TEXT: Hebrews 5:7-10
READING:Psalm 69:1-21
SUBJ: The agony of Christ in His High Priestly work as He faced the horrible things that were due us.
AIM: That we might be moved with a greater devotion toward Him who so agonized in our place.
INTR: This passage is considered by many to be very difficult, but it is important because of the strong terms used here relative to our Lord’s suffering.
1. We note first the unique position of Christ as both priest and offering.
2. The fact of His prayers and the strong crying and tears that attended them will teach us not to minimize the awfulness of our sin. (There is some disagreement as to where and when this happened).
3. Jesus did not recoil from the thought of death, rather He cried out at the prospect of that which would culminate in His death.
THESIS: If we see here the actions of Christ in fear and obedience, we cannot help but be affected in striving for the same things in our lives. We cannot be indifferent or academic with respect to His suffering.
I. His fear and obedience as a man (v. 7)
1. First we note the implication of the “day of His flesh” as depicting the fact of His human suffering.
1) Offered up prayers – that is requests for others
2) Supplications – implied reference to the practice of presenting olive branches wrapped in wool as one approached seeking peace
3) With strong crying and tears (possibly in Gethsemane or at the cross or even at some special time we do not know of or the character of all His prayers) – the fervency of the prayer will be based on the awfulness of that from which we seek deliverance. – He was there for His people!
2. Unto Him that was able to save Him from (out of) death
1) Not a delivery from dying, but from death (Pink) – to be sustained under it
2) His was not a crying without meaning – it was to the Lord God: Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
3. Was heard in that He feared (had reverential submission to the will of God)
1) He was sustained so that He could suffer the full penalty
2) Was delivered from death after dying Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
II. He fear and obedience as a (the) Son (v. 8)
1. Though He were a (the) Son – He was not exempted from this
2. Consider: Psalms 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
3. Then compare: Philippians 2:6-8 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
4. The willingness to obey is seen throughout, but especially do we see submission in Gethsemane.
5. The obedience that He “learned” was on the cross –
1) this was not how to obey but
2) It was rather the experience of obeying.
6. Compare: 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
III. His fear and obedience as a Savior (vv. 9-10)
1. Being made perfect was not an addition to His virtue!
2. Rather it was He who was the perfection or completion of God’s plan
1) See Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
2) And remember “It is finished” – The word is: complete, execute, conclude, discharge, accomplish, make an end, expire, fill up, go over, pay, and perform. There is the suggestion that this word or one similar was used as an accounting term in that the account was settled and the books closed on the issue.
3. Being made perfect:
1) He became the author (causer) of salvation to them that obey after the same pattern
2) Eternally – after the order of Melchizedek – without beginning or end.
