WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:06.400 Grace mercy, and peace be yours this day from God our Father and our 2 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:08.700 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:08.700 --> 00:00:10.200 Amen. 4 00:00:11.700 --> 00:00:15.600 We often talk about the offices of Christ and this passage in 5 00:00:15.600 --> 00:00:19.200 particular focuses on his Priestly office. 6 00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:22.700 There's a lot that's packed into these few verses that I hope to 7 00:00:22.700 --> 00:00:28.200 unfold for you 'all today because frankly Christ priesthood isn't as simple 8 00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:33.700 and straightforward as his other offices such as his kingship at least 9 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:36.000 to our modern times. 10 00:00:36.800 --> 00:00:41.400 The Divine mystery might be summed up in the words of the well known 11 00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:47.800 hymn where we saying himself the victim and himself the priest. 12 00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:49.700 There are two parts 13 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:53.500 they're each serving a different function and Hebrews begins to show 14 00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:59.100 us what it means for Christ to be both the victim and the priest. 15 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:06.100 The sacrificial lamb Christ is our substitute, but as high priest 16 00:01:06.100 --> 00:01:11.100 Christ becomes our representative too. Now don't get me wrong 17 00:01:11.100 --> 00:01:15.800 I think that the substitutionary atonement is a significant part of 18 00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:20.800 our faith to put it mildly. And it's not wrong to talk about Christ our 19 00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:23.200 priest in terms of his sacrifice of himself. 20 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:29.600 The author of Hebrews even brings this aspect of Jesus High priesthood 21 00:01:29.600 --> 00:01:33.700 into the equation when he says that every high priest is appointed by 22 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:38.200 God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. 23 00:01:39.600 --> 00:01:44.400 And it's a good thing too. All of us here in this Seminary Community 24 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:50.800 should recognize that sin is a problem. You and I sin everyday we 25 00:01:50.800 --> 00:01:56.900 succumb to the temptation to gossip about a classmate or colleague. We 26 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:59.500 deal with the anger that is felt towards another student. 27 00:01:59.500 --> 00:02:04.700 We let slip a unkind words said to a spouse or a friend. 28 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:11.300 We recognize the self-serving pride when getting compliments from RFE 29 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:17.000 Congregations, and I don't know maybe you've cheated your way through 30 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.500 a difficult assignment. Which I don't think I need to tell you is both 31 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:23.300 lying and stealing. 32 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:28.400 Perhaps you've been vindictive in grading an assignment professors. 33 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:34.000 And I'm sure that all of you know, what else you might be guilty of, 34 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:38.300 sins that are too numerous to mention. 35 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:46.900 What's the result? The result is that we cannot stand before a holy God. 36 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:50.000 We cannot come into His presence. With sins 37 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.200 like what we have we shouldn't even be able to come into this Chapel. 38 00:02:54.200 --> 00:02:59.900 How can we pray to him and expect to be heard? 39 00:03:01.100 --> 00:03:05.900 How can we worship Him and expect him to acknowledge us or to accept 40 00:03:05.900 --> 00:03:07.500 our praises? 41 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:10.800 God should wipe us out. 42 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.700 He should strike us down where we stand. 43 00:03:13.700 --> 00:03:20.300 He should smite us for defiling his holy house with our sinful selves. 44 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:24.500 And that is why we need a substitute. 45 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:29.700 We need a sacrifice and atonement offered for us and Christ is our 46 00:03:29.700 --> 00:03:32.900 high priest offers himself to be our substitute. 47 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:38.400 He came and offered to God prayers and supplications with loud tears. 48 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.900 He offered even himself. 49 00:03:42.200 --> 00:03:47.400 And because of this because of his suffering on the cross we have 50 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:48.200 received forgiveness. 51 00:03:48.200 --> 00:03:50.100 Our sin is covered. 52 00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:58.500 Christ died as our substitute so that we would not have to pay the 53 00:03:58.500 --> 00:03:58.700 penalty. 54 00:04:01.600 --> 00:04:06.800 But there's something missing if we stopped there because the priests 55 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:12.100 didn't just sacrifice an animal and then walk away. If the animal dies 56 00:04:12.100 --> 00:04:18.000 and remains outside the city the sacrifice is not complete. You can 57 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.500 turn to Leviticus 16 and see what else needs to happen. 58 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:25.500 The priest needs to take the blood before God coming into his 59 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:25.900 presence. 60 00:04:25.900 --> 00:04:31.400 The priest needs to act as the representative of the people before God 61 00:04:31.400 --> 00:04:37.400 and it might seem obvious but the priests can't act as the people's 62 00:04:37.400 --> 00:04:40.100 representative if he's dead. 63 00:04:41.200 --> 00:04:47.700 I'll say it again our high priest can't bring the people of God into 64 00:04:47.700 --> 00:04:48.300 his presence, 65 00:04:49.700 --> 00:04:50.700 if he's dead. 66 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.800 If Christ is the sacrificial victim only the sacrifice is incomplete. 67 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:02.200 If the sacrifice is incomplete than our sins remain. 68 00:05:03.200 --> 00:05:04.900 The sacrifice is incomplete. 69 00:05:04.900 --> 00:05:07.800 Then we still can't come into God's presence. 70 00:05:10.500 --> 00:05:12.600 The sacrifice is incomplete. 71 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:21.300 And we are lostand our prayers and our please will never reach God's 72 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:22.200 ears. 73 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:28.100 So Christ must also be the living priest who acts as our 74 00:05:28.100 --> 00:05:31.600 representative to bring us into God's presence. 75 00:05:33.900 --> 00:05:37.200 So this is the part of the sermon where I insert a joke that only 76 00:05:37.200 --> 00:05:40.600 seminarians would laugh at about how the lectionary committee should 77 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:45.100 have saved this passage for Easter season instead of Lent. Because 78 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:50.200 Christ is our high priest is all about Easter. Christ is our high 79 00:05:50.200 --> 00:05:50.700 priest 80 00:05:50.700 --> 00:05:51.700 he sacrificed himself 81 00:05:51.700 --> 00:05:55.800 yes, but then got appointed him high priest by raising him from the 82 00:05:55.800 --> 00:06:01.700 dead so that he could come before God to make full atonement for us. 83 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:10.000 Now he's really doing the work that the high priest does. Our passage 84 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.900 says that work is to act on behalf of men in relation to God. 85 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:19.500 So he deals gently with us ignorance and wayward though 86 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:24.600 we are because he himself has experienced our weakness and frailty. And 87 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:28.000 he is now the source of our Salvation because he 88 00:06:28.700 --> 00:06:31.000 presence of God to be our representative. 89 00:06:32.500 --> 00:06:37.300 And because of this because our living high priest stands before God. 90 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:40.200 We also can come into God's presence. 91 00:06:40.200 --> 00:06:44.800 We are invited in as people who have been made clean. 92 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:51.200 We are now people who sins have been fully atoned for. The sacrifice is 93 00:06:51.200 --> 00:06:56.400 complete the high priest stands before God on our behalf and invites 94 00:06:56.400 --> 00:07:01.500 us to praise and worship God in his presence. And so we can stand here 95 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:08.000 in this chapel and pray to God knowing that we will be heard knowing 96 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.500 that he will acknowledge us knowing that he will not wipe us away 97 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:16.500 strike us down or smite us because we have been made pure by the 98 00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:20.400 sacrifice that Christ has made an offered to him. 99 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:26.200 When he suffered as our substitute and rose as our representative. 100 00:07:28.200 --> 00:07:29.000 Amen. 101 00:07:30.200 --> 00:07:33.800 And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your 102 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:35.700 hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 103 00:07:35.700 --> 00:07:37.700 Who is Our Risen Lord. 104 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:41.300 Amen. Please rise.