He Learned Obedience

10-20-24

Hoonah-Hadley

Hebrews 5:1-10

Call to Worship Psalm 104:1-9, 24,35

Daily Verse’s Hebrews 5:7-9

“During the days of Jesus life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One Who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.” We want to keep in mind this morning that this is God’s word, and it is profitable for correction, teaching and training in righteousness and as our lesson teaches us today, offers up eternal salvation for those who obey it. It is living and active. It has us at the center of its purpose. God’s word is for us, it is His plan for us and it is a good plan, our Father knows best. Jesus Christ is first and foremost our Savior, but He is so much more. He is our teacher, Matt. 23:10. He is our friend, John 15:15. He is our Captain, Hebrews 2:10. The list is a long one, but know this, He has paved the way, made straight our path to eternal salvation, and, at the end of our days we will look back and see that following Christ was the single most important decision we ever made. We are to walk as He walked, 1 John 2:6. We are to follow Him, Ephesians 5:1. He is our example, 1 Peter 2:21. We are to have a mind like His, Philippians 2:5.  We are to forgive as He forgave us, Colossians 3:13. We are to be partakers of His suffering, 1 Peter 4:13. In its simplicity, we are to take up our crosses and follow Him, we are to be Christlike. When Christ offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him, so it is for us, and this not a one time offering, but at all times, in all things. He was heard because of His reverent submission or godly fear, and so it is that our prayers will be heard.

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Reverence is profound awe and respect. To submit is to surrender. Christ was in awe of His Father. He was in complete submission to Him. Over and over again scriptures tell us to “fear not”. The elderly pianist in the church once said, “Fear God and you will fear nothing else. Matthew 10:28, fear God, not men. Leviticus 19:14, revere your God. Ecclesiastes 12:13, fear and obey God. We will not enter the rest He promises us, find the peace that He grants, or live in light of His glory, until we are dumbfounded by who He is, the massive price He paid on our behalf, and then fall on our knees in complete submission to His will. Reverence and submission, godly fear is at the heart of honoring Him with our lives and a critical piece of the puzzle of being raised in glory. To say that Jesus had a purpose may be the greatest understatement ever. Words cannot touch the monumental call upon His life. Intellect will never gather it in. King David once said, “is there not a cause?” Christ himself said, “For this purpose I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” It is this very truth that sets us free, nothing more, nothing less, outside  its bounds there is weeping and gnashing of the teeth, a hopeless, Christ lessness. Jesus Christ was “heard” because of His reverent submission, His godly fear. You want God to hear you, get on your knees in awesome wonder. Vs. 8 continues, “yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” This portion of vs. 8 may leave us a bit perplexed. The lamb without blemish? The one tempted but without sin? The Son of God “learned obedience”? He learned obedience by what He suffered. Suffering test our obedience. There is untested obedience and tested obedience. Heb. 2:10 “it was fitting for Him…to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”  Imperfect completeness and perfect completeness.

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We might consider being baptized to be untested obedience. The test comes later. There is baptism by the Holy Spirit, and, then baptism by fire. It’s the fire that test our spirit. We could say the Holy Spirit is grace and fire is the truth, it’s a two for one deal. The Holy Spirit brings joy and peace, fire burns off impurities, peace and pain, untested and tested obedience. Suffering perfected Christ, and so it is with us. Oswald said, if God saw fit for His Son to suffer, then why shouldn’t we? James 1:3 “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” There is a test, actually there was, is and will be. Some of us are probably wondering when the testing will be over and patience will arrive. “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials…” Joy? It doesn’t feel like joy. I guess that’s where the fire comes in. Jesus is going about His Father’s work, and we are often enough the subject of that work and as the precious metals are put through the fire to burn off the impurities, so it is with us. Fire is many things. Isaiah 66:16 “For by fire and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” Isaiah 1:25 “I will turn My hand against you and will burn away your dross completely; I will remove all your impurities.” Yes, fire will be present on judgment day, but it also prepares us for graduation day. The Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. Imperfect and perfect, untested and tested. Christ had to undergo the process of being “made perfect”, and so it is with us. Perfection comes at the end, and not a moment sooner. If Christ was willing to go through the process that made Him fit for the office of Savior, we can trust that He will exercise His duties in His Father’s business. We could liken this to education. We educate ourselves in the field of our calling, and if our marks are sufficient for the interview, we may begin to apply that to a career in our field, our office.

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Vs. 9 “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” It may be implied that Christ’s prayers and tears is a reference to Luke 22:41-45, His prayer and betrayal in the garden at Gethsemane. This of course was followed by His arrest and crucifixion. His prayer in Hebrews 5:7 was heard, not in that He was saved from Calvary’s suffering and shame, but in that His work was “finished”. His sacrificial death and resurrection made Him perfect and qualified Him to be the author of eternal salvation. The final examine for Christ was to endure the suffering and shame of the cross, which He did, and having passed that exam, His prayer was answered with an empty tomb, His victory over death, His resurrection.  Having gone through the fire He was now qualified to be our Savior, “He became the author of eternal salvation.” We will never understand the daunting, uncomprehensible task of taking on the sin of the world but we can stand in the victory circle with Christ if we stand within the institution in which He stood, and that being “willingness”. Luke 22:42 “…nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”  Christ was willing to undergo the process which made Him fit for the office of Savior. We can therefore conclude that not only is He willing and able to exercise those qualifications, but in fact He has, is, and will. The conclusion of vs. 9 is critical to our lesson, “…to all who obey Him.” Christ “learned obedience by the things which He suffered”, and so it is with us, less our suffering be in vain. It is not enough that we might run the race, but that we might finish it. Obedience was necessary for Christ, it is nonetheless a main ingredient in our crossing the finish line. Christ left the throne for the cross. He came from the light to visit those sitting in darkness. Obedience doesn’t come naturally, Christ had to learn it that He might be qualified to save us.

Our eternal salvation rests upon it.

Amen!