Hebrews 5
Hebrews
{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: {5:2} 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.
{5:3} And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
{5:4} And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as [was] Aaron.
{5:5} 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.
{5:6} As he saith also in another [place,] Thou [art] a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
{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;
{5:8} Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
{5:9} And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
{5:10} Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
{5:11} Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
{5:12} For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which [be] the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
{5:13} For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
{5:14} But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
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Ordained for men in things pertaining to God.
Offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He that is called of God.
We know throughtout the Bible God called various men and woman to His work in a special way. These weren't the only ones called- those written about. There are many called of God in fact we are all called by God to come to Him, to fellowship with Him, to follow Him.
In the Old Testament prior to Christ's birth, life, and death, there are kings, prophets, and priests God used, speaking though many of them. In the New Testament we are given Jesus the great High Priest, Son of God, King of Kings, prophesying of the world to come.
Jesus who was given the infirmaties of being lowered into human form taking on our likeness and our inherited propensity to sin is the Greatest High Priest ever called by God. He sacrificed His glory and took on flesh, He sacrficed life eternal to take on a body of death, a body of daily decay. Outwardly He had the appearance of an ordinary man He lowered Himself to that level, to our level.
Any who doubt Jesus wasn't touched by our infirmities needs to explain how He could cry, how he could cry heartbrokenly. If He weren't moved by our plight, if he didn't have our human flesh encompassing Him, He wouldn't have cried and Jesus cried more than once from the depths of His heart He cried. He cried until blood fell from his forehead to the ground. He cried for all humanity. His grief was for us, for our pain, for what we endure.
We suffer the chastisment of the Lord over and over as He teaches us, guides us, reminds us of humanity and the love we must have for all. Christ suffered and learned in human form the obedience to His Father.
Obeying His Father perfectly, Christ was able to offer us eternal salvation if we obey Him.
All too often people harden their hearts and refuse to hear. All too often the very men of God, those claiming to be called of Him need to be as babes to truly understand Christ's message for them. When we think so many should be able to have the strong meat of the gospel, in truth many are babes needing to be treated as babes to regain the first principles of the message of our Lord and Savior.
Strong meat given by the Lord to those who have already drank the milk and are now ready for more... ready to have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
We need to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord.
2 Pet. {3:18} But grow in grace, and [in] the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him
[be] glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
1/29/10
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
By the mercies of God-- present your body a living sacrifice.
We know that a sacrifice offering is killed symbolizing the need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission- no forgiveness, no pardon for sin. Christ shed His blood, His innocent blood so we could be fully forgiven by Him. Here we are told to present our bodies a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice isn't killed, a living sacrifice does not give it's life for the remission of sins. A living sacrifice- a sacrifice nonetheless. What is sacrificed? The self is sacrificed- the selfishness.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Present ourselves a living sacrifice- holy, acceptable unto God. The only way we are acceptable to God is through Jesus Christ. When we give ourselves to God we change our lives, we are no longer living for ourselves and selfish purposes.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Be not conformed to the world. We are all about conforming aren't we?
conform (ken-fôrm´) verb
1. To correspond in form or character; be similar.
2. To act or be in accord or agreement; comply. See synonyms at agree.
3. To act in accordance with current customs or modes.
These are good things right? Acting in accord and agreeing with society around us which is our world, being similar to others around us, acting in accord with the current customs or modes of the world. We thrive in a society of conformity and non-conformist are usually considered radical and often times criminal. Jesus Himself was a non-conformist wasn't He? Think about it. The Pharisees were all about revealing His rabble rousing ways, showing where He didn't act in accord to the proper Jewish norms. That He was accused of calling Himself a king, that He was accused of blasphemy against God, all this was to show that He was a non-conformist and so much so that He deserved to be put to death.
We are called to be non-conformist. We are told NOT to be conformed to the world. Does that mean we are to be so called rabble rousers, troublemakers, bucking society? I think it does mean that if it interferes with us being holy acceptable to God. We need to be transformed from being conformist to the world by the renewing of our mind and the renewing of our minds will prove what is good, acceptable, perfect - the will of God.
God, throughout the Bible, throughout history has shown that following the crowd, following the ways of the world, agreeing with the world is the wrong path. God has a chosen people and the chosen people have always been in the minority in comparison to the world. Why do we think it will be different now, in our day and age? Why do we believe that suddenly the world as a whole will follow God? Why do we think that whole governments will conform to God's will? They won't and we have to understand this because it's important to understand that even living in the United States, a country with the freedom of religion that we the majority will not be God's or following God's perfect way.
We need to search for the pure truth in Jesus and only the pure truth in Him and when we find the truth and the way we need to follow that truth in Jesus. We can't say we need to conform to the world even when people spout Jesus' saying about rendering under Caesar what is Caesar's. Jesus never meant that we are to compromise the truth in doing so. If Caesar's way is against God's moral law then we follow God's moral law first and foremost. Jesus told us that we are to love God first and love our fellow man second. In that love of our fellow man we sacrifice self for them and that means when they ask for our coat we give them our cloak too which means we give of ourselves, we sacrifice self. Sacrificing self is one of the hardest things any of us will be asked to do. Giving up self and surrendering fully to God will be the most trying thing ever.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior may we not be conformed to the world, may we not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to, by faith may we surrender our self to God fully out of love to Him, for Him, from Him.
Amen.
1/29/11