Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Welcome again, we’re excited to have you with us this morning as we study straight from God’s Word!

Have you ever wondered about how the animals got on the Ark with Noah?

We’re going way back here, but have you ever considered all of the animals that got onto the Ark? How’d they get on?

Through the one door.

This means that snakes had to slither up to enter it, eagles would have to swoop down to enter it, and elephants would have to possibly squeeze in to enter it.

Every single animal that survived the flood entered through the same door that was opened and shut by God.

There wasn’t another way inside the vessel - there was one open door.

In our world people would say that “You need a fire exit” or “One door isn’t very tolerant or accepting of people who like to come in the back door” or “Wouldn’t it be better to have one entrance for the carnivores and another entrance for the vegetarians?”

Yet, in God’s providence, we see that He made it so that there was only one door.

The rain began, the flood waters rose, and God shut that one, single door to keep everyone inside safe.

Do you think whenever that door was shut that the people inside began to complain that there weren’t other doors?

Nope.

They were grateful that God had provided a single door that led them to salvation.

In our world of confusion, chaos, sin, and evil, God has provided a single door.

His door is big enough to accommodate millions of humans of all sorts of shapes and sizes.

His door is sturdy enough to keep us safe and secure inside.

His door is accessible enough that people can still enter it today.

What is the door that God has provided for us to survive the coming flood of His judgment against sin?

That door is Jesus Christ.

There is one way that we can be saved and that is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

See, today God is holding up 2 hands.

With one hand, God is welcoming us onto His Ark of salvation and pleading with us to trust in Christ as Lord… with the other hand, God is holding back the flood of His wrath against sin.

Today, as the preacher of Hebrews shared, we are commanded to respond and not harden our hearts

Why is there this command to act today?

Because one day, God will throw both hands down and it will be too late to enter through His door.

Today, if you have not trusted in Christ as Lord, if you have not asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, friend today can be that day of salvation as you are declared forgiven and raised from death to life by the power of Jesus Christ, not because of how awesome or incredible you are, but because of how gracious and merciful Jesus is!

If you have already trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior, today you will be encouraged by God’s Word as the preacher of Hebrews will tell us in Hebrews 4:14-16 that we have a mediator in God’s courtroom.

We have a door to get onto His Ark of Salvation… that good news is found exclusively in Jesus Christ!

He is your great high priest.

He is your redeemer.

He is your Savior.

He knows what you’re going through and He promises to walk through the suffering that you face in this life and never leave your side.

Let’s study one of the most hopeful passages in all of Scripture

What a passage and what a reminder that we serve a Sovereign Savior who Sacrificed Himself in our place and can sympathize with us in our suffering.

Wherever you’re at today in your spiritual walk, whatever you’ve done, and however you feel, today look to God’s Word and be reminded of the power of Jesus Christ and the hope that He alone can provide for His followers.

Let’s pray and ask Him to guide us as we unpack His Word.

Our High Priest is Superior (14)

Hebrews 3:7-4:13 has primarily been negative in nature as the preacher of Hebrews has addressed the danger of unbelief.

If you harden your heart, if you don’t repent, if you reject Jesus Christ then you will be judged because of your disobedience.

Here in verse 14, though, we see an incredible turn to the positive aspect of belief.

If the negative (unbelief) is extremely bad, the positive (genuine belief) is extremely good!

Why is there hope through belief in Jesus Christ?

What exactly does Jesus do for us?

The short answer is that He died for our sins on the cross, but whenever He died for us on the cross, Jesus did something remarkable.

His sacrifice was unlike any other sacrifice that has ever been made.

He sacrificed Himself as the spotless lamb in the place of sinners like you and me.

Hebrews talks a lot about Old Testament sacrifices and priests and that can be a little bit dated for us in 2023.

In short, the high priest would go back to a small room called the holy of holies on the day of atonement and make a sacrifice on behalf of the sins of God’s people.

This was unique to the high priest, the other priests couldn’t do this and would die if they tried.

In Hebrews, Jesus is called our great high priest.

What makes Jesus different than the priests in the Old Testament?

How is Jesus a Superior High Priest?

His Lineage is Foreign (Hebrews 7:11 not of Aaron)

All of the priests in the Old Testament were descendants of the Aaron, Moses’ brother.

They were called Levites and their job was to help lead the people of Israel in worshipping God faithfully.

In order to be a high priest, you had to be from the line of Aaron… but Jesus isn’t.

His lineage is foreign from the rest of the high priests and his line goes back even earlier to a person named Melchizedek as we’ll get into next week!

This makes Jesus a superior high priest

His Priesthood is Forever (Hebrews 6:20 not dependent on another replacement)

The other high priests served in their role for several years but eventually they would pass away and another priest would take their place and continue the work that had been done by their ancestors for hundreds of years.

Jesus, though, is the King of Kings whose rule knows no end.

This means that just as His Kingdom will know no end, His priesthood knows no end.

This is good news for us because He’s going to continue to be our mediator even after we pass away.

He is our representative in heaven before the Father and He’ll intercede for His people forever.

If you’re a Christian, you’d better be thankful today that Jesus’ priesthood is forever.

His Sacrifice is Final (Hebrews 10:12 not offered again)

Finally we look at Jesus as a priest in terms of the sacrifice He offered.

In the Old Testament we see the high priests offering a sacrifice first for their own sin and then another sacrifice on behalf of the sins of the people.

They had to do this each and every year because everyone kept on sinning and the sacrifice they offered could only cover that sin, it couldn’t forgive it.

This was exhausting!

Enter Jesus

How could this be true?

Because Jesus was the sinless sacrifice.

It was a one stop shot.

Jesus didn’t sacrifice an animal like a bull or goat, Jesus sacrificed Himself in our place.

He is a superior high priest because there is no longer an offering needed to forgive our sins - it’s already been done!

The response to the superiority of Jesus Christ in verse 14 is that we are called to hold fast to our confession.

What is a confession?

A confession is a statement of admission.

Many people will confess to a crime and offer a statement of their guilt.

We also see a confession in a Christian sense as people will have a statement of belief on a specific thing and this offers clarity on what the person believes.

Because of what our Great High Priest has done, the preacher of Hebrews says that we must hold fast to our confession.

What confession do we have and what must we confess to?

For one, we must confess the truth of the Gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior

This is a confession.

This is what Christians have been doing for 2000 years and this is what we are commanded to do today and it is all because of what Jesus has done first for us.

These can be easy words to say, but they can be incredibly difficult to live out.

How do we know this to be true?

Think about what happened to Peter whenever Jesus was arrested before His crucifixion.

This was the same guy who just chopped a Roman soldiers ear off - he was really bold whenever he was next to Jesus and around his friends - but what happens a few hours later?

This guy is denying even knowing Jesus in the first place.

Whenever persecution arises, there can be a temptation to stop doing the right thing and holding fast to Jesus Christ.

This was a temptation for this church 2000 years ago and it’s still a temptation for us today.

These Jewish Christians were tempted to go back to Judaism.

To go back to the sacrificial system that they were raised in.

They were tempted to give into temptation just as their ancestors gave into temptation and failed to do what God commanded them to do and we’re no different.

Students, you are tempted to not stand on God’s Word each day and to fit in with the rest of the world and live out your own truth rather than live for the Creator of Truth.

Parents, we are tempted each day to hold fast to the confession of parenthood which states that we exist to satisfy the desires of our children and restructure our lives around them instead of instilling in them the truth that we order our entire lives around God’s Word and glorifying Him is our number one goal as members of our families.

Instead of giving into these temptations, we remember what Jesus has done.