Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 039
Jesus the High Priest, pt3
We have been talking about Jesus, our High Priest, from the book of Hebrews—specifically in relationship to some of the misthinking that is in the hyper-grace movement that is being publicized from the vantage point that we should unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament.
Hebrews was written to the Hebrew believers of the day to help them understand what part of the law (the sacrificial and ceremonial law) was fulfilled in Christ, but that the moral law, the criminal law, the civil law, the applications of the law still stand.
In Abrahamic law, we were given the promise.
In Mosaic law, we were given the process.
In the New Covenant, through Jesus, we were given the power.
Hebrews 10:26
For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…
The writer of Hebrews is dealing with the fact that if they reject the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there is no other sacrifice that can be applied to them.
Hebrews 10:27-31
…but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
If we are going to preach the benefits and the abundance of grace—which we absolutely must, we also must preach responsibility of the hearer in the call to obedience and the consequences of disobedience.
Grace is not divine slack. Grace is God’s divine empowerment.
Hebrews 10:39
But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
Hebrews 11 is probably the most read/quoted/known passage in the book of Hebrews. It talks about all of the heroes of faith. Why is that there? It is there to show us that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This shows us how God is consistent in His nature and consistent in His character.God does not change! We should be a people who are also steadfast and who do not change.
Hebrews 12 tells us that we are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses. Because of that, we should fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Again, the writer of Hebrews could have said that the Old Testament doesn’t count anymore and that there is nothing to learn from that. Far be it! There are more than statutes and law and codes and principles to be learned from the book of Hebrews. In this book, God reveals His character to us through His writings, the history, the prophets, and law of the Old Testament.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
This verse out of context is still very powerful. But this verse in context is God reminding the Hebrew believers that God is consistent.
Hebrews 13:9
Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
What this is saying is to not get caught up in the ceremonial stuff about cleansing. We should not have to be attributing our sanctification to that process. We need to obey, not only the Word of God, but we should be listening to our spiritual leaders God has led us to be under.
Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
The book of Hebrews has a lot of very meaty stuff about Christian living. It doesn’t say that we are under grace and can do whatever we want.
Hebrews 10:23-26
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
If we are not assembling, we are sinning. If the body of Christ, as in the church, is not good enough for you, how can you say that the body of Christ, as sacrificed for you, is good enough?
We can read through Hebrews quickly and grasp a few things. But the believers to whom this this was written, the ones who were well-educated in the Scripture, they understood all the references and quotes from the Old Testament. If there had been any teaching by the apostles that the Old Testament should have been dropped, then none of these conflicts would have even existed.
The Conflict
How does this work now? How do we still honor the fathers, the prophets? How do we still apply the precepts that Moses gave us? Yet we don’t apply sacrifices. We don’t esteem certain things like we did before.
The Answer
Jesus fulfilled those things for us so we could have a way to God. Because we have a way to God, now we live in obedience to the Word of God. Not because we want to be accepted by God, but because we are accepted already by God through Jesus Christ.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
