Tim Forand

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Sunday Morning Service

Jeremy Richards

Copalis Community Church

04 October 2026

Bible References

• Hebrews 5:8-11

Audio MP3 PDF

Thank you, Homer. That's beautiful. We're going to go to Hebrews, Hebrews, and we have been looking at a section which describes the necessity of a high priest fulfilling certain things. Without the ability to fulfill these qualifications, a person cannot be regarded as high priest. So we looked at those, and then we started working backwards last week, seeing how Jesus Christ fulfills those qualifications.

Thank you, Micah. So we're in Hebrews, Hebrews 5, Hebrews 5. And we're going to be in verse 8, 11. As I even say, Jesus the high priest, gives me just a lot of things to think about and encouragement. It describes his position in my life, of which I am extraordinarily appreciative, that I need a high priest.

Those sacrifices which I may at one time try to offer of my own resources seem very tawdry, very cheap, very dirty at this point.

People have, it's been funny a couple weeks ago, meeting two people that were contractors who were young men with families when I was in high school. And so they knew who I was, at least from basketball in high school. And they've carried an opinion of me for all these years. And so when I met them, they told me or my children who they remember me to be. And, you know, I'm just like, you know, that's not who I was or am.

I am not a good person. I used to think of myself in a certain way, display myself in a certain way. It was not true. I need a high priest. And so, as we view Jesus Christ, it is extraordinarily important to recognize his potential position in our lives, because we need Him.

We need Him. So we're going to start in verse 8, chapter 5 of Hebrews, verse 8. Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him, called by God as high priest, according to the order of. Of Melchizedek, of whom we have much to say and hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing as we work backward through chapter five, verse one through four.

We saw last time that no man takes the honor to themself to be high priest, but they must be called. We see that Jesus was called according to the order of Melchizedek. He was required to make a sacrifice for sins. And now we're going to look at chapter five, verse two. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness because he went through the same things we do.

He can have compassion on us. And we're going to look at chapter five, verse one. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin. So those are the two qualifications that we're going to attempt to look at today, starting with the second one. First, though he was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.

Jesus Christ was described and is the Son of God. He had a relationship with the Father. He dwelt with the Father. Christians believe from eternity they existed together with the Holy Spirit, from eternity in perfect harmony. They lacked nothing, needed nothing, wanted nothing.

They existed in perpetual bliss, not needing anything. This relationship the Son had with the Father, back in John we see some of that coming out in the prayer in the garden. I'm just going to turn there.

In chapter 17 we get to see, even though there's other places, there was a relationship that the Son had with the Father. I'm going to pick out a few verses. Starting in verse 17, verse 4 and 5, Jesus says in his prayer to the Father, I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

They had a relationship before the world was founded, of which Jesus was desirous to returning. He wanted to return to the fellowship that he had before his incarnation on earth. When he let go of willingly the tools, the nature of the Godhead, to pick up the nature of mankind, he wanted to get back to that relationship. We see similar things in the end of chapter 17. In verse 22 it says, and the glory which you gave me, I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one, the Father and the Son, in perfect harmony forever.

In verse 23 it says, I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfect in one. That the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. There is a tremendous love that the Father has toward the Son. He cherishes that relationship between them of inestimable value. Verse 24.

Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, and that they may behold my glory which you have given me. For you love me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you. And these have known that you sent me. And I have declared to them that your name I have declared to them your name and will declare it that the love which with you love me may be in them, and I in them.

Here we can see these are tender words that the father has in viewing the relationship of the father to the son. Here we see back in Hebrews chapter five it says, though he was a son, though he had this type of position and relationship with the father, though he possessed from all eternity the glory of time past in a loving relationship between his father. Though that absolutely was true, though it existed from time immemorial, he was a son. Yet even though his relationship was such, there was also truth that existed, though he was a son, yet he learned. Even being a son didn't keep him from learning a certain way.

Being a son didn't exempt him from certain things that you and I might encounter. Everyone knows when they're. When their dad is the coach of the basketball team, right?

Oftentimes the son is not treated in the same way, right? The son is giving preferential treatment. He is the son, right? And we see that oftentimes that sons are excluded. Even in the parable that Jesus said to Peter, who pays taxes, the sons or the subjects?

I can't remember how it is said. And Peter said, it's the subjects who pay taxes, not the sons. And he said, yes, that's true, but lest we offend them, go throughout your fishing line and catch a fish and give it to them for your and I's tax. The sons are often exempted from the duties and requirements of normal subject because they're sons and. But in this case, in the relationship that the father has with the son, the son is not exempt that he has to learn in the same way that you and I are called to learn.

Now, the reason why this is important is because you and I don't like to learn this way.

We reject it. We look for a way out. Can I get a note from my teacher that I don't have to go to class today? Can I get a doctor's excuse? Can I get someone to make some sort of excuse on my behalf so I can learn a different way?

I don't want to be put in the position like everyone else. I want an exemption. When we go to 2A days for football, I want a note saying, hey, you're the son. You don't have to do it. You got skills, you got abilities.

You don't have to put in the hard work. No, let them sweat and go through the hard times, but you take the easy road. Some of us think it's right for everyone to go through school of hard knocks and have to suffer difficulties in life. But us, we scream. I was saying, not me, Lord, I'm a son.

I don't want to experience the pain of everyday life. Here we're saying he was a son, yet he was not expected. He was not put in a position to learn a different way. The idea is here, if the son learned a similar way, then you and I have no right to think that we get the opportunity to skip lessons. If the father treated his own son, if he taught him a certain way and brought him to where he was going in a certain type of teaching, then I would say for you and I that we are engaged in the same mode of teaching.

How did he teach the son? You and I got a grandchild right now, and I'm trying to make friends with him, but it's not going real well with my own kids. I just muscled down. I said, no, it's this way in my house. But now I've got to.

And I'm like trying to be nice, but he's like screaming at me all the time and I'm not doing real well with it, honestly. And he wants to go from my hands to someone else's almost immediately, right?

I want to treat him a certain way, right? But the Father treats his son a certain way. He is unwilling to train him, to teach him in a different direction that you and I are taught in. It says in verse two, there's a reason for this back in chapter five, verse two, which we read already, he can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. It is necessary for him, even though he's a son, to be taught in this way.

Else he could not be a representative, a high priest for you and I if he is treated differently than normal subjects. It was necessary for Jesus to learn this way. It says, yet he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. Oftentimes we have a picture of this Jesus, right? And he was born with a halo on his head, right?

He didn't go in his diaper, he didn't cry, he never got sick. Everything was perfect. I don't think that's the biblical view of Jesus. I think that he experienced the very same things that you and I experienced. That life in that section, in that time of the world, in that era, was not easy for Jesus.

That it was difficult for people in general, but also difficult for him. And he had to learn a certain way. He had to engage with life with certain attributes that are the same ones that you and I had, that as he experienced life, that he gained something from it. If you remember when he was, I believe, was it 12 years old or something like that, they went to the temple and he was left there partly on his own accord. His parents must have had their hands full or whichever.

And they left Jesus at the temple. If anyone's ever done that before, you kind of know how it works, right? You drive off and you're like, where's the fourth child? They're not here. And so Jesus was left.

But then we get a statement. He grew up in stature, in favor, in the sight of God and man. We see that Mary is treasuring these things in her heart, that something special. It's a normal growing up period. He's a normal person.

He makes mistakes. I don't believe that all of his carpentry was perfect. That there's somehow something Jesus made and it was a chair. And you'd look at it and be like, wow, there's no mistake in it. No, I don't think so.

I think Jesus learned in a similar way. But in that process of learning, he began to understand his relationship to the Father, that he began to experience the Father in a certain way. He began to relate to him in a certain way. That relation to the Father came out of the suffering. Of that his experiences offered him that the suffering was necessary, was a schooling that could not be bypassed.

He couldn't skip first grade. He had to have that suffering in order to relate to the Father in a certain way. Without it, he could not. It says he learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Now he.

He, I believe, suffered the same things that you and I do. What you and I suffer, he also suffered. And from that suffering he learned obedience. What are the things he suffered? Of course, there are just the normal difficulties of life that are difficult.

They're hard. A man's hungry mouth drives him on. We experience difficulty in life. There are natural circumstances that are hard. There are relational issues that are difficult.

Experience, these things. Added to the top of that, he was called at the age of 30 to become a minister, a preacher. And he gave himself to that calling, even though it was extraordinarily taxing on him. All that is things that would cause and did cause suffering. But I believe what it's really talking about here, the suffering that he experienced more than anything else was the difference in the relationship that he had with his father compared to the one that was his daily experience that he had to live with the carnal flesh.

This is the flesh that you and I have the opportunity to experience at certain times that is hid beneath the religious activities and governments that we place on it. At times, that scalpel, that sharp knife of the Holy Spirit reveals an attribute in our heart that there is no excuse for. In moments that sharp should be sanctified and holy, we find our minds running to places that are not fit for dungeons and prisons. We find ourselves when we should be lifted up in elevation, drugged through miry clay. And we wonder, how can this even be possible?

The level of suffering that is in an individual's flesh in the most difficult times of experience can't be compared to the suffering in a man's soul when they should be holy and reckoned there's nothing but depravity there. Jesus had to learn obedience by the things that he suffered. And I think the thing that he suffered from the most is the recognition that that carnal body he possessed was of corrupted character and nature. That he learned that he had to experience what you and I did. Now, you and I, if you are like me, when I get a picture of that depravity, I try to excuse myself from it in as fast a way as possible.

I try to distance myself, cover it, bury it, something. This couldn't be true. It can't be in me. But he wouldn't do it. He learned obedience through the things he has suffered as a result.

I believe that he is qualified as high priest to take individuals like you and me who have a nature that cannot be excused, that is filthy to its core. And he can take us and enable us, even not just enable us, but for us to see that it is the recognition of a carnal heart that enables a person to learn obedience.

Without it, biblical obedience is not possible.

When our fig leaves are stripped away, oh, we scream and shout. Terrified, we run. We say, not possible that a person like me, who I've lifted up in my mind since childhood, could actually possess that. And we run. But here Jesus became a high priest.

He went through, experienced the same thing that through that obedience could come as a result. And now he becomes high priest. Set apart with the qualification of having endured the same things as you and I, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. The next one, in verse nine, it says, and having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. This individual who was walking the earth called the be high priest, experiencing the same things that individuals who would come to him experience.

He had to be perfected if he couldn't offer a sacrifice for himself and for others, then he had no business being high priest. But first he had to be perfected. First he had to display what quality or character of life he possessed. So for three years, and especially towards the end of his life, and most especially at the last day of his life, he was being qualified as high priest. For three years they put him in a pressure cooker to see what kind of individual is this person qualified to be high priest?

Can he be trusted in every imaginable kind of circumstance? And for three years he was faithful in his calling to be high priest to whoever, whatever kind of person, whatever difficulty they might possess, or he proved himself faithful on that last night of his life, was especially trying to understand whether or not he was perfected or qualified to be high priest. And so they took him in the middle of the night, torches, armed with clubs and sword, and they took him to the Sanhedrin. And there, against the law, they tested him all night long. These were not individuals who were particularly friendly to him, but they did their best as students of the law, as religious leaders of Israel, to use their astonishing knowledge of the law to find out something in him.

We need to find out if there is any sin, we're going to disqualify him. That they brought in false witnesses to testify against him. But even they could not agree. Finally they came. The morning was dawning.

In desperation, they said, I adjure you. Are you the Christ, the Son of God?

The silence was broken. When he could have kept silent and maybe been freed, he said, I am. I am. And they said, what further need of testimony do we need? What do you say?

And they answered with one voice, he is worthy of death. They said, aha. This individual is claiming to be equal with God. We have found our excuse. He has blasphemed.

He's worthy of death. But that is only a sin if he was not the Son of God. The only way that condition is worthy of death, which it is, is if it is not true. If it is true, it would have been a sin to remain silent. Jesus, his silence was the mode of his defense.

But he could not keep silent. Even though keeping silent would have saved him from death. He could not, because there could not be any sin found on him. So he says, I am. And they said, quickly, take him to Pilate.

So he was brought before the Roman authority, the secular authority, and the secular authority, under scourging and flogging and all this tremendous pressure, spent time. Is there anything in this man Pilate said, I find nothing in him that is worthy of death. He was found guilty, excuse me, innocent in the secular. At the same time, he heard that Herod from Galilee, the jurisdiction where Jesus was from, Pilate sent Jesus also to Herod, his birthplace, where he would have been known the people who were over him as a child. And still Herod flogged him and sent him back.

And Pilate said, look, Herod agrees there's no sin in this man. He was by all accounts, perfected to human standards. But then there was one last test. That he was taken on a hill, made to bear a cross, and stood up before the world with the sign above his head, this is the King of the Jews. And there he had to stand before that last great throne to see if there were any sin in him.

Here he was, it says, at that moment he became the man of sin. He was so covered in sin, saturated with sin, it became part of his members. And he stood before that great throne and he was judged there according to the sin, that in front of that throne he received the punishment for every sin. And still the blows fell until there was none left. The Father looked at him and he saw no sin in his Son.

None. All were gone. He was perfect in the Father's sight. Not one stain, not one lingering odor or smell, that every sin that was placed upon the Son was found not to be sufficient to overcome the beauty of his nature, the power of his character. He took the abuse, the punishment for all of our sin, and was found absolutely without spot perfect.

This individual who was able to make sacrifices for himself and for others is able to do something for those who come to him. It says in verse nine, in having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to those who obey him. When we look at. I can talk about lawyers a little more freely now that Sandra's back here with us, but lawyers spend. I'm not telling a bad lawyer joke here.

Lawyers spend time, they write up contracts, they do things. They realize there's a necessity, though I don't know a whole lot about lawyers. There's a necessity for them to do something legally in order to have a certain result. Here it is based on the result of the case, is based on the ability of the lawyer to write up some. Something that stands in a court or in some sort of assembly.

Here we see that this individual, Jesus Christ, once he had been perfected, had the ability to become an author. He had the ability to write something. This would become law. If you remember in the times of Xerxes and the. And Daniel in the Persian means in Persian and in the Esther, that at times laws were having to be written.

The result of the ability to write this law impacted those people who were under the law. Here we see that Jesus Christ, having gained this position as high priest, now has the ability to write a law, a contract. And this contract is going to be able to be over certain individuals. It's going to apply to their life. It's going to have an impact.

It says he became the author of eternal salvation, that he wrote the contract that enabled individuals to obtain salvation. This is based on the legal qualifications that he has. It says he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. I'm going to just go to Romans chapter 8 for just a moment. Romans 8.

This is a picture of that legal contract of which Jesus became an author, which affects legally those who are found under the contract. In chapter six, verse one, it says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer?

Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ? Jesus were baptized into his death, therefore we were baptized with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Here we see that this work which Christ did, having been perfected, became the author of a law.

This law, this legal obligation that the Father has willingly given to Jesus Christ to pardon on Christ's expense, all who would come to him. This is available. It says to all who obey him. There is a qualification to this law, this authorship, this law of liberty. It cannot apply to you.

Or the only way it can apply to you is if you are willing to come to the author of the law. There is no disqualifying act or nature that prevents you from inheriting or receiving the benefit of this law which Christ has to offer, except the one of not being willing to come to him. The only sin that would keep you from inheriting the benefit of this great law of grace that Jesus Christ gave himself to present to the humankind, to the human person is not being willing to receive it. Jesus says, all who come to me, I will in no way cast out.

He says to God, as many as you give me these I will give eternal life to. The thing that is most important is not what you've done, not what you've experienced, not what you've feel, not the things that you're concerned about, but whether or not you're willing to come to the lawyer, to the high priest, the one who has written a law, who has performed a sacrifice that is able to save all who come to him. The great sin is not your past. It's not the things you've done. His law more than makes up for those things.

The great sin in the Bible is that people possessed with the opportunity to come to him, refused, though he commanded them, though he said no. It's not even your feelings. I tell you, you need to come. You must come. He opened the door, his voice went to the ends of the earth.

Look, I want you to come. It's a matter of commandment. All those who would obey Him. For you and I, we're going to close here and go to communion. The call is not based on your feelings, but whether you'll obey.

When I was presented with a speeding ticket because I have a commercial driver's license, I came to a point going to hire a lawyer for the first time in my entire life, because I might have lost my commercial driver's license. I realized it was important. I needed to hire a lawyer. My commercial driver's license is important to me. It means a lot to me.

When you take out your license, you got like, endorsements and you don't have anything in that check mark. I do. I got like a C. It's important to me. It's valuable. I can show it off and say that, look, this is what I got.

I got a commercial driver's license. It's valuable, and I didn't want to lose it. And so I hired a lawyer. An individual's life is of such more value than a driver's license. Christ has proven himself and he calls us to come to Him.

I'm going to close there. Just that coming to him is a willingness to receive. It says, yes, Lord, yes. I don't understand. I can't comprehend.

But I'm willing to receive something from your hand. I'm still the person. I am still this ugly creature. But I come to you as the author of my salvation. I just pray that wherever you are, that you have said that, that you've come to the Lord and you're willing for him to work in your life.

We're going to close there and we're going to just open. Let me just pray first, and then we'll have Communion, okay? Oh, Father, thank youk. For Jesus, the high priest, Lord, he has compassion, Lord, that he's been perfected and now he's become the author of something that's available to all humans. Lord, I pray that not only would we take advantage of it, but we'd be able to share that with others.

Lord, we lift up this choice today, Lord, of taking representation of your flesh. I'm willing to follow you, even if it means to death. We take up this cup, Lord. This is the blood of the new covenant that washes away with perfection the most stubborn sin. Sins that cast them away into the sea.

As far as the east is from the west. Lord. Thank you. And I may pray this would be the confession of our hearts. In Jesus name, amen.