Jesus never did!
(a) Jesus entered into the heavenly Holy of
Holies ONCE, not with blood for His sins,
but with the blood for the sins of others.
(b) And because of that, He became:
5:9 …he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him;
4. \\#5:4\\ Jesus is better High Priest because He has a
better calling.
a. Again, this is something Jesus had in common with the
Old Testament high priests.
(1) They were called into Aaron’s priesthood.
Heb 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was
Aaron.
(a) God called the Levites to be priests and
Aaron to be the High Priest.
(b) When Aaron died, the call was passed to his
eldest son—and although that is not the
way it always worked—that is the way it
was supposed to work.
(c) No man could "assume" the role of high
priest.
(d) It was an honor and duty placed on an
individual by the call and empowering of
God.
(2) As earthly high priests had to be called, so
Jesus was called to this position by God.
Heb 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was
Aaron.
5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be
made an high priest; but he that said unto him,
Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
6 As he saith also in another place, Thou
art a priest for ever after the order of
Melchisedec.
(a) By the way, the writer is quoting from the
Old Testament:
Ps 110:4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not
repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchizedek.
(b) This is mentioned again.
Heb 5:10 Called of God an high priest after
the order of Melchisedec.
(c) And again in \\#Heb 6:20-7:21\\, which is
too far away and too deep to get into
tonight.
b. The bottom line will be that Jesus is better because
the priesthood that He was called to came BEFORE
Aaron’s line and since Jesus lives forever, He will
be the High Priest forever.
III. \\#Heb 6:1-20\\ A Preacher Cutting Loose - Next week!
<Outline
Index> <Close Window>
