Audio Archive | Christadelphians at Boston

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Location:Unknown (1981)

Topic:Our Heavenly High Priest

Title:Class 1

Speaker:Norris, Alfred

Download:1981 1 our heavenly high priest.mp3

Source: archive.moorestownchristadelphians.org |

Transcript

Location:Unknown (1981)

Topic:Our Heavenly High Priest

Title:Class 2

Speaker:Norris, Alfred

Download:1981 2 our heavenly high priest.mp3

Source: archive.moorestownchristadelphians.org |

Transcript

it became him

in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of our salvation perfect

through sufferings

for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood

jesus also himself likewise took part of the same

that by death he might destroy him that hath the power of death

that is the devil

and deliver all them who through fear of death with all their lifetimes subject to bondage

it could not have been done otherwise

there's something almost mathematical about the precision of what is said there because you and i have a flesh and blood nature

it was needful that the one who was to redeem us to god himself should have the identical nature he must also himself likewise with threefold repetition also himself likewise take part of the same in order that his death might destroy the devil for us

and deliver all those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage

granted our own fleshly nature then the only way in which that fleshly nature could have its weaknesses overcome

and its separation from god healed was that our savior himself should have that same fleshly nature

and granted that equation the only way in which our savior having that same fleshly nature could bring about the salvation which we need was by death

that by that death he might destroy him that hath the power of death that is the devil

so we see god sending his own son

in the likeness of sins flesh

and as an offering for sins

condemning sin

where it lives

in the flesh

as paul put it in the eighth chapter of his letter to the romans

observe the course of this man as soon as we meet him

as a child we know little of him save at the age of 12.

and there we find him disputing in the temple in jerusalem with the scribes and the learned men both hearing them and asking them questions and when he is mildly rebuked for that by joseph and his mother answering by saying how is it that she sought me did he not know that i must be in my father's house or about my father's business

he knew it

and even at that early age had decided that he would do it his father's will should be his law

there is nothing automatic about the lord's obedience

we have already said from the letter we are studying that though he were a son yet learned he obedient by the things that he suffered

he had the same potential for being disobedient that any other child of adam had

his temptations were real temptations

when each of them came to him he could say yes or no but to the temptations he always said no

and to the cause of duty he always said yes but never without the struggle that must take place in the mind of anyone when choosing his path for or against

first encounter with temptation is presented to us picturesquely in the bible as a man-to-man encounter between the lord and the devil

immediately after his baptism itself a temptation the lord was caught away into the wilderness

the temptation in the baptism consisted no doubt of knowing and understanding and then repelling the insinuation implied in john's sincerely humble words master i have need to be baptized of thee

and cometh thou to me

for john in a sense had right on his side

of the two the lord was infinitely the greater even the unborn john had seen that when he left in his mother's womb when mary carrying jesus came into the house of elizabeth

the adult john

even though at that time god had not disclosed to him that this one coming from baptism was in fact the lord jesus christ had with the same intuition

seen that this one before him was greater than he greater and more righteous

it was all very well for john the baptized harlots and publicans and should they present themselves for it even soldiers but these men were palpably sinners with sins to confess and to forsake with bodies to be cleansed from their former sinning but with jesus it was otherwise

put john and jesus side by side and there is no doubt who was the greater and who was the holier and john saw it even though it was only after the holy spirit coming down in the shape of a dove from heaven had descended upon jesus that john knew that this was he who would baptize them with the holy spirit and with fire

how easy then it would have been for the thought to enter and take root

in the mind of the lord jesus christ that john was right that he was the baptizer and john the subject that those whom john was baptizing were sinners anyway and he was not so yes why not leave the baptism alone

but instead the answer came

suffer it to be so now

for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness

so the lord received his baptism so the lot commended it to us

he went down into the water not saying privately as a person apart does it become of me to fulfill all righteousness

but publicly as a person joining himself with the sinners blessed becometh us to fulfill all righteousness

he went down into the waters as it were soiled with the flesh of those who had grievously sinned

and accepted the gesture of humility which was caught for from them who needed it so much

he went down and incorporated within his active obedience all who were already obeying and all who stand at the crossroads of obedience now and there was never more eloquent call to any considering obeying the gospel than to look at the manner in which the lord jesus christ received his baptism and hear him say to us does it becometh us

to fulfill all righteousness

and if he the lord would go down into their water

and accept what they needed

how much more should we be glad and honored and dignified to go down into his and hear him say to us as we are baptized thus it becometh us you and me for he is not ashamed to call us brethren to fulfill all righteousness

but as i say he was caught away into the wilderness

driven by the spirit of god to endure what 40 days fasting could bring upon him

confronted with stones that looked like little loaves and could so easily by his power be made into them

confronted by the knowledge that he would shortly meet a multitude that might go with him or against him and with the knowledge that they lay within him powers which could be used to gain in popularity

and confronted with the knowledge that that which was within him could lead him on the tide of popular approval to kingship if he would take it without the need for the suffering of the cross he could bypass all the afflictions and become a great king quickly and at once so if thou be the son of god command these stones and they will be made bread

if thou be the son of god cast us up down from hence for it is written he will give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou shalt dash thy foot against a stone

and

all these things will i give thee

if thou would fall down and worship me

but the lord had learned and must now put into practice

that the sonship of god was there not to glorify the son of man

but to provide service for the father

there are powers where he is not to minister to his appetites

but to show forth the glory of him who had sent him

that the angels were there not to be the playthings of his whims

but to provide the means of needed sustenance when he would go on his way to the cross that would seal his work

and so

it is written he said

man doth not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god

it was in the wilderness they had been taught that lesson

he was in his own wilderness now

there god had rained down manna from heaven upon them and moses had said the lord your god did feed you with manna in the wilderness that you might know that men doth not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of god's mouth

and it seems that this is what they were being taught

when they made bread if they were in a country where it was possible for them to do so they sowed seed

and wheat grew up

and the sickle was applied and the harvest was reaped

and the ears were cut off

and then winnowed from their chaff

then ground into flour

then leavened if it was appropriate to leaven them

and then baked

into bread and then they ate

it was a long many-stage process to make bread

but when god paid them with manner in the wilderness he revealed that once that all those stages could be cut out and straight from asking to bread they were manner came down from heaven and the fine thing like a coriander seed was therefore the eating of all the baking or the seeding

all in one operation

and moses said that was there to teach them not just that god could short-circuit the process from sowing seed to making bread into one single divinely miraculous operation

but also the god could if he wanted feed them just by words

man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god and he said to his temptation god can keep me alive by any means he chooses i don't need even to open my mouth he will feed me and make me live

and the refusal to use the powers of the son of god to gratify the appetite of the son of man

bore its own fruits in due course when he said to his disciples who came back bearing their beards from the marketplace i have meat to eat the gino not have my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work

and then when the multitude having been fed one day five thousand of them besides women and children with the fruits of five loaves and two fish the lord could dismiss them the next day with no more food and say labor not for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth unto eternal life which the son of man shall give unto you

and they had no comeback such as you've played yourself pat with bollywood's in the wilderness didn't you when you made stones into bread why'd you deny us our second meal

for he had not done so

and his conscience was clear and he could lead them to that we should sustain him the word which endures unto eternal life

it was the same with refusing to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple had he performed that spectacle they might have clustered around him in their multitudes for the wrong reasons

and then he might have been tempted to work that kind of acrobatic circus wonder time after time again and again to gain their approval

it would not have been successful of course

multitudes are fickle and tired even israel in the wilderness are tired of the manner they want more and more and different and more varied bread and circuses and their demands would increase as their boredom with the things they had grew greater

and though at that time this was his third temptation they would have come and taken him by force and made him a king they would not for very long have been pleased with the king who gave them barley bread each day and fish they would have wanted to change it might have been quails or whatever it could be and the lord had been not their king but their slave

and not the slave of redeemed persons brought to glory but persons unredeemed as sinful as they ever were no kingship was not to be gained that way

the lord faced his temptations not for himself alone but for all of us in overcoming them and setting a pattern as to what righteousness was and leading men to know that that was the righteousness they must desire as they labored not for the meat that perisheth but for that which endureth unto everlasting life

those were his keenest first temptations they were not to be his last

disciples said call down fire from heaven in vengeance

and he answered you know not what spirit you are of ruler said get the hence the head will kill thee the lot stood his ground

peter stood in his way as he faced southwards from caesarea philippi on his way to jerusalem and said lord this shall not be unto thee

i must be shown his place with get thee behind me satan thou saverest not the things that be of god but those that be of men

and in his own private thoughts the lord would face his greatest temptations

when he reasoned with himself and said

now is my soul troubled

and what shall i say

father save me from this hour

but for this purpose came i under this hour

father glorify thy name

the voice of the flesh saying get out while this time

father save me from this hour

and the voice of the spirit replied but you do know that's what you're here for don't you

and the lord weighed the two

without allowing the thought that would have been sin to take root in his mind opted for the other one and said father glorify thy name

and the voice came saying though they thought it thundered i have both glorified it and i will glorify it again

and so he went his way till they arrested him in the garden

and as though to emphasize that this was no superior night triumphing over the weakness of one man left alone when the lord placed them and said whom seek

and they said jesus of nazareth

the lord simple answer i am he either in itself or by some unrevealed exercise of his power so prostrated them that they went backwards and fell to the ground

and then by the lord's grace they were allowed to get up again

and tie him and lead him to the place of what they were pleased to call judgment

and there god having no doubt caused the confusion of babel to descend upon their bribed witnesses so their testimony agreed not together there the lord stood trial for his life

and all the false charges failed and fell away

and it was only when the high priest said i agree thee by the living god the thou tellest art thou the christ the son of the blessed

that the lord giving the simple answer thou sayest was condemned as a blasphemer

there was blasphemy afoot certainly

but they would have been wiser had they decided to investigate whether perhaps his claim was true

but it was false he would indeed a blasphemer

if it was true they were

and they brought the guilt upon themselves by condemning him you have heard the blasphemy and unlawfully rending his robes the high priest said what need we further witness and they all condemned him to be worthy of death

so the lord was condemned before a jewish court for speaking the truth about his office

it was the same before a reluctant pilot

for then the charge since the romans were not concerned with the charge of blasphemy against israel's god then the charge was altered till he said he was a king

and the men who were determined to have him destroyed demeaned themselves and humiliated their own claims by saying we have no king but caesar

to get their christ killed

and so when pilate said art thou are king then again there's not so much a plea of guilty as an announcement of the truth now says that i am a king

to this and was i born and for this purpose came i enter the world that i might bear witness to the truth and

everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice

so they decided that they were not of the truth

and at least for the time being judged themselves unworthy of eternal life these jews who accused him before thy roman oppressors

and we have no king but caesar caused their own king born king of the jews to be led away the place where they would erect over his cross the proclamation this is jesus of nazareth

the king of the jews

and the horrors of that day the lord endured

until the last from the great darkness

as he bore

accepting

that which was a curse to men who had committed capital crimes

the lord for all of us bore our sins in his body up onto the tree and died as a criminal might die and god left him as he might leave a criminal and from the darkness the lord groped out to say when his tongue was loosed by the sot they gave him father

into thy hands i commend my spirit

as though to say

you are there god though i can't now see and feel you i know it and you will keep my life in your care

till i take it to me again

and so the lord died

he had never sinned

when temptation came to him each one severally was met and reasoned out and rebuffed

but of course the next day's temptations were yet to come

and the next and the next

and all of them day by day and week by week and year by year until the time came which god had appointed and said on that day i wish you to die

and the lord consented when he was not compelled

chose to fulfill the things written of him and died

of his own free will

being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the cross

there would never be another temptation

never again would thoughts enter into the lord's immortal mind saying do this against god's will you would never need to fight it down once more it had all been done the lord could now be safely granted the blessing of endless life because he would never misuse any powers that might be given to him

all power hath been given unto me in heaven and earth the lord could cry and the father who gave it to him would lose nothing in the giving

he could give everything to jesus and keep it to himself just the same

and the nature of the risen christ in relation to his father was never better brought out than by the passage i have already quoted yesterday i think

wherefore because he became obedient to death even the death of the cross wherefore god also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord

to the glory of god

the father

so that whatever praise reach the lord jesus christ it would through the transparent selflessness of his immortal nature go through and reach his father to whom it belonged

and so with that total devotion to his father's will which he nurtured during the days of his temptation which was sealed in him by his death which is permanent in him in his raised and glorified form

the lord will one day reach the point where not abdicating but giving where it is due he will fulfill his total mission and take everything he has made ready for his god and give it to him

and then shall the son also be subject unto the father that god may be all and in all and that will not be the lord's abdication it will be the lord's greatest triumph

that is one thing the lord's death did for him

sealed in him the sinlessness which he had chosen

so that now being made perfect he could discharge the offices without safe to him

it was not all

for he who had resisted the urge of those around to take him by force and make him a king

because he was not timed that he should be a king they were not the right subjects and he was not in the right position to be the king who would rule in righteousness securely and forever

could now be made a king and be certain the ruling in the fear of god with the love of god for the name of god with the honor of god as his goal when jesus became a king there would be no temporary imperfect righteousness like that of david say or hezekiah or josiah

there could be no abandonment to evil like there had been with say jeroboam the son of nevad or except for his last days manasseh

with the lord as king there will be perfection

justice

discernment

all the king needs and the power to carry out his eatings behold a king shall reign in righteousness

and princes shall rule in judgment

but more than that

for our present purpose

what was sealed in the lord jesus christ by his dying

was that care and concern he had had for all his fellows during his living i have compassion on the multitude

they are a sheep not having a shepherd

the son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost

and the man who knowing what he would do

and who might your mind without imagination seem to be under necessity of doing so

who could stand by a grave with a stone sealed before it and behold the sorrow of those who wept

and weep with them

was one who

when he rose from the dead did not lose his compassion

nor ceased to care

nor become the mere trembling giant of might which all power in heaven and earth might give him

he was the one in whom there was also sealed that care and concern

that love for his fellows

which he had shown in the days of his weakness

may we sing together him 165

him 165

loving shepherd of thy sheep

[Music]

is

[Music]

is

is

[Music]

oh

[Music]

and so by a route much longer than the writer has taken we have arrived at our lord in heaven now with that compassion which our high priest is able to show and exercise on our behalves

and so we read in the closing verses of hebrews chapter 2

wherefore it behold him in all things to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to god to make propitiation for the sins of the people

for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted

he is able to sucker them that are tempted

or at the end of chapter 4 verse 14

having been a great high priest who hath passed through the heavens jesus the son of god let us hold past our confession

for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities

but one to have been in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin

let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace

that we may obtain mercy

and may find grace to help in time of need

and the scene was set for that all powerful compassion of the lord of which paul writes in romans chapter 8

where we read

romans chapter

8. what then shall we say to these things

if god is for us who is against us he that spared not his only son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not also with him freely give us all things

who shall they anything to the charge of god's elect

it is god the justifier

who is he that shall condemn

it is christ jesus that died yay rather that was raised from the dead who is at the right hand of god

who also maketh intercession for us

who shall separate us from the love of christ

shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or

in all these things we are more than conquerors

through him that loved us

for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature

shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord

we are in danger of making two mistakes

about the program of the heavenly father in our lord jesus christ

one concerns the overall picture of the lord jesus christ coming in weakness

dying and being raised and descending

and coming back again to reign in glory missing out the middle

for we are in the middle

and our present lives are that intermediate phase of lives and the lord is not absent during that period

but present in another way

i am with you always

he said

the lord is not absent during that period

for he who said

let not your heart be troubled

believe in god believe also in me

in my father's house are many abiding places i go to prepare a place for you and if i go i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there ye may be also was not in those words though often enough he did so elsewhere talking about his second coming in the future

he was talking about one opening the door of a house going in and making ready and then coming back to the door and beckoning in his disciples saying come in

going in and making ready and then coming back to the door and beckoning in his disciples saying come in

for in the same chapter if any man love me my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abiding place the very same word and his only other occurrence and make our abiding place with him

so that the lord beckons the disciples within the father's temple

not to go somewhere up above when they die

but to be

in the heavenly places in christ while they live

the believer in the lord jesus christ because his lord is where he is is one who walks with his feet on the ground and his head in the clouds

he is with the lord jesus in the abiding places of the father's heavenly house the lord has passed through the heavens to the highest place where god dwells and we are told let us therefore approach boldly unto the throne of grace

and that is the mercy seat of the lord god with the lord jesus christ there

we have sung at him yesterday

in which we spoke of the lord standing at the father's right hand it's the one misfortune in that particular beautiful hymn that we speak of him standing for the only occasion where the lord is reported as standing at the father's right hand since his ascension is when he did so in the anguish accompanying the death of stephen where stephen said i stole the lord the heavens opened and the lord standing at the right hand of god but for the rest

the lamb took the book and sat down

the high priest could only be a pilgrim in the most holy place he went in stayed a short while and came out again but not the lord jesus he has gone in and he stays there permanently until he return again and even then at his father's right hand the lord sat down when he had by one offering purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high and god welcoming him says sit thou at my right hand until i make thy pose thy footstool

there is the permanent dwelling of the lord in his own house with his father the builder there to greet him

and so our merciful

our compassionate high priest is there

and he can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities

it can be sad when we are sad sadder still when we are unfaithful

can be hurt when his disciples can shiver when his disciples are naked can feel the annoying pains when his disciples are hungry

so that the last judgment he will say to his enemies i was in prison and you came not unto me i was naked and you gave me no clothing i was sick and you did not visit me

and when they inquire how that could be we'll answer in as much as you did it not unto one of the least of these my brethren you did it not to me

and greet his blessing in the contrary terms to those who have been faithful in that way in so much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren he did it unto me

the lord felt the stones when they stoned stephen

saul saw why persecuted thou me

and the lord as a later chapter will tell us can be deeply grieved if his disciples turn away from him

the letters of the hebrews is a letter of alternating moods

sometimes as in chapter one having expressed just the glory and the majesty of jesus it warns us against not receiving him in chapter two

sometimes as chapter two proceeds it brings this glorified jesus back to our level and says he beholds him to be made at all points like us so we can boldly go before god

and sometimes as in chapter three it can say now that's your privilege how dare you forsake it

and become severe again

hebrews chapter 3

verse 1

wherefore holy brethren

partakers of the heavenly calling consider the apostle and high priest of our profession christ jesus

who was faithful to him that appointed him as also moses was faithful in all god's house

for this man was counted worthy of more glory than moses in as much as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house

for every house is builded by some man

but he that built all things is god

and moses verily was faithful in all god's house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but christ as a son over god's house not his own house a son over god's house whose house are we if we hold past the confidence of our rejoicing and hope furman to the end

wherefore as the holy spirit sat

today if you will hear his voice

harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works forty years wherefore i was grieved with that generation and said they do all they are in their heart and they have not known my ways so i swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest take heed

the writer says lest what happened to them should happen to you and the severeness is back in the picture again

how does it read then

why does he need to remind them that moses was lesser than the lord

why must he say that moses was faithful in god's house as a servant while the lord jesus christ was faithful in god's house as a son the ruler over the house that god had made

why does he find it needful to remind those to whom he writes that they are members of god's house in christ that they are his household his family and his temple as against yes was against what

as against the other temple which had not yet been destroyed

which was still there in jerusalem

which had its prevailing glitter and glory

into which the high priest and his splendid robes would go

into which once a year he would go to the great most holy place on the day of atonement and come out with his blessing why did they need to be told that

because they were in danger of provoking their god again

because they were in danger of emulating what israel had done before because this could be the next step in the apostasy of the people of god

what had gone wrong before then

well many things

and repeatedly

they had moment when they came out of egypt

they had moment when they ran short of food their moment for water when they were thirsty they had made themselves an idol when moses was too long for their taste in the mountain they refused to enter the promised land because of the giants there

and then when they got into joshua they had known no better than

and in the days of the kings it was needful for david to write in the psalm here quoted today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me and saw my works 40

years they were always doing it generation after generation

and so god swore in his wrath they shall not enter into my rest

well they did enter into the land

joshua led them there

there they might have found rest

but they rebelled again so the long period of subservience and division under the judges played them into the power of their enemies

time after time they who could have settled down in the land flowing with milk and honey instead of that turned to the idols around them and were denied the rest that they had been promised

they never got that rest

these people of god they wandered in the wilderness they wandered in the land of promise and says the writer in fact they are wondering yet

and so he says what are you going to do fellow believers

are you going to go back and join them in their wondering

are you going to reject another today

are you as they did when david penned the words today if you will hear his voice going to say i will not hear and see that further your disobedience against god are you going to turn back

to that which they have never left

going back into their temple following their high priest renewing their sacrifices and rejecting the one sacrifice for all to bring remission of sins is that what you will do

if you do

beware

so god spoke through david of another today and said to the hebrews of the 1st century and says to israel of the 20th today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me and saw my work forty years with whom i was grieved and swell in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest

in a strange intermingling of figures in this third and in the fourth chapters

the writer brings together two ways of describing god's rest

one is the land into which joshua led them

where they might have rested with the peace of god upon them but didn't because of their unfaithfulness

the other is a rest of a different kind which is spoken of in genesis chapter 2

where one in a certain place has testified says chapter 4 of our record here and god did rest the seventh day from all his labors

so there's a place of rest

and there's a day of rest

there is spiritually somewhere to go in order to rest

and some day of rest where one can cease from one's labors

and the two are mingled together in these words starting from chapter 4

verse 4

for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise

and god did rest the seventh day from all his works

and in this place meaning the psalm again if they shall enter into my rest the day of rest in chapter in verse 4

the place of rest in verse 5.

seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first presented not in because of unbelief which is really disobedience again he limited a certain day saying in david today

after so long a time as it is said today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts

for if one bearing our savior's name jesus joshua had given them rest then would he not afterwards was spoken of another rest

but joshua didn't

so there is another there remaineth therefore

a sabbath rest

for the people of god

and that rest is the sabbath rest it is tabatismos

the only occurrence in scripture of that word and again the writer has moved away from the place of rest into which joshua would have led them had they been the right kind of people into the day of rest which remaineth for the people of god and here it is today

and is he not saying today is the day of rest

let us not be obsessed with any such notion as that there being six days of work for god in his day of rest to follow genesis chapters one and two there are six thousand years of work with a thousand years of rest to follow it is not that that the writer is talking about

his rest is not a millennium of rest it is a day of rest starting now

today if you will hear his voice

harden not your hearts as in the provocation there remaineth therefore there is available therefore this sabbath rest for the people of god so

he that hath entered into his rest

has ceased from his own works

as god from his

let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of disobedience

for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword

piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do

so this is the call that comes to the disciple of god

god worked for six days

and on the seventh entered into a rest

and having regard to the fact that the record in genesis tells us of each of the first six days but not of the seventh and there was evening and there was morning

one two three four five

six days

but of the seventh really says that god rested then

knowing therefore that no end is mentioned of that seventh day

can we not say that the rest remaineth

that god's rest continues to those who come to his rest

that they get it when they receive him in christ

work can rest

toil and recreation

are our own natural sequence

work and rest are postulated of god that that rest of his might be offered to us

and work

and trust

are placed as opposites

he that hath entered into his rest

has ceased from his own works

as god did from his

and we that believe

do you enter into rest

so again with the precision of this letter put together those things

those who believe into the rest

those who enter the rest cease from their works

those who believe ceased from their works

and faith and work stand in contrast once more

we trust in our god and we do not trust in our works

we don't labor for what we can achieve

though we work the works of faith having shown the faith we seek

to enter into that rest where trust in god assures us that works done in that faith will not be in vain

so the message of salvation by faith and then faithful labor to follow

offered in galatians and romans and not denied in james

is the message that stands out here and will be abundantly illustrated by many examples in chapter 11 11 when by faith abel did becomes the pattern of how men show their trust in their god

and now we are taught

work to enter god's rest

and in that rest work the works of god what are the works of god this is the work of god that you believe on him who we have sent

says the lord jesus christ

and to us he says

come unto me

all you that labour and the heavy laden

and i will give you rest

take my yoke upon you and learn of me

for i am meek and lowly in heart

and ye shall find rest unto your souls

for my yoke is easy

and my version is light

that is bound prayer

oh lord our heavenly father

whose works in thy purpose were finished from the foundation of the world

and has rest his prophet to all those who will put their trust in thee

help us to rest in the lord and wait patiently for him

that he may give us our hearts desire

and trusting in thee through the lord jesus christ

find that peace of mind which passeth all understanding

this we ask in his name

Location:Unknown (1981)

Topic:Our Heavenly High Priest

Title:Exit Aaron, Enter Melchizedek

Speaker:Norris, Alfred

Download:1981 3 our heavenly high priest.mp3

Source: archive.moorestownchristadelphians.org |

Transcript

Location:Unknown (1981)

Topic:Our Heavenly High Priest

Title:Class 4

Speaker:Norris, Alfred

Download:1981 4 our heavenly high priest.mp3

Source: archive.moorestownchristadelphians.org |

Transcript

Location:Unknown (1981)

Topic:Our Heavenly High Priest

Title:Our Heavenly Jerusalem

Speaker:Norris, Alfred

Download:1981 5 our heavenly high priest.mp3

Source: archive.moorestownchristadelphians.org |

Transcript