This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. It
is Thursday, March the 12th. Before we get into
the episode, I do want to share a little behind
the scenes of what's gone on. As you notice,
if you're listening to the podcast, we don't
have advertisements anymore. We stepped away
from the ad agency that we were using because
they didn't align necessarily with everything
we were hoping to get across here on the podcast.
But there are still expenses. If you would ever
feel led to support what's going on, the work
behind the podcast, we encourage you. I would
encourage you. You can give. There's a link in
the description, the top of the episode description
that you're listening to right now. There's a
link there. You can donate. Any amount is whatever
can help offset some cost. If not, again, the
Lord's work is still going to go on. We're going
to make it work however we can make it work.
But today, let's jump right in to see what the
Lord is going to have us do. We are in Hebrews
chapter number 5 today. This is the great high
priest. I love Hebrews. It's such a good book
in the Bible. It references so much of the Old
Testament. If you know anything about the Old
Testament and Jewish history and what's gone
on with the Hebrew nation, you're going to see
incredible things out of the book of Hebrews.
And so in chapter 5, it talks about specifically
Jesus being the best high priest. I did a sermon
series through the book of Hebrews at one point
last year, I believe, and we titled the series
Better, because everything that we see about
Jesus is just better. He's a better high priest.
sacrificed. He's a better everything. And this
is the chapter specifically where it talks about
him being a high priest. And I want to share
just a couple of verses out of this. It's a short
chapter today, a little bit lighter reading than
maybe yesterday when we were in Exodus chapter
12. I want to read a couple of verses of scripture
to you today and share just a little bit. The
first 10 verses are about him being the high
priest, giving an explanation. I want to read
verses 7 through 10, and then we'll talk about
it for just a second. The Bible says this, 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. Although
he was a son, he learned obedience through what
he suffered, and being made perfect, he became
the source of eternal salvation to all who obey
him. This is a really convicting scripture. First,
it gives us the understanding that Jesus suffered.
He suffered. He was obedient to the point of
death. He was obedient, but he suffered. What
does that mean? We look at it, we think Jesus
was God, though. This gives us an understanding
that he cried, he had tears, he had brokenness.
He entered into the human suffering. Why? Because
he had to be the better human sacrifice. That's
why. He had to be the sacrifice for all of us.
So he had to enter into our flesh, into our brokenness,
into our weakness, and he had to suffer. That's
what he had to do. So the scripture shows us
he suffered. And then because of his suffering,
he was obedient to the Lord. He even told God,
the Father, he said, if this cup can pass from
me, I would like for that to happen. Why? I don't
want to drink this in. I don't want to take your
wrath on. I don't want to do this. But I'm going
to be obedient. And then what does it say? He
enters into human suffering so that he can be
the faithful human that takes on the wrath of
God. But then he says in verse number nine, there's
a little moment in there that makes me a little
bit nervous, right? The moment is after being
made perfect, he became the source of eternal
salvation to all who what? To all who obey him.
Now, that is not a works -based salvation. You
don't have to do things in order to be saved.
This is a salvation that produces obedience.
Salvation, it doesn't just pardon the rebels.
Salvation, the gift of salvation, it transforms
the rebels into followers, faithful followers
that are obedient to the Lord. Whatever Jesus
is telling you to do, do it. If you understood
how deep his suffering and how deep his obedience
and how deep his reverence, then we would obey,
right? We would obey. Why? Because he did all
that out of love for us. It's incredible. So
to all who obey get this eternal gift and reward
of salvation. He says in the last couple of verses,
I want to read just another verse to you down
in verse number... 11, and probably a little
bit more. Listen to what it says in verse 11.
Now, that word dull of hearing doesn't mean they're
not good audio learners. That's not what it means.
Rather, it's a place, it's a position of their
heart. It's the moral condition of the way the
believers were responding to the way circumstances
in life were treating them. It says you're not
even listening anymore. You're not allowing it
to soak. into your life and it changed you. And
here's what he says. He goes on then next and
he says, by this time you ought to be teachers
and you need somebody to teach you again. He
says, you should be teachers by now and you're
acting like children. He goes on and says, you've
got to survive on milk and not meat. You've got
to survive on, somebody's got to spoon feed you
all the time. He says, there's a problem here.
The writer of Hebrews is kind of ruthless in
this moment. He says, by now, with the amount
of information you have, you should be teaching
others. But here's the problem. It's not a lack
of information. They've got the information.
It's not a lack of information. It's a lack of
responsiveness. It's a lack of them saying, I'm
going to respond to the information that I have.
What is a high priest? What is a priest? A priest,
they deal, guess what priests deal with? Their
number one priority, to deal with sin. That's
what a priest's job is. Who better to deal with
sin than Jesus? He has dealt with our sin. That's
what it means when it talks about the high priest.
Yes, he's the connector to God. Yes, he's the
one we go to. He's the one we pray through. His
power and his connection to God is how we are
connected to God. But here's what, priests deal
with sin. Jesus has dealt with sin, ultimately.
He's the ultimate person to deal with sin. Now
we have this information. He's dealt with this
and he's now in this position where we go through
him to get to God. And now what are we doing
about it? How are we responding to that? That's
what the writer of Hebrews is saying. You guys
haven't responded at all. I'm having to spoon
feed you all the time. You're not growing in
your faith. And where does the growth lead? To
maturity, right? He says you are not mature believers.
So what does the maturation process look like?
What does maturity mean? How do you grow in maturity?
Well, it's pretty simple. Maturity comes by practice.
It's obedience that is repeated over and over
and over again, and then discernment begins to
get sharpened. You're able to discern right and
wrong. You're able to then rightly divide the
word and able to understand, is this the spirit
talking? Is this the spirit leading me or is
this the enemy leading me? Maturity is just repetition.
Maturity is growth and saying, I'm going to be
obedient. Now and again and again and again and
again until my discernment is so sharp that I
know exactly where I need to be going. I know
exactly the way the Lord wants me to respond.
If you say today, I'm just not a mature believer.
Well, I'll tell you this. Just obey today. Right
now. I'm not asking you to be the wisest person
in the world. I'm not asking you to be the most
mature Christian in the church. I'm just saying
just obey today. Why? Because one step of obedience
leads you closer to maturity. You obey today,
you obey tomorrow. You obey right now, you obey
in 10 minutes. Whatever the Lord is telling you
to do, obey. Obedience repeated ends up with
discernment sharpened. That's how it works. If
you stay immature, you become really easy prey
for the enemy. I don't want anybody to be easy
prey for the enemy. So let's mature in our faith
together. Let's know that we have a high priest
that has dealt with our sin. And then let's grow.
Let's grow. How do we grow? By being obedient
today. Be obedient today. Whatever the Lord is
telling you to do. Maybe you need to send a message
to a friend or a loved one. Or maybe you need
to get in the Word a little bit longer. Maybe
you need to pray a little bit longer. Maybe you
need to give a little bit more. Whatever it is
that the Lord is telling you to do, obey Him
today. Why? Because obedience that gets repeated
will sharpen your discernment so that you know
where it is the Lord's leading you. How great
would it be? I don't know if you've ever been
around people that just seem to have the inside
track with God. In the moment, they're like,
oh, this is what the Lord wants me to do. You're
like, how did you get there? Through repeated
steps of obedience. That's how. Today, I encourage
you, obey right now whatever the Lord is wanting
you to do.