"Milk" Sermon: Henrews 5:11-6:3

“Milk”

[Hebrews 5:11-6:3]

August 5, 2012 Second Reformed Church

            “About this we have much to say,”

            For the past few weeks, we've been talking about the High Priesthood of Jesus. We saw that Jesus acted both as the Perfect Sacrifice – a Holy Man who kept all of God's Law and Who voluntarily became our Substitute and took upon Himself the Wrath of God against the sin of everyone who ever believes in Him Alone for salvation – and Who is the Perfect High Priest – Who as Holy Mediator, stood between God and us to plead for us and to offer Himself up for us. We saw the importance of Jesus in living a Holy, Sinless Life – so we could be seen by the Father as holy through the crediting of Jesus’ Holy Life to us. We remember that Jesus died for every sin of every believer throughout time and space – paying the entire penalty due us.

And we considered what priestly line Jesus was a part of:  there was the line of Aaron, and the line of Levi, and we are told that there is also a third line – the line of Melchizedek. This is the line of the priesthood that Jesus was part of. However, we saw the Jesus is called to be High Priest and His line in Melchizedek’s priesthood was not through His humanity, but through His Divinity. Jesus, in His Divinity, is the Only Begotten Son of God, Who, from eternity, was designated by God High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.

And so, when we read the author of Hebrews writing, “About this we have much to say,” the author of Hebrews is saying that he has much to say about the fact that Jesus in His Divinity is the Only Begotten Son of God, Who from eternity, was designated by God High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The author of Hebrews told his readers that he had much to say about this topic – that it was important for them to understand who Melchizedek was, what his priesthood was, and how Jesus participated in it.

            “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”

            The author of Hebrews had a lot to say to the Hebrews about Jesus being part of the high priestly line of Melchizedek. But here he stops his writing – and he does not go on – he does not explain more about the High Priesthood of Jesus and His participation in the high priestly line of Melchizedek, because the Hebrews had become dull of hearing.

            Remember the people the author of Hebrews was writing to: these were Hebrews – Jews – who had heard the Gospel preached and who said that they believed the Gospel. They believed that God had come to earth. That He had lived under His Own Law perfectly, that He had died for the sins of everyone who would ever believe, and that He had risen from the dead in His physical body – and ascended back to His throne. But now – they were wondering if they were wrong – if they had been over-exuberant – they wondered if they might be deceived. They wondered if it might not be best to return to the Old Testament laws and ceremonies which they knew well – the things they knew that God had given them and commanded them.

            We saw the author of Hebrews become incredulous about this – he couldn't believe that after hearing and believing the Gospel, they could turn away from it and turn back to the shadows – to the prophecies – and he warned them that if they did not continue to believe in the Gospel – if they turned away from where they had stood – if they apostatized – they would commit the only unforgivable sin.

            Not only had the Hebrews been questioning whether the Gospel was true, but they had become “dull of hearing” – they weren't listening – they thought they knew it all – they saw no reason to go back to the Scriptures, and check the Scriptures, and read them again, and seek the Holy Spirit's guidance and His Gift of understanding.

            It seems fair to apply these words to the American church as a whole: “you have become dull in hearing.”  How often do we come to “worship” desiring that we be excited, entertained, that we have our “felt needs” met, but we don't care if we have understood the text, or if God's Word has been preached at all, much less if God has been honored and glorified in what has occurred.

            John Owen, colorfully explains the problem this way:  “it is not unnatural imbecility of mind that he blames in them; nor such a weakness of understanding as they might be obnoxious unto for want of improvement by education; Nor a want of learning and subtlety to search into things deep and difficult: for these, although they are all defects and hindrances in hearing, yet are they not crimes. But it is a moral negligence and inadvertency, a want of the discharge of their duty, according to their ability and attending unto the means of their instruction, that he chargeth them withal” (Hebrews, volume 4, 549).

            His language is quaint, but what he is saying is this: they were not disabled in such a way that they could not read and understand God's Word. They were not lacking the education necessary to be able to read and understand God's Word. No, the problem was sin – they didn't care to read and understand God's Word to the best of their ability. They just didn't think God's Word was that important. They had better things to do. Yet, God is very angry when we neglect His Word.

            Back in Lent, we looked at the principles of church growth. Do you remember what the first one is?  “God’s Word must be central – of primary importance and honor – to our lives and worship for us to grow as individuals and as the Church.” Do you believe that? Do you believe that the center of worship is God and His Word? Do you believe that we know God and all He has to teach us about life and salvation through His Word?

            The author of Hebrews tells his readers that the biggest problem they have is that they have become lazy in receiving the Word of God. And because they have become lazy in receiving the Word of God, their ears have become dull. They have lost some of the ability to understand God's Word.

So we see, first, this morning, our ability to understand and profit from God's Word grows as we interact with it – as we read it – as we hear it read and preached – as we hear it taught – as we meditate on it, asking the Holy Spirit to help us to understand and apply it wisely and correctly. The more we read the Word of God, the more we are exposed to the Word of God, the more we pray that God will help us to understand and apply the Word of God, the more grace God will give us to read it, to understand it, and to apply it. Reading the Bible is not unlike using a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it will become; the less you use it the more it will decay.

This is a very frustrating text:  If you don't read your Bible and you don't take advantage of the opportunities to discuss it and learn it, then don't be surprised with the results. It's like buying a gym membership, never going, and then calling the gym to complain that you're still fat and lacking muscle.

Read the Word of God. Attend worship and hear God’s Word read and preached. Come to a study and discuss the Word of God. Buy good Christian books, or CDs, or DVDs. William Tyndale, who lost his life for translating the Bible into English, said he did so, that every plowboy would be able to read the Bible for himself. Pray that you would desire to spend time in God's Word – and then pray that you would desire to spend more time in God's Word.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.”

The author of Hebrews continues his criticism, telling them that with the amount of education in the Word of God that they had received, they should be teaching others by this point, but because they became dull of hearing – because they didn't care about the Word of God and what it said – they had actually gone backwards in their ability to understand – they had gone backwards in their becoming Christ-like. They needed to be taught the basic doctrines all over again.

And so we see, just as it is possible to mature in the faith, it is possible to immature in the faith. It is possible to go backwards in our sanctification. It is possible to go backwards from an adult to a child spiritually. It is possible to lose the understanding of the very basic, foundational, principles of Christianity. It is possible to become fatally confused about the meaning of the Gospel – and we saw this as we talked about evangelism and how people think that the Gospel is about how you feel or how much God loves you, when the Gospel is a very specific set of historical facts about a historical figure.

Then the author of Hebrews uses an image – comparing the Hebrews with infants:  “You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.”

I hope we all understand that milk is for babies – milk is made up of nutrients to help a baby grow, but it is not so intense and strong that the baby cannot eat it and digest it. I hope no one would try to stuff a steak in an infant's mouth. Even if the infant had teeth, it's unlikely that he or she would be able to eat and digest it properly. Milk is given to babies to mature their digestive systems and the rest of their bodies. Solid foods – meat – is to sustain the grown – the mature – the adult body.  Just as we can't properly mature and grow, drinking only milk and milk products, so we also have to add to what we have learned – we have to grow in on our understanding of the Scripture.

So, secondly, the author of Hebrews is saying that there are basic doctrines that every Christian should know – that every Christian should understand – but no Christian should stay with just the basic doctrines – every Christian is called to mature as the Holy Spirit works through him or her. Each one of us is to add to our faith and understanding – to grow in what we have heard and read and understood – that we might know God better – that we might experience more grace – and live more fully to His Glory.

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

The author of Hebrews does not condemn his readers and then leave them without hope: he tells them there is a way to move toward maturity. There is a way to become an adult – it's through eating solid food – it's through training our powers of discernment – by training our minds – by constant practice – not once a month or once a week, but again and again and again as a regular habit – in distinguishing good from evil.

So what is he telling them to do? What is he telling them – and what are we being told this morning, if we want to mature – if we realize we're drinking milk, and were tired of drinking milk? What should we do if we have had enough milk – if we have received all the nourishment we can receive from milk, and now we want to move on to solid food – to meat?

Thankfully, the answer is “milk” – it’s basic – it’s simple: if the Hebrews want to mature again – to recover what they lost through becoming dull of hearing – if they recognize that they were sinning in being bored and impatient and fed up with the Word of God – even doubting if it was true – if you want to mature – first get the Gospel right: God came to earth in the Person of Jesus – a real human being, He lived under God's Law sinlessly, He died for the sins of everyone who would ever believe, and He physically rose from the dead, ascending back to His throne. That's milk. It's the best milk any human ever gets, but we must grow from there – once we’ve got that, we have to grow.

Understand, the author of Hebrews is not suggesting – and I am not suggesting – that there are different levels of salvation. However, we do fluctuate in our maturity – one day will be a little more mature, one day we will be a little less mature. We ought to be, striving to be, more mature overall as the Holy Spirit makes us into the Image of Jesus.

So, maturity begins with a right understanding of the Gospel. And then, we ought to do everything within our ability to learn and understand and put into practice everything else. We ought to be, striving – praying to God – asking for grace and understanding – that we would be able to read this Scripture and understand it to the fullest. God has given us His Word that we would understand it and rejoice in it and give Him thanks and glory for it. There is a point at which each of us, according to our ability, has to say, “this far and I can understand no further” – there are mysteries which are kept from us.  We read, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV).

We need to remember that, although there are difficult passages of the Scripture, the Word of God, by and large, was not written for intellectuals and scholars – it was written for William Tyndale's plowboy – it was written for you and me. What kind of God do we believe in, if we say that God has given us His Word and then made it too difficult for us to understand any of it? That is not the God that we see in the Bible. The God of the Bible condescends to humanity so that He will be understood. God uses words and imagery that would be understood by the people who received it – and God Himself came to earth in the Person of a human being – how much more one-on-one could God get? The Bible was largely written for shepherds and farmers and nomads and the illiterate. Most of the Bible is straightforward and doesn't need any degree or special insight – besides the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit – to understand. If you are a Christian, and you want to mature in the faith, “pick up and read” – and then do everything within your ability to understand, and God will bless that.

How long does it take? How long is your life? Paul, encouraging other Christians to press on, wrote, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14, ESV).  Paul continued to mature – to the day of his death.

            “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”

            Since this is true – since we are called to mature and not stay with the doctrines of milk – merely with the basics of the Christian faith – but to build on them and to understand as much as we are able of the Word of God – the author of Hebrews says to leave the elementary doctrines – not to forget them, but to continue on – to move on – to mature – to build on those elementary doctrines – and to go on to maturity.

            The author of Hebrews warns them that they are not to lay “again a foundation of repentance from dead works.”  What does that mean? Well, what are “dead works”? This expression is only used twice and only by the author of Hebrews, but we can make sense of it: what do we repent of? Sin. What type of sin would be “dead works”? “Dead works” are works that we do thinking that they will make us right with God without Jesus. The original audience of the letter of Hebrews was turning to dead works – they were leaving the Gospel and Salvation in Jesus Alone and turning back to keeping the Law and the Ceremonies as their salvation – which is impossible: the Law and the Ceremonies were given to us to show us that we cannot save ourselves. So, the author of Hebrews is warning them that they are not to go back to trying to earn their salvation – because it will not – it cannot – work. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone.

            The author of Hebrews quickly mentions a few of the elementary doctrines of Christ – and Christianity – that are found in the Word of God:

First, “instruction about washings” or “instruction about baptisms.” The word that can be translated “washings” or “baptisms,” is again a word that is only used twice in the Bible, and only by the author of Hebrews – so what baptisms is he talking about? There are three baptisms mentioned in the Bible: what is called the baptism of John, which was a ceremonial cleansing rite, the baptism by which a person becomes part of the covenant community, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, by which a person receives salvation. The author of Hebrews is obviously talking about the second two – instruction about entrance into the covenant community, and instruction about salvation. (He would not be calling them to return to a Ceremonial Law for the reasons we have already discussed.)

Second, “the laying on of hands”– which was also done for three reasons in the Bible: the recognition and blessing of a person called to office, for healing, and for the gifting of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit and His giving of gifts. Again, contextually, since we are talking about the elementary doctrines of Christ – that is salvation – we can only be talking here about the gifting of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit and His giving of gifts.

Third, “the resurrection of the dead.” And here the author of Hebrews is countering those who say that the resurrection from the dead is merely a spiritual resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead in his physical body, so we must rise in our physical bodies.  If we do not rise in our physical bodies, then Jesus’ Salvation is a failure, because part of what Jesus came to save would not be saved.

Fourth, “eternal judgment.” There must be an eternal judgment, if God is Just. If God does not punish sin, He does not love us. If God does not judge the world and punish sin and put it away from Him – and us – and His Kingdom, we are not saved.

            The original audience of the letter to the Hebrews was getting hung up on these basic issues: the Holy Spirit changes our hearts and regenerates us – brings us back to spiritual life, the Holy Spirit gives us gifts and the grace to use them for the sake of the Church and to the Glory of God, the Resurrection is of both our souls and our bodies – the material world is good and God will restore it and perfect it and bless in the Kingdom, and there will be a judgment and those who do not believe in Jesus Alone for salvation – those who do not believe the Gospel – will enter eternal Hell. This is all good stuff – this is all important stuff – vitally important – but it's not all there is – and God has called us to read and hear preaching and teaching on the Whole Counsel of God – the Whole Word of God – including what it means that God eternally designated the Only Begotten Son of God High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.

            “And this we will do if God permits.”

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, as we come to meet You in the Sacrament, we ask that You would give us grace to mature.  We ask that You would turn us back from our sin – from our laziness, from our uncaring, from believing that anything in Your Word is unimportant.  Help us to know the Gospel rightly, to hold onto it firmly, and to seek out, by the Holy Spirit, the strong meat that You provide for us.  Help us to strive towards You until we are in Your Presence, and let us settle for nothing less.  Be truly in the bread and the cup that we may commune with You.  We ask these things in Jesus Name, Amen.

Puritan Wisdom...getting ready for worship

“You may think you find peace in Christ when you have no outward troubles, but is Christ your peace when the Assyrian comes into the land, when the enemy comes?...Jesus Christ would be peace to the soul when the enemy comes into the city, and into your houses.”
― Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

[gently lifted from: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/51789.Jeremiah_Burroughs]

Prayer Meeting

Due to a wedding scheduled, there will not be a prayer meeting at the church tomorrow.  Please pray amongst yourselves and prepare for worship tomorrow.

Puritan Wisdom

“Sin is enmity to God as God, and therefore to all of God.” – John Owen, The Nature and Power…of…Indwelling Sin…, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 180.

August Sermons

D.V., I plan to preach:

8/5/12 Communion
  Hebrews 5:11-6:3  “Milk”

8/12/12 

 Guest preacher:  Rev. Dr. Solomon Tivade

8/19/12

 Guest preacher:   Rev. Dr. Solomon Tivade

8/26/12

 Hebrews 6:4-12 “Only Once”

Join us at 10:30 AM on Sunday!

Puritan Wisdom

“Mortification abates of its force, but does not change its nature. Grace changeth the nature of man, but nothing can change the nature of sin– John Owen, The Nature and Power…of…Indwelling Sin…, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 177.

Puritan Wisdom

“Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before. Hence, is that summary description of the whole work and effect of this law of sin, Genesis 6:5, ‘every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually;’” – John Owen, The Nature and Power…of…Indwelling Sin…, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 169-170.

Review: "Faith and Other Flat Tires"

I was offered a free review copy of Faith and Other Flat Tires by Andrea Palpant Dilley published Zondervan. I thank Handlebar Marketing for the book and the opportunity to read and review this book.  [I am posting this review on my blog and Amazon.com.]

            Dilley’s memoir is a funny, painful, thought-provoking, and faith seeking literary accomplishment. The overall format takes the reader through a Bunyanesque Pilgrim's Progress of the daughter of Quaker missionaries to Kenya.

            She begins her story as a young child, acquainting the reader with the simplicity and the faith-affirming youth that she enjoyed as her parents’ daughter. After returning to the United States, she began to experience and question things that were off-limits in Kenya: rock music, secular literature, and whether everything that she had been taught about Christianity was actually true. This memoir is an honest look at a Christian upbringing and whether it makes sense in the world today.

            In high school and college, she continued to question and eventually considered herself to have left or lost her faith. She says she wondered what Jesus had to do with literature and film, she wondered why she received more joy in music than in listening to a sermon, and she wondered why God gave us senses but no sensory proof that He exists (107).

            She wandered through sex, drugs, and alcohol, and the complexities of literature, trying to find hope and help and meaning for the reality of the world around her. Eventually, her search brought her back to church: she writes, “Yes, I'll always have my demons. But I might as well take my demons to church” (231).  She brought what she believed was true and good and right along with all of her questions, sat them down in a pew, finally meeting a man that found God big enough to allow for questions, big enough to reach out and care for other people, big enough to look at the problem of evil and find love.

            The memoir does not end with a rigorous theological statement of belief, but rather with a peace in finding good and worth in the world – and in God and Christianity. She is still seeking to understand, but she is doing it in a positive and hopeful way.

            I found her book is very readable, very enjoyable, and above all, truthful. There many people who struggle with the things that they see around them and desire to ask questions, but in the church – as well as other places – they find themselves shut down and shut out and shut up. That should not be: if a person has questions and concerns and needs to understand what reality is, who God is, and what life is, the very place that they should be finding guidance – and even answers – is in the church, and from Christian people. Too often, out of fear or ignorance, Christians chase people away rather than interacting with them, trying to understand them, and walking with them. I hope this book will encourage people with questions, as well as those who think they have the answers, to be compassionate and not give up, but to search for the God who is there.

Puritan Wisdom

“The law of sin ‘dwelleth’ in us; – that is, it is years as a depraved principle, unto our minds in darkness and vanity, unto our affections in sensuality, unto our wills in a loathing of an aversion from that which is good; and by some, more, or all of these, is continually putting itself upon us, in inclinations, motions, or suggestions to evil, when we would be most gladly quit of it.”– John Owen, The Nature and Power…of…Indwelling Sin…, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 167.

"As a High Priest" Sermon: Hebrews 5:7-10

“As a High Priest”

[Hebrews 5:7-10]

July 29, 2012 Second Reformed Church

This morning, we look for a third time at the High Priesthood of Jesus. We first saw that we have a High Priest Who is God, the Savior, so we ought to hold fast to our confession – we ought to always be ready to tell someone the Gospel, because it is our hope for all of eternity. In the Gospel – in Jesus is offering up Himself as the Sacrifice to make us right with God – we find a human being Who is at the same time God Who can sympathize with our weaknesses – Who can understand everything we go through – every temptation we face. And so we can come to this God boldly knowing that we will receive mercy and grace that He has for us in time of need.

            Last week we looked at the fact that Jesus was called to be a high priest – that He did not make Himself High Priest, but God made Him High Priest – from all of eternity God Who had begotten His Son also declared Him to be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

            And now we look at Jesus as High Priest: what did Jesus do as High Priest? Oh, we know that Jesus offered up Himself as a sacrifice for our sin. We know that Jesus lived a holy life that we might be credited with that holy life. But was there anything more? Was there anything more in understanding what it is to be human? Is there anything more for us to understand about what it meant that God became human?

            “In the days of his flesh,”

            The author of Hebrews emphasizes that the High Priestly Role of Jesus does not merely mean what He did on the cross – though that is the pivotal act of salvation – or what He does now in Heaven. We need to also consider what Jesus did on earth – what Jesus did in the time that He lived on earth in the human body which could sin.  (Of course we know Jesus never sinned.)

            Paul wrote, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7, ESV).

            Consider the Holy Trinity: before the creation, They were in perfect harmony, union, and love, as the One Holy God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit always were, before the beginning, and lived without need in perfection. But God saw that it would bring glory to Himself if the Son incarnated and became human for the sake of the salvation of the people that God chose for Himself.

So God created everything that is, and the coming of the Son of God in human flesh was promised to Adam and Eve after the Fall. And when the time was right, God the Son left His throne and came to Earth through the Virgin Mary – a baby boy.

            We can barely even glimpse what this means. The Holy God who lived in light and truth condescended to reveal Himself to all those who would believe and stepped off His throne and became one with the baby in the darkness of Mary's womb. For nine months God resided in the womb of a human being, and when the time was right, He came forth into the world like every other baby: small, fragile, and helpless – the Almighty God.

            Jesus is a real human being, Who experienced all the realities of human life – have we ever thought about what that means, other than to say the Jesus did not sin?

            Can we imagine the Baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, feeling His stomach rumble, desiring to be fed? Can we even begin to imagine the experience of God as He fed from His mother, Mary? And, sometime later, no doubt, as He lay in her arms – or, as He lay in the manger – as He soiled Himself and could do nothing about it – the Almighty God

            Think of young Jesus, blushing as a girl paid attention to Him. Think of Jesus, apprenticing in His father's workshop – and the first time that He missed and hit His Hand with a hammer. Think about the first time that Jesus had a fever, or an intestinal virus, or an outbreak of acne – the Almighty God.

            Think about the friends that He made and the friends that He lost – even as a young person – not merely as the Rabbi Jesus. Jesus understands human friendship, loss, and betrayal – as every young person learns about them – the Almighty God.

            Jesus experienced everything humans experience – except for sin. “Everything” means that He experienced every type of thing. He experienced being a baby. He experienced the pain and mystery of growing up and His body changing. He experienced education. He experienced work. He experienced all kinds of things that you and I experience – except for sin. This is the Almighty God who put aside His Glory and for a little while became a servant that in the end He would save a people for Himself and He would be glorified. He voluntarily made it as difficult as possible to see His Glory – He concealed His Glory under the weakness of His flesh that He might be completely abased and brought low, so there would be nothing attractive about Him – so those who came to Him would only come for the sake of the Word of His Gospel.

            “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”

            Scripture tells us that Jesus understood from childhood that God was His Father – and it was God's Work that He must be about – and so we see this pattern of Jesus going to pray to the Father – seeking the Father's Will – using the means that God has given humans to align our wills with His – in conformity with His Will.

            We see this most strikingly and most passionately in the last week of Jesus's life and especially in the Garden after the Last Supper:

            Matthew tells us:  “Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here, while I go over there and pray.’ And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.’ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’ And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.’ And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again” (Matthew 26:36-44, ESV).

            Luke adds some additional details: “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, ‘Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation’” (Luke 22:39-46, ESV).

            “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”

            The betrayer had run into the night. Jesus had celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples. Jesus knew what awaited Him – He had told his disciples over and over during the past week that the Son of Man must die – the Savior had to die – Jesus had to die. So Jesus did what was natural and right for Him and went to pray to His Father, because He knew His Father could save Him from death. He knew His Father could save Him from being put to death – and He knew that if He was put to death, His Father could save Him and raise Him from the dead.

            And Jesus prayed to His Father – not wanting to endure hell on the cross – yet willing to be obedient to His Father:  “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  Three times He went to His Father in prayer that night, and with loud cries and tears, He asked His Father if there was any other way.

            Jesus prayed “with loud cries and tears” – Jesus did not merely pray these words to the Father, but He prayed them in anguish, not wanting to suffer this death in the flesh. The psalmist writes, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?” (Psalm 22:1, ESV).  These words we remember Jesus quoting on the cross – and we need to understand that the word, “groaning,” can also be translated as, “roaring” – “why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my roaring?” Jesus did not merely speak these words, but He roared them out in pain – in anguish – if there was any other way, He wanted to escape this death. He prayed with such intensity and such stress that even the ministrations of the angel did not stop Him from bleeding through His skin in terror of what was waiting for Him. Yet, He joyfully submitted to the Will of His Father – as the author of Hebrews writes later in his letter, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV).

            Jesus didn't want to suffer – His Joy was not found in suffering, but in following the Will of His Father. Jesus endured such suffering and terror – even being forsaken by God – that He roared out in prayer to God and He bled from emotional distress – and His prayer was heard by His Father, but His Father said, “no,” and Jesus endured an unimaginable hell, and His Father raised Him because He was obedient – as Peter preached, “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:29-31, ESV).

            Do we see that Jesus truly understands everything we could ever experience – everything we could ever endure? Is there anything you can think of that you could say to Him, “you just don't understand how it is”?

As High Priest, Jesus experienced every type of thing that we experience. He offered up prayers and aligned His Mind with the Father’s, receiving and accepting His Will. He suffered throughout His life, like every human suffers – and especially the last week of His Life – in roaring and in pain and in suffering and even in being forsaken by God Himself – He continued to turn to God and trust Him.

And so we have every reason to trust Him – we have every reason to go to Him and receive such grace and mercy is awaiting all those who believe – at His throne – we have every reason to be thanking Him again and again no matter what our circumstances – because we have far more than we could ever deserve. Why are we such a thankless people?

In our pain, in our suffering, in our temptation, after having sinned, is it not right that we turn to the Father and cry out and pray and struggle and roar, but trust that our Father is a good and loving God who has grace and mercy for all of His sons and daughters – even when He knows it is best for us to endure what we would prefer to escape?

Paul had some sort of affliction, some sort of temptation, some sort of problem – we don't know exactly what – but he begged and pleaded that God would take it away from him, and God heard him, but said, “no” –  “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV).

Then, the author of Hebrews writes, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”  What does this mean? If Jesus is the Son of God, then how did He learn obedience?

Again, we have to remember that Jesus is One Person with two natures – He is God and He is human. Jesus, in His humanity, learned to be obedient in all things – just as any human being learns to be obedient. It was necessary that Jesus learn the Law of God and be obedient to all of it, or we could not be saved.

Paul wrote, “And being found in human form, [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8, ESV).  The Almighty God incarnate humbled Himself by learning obedience as a human learns – and Jesus was obedient even to the point of going to the cross to die because His Father said it was the right and only way to save His people.

God loves His Son, Jesus, and He sent Him to die on the cross. Can we not believe that the lives that we are living are the lives that the God Who loves us has given us? Can we not look at the life and the obedience of Jesus through suffering and consider our own lives and recognize that what we endure is not a reason to doubt that God loves us, but suffering is a reason to press on in faith to obedience?

 “And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”

As we hear the last portion of our text read again, we first find ourselves asking how Jesus could be made perfect. Wasn't Jesus perfect throughout His Life? How was He made perfect? And we need to understand that the use of the word “perfect” here is not indicating that Jesus was not perfect and then He became perfect, but that Jesus' Work was perfected – that is that Jesus completed His work. The author of Hebrews is not telling us that Jesus was imperfect and then He became perfect, but that He came to earth with work to do and He completed His Work.

Because Jesus did complete His Work, “he became the source of eternal salvation to all who will obey him.”  Notice, Jesus is the Source of “eternal salvation.”  I had a professor at Drew who said, “I gain and lose my salvation all the time” – what nonsense! God came to earth in the Person of Jesus, lived perfectly under God's Law, died for the sins of everyone who would ever believe, physically rose from the dead, and ascended back to His throne. Jesus completed His Work – He cannot fail – if Jesus has saved you, you are saved eternally, and there is nothing you can do to change that – because Jesus is not a mere man; He is God.

And, we might wonder why the text says that salvation is given to those who “obey” Him – aren't we told that salvation is by faith alone? “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me’” (John 14:23-24, ESV).

What does Jesus say? If you love Him, you will obey Him – which is obeying the Father. Yes, we are saved by faith alone, but it is not a faith that is alone. What does that mean? It means if we don't bear fruit, if we don't live differently, if we don't strive to obey God and love God's Commands and all of His Word, then we probably don't really believe – we probably aren't Christians.

            And then we note again that Jesus “was designated by God high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”  Let us remember what we saw last week: the Only Begotten Son of God is eternally a high priest of the order of Melchizedek – it is in Jesus' Divinity that He is eternally a high priest of the order of Melchizedek. Lord willing, will consider more of what that means in the future.

            Let us conclude for today by remembering these things:

            As High Priest, while Jesus was on earth before the Resurrection, He lived a real human life experiencing every type of human experience, and He trusted and submitted to His Father's Will, because He knew that the Father would hear Him, and the Father could deliver Him from death – before, or even after, He died. So we know we can trust Jesus and the Father because God sympathizes with us and understands us and all that we experience – except sin. And, likewise, the Father has promised to raise us from the dead whether we are delivered in this life or at last in the Restoration.

            As High Priest, Jesus learned obedience – like any other human – by submitting to the Father, no matter what the Father's Will was. Let us follow this example in hope and trust, submitting to the Father, no matter what His Will for us is. Let us show our love of Jesus and the Father through obedience.

            As High Priest, Jesus has totally, completely, eternally saved His people. Let us rest assured in His Completed Work that we are saved and not doubt that He is able and has saved all those who believe in Him Alone for salvation.

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God and Father, we thank You that we have a high priest in Jesus, Who as High Priest has lived as we live – Who has suffered as we suffer – and more than we can imagine, Who has shown us what it is to live a life of trust and obedience, and Who has secured for us eternal salvation. Help us to be Your people and to make Your Gospel known throughout the world. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

Puritan Wisdom

 “Awake, therefore, all of you in whose hearts is anything of the ways of God! Your enemy is not only upon you, as on Sampson of old, but he is in you also. He is at work, but always of force and craft, as we shall see. Would you not dishonour God and his Gospel; would you not scandalize the saints and ways of God; would you not wound your consciences and endanger your souls; would you not grieve the good and Holy Spirit of God, the author of all your comforts; would you keep your garments undefiled, and escape the woeful temptations and pollutions of the days wherein we live; would you be preserved from the number of apostates in  these latter days; – awake to the consideration of this accursed enemy, which is the spring of all these, and innumerable other evils, as also of the ruin of all the souls the parish in this world!” – John Owen, The Nature and Power…of…Indwelling Sin…, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 162.

Prayer Meeting

D.V., we will meet today for prayer at the church at 3 PM.  Please join us!

Puritan Wisdom

On Hebrews 2:11-13 – “He sanctifieth them, and then dedicates them unto God, so that they shall never more need any initiation into his favour and service” – John Owen, Epistle to the Hebrews, volume 3, 413.

Puritan Wisdom

 “He that, having a do acquaintance with the gospel in its excellencies, as to him. A word of mercy, holiness, liberty, and consolation, values it, in all its concernments, as his choicest and only treasure, – makes it his business and the work of his life to give himself up onto it in universal obedience, then especially when opposition and apostasy but the patients of Christ to the utmost, – he shall be preserved from the hour of temptation.” – John Owen, Of Temptation, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 141.

Puritan Wisdom

 “There is nothing more unworthy of the gospel then a mind in bondage to persons or things, prostituting itself to the lusts of men or affrightments of the world.” – John Owen, Of Temptation, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 140.

Puritan Wisdom

“ Wouldst thou think that Peter, who had walked on the sea with Christ, confessed him to be the son of God, then with him in the mount, when he heard the voice from the excellent glory, should, at the word of a servant-girl, when there was no legal inquisition after him, no process against him nor anyone in his condition, instantly fall a-cursing and swearing that he knew him not?” – John Owen, Of Temptation, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 131.

The Holy Spirit

Join us as we continue our look at the Person of the Holy Spirit this evening at 7 PM!

Puritan Wisdom

“ If we do not abide in prayer, we shall abide in cursed temptations.” – John Owen, Of Temptation, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 126.

"Called to Be a High Priest": Sermon: Hebrews 5:1-6

“Called to Be a High Priest”

[Hebrews 5:1-6]

July 22, 2012 Second Reformed Church

            When we last looked at the book of Hebrews, we saw that Jesus is our High Priest.  Jesus is not merely the Sacrifice for our sin – He is not merely the Substitute that stands in our place before God for judgment, but He is our High Priest – He is the fulfillment of the office of the High Priest.  And the Hebrew Christians would have responded – wait a minute, how can that be?  How could Jesus – Who was neither of the line of Aaron nor the line of Levi, be a priest?  And when was He ever called to be a priest?

            We remember that Jesus in the Incarnation of the One God – He is God taking on the real human person of Jesus – so, Jesus is 100% God and 100% human at the same time in One Person.  We saw that since He is a human, He could choose to take our place before God in the Judgment – only a human can take the place of a human.  We also said that Jesus lived under God’s Law and though He had the ability to choose to sin, He never did, so He was able to be the Perfect and Final Sacrifice – He was punished for our sin, but He never did anything wrong; He never sinned.  And since He is also God, He survived the punishment for sin by rising from the dead and ascending back to His Throne.

            Since this Jesus now stands between us and God – as our Substitute and Mediator – God now understands what it is to live as a human and to be tempted as a human, and He invites us – as One Who sympathizes with our weaknesses -- to come to Him boldly for the Grace to be able to live the life He calls us to and to be the people He has called us to be.  We have confidence and assurance, because God understands what it is to be a human, and through Jesus, He gives all those who believe in Him Alone for salvation, the ability to live for Him and forgiveness when we come to Him to confess our sin.  In Jesus, we have received forgiveness for every sin we ever commit, because our sin was imputed – credited – to Jesus, and He paid the debt for it, and we received credit for a perfect keeping of the Law, by Jesus imputing – crediting – His perfect keeping of the Law to us.

            Jesus is also our High Priest because He freely chose to offer up Himself on our behalf – for our salvation.  Jesus was not forced or coerced to offer Himself up for our sins, but feely chose to give Himself as the Sacrifice for all those who would ever believe.  And we saw that His Sacrifice of Himself was effective, because the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple was torn open in the moment of Jesus’ death – exposing the Very Presence of God, so we now can come before God, through Jesus, and live.

            Jesus now invites us to come to Him for help – to throw off the heavy chains of slavery to sin – Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV).

            But how did Jesus become High Priest?  What was involved in becoming the High Priest?

  “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”

            The first requirement of a high priest was that he be chosen from among male human beings.  The high priest had to be able to identify with those for whom he was interceding before God – the high priest had to be able to sympathize with the temptations and weaknesses of the human person.  It was not possible for an angel to be high priest, because angels do not understand what it is to be human.  It was not possible for God – as a Spirit – to be high priest, because God, outside of the Incarnation, does not know what it is to be a human and He cannot sympathize with we who are humans.  It is not possible for any creature in heaven or on earth or under the earth to be a high priest for humans except another human.  No matter how human your pet may seem to you, only humans know what it is to be a human, so the high priest had to be a human.

            Second, we see that the high priest is a human being who is chosen and appointed.  Being high priest is not something that someone just chooses to be one day.  The high priest has to be chosen from among a group of human beings, and he has to be appointed – anointed – for the office.

            Third, the high priest is someone who is willing and able to serve as the mediator between God and believing humans – he comes before God and offers up sacrifices on behalf of the people in addition to their repentance, so that they would be made right with God again.

            And fourth, “He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.”  The high priest is someone who can sympathize with humans in their weakness and proneness to sin.  The high priest has to be able to participate with and understand the sacrifice for the sin of the people.

            But, the text says the high priest “is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people,” and Jesus never sinned.  How can Jesus fulfill offering up a sacrifice for His own sin?

            The answer is He didn’t have to offer up a sacrifice for His own sin.  Although every other high priest had to offer up a sacrifice for his sin, Jesus did not, because He never sinned.  The confusion is in thinking that being a sinner is part of what it means to be human – it is not.  Adam and Eve existed without sin – for a time – and they were human; Jesus never sinned, and He is human.  So, offering up a sacrifice for sin was necessary for high priests who sinned, but it was not necessary for the High Priest, Jesus, Who never sinned.

Then the author of Hebrews gives the example:  “And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.”

            God told Moses:  “Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood. These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests. They shall receive gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen” (Exodus 28:1-5, ESV).

            Aaron – with his sons – was chosen from among the people to serve as the first high priest.  Aaron was a real human being who knew his people and could sympathize with them and stand before God on their behalf to minister for them to God.  God set him apart – and all of his sons from then on – to be high priest.

            So we see that Aaron and his line was chosen to be high priest from among the people – and they were willing to serve as the people’s representatives before God – as those who would come into the presence of God and make atonement – offer up sacrifices that they would be right with God again.

            We may remember there was a second line of priests – the Levites:

             “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.

            “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the LORD’” (Numbers 3:5-13, ESV).

            So, there were two lines of the priesthood:  Aaron and his sons, and the tribe of Levi.

            And so, we find the author of Hebrews answering how Jesus could be a high priest:  If Jesus is God, how could He be High Priest?  Where do we see Jesus being chosen to be High Priest?  When did Jesus accept His role as High Priest?  And if Jesus is sinless, how could He be High Priest?

            The author of Hebrews answers all of these questions with two quotes from the Psalms:

            “So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’”

            He has already argued that Jesus is a real human being and has to be in order to take the place of real human beings in God’s Judgment.  He has already also argued that even though Jesus is God, He is also 100% human.  Jesus was born without original sin, but He did have the ability to choose to sin.  But He did not choose to sin, because the Holy Spirit indwelt Him, and He was committed to accomplishing the work that His Father sent Him to do.  “So Jesus said to them, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me’” (John 8:28, ESV).

            Last week, we saw that Jesus accepted the role of High Priest as He prepared to offer up Himself as the Perfect and Final Sacrifice:  “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:14-18, ESV).

            We also have in these words the implication that Jesus was called not just to be our Sacrificial Substitute, but our High Priest, in the fact that he both lays down and takes up the Sacrifice of Himself. 

            Hear again the concluding passage: “So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’”

            The author of Hebrews tells us that Christ – and it is significant that he calls Jesus by His title, “Christ,” here, because “Christ” means “anointed” – Jesus the Christ did not make Himself or choose to be High Priest, but was appointed to the position and office of High Priest – He was anointed to be High Priest – by God the Father.

            But what line is Jesus of – Aaron or Levi?  The answer is neither – Jesus was not a direct descendant of Aaron, nor was He of the tribe of Levi – He was of the tribe of Judah.

            The author of Hebrews argues for the legitimacy of Jesus’ High Priesthood by saying that Jesus is the (only) begotten Son of God, and an eternal priest of the order of Melchizedek.

            Lord willing, we will look at the order of Melchizedek – a third priestly line – in the future.  But let us notice, that the way the author of Hebrews has presented Jesus’ participation in the priestly line of Melchizedek, is not through His humanity, since Jesus was born in His humanity, but through His Divinity – Jesus is of the order of Melchizedek as an eternal priest begotten of God.

            So, is Jesus a legitimate His Priest?  Does He hold the title of High Priest and fulfill it as part of His Ministry?

            Yes:

            First, although Jesus is God Incarnate, He is also a real human being.

            Second, although Jesus is God, He is completely human, and He had the ability to choose to sin, though He did not.

            Third, Jesus received His charge – His call – to be High Priest and Sacrifice from His Father.

            Fourth, although Jesus did not sin, He was a real human being – like Adam and Eve were created.  Sinning is not part of what it means to be human, but what it means that we are fallen – in need of a Savior – of a way to be made right with God.

Fifth, Jesus is of the eternal and divine priestly line of Melchizedek.

Understanding that Jesus is legitimately our High Priest, we ought to continue to hold fast to the confession of the Gospel – knowing that God sent His Son, Who willingly chose to come – to Incarnate as Jesus, the God-Man.  He lived a sinless life under the Law of God and gave Himself up to be the propitiation – the sacrifice – that would make us right with God.  And He did not merely leave it up to anyone to offer up His Sacrifice, but as the Perfect High Priest, called by His Father, from before Creation to be High Priest, He offered up Himself, as the Only Way a human can be right with God.

We broke the covenant that God made with us, and God, in His Mercy and for His Glory, came to earth, lived as one of us, and offered up Himself as the Only Sacrifice that could make us right with Him.  Salvation is all God’s Work – you and I do nothing – isn’t this good news?

God took everything upon Himself so we wouldn’t – and we can’t – ruin this Glorious Gift:  “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time”  (1 Timothy 2:5-6, ESV).

Let us pray:

Almighty God, as we explore Your Work of Salvation, we put our hands over our mouths.  How can we respond, but to thank You for saving a people who don’t deserve saving?  What can we do, but hold fast to our confession and let others know that Gospel of our High Priest and His Sacrifice for all those who will believe – Jesus?  Give us grace to live lives of bold humility that everyone would know Your Gospel.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Puritan Wisdom

On Hebrews 2:10 – “And if it be just with God in respect of his essential justice to punish sin, it would be unjust not to do it; for to condemn the innocent and to acquit the guilty are equally unjust.” – John Owen, Epistle to the Hebrews, volume 3, 406.

Prayer Meeting

Prayer meeting resumes today at the church at 3 PM.  Join us!

Puritan Wisdom

“Let no man, then, pretend to fear sin that doth not fear temptation to it. They are too nearly allied to be separated. Satan hath put them so together that it is very hard for any man to put them asunder. He hates not the fruit who delights in the root” – John Owen, Of Temptation, in The Works of John Owen, Volume 6:  Temptation and Sin, 123.

Reformed Wisdom

"When the Lord returns, will He find a thought in the church?"  -- The White Horse Inn, July 3, 2011.

Puritan Wisdom

On Hebrews 2:10 – “Sin hath a double design in its enmity against us; – first, to reign in us; secondly, to condemn us. If it be disappointed in these designs it is absolutely conquered; and that it is by the grace of Christ.” – John Owen, Epistle to the Hebrews, volume 3, 393.

"The Holy Spirit"

D.V., we will continue our study of the Holy Spirit this evening at 7 PM.  Please join us.