 I'll read to verse 10 and we'll get into our study tonight as we continue our verse by verse study here in the book of Hebrews The writer writes for every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God That he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray Since he himself is also beset by weakness Because of this he is required as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God just as Aaron was So also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest But it was he who said to him you are my son today I have begotten you and as he has also said in another place You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and Was heard because of his godly fear though. He was a son yet. He learned obedience by the things which he suffered and Having been perfected he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him Called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek now We're going to be looking at Jesus Christ as he's presented to us as our high priest as I've mentioned to you before in the Old Testament the priests were like bridge builders to God They represented God to man and man to God It was almost as if they acted as ushers bringing people into the presence of God People could not come directly to God. So the Lord gave them priests and the priests would mediate They'd offer daily as well as yearly sacrifices on behalf of the people And so because that was true in the Jewish religion a Jewish individual might ask somebody else Well, who is your mediator who mediates between you and God? Especially a Jewish person speaking to a messianic or a Jewish Christian They would say listen. We have in the Old Testament our mediators. We have the priests and we have the high priest We have somebody could usher us into the presence of God. Who do you have? Who is it that you look to who can mediate for you? How are your sins going to be forgiven if you have no high priest entering into the holy of holies and offering the blood sacrifice on a yearly basis on the day of atonement if you don't have a mediator Then who makes those sacrifices for you? And so to these questions the Christian would point to Jesus Christ as our priest and as our mediator This is not by the way simply an Old Testament question that could be asked by a Jewish individual to a Jewish believer at his time And that question is asked even to this day in different forms Perhaps many of you might know that the Mormon Church has a system of priests They believe themselves to be descendants if you will they have ironic priesthood and all and they consider themselves to have a priesthood and so I Remember on one occasion many years ago now having a young Mormon missionary speaking to me and and asking me the same question Who's your mediator? Because I had spoken to him and I had asked him. Why are you trying to bring me into the Mormon Church? What do you have to offer me and their response the young man's response was We have the priesthood and I remember pointing out this particular passage by saying to them I have a priest Jesus Christ who is my high priest That was the answer that was given by Jewish Christians 2,000 years ago That's the answer that believers give to this day We have somebody who is our mediator and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus is the one who brings us to God now. He made that statement himself. We all know the scripture John 14 verse 6 I am the truth the way in the life. No man comes to the father But by me, but that's not the only place that is pointed out It's also pointed out in 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse 5 There's one God and one mediator between God and men and that is the man Christ Jesus We see that in Romans chapter 8 verse 34 who is he who condemns it is Christ who died Yes, rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us We see it in 1st Peter 3 18 Christ also has once suffered for sins The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh But quickened by the Spirit we see that in 1st John chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 My little children these things right I unto you that you sin not and if any man sin We have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous He is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world So the writer here wants us to know that we have a mediator and it really answers the question Who is your priest who brings you to God? And that's what we're going to be looking at today as he speaks concerning Jesus Christ Who is our mediator who is our high priest now in the first four verses here? And we'll look at those in together he begins to speak concerning the qualifications of the high priest He actually gives us four qualifications in these four verses four qualifications for the high priest And we'll look at those one at a time one he points out that it is God who appoints the high priest To he points out the high priest is taken from among men Three he points out that the high priest understands human weakness and for he points out that the high priest offers Sacrifice on behalf of people God appoints him. He's taken from among men He understands human weakness and he offers sacrifice That's what we see in the first four verses here, and it's all applied to Jesus Christ Now the first thing we note in verse one is it says it this way every high priest is taken from among men That word taken is another word for chosen selected the high priest was selected by God Taken from among men and it's very clear who does that because in verse four he tells us no man takes this honor to himself But he who is called by God and so the first thing he's pointing out is that God appoints the high priest in other words High priesthood was not something that you studied for it wasn't something that you received through selfish ambition It wasn't something that you plan to have From the very beginning the high priest was an individual selected to that position by God himself You can see that with the very first high priest in the Old Testament a man by the name of Aaron Aaron was the brother of Moses and was the first high priest and was specifically Selected by God if you take notes Exodus chapter 28 verse 1 points that out in the Old Testament It says have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites along with his sons Nadab and Abiyu Eliezer and Ithamar so that they may serve me as Priests so the first thing he points out is that the high priest is selected by God Ministry serving the Lord is always by selection and God selected the high priest I can remember when my son David was a little boy Very little boy just six or seven years of age. I'll never forget what he said to me one day He said you know dad When I'm an older man, I'm gonna take the church over And I said oh really he said well, yeah, just think about it You don't have to change the name in the bulletin you can still be pastor David Well, I said that's a great thing son and and all of that And then it would be a thrill for me to be able to hand over my ministry to you and God knows I'd love to do that But I don't select the pastor of the church God does and you can't study for that and you can't prepare yourself to be the pastor of the church or a pastor period Well, if it's true being selected as a pastor It is more true if you will being selected as high priest and that's the point that was being made one He was saying listen You need to know and remember that every high priest is actually chosen by God selected by God God is the one who makes that choice and Remember with me. He's saying remember Aaron and remember the priesthood in the Hebrew religion and and remember how God is the one who selected Aaron and God continues to select the priest So the point he's making here is Jesus Christ was appointed by God to be the high priest Jesus in other words had been selected now. He makes it clear various times. We see it in verse 4 We see it in verse 5. We see it in verse 6 and verse 10 It's repeated for emphasis making it clear that Jesus Christ is selected by God And so Jesus is appointed by God The second thing he points out is every priest is taken from among men In other words a priest must partake in the nature of the ones for whom he officiates and only a man can understand human nature and human Temptation and this was in a place for a for an angel an angel could not do that because an angel does not have human nature An angel cannot be a high priest cannot be a mediator because an angel does not have human nature and therefore doesn't understand human weaknesses You need to keep that in mind once again because Jehovah's Witnesses will tell you that Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel They teach that that Jesus is Michael the archangel the name Michael means who is like God and they have a very large Contrived argument to try and demonstrate to you that Jesus is the first creation of God is Michael the archangel but the fact is he was chosen from among men because men have human nature and Therefore the high priest had to be a person of human nature which brings us to the third thing that he understands human weakness He has compassion according to verse 2 on those who are ignorant and going astray So he understands human weakness He has compassion on the ignorant and those going astray because it says he himself is also beset or subject to by weakness So a high priest is a human being therefore. He understands human weakness Messiah needs to sympathize with human weakness to adequately present a man to God See you don't have a savior. You don't have a Messiah that is out there and distant You know sometimes we may be thinking of God in that way We think that God is just so far and so distant from us that he doesn't understand us and that's just not true at all One of the things the Holy Spirit has been trying to teach me for many years is that he understands me That he understands everything about me and the way that I know that his scripture reveals that and then I take into consideration That as a human being he went through a variety of things as a human being that I do too He was subject to the same things in other words. He got hungry like I do he got thirsty as I do He got sleepy as I do he understood all of those things and therefore has sympathy and so the Lord Jesus Christ Understands us now the high priest being a human being obviously understands other human beings He was prone to sin and therefore and you'll see this in a moment would offer sacrifice for himself as well as the people Jesus on the other other on the other hand was never in sin never did sin and and therefore could sympathize with our weaknesses But never experienced the sin that we that we have to combat But the thing is a human high priest was sympathetic because he understands weaknesses that gives him the ability to have compassion On somebody who's hurting Why because he went through the same kinds of things. I have a friend of mine. He's in our fellowship His name is Renato. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this. I don't I don't think he would Renato and Renato comes to our fellowship. He's the lead singer for two or more and and we were yesterday We were together with his brothers and and the rest of the group at the men's conference and And as I was seated They're waiting for my opportunity to go up and and share and all I had just been told that that Renato's Grandmother went home to be with the Lord. She was a few days short of a hundred and five years of age Yeah, the Lord blessed her with many years in life and that's wonderful and and all But you might find this to be a blessing and he was rejoicing and it his mama got his grandma got saved when she was 95 95 years old God is sure good and compassionate and very patient 95 years But grandma gave her heart to Christ and but she died a couple of days ago three days ago now and and Renato came and was seated next to me and And I and I was aware of the fact that his grandmother had just gone home to be with the Lord just two days before and and As he sat next to me He began to share with me a little bit about his grandma and and how his dad was there yesterday at the Conference and and how dad felt losing his mom and you know those kinds of things and and as he's sharing with me I began to share with him some things and and and some things that I've learned personally through the loss of those whom I love and and as I was sharing with him Yeah, I understand exactly what you're feeling like because he said you know he goes I've never lost anybody a friend a relative anybody I've never Seen them die. He said this is the first time in my life that I have seen Somebody like my grandmother Die he said and and I'm and I'm shaking and and as he's speaking to me He does what anyone would do he begins to weep and the tears are pouring down his face and and and I reach my arm around him I hope you don't mind me explain to them I put my arm around him and I held him in my arms and and as and he just he composed himself And I just put my arms around him and and I shared with them and and I shared the things that God has taught me about that You see that's what he's saying here. He can have compassion the high priest can have compassion because he knows What those people are going through he's not distant in other words He's not out there separated and and saying oh, you know shut up stop crying. What are you whining about? You know stiff upper lip. Don't you have any faith the high priest wasn't that way at all? Why because he was taken from among men because he understands weaknesses He understands loss he has compassion and and that was a high priest and and the writer is saying You know you have a human high priest, but you have Messiah who is your high priest and and Jesus Christ Understands those things. No, he never sinned of course. He didn't remember chapter 4 verse 15 Which reads we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with with our weaknesses But was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Jesus never sinned He never participated in man's sin though. He does understand men's feelings Jesus was was one who committed no sin and Jesus Christ takes our sins away and in him according to 1st John 3 5 There is no sin, but he can deal gently with the ignorant and those going astray and have sympathy now in verse 2 when he says the ignorant and those going astray It's another way of saying ignorant those who sin not by choice, but By mistake there are there are times that we can actually Break a law without even knowing that we that we are you know that to be true if you've been pulled over by a police officer And the officer says why you did you do this and you can look at them and you can say What are you talking about? I didn't do that. Yes, you did. We saw you Well, it's that against the law. Oh, yeah, there's a law in this in this city or this county that says you can't do that Oh, well, that was my mistake I didn't intend to do that many of us have tried to argue ourselves out of tickets that way and Sometimes we actually didn't mean to do that. That's an ignorant thing But you still broke the law ignorance of the law is no excuse And so he speaks concerning that he says you can be ignorant the ignorant who sinned by mistake But he also speaks of those who are going astray interesting way of putting it Those who are being led astray literally is what he's talking about Those who have been influenced who are moving away from doing the right thing And so he deals gently with the ignorant and those going astray and has sympathy with them In other words, he treats them with compassion because they are unintentionally going in the wrong direction Now because of this according to verse 3 he's required as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins And so what he does is he makes an offering an offering for sins He offered gifts and sacrifices and that's what the the priests would do When he gave the gifts that would be grain offerings It could be financial offerings unto the Lord that he would offer it, but it was bloodless when he made sacrifice Those are sin offerings now these sacrifices didn't eradicate a person's ability to sin But provide forgiveness for them because they have sin and so the priests would offer sin offerings And and what he would do is he'd offer sacrifice for himself as well as for the sins of the people Revealing that he has relationship with them as a human being That's what it means in verse 3 when it says because of this he's required as for the people So awful also for himself to offer for sins verse 4 and no man takes this honor to himself But he who is called by God just as Aaron was so he returns to the thought of verse 1 by pointing out very specifically That the Lord Jesus Christ was anointed by God to be the high priest now He's developing all of this and now it's gonna go a little bit further verse 5 So also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest But it was he who said to him you are my son today. I have begotten you as He also says in another place. You are a priest forever according to the order of Malchizedek And so he answers the question how can Jesus be high priest? Remember with me and some of you are familiar with this already perhaps some of you aren't aware of this yet The high priest was taken from a certain tribe The tribe that the high priest was to be taken from is the tribe of Levi The tribe of Levi was a tribe that Aaron was from the nation of Israel being broken into 12 specific tribes The Levitical tribe is the priestly tribe. Here's the question Jesus Christ is not of the tribe of Levi. How can he be a high priest? Jesus came from Judah and because he's from a different tribe the question obviously would be asked listen if God selects the high priests from among men Who are from the Levitical background? How is it possible that he would be referred to as a high priest? Because he isn't from Levi. How did Jesus Christ become the high priest if he's not a Levite? And so the answer is the priesthood is not after Levi, but actually predates Levi Now how did that happen? Well, he makes reference to somebody named Malchizedek Malchizedek is one of those really interesting people in scripture that that basically basically they appear and they Disappear and you don't have a lot of information about this guy Malchizedek You see him in the book of Genesis you see him in the Psalms and you see him several times here in the book of Hebrews a Man by the name of Malchizedek But what is happening here is the writer is saying listen the order of priesthood that Jesus Christ is part of is not Levitical but predates the Levitical because Malchizedek was an individual who went to Abraham and Abraham the father of the Jewish nation actually Regarded him as priests of the most high God and even offered sacrifices and gave to him offerings and so his point is is that Jesus Christ is other after an older order in Genesis chapter 14 verse 18 The Bible speaking of Malchizedek says that he was a king of ancient Salem When you see Salem in the Old Testament, that's another name for Jerusalem So Malchizedek was the king of ancient Jerusalem is the point that he's making in Psalm 110 verse 4 which is a messianic Psalm It says the Lord has sworn and will not relent you are a priest forever according to the order of Malchizedek being a messianic Psalm that simply points out that Jesus Christ followed a different priestly order Now this man lived centuries before Aaron and and his priesthood Interestingly enough, and it's almost I'm almost wishing that I did just in a full study on McKizadek as I'm speaking to you now because I'm thinking of things that I could have told you But you don't know what I'm thinking so it doesn't matter does it Malchizedek I'm gonna slow down and give you a few things Very interesting man. He appears before us in Genesis Abraham the father of the Jewish nation offers him sacrifices And he basically disappears You'll see more of him later on in chapter seven, but he basically disappears from the scene And yet he is the priest of the most high god And he's the king of Salem Malchizedek means king of righteousness Salem king of peace Malchizedek the king of righteousness the king of peace is a type we'll see this later on I have to be careful not to get ahead of myself He is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ That's the point that's being made here by the writer of Hebrews He is a type Jesus Christ answers to certain elements that you see in him The interesting thing about him as I mentioned earlier is you see him mentioned in Genesis 14 You see him mentioned in Psalm 110 But you never see him again He appears on the scene and disappears But he is used as a type because he has no genealogy having neither father nor mother He says later on which is a picture of the eternality of christ In the sense of jesus's inhabiting eternity And so they use malchizedek as a type to present the priesthood the priesthood now malchizedek Has predates the erotic priesthood by some six centuries Because he appears on the scene something like 2000 years before christ And and the levitical priesthood doesn't appear until about 1400 years before christ So 600 years past between the mention of malchizedek and the revelation of the priesthood The argument that the writer of Hebrews is giving therefore is that jesus's priesthood Predates the levitical priesthood So a jewish individual who will be saying how can you say that jesus messiah Is messiah and is is a high priest Seeing that he's not from the tribe of Levi The answer is well, that's because he predates Levi And that's because he actually is of a different lineage That's what the psalmist in psalm 1104 says You are of the order of malchizedek And so the point he's making here is that the high priest is appointed by god Taken from among men Understands human weaknesses and offers sacrifices Yes, it's true. Jesus christ is not a levitical priest But he predates him following the line of malchizedek And so that's what he's saying in verse 5 when he says so also christ did not glorify himself to become high priest It was he who said to him you are my son today. I have begotten you Now by the way when it says you are my son today. I begotten you that's out of the psalms psalm 2 verse 7 But the picture of the begotting or when jesus was begotten is is in reference really to his resurrection He was demonstrated to be the son of god by the Resurrection you see that in romans chapter 1. I believe right around verse 4 And so jesus christ is the son of god That's the point that he's making and has the power of resurrection And then in verse 6 or was raised by the power of the spirit in his resurrection And then verse 6 as he also says in another place you are a priest forever according to the order of malchizedek Who in the days of his flesh When he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death And was heard because of his godly fear though He was a son yet. He learned obedience by the things which he suffered And so he continues on for us to speak concerning jesus christ and his ministry now Notice what he says who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications When it speaks of his the days of his flesh That's another way of speaking of his incarnation the 33 years that jesus lived on the face of the earth And as he lived he offered up prayers supplication vehement cries and tears Now those words are all very powerful Because prayers speaks of need supplications are urgent requests vehement cries are Loud out cries from one who's deeply been deeply disturbed and and tears are the visible manifestation Of grief and what he's speaking about is how the lord jesus christ when he was in the garden of Gethsemane And he was going through his time of agony began to cry out to his father And as jesus was there crying out to his father Luke tells us in in chapter 22 verse 44 being in anguish He prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground And so the passion of christ there in the garden speaks of the prayers supplications of vehement christ and the tears The bible tells us in matthew 26 39 that jesus prayed my father if it's possible may this cup be taken from me Yet not as i will but as you will and as jesus was praying in that way He has his disciples the stones throw away and other disciples who are there at the entrance He's got he's got eight disciples at the entrance of the garden He's got three that he brought in further with him And these three who were brought in further with him Can see him in the darkness and hear him as he's weeping and crying And yet they're falling asleep And three different times the scripture says jesus went to them and said are you sleeping watch and pray You need to awaken be aware This is the last moments and and he would speak to them and then he'd awaken them and then he'd go back and He'd fall in his face before his father and and he'd cry out And and he prayed he'd say my father if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless i drink it He finally cries out then may your will be done If there's any other way if salvation can be won through any other means if there's any other sacrifice Other than what i have to go through oh father may that be so Can you imagine that for just a moment? As the son cries out to the father and he's saying i'm about to be separated from you I'm about to go through the agony of death And and the torture and and all that that i will that i will endure tonight Is there any other way that this can take place? Is there any other offering? Is there any other thing a substitute of some sort? Is this the only way and and yet the bible tells us that he ultimately simply said not my will but yours be done That's how it worked out and yet the bible tells us very specifically here that he was heard as he cried out in verse 7 It says here it says that he was heard because of his godly fear his father heard him But did nothing to stop it because there was no other way I was a young man once and i was teaching a home bible study back in 1973 And one of the members of that bible study who has since gone home to be with the lord The name was claudette claudette uh had a young boy her little boy She had i i believe three daughters and her last uh was her son And he was just a little guy and and he was very ill and i remember her coming to see me She lived just down the street and all and and she came and uh knocked on the door and came in and sat down and And began to share with me that her little boy was very ill and she had taken him to the doctor and he wasn't getting any better and And and i was just a young guy. What do i know? I was yet to be married I had no children of my own and all but i do remember that she was sharing with me and saying um I don't know. I keep crying to god for him She said david i i'm i'm asking god to heal him and and and god isn't isn't listening god is not healing him And he is so ill and and he was he was he had a very high temperature and he just wasn't getting any better and And she was crying as a mama would and and she kept on saying that to me and finally she said to me Where is god? Where is god? Where is god now that my son is in this way? Where is god? now Can't he see my son? Where is god now? And i remember looking at claudette and i said claudette i said god is in the same place He was when he watched his son dying across He's in the same place. He hasn't moved. He's aware of your tears. He's aware of your pain. He's aware of your concern He's aware. He's not hidden from you. He sees you But the lord had placed it on my heart to remind her that he's in the same place He was when he watched his son dying across That doesn't show a lack of love when you allow somebody to go through something like that in case of jesus christ That most certainly didn't show lack of love His father heard him. He was heard the scripture in verse seven says because of his godly fear He heard god heard him and notice with me how it says who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers And supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death as you read that you might think The one who could have saved him from death in the sense of keeping him from dying. That's not what the word means When it says save him from death The word is in greek ekthanatos ekthanatos cha and atos Ekthanatos which literally is he can he prayed to the one This is what's powerful about this by the way. He prayed to the one who can save him out of death What it was speaking about is he was praying to the one who would resurrect him He was praying for the promise of resurrection Not that he wouldn't die on the cross But he was just lifting up the reality that he would die. Yes, but be resurrected He was speaking to the one who would bring him back It's not that he prayed not to die because he knew why he was here in the first place He knew he had come to give up his life in john 12 verse 27 Jesus said it this way my heart is troubled. What shall I say father saved me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason. I came to this hour. He didn't pray god I don't want to die He was praying to the lord and saying to him after he had come to the The point of conclusion of I know what i'm to do. He was simply saying to him I know and I am praying to the one who can resurrect me I'm praying to the one who can bring me out of the grave Even as the scripture promises and he was praying according to that and notice again in verse 7 He was heard because of his godly fear In other words, he was completely submitted to his father And that's why he prayed die will be done and submitted himself now in verse 8 though He was a son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered And that's not saying that he learned to be obedient It's not saying he learned to be obedient because he always was obedient Remember in john 8 29 how he said he who sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone I do always those things that please him Jesus is the only human being who ever lived who could look at his own mother and say can you convict me of sin Can you imagine that for a minute? I talk to my mom all the time I've never said that to her Can you convict me of sin? Where do you want me to start son? You know how how many years do you have? You know my mom of course my dad could have my brothers and my sisters I couldn't walk up to my brother frank and say frank just tell me one time that i've done wrong I mean come on. I mean he's my older brother He knows what i've been like and my sisters of course my wife every person who knows me can convict me of sin Some great sin some minor sin but sin yes And and yet jesus is the only person who ever lived who could look at his mother straight in the face and say Is there anything that i've ever done wrong anything that i've ever done that was disobedient in any way shape or form Can you convict me of ever sinning and the answer was obviously no nobody could that's why we call him our savior Because he's able to do that so when it says here that he learned obedience It isn't that he learned obedience or to be obedient He always was what it is speaking about is he learned the full cost of obedience And the full cost of obedience was the death on the cross as god He knows all things as man He experiences suffering and learns the price that full obedience Exacts which is to die on the cross and that's what he was learning the full cost of obedience Now it says in verse nine having been perfected He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him called by god as high priest According to the order of malchizedek Having been perfected When it says having been perfected the word perfected has nothing to do with moral perfection Jesus already was morally perfect. He had no sin What it speaks of is being brought to full qualification through suffering The scripture uses the word perfect in various ways. It can't speak concerning that which has no error or sin But normally when you read the word perfect, it speaks of that which is fully mature or has come to completion And so when it speaks here concerning that having been perfected It speaks concerning the fact that he has been brought to a full Qualification through the things that he went through through the suffering And so jesus christ is brought to the place in other words of dying on the cross And in doing so he becomes the author of eternal salvation to all I want you to notice this to all who obey him To obey him is an evidence of loving him. Remember what he said in john 14 15 If you love me keep my commandments In in luke chapter 6 verse 46 he says why do you call me lord lord and do not the things which I say And so those who obey him demonstrate that they love him It's one thing for me to say I love the lord. It's another thing for me to demonstrate that Not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven But he who does the will of my father in heaven is what jesus said Which is a demonstration of true regeneration There's a lot of people in other words who have said faith and they have head faith But they don't have acting faith Faith actually works itself out because a person who says I have faith But has no works is not telling the truth because works go along with faith And so it's a one thing for a person to say well I was raised in the united states 83 of americans call themselves christians And a good portion of that 83 percent refer to themselves as born again or evangelical Defining themselves by the born again experience, you know, we have a whole lot of formal christians in the united states Of course, we have people who are referred to as denominational christians meaning that they've been raised in certain denominations Whatever it may be from the catholic to the presbyterian to the methodists you name it They're denominational and many of those within the denominations are what are called nominal meaning in name only And so there are numerous people who will take the surveys and when asked what is your religious preference will say I am a christian Sometimes I watch some of these girl shows with marie You know, I admit it. I'm not ashamed Actually, I am to a degree. You probably shouldn't have said this to you. But anyway, sometimes I do You know, who's wedding is it or something like that? I forget some wedding programs and re's really not big on that either But we'll sit down once in a while just to be fascinated. Oh, this is the bride zilla Anybody ever seen that one? Oh, amazing bride zilla Amazing monstrous monstrous brides, but and it's almost entertaining if it's so tragic, but I do I have seen it And and and I watch that and these people sometimes are just so profane I mean they get so angry and and they're so mean and and they use some very colorful language sometimes And and and they just go berserk and and they freak and and it's all It's all just before their weddings You know, you got to see them after the wedding, but it's all before the wedding And and they'll go all freaky even in the church And they get mad at the pastors or they get mad at their at the bridesmaids and and they're all really angry and You know and and then they're walking up saying, you know before god I promise and I trip on that I just go wow I mean they don't have a clue what they're saying No idea at all about their commitments. They're making to god and man Because they want a church wedding, but if you were to ask them why They're not going to say because I love the lord jesus christ. He's transformed my life. I'm walking in the spirit I prayed for this person to be my husband or wife. They don't say that It's because that's what we do. We get married in churches I mean, we're called calvary chapel You can imagine the amount of calls we would get at the first people asking Can we use the chapel for weddings because they thought we were calvary wedding chapel And and and I would share I've shared in the early days with our church Just because we're called calvary chapel and just because i'm a pastor doesn't mean that that we will marry Just anybody who approaches us you go through premarital counseling with us We want to make sure that you're not unevenly yoked together with an unbeliever We want to make sure that you lay your foundations right in jesus christ because I said i'm a pastor and not a wedding chapel And i'm a person who makes sure that the people that I am officiating over understand The what it means to be married because i'm not about to do that and and not honor god And you need to understand that too and I used to be very clear at the first because I had to be Because people would come to church thinking well, it's a church. He's a pastor He'll marry me for a few bucks and it doesn't work that way at all It doesn't work that way at all and yet we live in the united states and today a lot of people claim to be christian Even want to have christian marriages and oh, but they're not walking with the lord That's what jesus christ is somebody that we obey and that's what it says having been perfected He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him And so jesus christ says to him says to us now There are things that he wants us to do and therefore we say yes lord I will do that right because I love you because i've been born again And when you called me and said to commit my heart to you to be born again I responded to that and from that point on have had a heart to respond in obedience to you That's how it works All you need to do is ask yourself if you want to test yourself for the christ is in you Is do you long to be obedient to him? Does that matter to you? Do you desire to obey him? Because if you have a desire to obey him It's good there's a good evidence that you know him that you have relationship with him I don't know if I should tell you this it came to mind okay How do I say it okay um I was an assisting pastor And the senior pastor I was outside talking To him just before service when my wife marie. This is many many years ago 27 28 years ago now and marie walks up And the senior pastor looks at my wife And says to her You're supposed to be in church right now church services has begun And marie looks at him and says you're not my husband And I look at my feet I'm the assistant pastor And she's telling the senior pastor you're not my husband And I looked at her and I smiled at her I said baby you better get into church Okay, she goes in Later on I talked to her I say honey. He may not be your husband But he is the pastor of the church Well, you're my husband. I realize that thank god for it every day. I promise you I promise you But baby When he says that you need to do something That's because you need to do it Obey Well, see she was already learning to obey her husband Ain't nobody else I'm going to obey that kind of thing And But we obey Jesus christ Because he has the right to command me And the fact that that he is in that spiritual sense the one who who is over the church the church being the bride of christ Then quite obviously the bride of christ obeys Jesus christ Which demonstrates that they have relationship with him If I don't want to obey him it's because I have no relationship with him I haven't recognized his authority in my life. I have to bow my knee to him And that's the point. It's a simple point He is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him We obeyed him by yielding our life to him and therefore follow him from that point on And in verse 10 he's called by god as high priest according to the order Of malchizedek called by god once again repeating what he started in verse one and repeated later That he is called by god to be after this order Wasn't appointed by men didn't take it to himself was appointed by god And as such he has the right to give to us commands because he is our high priest