Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Ministry on our Great High Priest from Ian Jackson.

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[0:01] The fifth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.

And I want to read with you at verse number seven, the epistle to the Hebrews chapter five and verse seven.

Christ, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard, in that he feared.

Sometimes that is rendered, he was heard for his piety.

As we’ve been thinking, a word closely connected with that idea of godliness, a proper disposition and attitude to God, was heard in that he feared, though he were son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”, Now some verses please in chapter 10, secondly and finally, Hebrews chapter 10.

And reading of verse number 19.

[1:25] Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in, full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”.

[2:09] Now the Lord has blessed us, as he always does, the reading of his word.

It was a very difficult thing to be a first century Hebrew, a first century Jew, converted to Christ.

And as the writer to the Hebrews is writing to them, he recognizes this.

And he knows that there is so much against them.

Is so much persecution, so much misunderstanding. And the great thing in the epistle to the Hebrews when you read it is to remember that these are great encouragements to those who were, in need of encouragement, they were weary, they were fainting in their mind. We read later in chapter 10, in chapter 12, and he wanted to bring them great encouragement and you could understand, it that if you were a first century Jew now converted to Christ, that maybe some in your Your family would come to you and they would say, why are you doing this?

[3:18] What have you got? You’re following a man who was crucified, that’s the last thing that the world saw of him.

He was crucified in weakness, they might say to you, and you follow him? Yes, we follow him.

And in this newfound faith that you have, what do you have? Do you have a temple?

And they would say, no, no, we don’t have one of those. We don’t have any building at all like that.

Do you have a tabernacle? Not even a temporary structure like that, not one of them.

[3:52] And do you have a priesthood? We have a priesthood. It was ordained by God. Do you have a priesthood?

And they look around and they say, well, no, no, we have no distinctive priesthood. We have no people who represent us in the presence of God with distinctive clothes and a distinctive position.

No, we don’t have that at all. And do you have any grand choirs? No, we don’t have those either.

And do you have big orchestral music with which to worship God? And they would say, no, no, we haven’t got any of that either. And they would say, well, what have you got?

And these believers might be just stretched to tell them exactly what they have with any advantage over what they had in Judaism. And the writer to the Hebrews, whoever he was, I think you know who he was, the trouble is you might all know differently who he was, but you know who he was. Anyway, the writer to the Hebrews, he’s going to write to them and he’s picking up his pen and his paper and he’s going to say to them, listen I want you to be encouraged because what you have is far greater than anything and everything you ever had in the days of of your Judaistic faith.

He says, do you know something? The Son of God is greater than angels.

[5:19] You Israelites, he say, the Israelites might well have boasted in the angels and angelic ministry, and they did. There was angelic ministry at every significant point in Israel’s history. But says, the writer to the Hebrews, I want you to know something, that it wasn’t to any of the angels that God said, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And when God brings again his son into the world, it shall be to the angels that he says, this is my son, worship him.

[5:51] I want you to know, he says, that in the world to come it won’t be angels that have the governance of that age. They are the dominating influence in this present age, but in that age to come, no, no, this will be God’s son. And those connected with him, but this will be God’s son, greater than angels in that millennial kingdom. And he says, and by the way, by the way, he was greater than Moses. Moses was a servant in God’s house. Christ is son over God’s house.

Just bear that in mind for a little later in what I want to say to you. Christ is son over God’s house. And by the way, says the writer to the Hebrews, I want you to know he’s not only greater than angels, Israelites boasted in angels, and not only greater than Moses in whom they also boasted, because I want you to understand he’s greater than Aaron, and.

[6:52] Not only is he greater than Aaron, but he’s also greater than Melchizedek, or by the way, he operates in a far greater tabernacle, and he’s going to say the sacrifice that Christ offered at the cross is far greater than all of those sacrifices in Old Testament times. He said, I want you to understand something, that the Savior who is your Savior and the great High Priest who is your great High Priest and the great Priest who is your great Priest, is now somewhere where angels will never be and Moses will never be and Aaron will never be and Melchizedek will never be, in a scene really nothing like the, the scenes that you have ever known in your Jewish history.

He says he’s at God’s right hand, a place reserved uniquely, entirely, and wonderfully for the Son of God.

Chapter one, he’s at the right hand. Chapter eight, he’s at the right hand.

Chapter 10, he’s at the right hand, all because of a finished work.

Chapter 12, he’s at the right hand of God because he’s walked the path of faith and he’s done it perfectly.

This is the outcome, this is the issue, he’s at the right hand of God.

Well, that would surely make you want to be a Christian.

[8:16] And when the people came along and said, thank you very much, but we’re going to spoil your goods, you would take joyfully the spoiling of your goods. And if they came along and said, we’re going to take away your business enterprise, you would happily lose it for the man of Calvary.

Now exalt it. This is what we have. We have such a savior. This is God’s son. This is who we’re connected with. And by the way, isn’t it a wonderful thing to be a Christian? And you and I living in the world in which we’re living, with so much against us, the tide of gospel testimony going out, the rise of wokeism, the rise of godlessness, the rise of secularism and atheism all around us, and the pressures it brings upon you. Just remember the greatness of the privilege and benefit of belonging to a man in glory who gave himself for you.

[9:16] And so the writer to the Hebrews writes to them. Hebrews is not the easiest book in the New Testament, but I think this just for those of you beginning your Bible study, if you’re studying three books to begin with, you would do worse than make them Romans, that will establish you in the gospel, Ephesians that will establish you in church truth and dispensational truth, and Hebrews for the reasons I’ve just said.

[9:49] When you come to chapter 10 of this epistle, you have three things at the beginning of the chapter that lead into the verses that we have read, and it’s not the only chapter in the bible where this happens and in this order. Firstly, the writer to the Hebrews in the first 10 verses or so, he’s going to speak about the will of God. Then the next verses down to verse 14, he’s going to speak about the work of the Son. Then in the remainder of the verses to where we began reading down to verse 18, he’s going to speak about the witness of the Spirit. You get the same by the way in Ephesians 1, you get it in 1 Peter 1, and here’s now the writer to the Hebrews, and he’s, going to speak about the will of God. He says an amazing thing. He says, you see the will of God, You see those sacrifices? In Old Testament, how many sacrifices?

There was an article in the Believer’s Magazine about 30 years ago, or thereabouts, where somebody attempted to calculate the number of sacrifices, animal sacrifices, that might have taken place in Old Testament times. And I’m not sure how he worked it out because it seemed to me a totally impossible thing to work out, and I can’t remember what the answer was. But if I said to you zillions, you’d understand.

[11:18] But the amazing thing, because when you’re reading in Hebrews chapter 10, it says not one of them accomplished the will of God and not one of them pleased him.

This is the writer to the Hebrews quoting from the Psalms. He says in verse eight, “‘Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings “‘and offering for sin thou wouldest not.'”, That’s to do with the will of God, thou wouldest not.

He says, neither hath pleasure therein.

Isn’t that amazing?

All of those sacrifices are not one of them, accomplishing the will of God or pleasing him, but contrary, in contrast to that, he says in verse 10, by the which will, the same will of God, he says by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

He speaks about the will of God.

Then you’ll speak about the work of the Son, and you’ll say, you see all those Old Testament sacrifices.

By the way, did you ever think to yourself when you’re reading through what a dirge and a drudge it must have been to be a priest in Old Testament times?

[12:26] Like seriously, day after day, you’re offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which cannot take away sins, says verse 11 of our chapter. Repetitively, continually, impossibly, and here Here you are standing in the priesthood and you’re doing this day after day.

[12:53] My dear brothers and sisters, thank God for verse 12 of our chapter, that in contrast to all of those priests and in contrast to all of those sacrifices, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down. The idea is this, he sat down to perpetuity.

[13:18] And you might say, but surely he’s going to rise again because he’s coming to the air.

He is. And he’s going to come again and praise God he’s going to sit on the throne of his glory.

He is. But the idea in Hebrews 10 and 12 is this, that he’ll never need to rise again from where he is seated in respect of the question of sins. So it’s not that he sat down unconditionally, but he sat down forever, the great’s once for all sacrifice for sins having been accomplished, praise God, it admits of no repetition. And in the good of it all our Saviour sits today on the right hand of God from which he will never again rise in respect of the matter of sins.

And says verse 14, that by that one offering he’s perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now bear all that please in your mind. Sorry to be cracking on at a bit of pace. I’m having an argument with the clock already.

[14:27] Then he speaks about the witness of the Spirit, and what a wonderful witness.

Dear child of God in the meeting today, will you grasp this and live in the good of it, will you really? Because what he’s saying is this, quoting of course from Jeremiah 31 and New Covenant matters, which I’m not going to go into just at the moment, but what he’s saying is this, there’s sins and iniquities. Well, I remember no more. I love that verse in the Bible.

[14:57] For all of us who are saved today, and for those of you who are not saved, would you grasp this as a possibility for you, even in the conference, to come to Christ, and to know the value of this. God says, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Sometimes at the end of meetings, by the way it’s very interesting what people say to you at the end of meetings, when you’re shaking hands at the door. It’s a terrible experience, because you never know what people are going to say to you.

Sometimes they’re a wonderful word, brother, and you know in your heart that it wasn’t.

[15:40] Sometimes people think you’ve said the opposite of what you have actually said, so they go away saying, I really agree with that point that you made, and the point you were making was the very opposite and you think to yourself, am I really such a bad preacher and communicator, that that’s the case? Sometimes people just go out and say absolutely nothing. Sometimes people say to me at the end of the meeting, it doesn’t happen often, but sometimes people say to me at the end of the meeting, oh you’ve got a wonderful memory and all I always say, talk to my wife about.

[16:09] It. Because sometimes I’m going from our house into town to the shop and so I get into town And she said to me, would you get, would you just pop in and get this and this and this?

So I say to Sue, my wife, sure. And I get into town and there’s a bookshop in town.

So I get waylaid in the bookshop. And suddenly my mind is filled with all sorts of other things.

And the thing that I would most certainly not forget to get for my dear wife is still in the shop and I get home and she said, did you leave those things in the car?

She knows full well what goes on. Did you leave those things in the car?

No. you’ve got a terrible memory.

You see when you come to this verse, this is nothing to do with God’s forgetting.

This is God as judge. This is God coming to a judicial view of things and what he’s saying is this, their sins and iniquities will never again rise before me. I want you to grasp this because it’s really important for where I really want to get to. He says their sins and iniquities will I remember no more and if you’ve heard the brethren quote this and add the words forever, It’s a misquotation but it is the truth. He says their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Isn’t that something? That your sins that you might still remember.

[17:35] Your sins that might trouble you from the past, God has said I’ll remember them no more. This is God as judge. He’s put them away from before him. We praise his name this morning that that’s the the case that God has said their sins and iniquities will I remember no more and where there is remission of these there is no more offering for sin because there’s no need for any more offering for sin. It’s a done deal, it’s done, finished, sorted, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now it’s on the back of that that the writer to the Hebrews says having therefore.

[18:17] Brethren. Having therefore, you know the old thing, when you see a therefore, you’ve got to see what it’s there for. Well we’ve just seen what it’s there for. So, what the writer to the Hebrews is saying is, look, look we have a great privilege in being able to enter into the very presence of God and he says the reason why we have that privilege.

[18:40] Well he says, I want to talk to you a bit more about it, but the reason why we have that privilege is this, there was one who accomplished the will of God and by that one offering, in accordance with his will, we are perfected forever, and sanctified forever, and God remembering our sins no more forever.

[19:03] And therefore he says, in the light of that, we have boldness, and we have boldness as we enter into the Holiest. We read about our Savior praying in Gethsemane, and our Savior was the only person ever who lived on earth with a, right to be heard. Yes, in the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 5, he was heard in that he feared. There was a godly reverence, there was a piety in our Lord Jesus Christ. And the idea in chapter 5 is this, that because of that piety, he was heard. He did in fact have the right to be heard, which you and I do not have, apart from him. And yet now what he’s saying here in Hebrews chapter 10 is this, that we have boldness to enter into the holiest. And not only that, but he.

[20:12] Says we come by a new and living way which Christ himself consecrated, inaugurated for us, and that new and living way is his flesh given in death, and by it we enter through the veil. Now there’s some stuff to unpack here, I really want us to understand this. I said to my wife one day, I have got two problems. She looked at me and she says, you can’t count, Ian, as wives kind of do, you know. But the point about this was this, that your two problems and mine are, number one what you do and number two what you are. But that’s fairly comprehensive. Romans speaks about this, you see in Romans we have guilt before God as sinners, that’s as a result of what we do.

We’ve missed the mark, we’ve fallen short of his standard. We have guilt, that is legal guilt, not feelings of guilt, but legal guilt. We stand before God as guilty and the only thing that will answer for your guilt and mine is the blood of Christ. That’s why the basis of justification is not substitution, it’s propitiation.

[21:34] So the idea is this now, that Christ by the blood that he shed on Calvary, has met the demands of the throne of God. This is a most wonderful thing.

[21:45] The righteous demands of God’s throne have been fully met in the blood of Christ.

He’s an infinite sacrifice of infinite worth.

He’s paying an infinite price to satisfy the infinite demands of infinite justice.

He did it by His blood, beloved brethren and sisters, the sacrifice that He rendered to God at the cross. We thank God for it. That’s why Romans 3 speaks about propitiation in His blood.

The blood of sacrifice was always first for the eye of God. We saw that in passing last night.

The blood on the doorpost was for the eye of God. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.

The same thing is on the day of atonement. His blood sprinkled on and before the mercy seat.

It’s blood for the eye of God. Listen, I know you’re happy that Christ died for you.

And I know that you’re happy that Christ gave himself for the church.

And I know that you’re happy that Christ gave himself in a special way for the nation of Israel.

And I know that you’re glad that he gave himself a ransom for all without exception, but the first direction of the cross is Godward.

[23:07] By that precious blood he satisfied every single demand of the throne of God, against sins. He’s the propitiation for our sins, says 1 John 2, the things that we’ve done, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Listen, I want us to grasp this again. By that precious blood, every single one of your sins and iniquities has been absolutely obliterated from before the face of God. In our gospel preaching, let us make much of that sacrifice, of that precious blood. Do not be ashamed to lift high the banner of the cross in the, preaching of the gospel, because the basis of all our blessing, and any blessing at any time, is the blood of Christ. Grasp it, believe it, love it, adore the one who shed it. Because after all, by Him, says the writer to the Hebrews, we, have boldness to enter.

Imagine saying this to Old Testament Jews, that in time to come, all those in God’s house, We’ll find out who they are just before lunch.

[24:35] All those in God’s house, not only are able to enter into the presence of God, but they have boldness to enter. Imagine if you were the high priest in Israel’s history, and you’re in the tabernacle now, and it’s the day of atonement. You remember that it was on that day only that he went into the presence of God. He went within the veil. The language in the Old Testament is within the veil, the language here is through the veil. He went within the veil, so the idea is this. If I was Aaron, or one of those subsequent hybrids, if I was Aaron.

[25:16] I would stand there outside the veil with my teeth chattering and my knees knocking, for this very reason, that within the veil was God.

Here’s the mercy seat, the lid of the ark, with cherubim beaten out, each end of the mercy seat, looking towards each other, looking down. That mercy seat was the throne of God. The New Testament speaks of it, the Old Testament speaks of it rather, as the throne of the God of the whole earth. It’s where he was, he was between the cherubim. And Aaron going into that presence God would discover this, that if he went in without the incense, if he went in without the blood, that would be no throne of mercy, no mercy seat, that would be a throne of judgment, because he was going in to the very presence of God. And would any of the other Israelites think of entering into the holiest of all in the tabernacle? Not on your life they wouldn’t.

[26:21] It would never occur to them that they might be able to enter into the holiest of all, where God is. Praise God for this, my beloved brethren and sisters. This verse is telling me, and you this morning, that we have boldness to enter on by the way. When we enter, we enter through the veil, not a rent veil.

Remember that bit? You know sometimes we sing that, we sing, maybe you do, the veil is rent, lo Jesus stands and all that, and sometimes it’s taught that the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom in order that we might enter in. This is not true.

God is not behind a rent veil.

[27:10] The point about the rent veil was that God was going to come out in grace and in mercy to Gentiles. Praise God he did.

Now the imagery here is the tabernacle, the veil standing. This is in the wilderness.

Here’s the veil hanging in the tabernacle and just as the high priest went within the veil, So now, says the Lord, not in an earthly material tabernacle, but in that of which it spake, the very sanctuary where God is now.

Using this imagery from the tabernacle, He says, we have boldness to enter and we enter through the veil, says verse 20.

And why do we have boldness? We have boldness because of the blood of Jesus.

Praise God. That blood that has dealt with everything that I have done, which was a huge hindrance to me ever entering into the presence of God.

Grasp this. We have boldness. It means we can speak freely.

We’re not like the Old Testament priests who came into the presence of God with remembrance of sins.

[28:23] We now come into God’s presence, as we have done this morning and in prayer, whenever it happens.

We come into God’s presence with this wonderful recognition that all of our sins have been forever dealt with.

And we therefore come with boldness.

Anyway, the other limb of this is this, not what I’ve done, but what I am. What you are.

[28:49] The Bible, well when you read the Bible, you really realize what you are.

[28:57] So the idea is this, that when you’re reading in Romans 5, there is a fallen head of a fallen race, that was Adam. And everything that issued from Adam, okay, is marked and characterized and governed indeed by words like this, sin, offense, death, death reigning, it’s a whole range of really awful words, of things that are true of those who came from Adam.

[29:28] And I have a problem and you did as a sinner before God, which was this, not only what I’ve done but what I am, a sinful child of Adam’s race. So the second inhibition to me entering into the presence of God was not now what I’ve done but what I am and as a child in Adam’s race, I’m an enemy of God, I’m alienated from the life of God by sin and wicked works. You remember, you are a sinner not because of what you do but because of what you are. So that needs to be dealt with. Now listen carefully, by the blood of Christ what I have done was dealt with once and for all. Christ died for me, he gave himself for me but another thing happened at Calvary which is a wonderful thing and not often preached which is this, that when he died I died. The man that I was as a child in Adam’s race was.

[30:30] Brought to an end in death in the death of Christ. So in other words, he died not only on my behalf and he died, this is the language of faith, not only as my substitute but he died as my representative. So when he died on my behalf or as my substitute, he went to Calvary alone, he died alone. But when he died as my representative, he took me with him.

That’s the teaching of passages like Romans 6, Romans 5 on reconciliation.

It’s the teaching of all the major reconciliation passages. It’s to do with his death. He’s actually entering into death and he took me with him. The man that I was in Adam was brought to an end in death, in the death of Christ, before the face of… Have you ever recognized that?

To me, that’s one of the most liberating truths in the New Testament.

I don’t know what the name of your polish is for your furniture here in America, but We have Mr. Sheen.

[31:41] And see when you got saved, there wasn’t some kind of application of a spiritual Mr. Sheen, and a yellow duster. Don’t you polish up well? It’s just an old sinner underneath all of that, but you polish up well. That’s a second-rate view of salvation, let me tell you. I praise God that the man that I was in Adam was brought to an end in death, in the death of Christ. That’s why in In verse 19 it speaks of his blood in relation to my sins, but in verse 20, the new and living way which is consecrated for us is, listen, it is his flesh.

And the idea in that when you read it in the New Testament is his flesh given in death.

He dealt entirely with the man that I was.

[32:30] In Adam, in his death, as in his death I died before the face of God. So what that means is this, that everything that hindered me, everything that was an obstacle for me to enter into God’s presence, has been cleared in the work of Christ. Isn’t that just tremendous?

Nothing left undone, nothing outstanding. I have a list of things on my desk at home, outstanding. It gets longer every week. It’s terrible. I read that list sometimes I’m ashamed at what I haven’t finished.

Praise God for this finished work. Nothing to add to it. Nothing can take from it.

This is the work of our blessed savior. He’s cleared the way for us, not only to be saved, but now as we have done in the meeting this morning and shall do, to enter into his very presence.

Will you grasp this?

Look, by faith and in spirit, We come into the very presence of God.

[33:36] In other words, that is our place of worship. So our halls, buildings in which we meet, they’re not our sanctuaries, they’re not our tabernacles, they’re not our places of worship.

You don’t need a building for that. You can be in a forest.

I was meeting with the believers in Ukraine and they all gathered just in the open air, in the place where we were.

And our place of worship isn’t here, brothers and sisters, it was in Old Testament times, the place of worship was the tabernacle, the temple, but our place of worship now is this, the Father seeketh worshipers, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit. That’s, not just in the power of the Holy Spirit, but it is this, that by faith and in spirit, when we pray, when we’re engaged in worship, we enter into the very presence of God.

[34:44] Isn’t that something? Oh, by the way, we’re not strangers there, we’re encouraged to be there because this is saying that not only have we boldness because of all of these things, but he says we have a high priest, a great priest over the house of God, and he’s great not so much because of the office he bears, that’s chapter four, but he’s great because he encourages us to enter in by faith and in spirit to, the very presence of God. It was said of the late Mr. W.W. Faraday, none of you heard him preach, he died a long time ago. It was said of the late Mr. W.W.

Faraday that he was lying ill, he was known for his terseness. He was lying ill in bed and somebody came to see him, brother came to see him. So after a little while he said to Mr. Faraday, Mr. Faraday perhaps I’ll just pray and then I’ll go. So he begins to pray, he says, our Heavenly Father, oh stop it says Mr. Faraday.

[36:02] He said, look, if it is that you pray in those terms, Matthew 6 teaches to pray, our Father which art in heaven, it assumes that you are on earth and there is a distance to the Father, but he says that’s not the case in the dispensation in which we live.

He says the case in the dispensation in which we live is this, It’s not that we’re here and he is there at a distance.

He says, by faith grasp this, that by faith and in spirit when we speak to God, we enter into his very presence.

There is nearness because not only that, but he says, let us draw near with a true heart, not like the evil heart of unbelief earlier on, with a true heart he says, and in full assurance of faith as to our acceptance. He says, and in full assurance of faith, our hearts being sprinkled from an evil conscience, that’s the action of blood, our bodies washed with pure water, that’s another subject in itself by the way, but what he’s saying is we draw near, we don’t just enter, but we draw near. I want to ask you a question, see that privilege that we have, did you use it this morning?

[37:20] I said it was a busy morning, I understand. We were rushed, I understand. Did you use it yesterday?

[37:29] Is it on the agenda for tomorrow? But, brothers and sisters, there is a thing that goes with godliness hand in hand and it’s seen in the person of our blessed Saviour who was heard And in that he feared, and that is the presence of God, communion with God, sanctuary experience with God. What do you know about it?

When the things of earth recede, alone with thee, O Master, where the light of earthly glory dies, misunderstood by all, I dare to do what thine own heart would prize.

Shut out from friends, shut out from relatives, shut out from your phone.

That’s a big thing. Shut out from everything that might intrude and intervene, alone in the presence of God, where you are privileged not only to be able to enter, but to enter with boldness, and not only so, but the great priest who is over the house of God, every single believer in this present era in the house of God, whoever they are, wherever they meet, every single believer in the house of God, ours is the privilege to enter.

I want to say to you, there can be no godliness without the sanctuary.

[38:59] There could be nothing of God-fearingness, nothing of piety, without us being often.

[39:10] And more often and more often taking up the huge privilege that is ours in this dispensation, and may I say in no other, of entering into the very presence of God.

You’re great to be saved! All of this, and that’s just touching the borders of the land!

May the Lord help us to be in the good of it, for his name’s sake.

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