People were in expectation of a political messiah, a worldly kind of ruler. But Jesus did not come like this. Instead, He came as the Prophet with words of life. He came as the Priest who offered Himself as the Lamb. And, He took His place as King on the throne set at the right hand of the Father. In these three offices, Christ cares for our minds, our emotions, and our wills. (Matthew 2:10; Deuteronomy 18:15; Hebrews 1:8; Hebrews 2:17; John 18:36-37)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller
Sermon 11802
11:00 AM on 12/15/2019

P. Schaller –

Good morning. For an introductory thought to keep our hearts and minds on our subject or to get
them there, turn to Matthew 2. The children are going to sing during the offering. That will be fun.
Love our kids. They’re all dressed up. Mom and dad did a great job getting them all cleaned up.
Some of them took a shower last night. Anointed with perfume and all set. They’re going to be
well behaved. They’re coming up here in a few minutes. Matthew 2:10 that’s the kings that came
from the east. Vs. 11.

Think of how unusual this is that these kings that come from the east are
familiar with palaces and money and power and armies and protocols. But this is an unusual
story because they meet a peasant family and a baby is there and that’s all. They see the baby.
But somehow they were all prepared and thinking in terms of the spiritual. They worshiped
him. I don’t know about you but when I go to a hospital and see a newborn baby, I’m very
thankful for the baby and I think it’s a miracle a baby is brought into the world, but to worship
the baby is another thing.

That’s not going to happen. In this case, they saw something. To draw
it in the picture and I want you to get the concept, they saw the baby like you would see a baby
with the puffy little feet and the little body, chubby fingers, Pillsbury Dough Boy fingers, and
you see a baby. But to be able to say he is a king when he has not spoken or done anything. He
has not taught a parable or died on a cross. He is not an adult.

He’s a baby. To see what we call super history. Something beyond what you see is what they saw. Our subject this morning is Jesus as prophet, priest and king. It’s about who is he? Who is he and how do I know it. I know
it from the Bible. This is what we will use today to understand who he is. The Holy Spirit in your
life constantly wants to show you who he is and it’s a lot bigger and greater than what we can
imagine. We can touch it like they did. We do fall down and worship him and recognize what he
has done and who he is and what it means to us.

We get excited about it. The Spirit shows it to us. That’s our joy today. Praise the Lord. God bless you. [Children sing]. Didn’t they do a good job. They were great. They were great. So good. Tonight after the service – no, there is a concert with the young people, the band and the music at 5:00. Then 6:30 service and after a
cookie party, people fellowshipping and eating cookies. You’re supposed to bring the cookies,
too. If you eat one you need to bring one. I don’t know how that works.

Feel free. Stand with me. It’s a time of family, fellowship, communication, love, encouragement. Encourage your
neighbor and say Merry Christmas. P. Knight is here and Jennifer and Micah. Good to see you.
Praise the Lord. Okay. You may be seated. Hebrews 1 for our first reading, that Christ is no political
Messiah. What is a political Messiah? The Jews were under oppression by the Roman Empire
which blanketed with government and administration the then known civilized world.

Israel wanted to have their theocracy back, their kingdom, that they once had with Solomon and with
David. There was a promise given to David that his son would reign on a throne forever, 2 Samuel
7. That’s an extraordinary idea that my son would reign on a throne. How long? Forever. David
also said in Psalm 23 I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So eternal life is in our Old
Testament and a kingdom on the earth where righteousness will reign down like waters.

Peace would flow like a river and righteousness would be as the waves of the sea, over and over and
over again. How could this happen if people are deceitful? If we are liars and deceivers? Even if
the Messiah was perfect in his kingdom, there would be corruption because of us. I would steal from you or lie to you or change things and give you the impression I’m speaking the truth but
in fact be deceitful.

So even if the Messiah was politically capable of giving the Jews what they
wanted on the surface or externally, it wouldn’t amount to much because in the hearts of
people and in a practical everyday level of activity, there would be some measure of dishonesty
and stealing and deceitfulness. This Messiah must change us. It’s not political; it’s spiritual. This
Messiah in Hebrews 1:8 this is a prophecy that God would say to the Son thy throne O God.
How could God say to the Son thy throne, o God?

God calls his Son, God. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. You see in the Bible the beautiful thing about it is how these pieces come together and make a whole panoply, a whole fabric of interconnecting Bible verses that teach principles. Thy throne, O God. God has a throne that he had not had. I need to explain this. Thy
throne O God. It means he has acquired a throne. God, who is on the throne, has given his Son
a throne that he has acquired.

Five times in our New Testament it says Jesus ascended and sat down on a throne at the right hand of the Father. What is this throne? This is the government over the earth. He came to save the earth, us, mankind. There are three offices we are going to speak about today. If you remember on our sermon card, we do these Christmas season series and this one is on Christ the Prophet, the Priest, and the King. We will speak about these three
offices. His ministry actually goes in this sequence.

Let’s go back to the verse. Vs. 8. The scepter is that staff that Esther in the book of Esther couldn’t go in and see the king unless he extended the staff to her. She had the permission to come and she touched the top of it. This is like a king with this authority. The scepter that Jesus has is a scepter of righteousness. This is an important
word. No sense to have a political Messiah unless that Messiah was able to impart to us his
righteousness because his kingdom is a righteous one, a scepter of righteousness. Let’s look at
Jesus in his earthly life.

He had 29 silent years except when he was 12 in the temple with a lot of knowledge and insight. When he was 12 in the temple teaching the doctors and rabbis and educated people were amazed at his insight in the Scripture. Overall his ministry was quiet for these 29 years. His birth was extraordinary as we mentioned in the beginning. His childhood is silent, quiet and then he begins his ministry as a prophet. This is Deuteronomy 18:15. What is a prophet? My teaching is not mine. But his who sent me.

Teaching. What is a prophet? He’s a man who is able to see the word of God. That happens to you by the way. When the Holy Spirit. is your teacher, you see the Bible. You see it more than what it is saying academically. You are able to see it spiritually, the meaning of it, the depth of it. Martin Luther said there are many levels to the
word of God, and there are levels to the word of God that we know nothing about. The word of
God is able to heal you. It’s able to minster to you mentally and emotionally. It’s able to have an
influence on you.

The word of God. Our Bible. The Bible became flesh and dwelt amongst us. So
when we are listening to Jesus speak, he is saying my words are not mine. They are from my
Father. I show you the Father. This is a prophet of extraordinary ministry. I need that. I need it. I
need more than just – I want to say to you folks I’m so thankful you come because you are
seeking and searching. If you’re not, then just start doing that.

Start talking to God. Be bigger than just what you see and understand. I was sharing my faith with a man yesterday and we got to be together for maybe an hour. He had questions about the faith. He said what do you say
about science and faith, don’t they contradict? I said no not really. They go together. He said what do you mean? Science is like a doctor holding a newborn baby. He has the baby on a monitor and can tell you the blood pressure and heartbeat and all kinds of things about the baby. That’s science.

When that doctor is also a father holding his baby, then there is something
more. That’s the miracle of the birth of a human being. That’s the joy he has in his heart as he
thinks about this is my son or my daughter that God gave me. This is my child. But he’s a doctor.
Yeah, but a doctor only goes far but can’t tell me why. It can tell me how. How does the
heartbeat but why does the heartbeat.

Why is the child alive? Why are we here? What’s the meaning? You see, when we read the Bible, it’s like the scientists can look at the Bible and have certain opinion and views about it and that’s fine. There’s really no contradiction in it. If you are objective and scientific and looking at the Bible, it’s incredible. The Bible is more than science. It’s God. It’s beautiful. It’s amazing. It produces worship. This prophet Jesus Christ when he
spoke and taught he caught people in the mystery of the faith.

It made them stay one more day to hear him beyond human reason, even though they are running out of food. When Jesus finishes, he says feed them. They’re hungry. They have been listening to me and staying
overtime and now you feed them. How can we do that? Let me teach you a lesson. What do
you have? Five loaves and two fish. Bring them to me. And then he blessed them beyond
science. Science goes so far but a life of faith will open our hearts and eyes to things we cannot
see.

That’s good. The prophet. How long did Jesus – let’s read more here. John 12:49-50. In
your Bible reading, you should find things that stir your heart by the Spirit and be open to God
by faith. Say God speak to me from the Bible. When you read the Bible, it can be more. I see
and I worship. That happens to us when we see. This is the ministry of Jesus for three years.
Look at our sketch here. He is preaching and teaching for 3.5 years.

They come and they say let’s go hear him. We heard a prophet has risen in Galilee. Let’s hear him. Are you a prophet then? The woman at the well spoke to Jesus in John. 4. Parables and teaching and ministry and
touching people. Then a change happens in a way even though all three of these are through
his whole life. You don’t see it that clearly. It unfolds. The next part is he becomes a priest in the
sense that he – did I misspell priest? I did.

I caught myself. I corrected myself. When does that happen! Priest. Priest. In the Old Testament., there were priests who offered up the blood of animals and dressed a certain way and were anointed with oil and blood. They would go into the tabernacle or the temple for the people. When Jesus died on the cross, he was the lamb that takes away
the sin of the world. He went from a prophet to being the sacrifice and the priest that would
offer the blood in heaven.

When he dies, he is the lamb that takes the sin away. When he raises from the dead and ascended, he is accepted by God the Father as a high priest. One problem with the earthly priest is they were sinful. They had to bring sin offerings for the people and themselves. On the holiest day of the year, on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, the high priest had to go into the holy of holies twice. First time he went to present a sin offering for
himself. He had to do this before he could be a representative for the people.

The second time he went in was to present a sin offering for the people. Jesus did not do this. In contrast to the
earthly priest, Jesus Christ did not bring a sin offering for himself. For such a high priest, Hebrews
7:26-28. Jesus stands sinless before the Father because he withstood all temptation. He can
effectively intercede to God on our behalf in a vastly superior fashion to those earthly priests who were as sinful as those they represented.

Therefore my Father loves me that I lay down my life that I may take it again. I like that part. I take it again. Let me explain something about the priesthood of Jesus. A priest got his hand on God and his hand on you. I suggested years ago when we preached on this that the hand of Jesus goes not just on you but all the way in. He
searches all parts of you. He finds the deceit, the guilt, the emptiness. The hand of Jesus is so
long it goes to the gutter and in the gutter goes to the down and outer and goes all the way to
the fish, Jonah, all the way into the fish and into the heart of Jonah.

Wow. That priest is your high priest who is before all the way, how far away, the holiness of God and stands in the
presence. He is seated in the presence of God with the blood that has atoned for our sin. In the
last few years for some reason, some of my sins have come back to my mind that I committed
in high school. Thank God not the ones I’ve committed recently! Before I was saved. I don’t
know why.

Some of those sins have come back to my mind and I have to be honest and I have
sometimes thought about them a little bit. I’ve been corrected. I’ve been corrected. I was
thinking you know that airplane that was lost in the Indian ocean. It took off from Malaysia and
it looks like it might have been hijacked. The whole plane went down and we never found the
plane. How many remember that story? Never found the plane. Never found it. In the ancient
world, they had more of an understanding if you lose it in the ocean, it’s gone.

Micah said God has cast our sins in the deepest place, in the deepest ocean and they cannot be found. Wow!
You mean with all our technology and satellites and everything we cannot find that plane? No,
sir. We cannot find it. It’s gone. We have no idea where it is today. It’s gone. Remember that
about your sin. Remember your sins are gone. Remember that the blood of Jesus has covered
your sin. This Messiah isn’t a political one. How superficial it would be if he is the Messiah and
all his people are troubled about their sins.

What if we wake up every day thinking about the things that we have stolen or hurt or abused people or whatever it is we have done in our lives in a sinful way. What good does it do if we have a political Messiah without a Messiah that goes to the hearts of his subjects right into our life deeply and deals with our deepest problem, our
deepest fear. Hebrews 2:17 Jesus priesthood is superior to the earthly priests in the following ways:
His duties are performed in heaven.

You know, remember the North America Indians go (sounds they make) in the cowboy and Indian movies. Medicine man is making incantations for the people. We don’t have medicine men like that, but we do have with a lot of respect to the world of psychology, but we do have a lot of psychology going on in this world. A lot of
psychologist understanding and trying to understand and care and help people. The
psychologist might even get really deep inside you, kind of go around fishing around in there
but the other hand is like, how far can it go?

How far can a man’s hand go when it comes to the reality that will heal me, the reality of a living God that gives mercy and grace? The wisdom that comes from God. No, there is no earthly sanctuary that will do me any good. There is no earthly human being whether it’s a medicine man or a psychologist or a priest or a pastor like me. No,
we cannot heal the human heart. The Messiah can. We come up short. We cannot give the
counseling that is needed but the Messiah can. The ministry of the Messiah and the Messiah’s
people that are gifted and anointed and used by God to help us in our life. Not a sinful human
priest but this sinless priest offered himself once for all ending the need for the Levitical earthly

priesthood. Jesus was superior to the human priesthood in every way. Let’s go to the third and
last office of Jesus, the King. Let’s put a crown here. The King. Was he a king when he was back
here as a baby? He was and the kings saw it and worshipped him. When we saw him as a baby,
we did not see his kingdom. We see him. When he was 12 years old, was he a King? Yes, but we
didn’t see that. We heard the wisdom of a king, the wisdom of a Solomon, greater than
Solomon.

When we saw him on the cross, did we see a King? He was a King, but we couldn’t see
it. Pontius Pilate said to him, put over his head on the cross that he is the King of the Jews. Put
it in Latin and Greek and Hebrew. The Jewish leaders complained to Pilate and said change it.
Say he said he was the king of the Jews. Pilate was finished with those people. What I said, it
was what he said. He got it right.

Not only did he say he was the king of the Jews, but he was. Are you a king then he said to Jesus at the trial. Are you a king? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight. John 8:36-37. You say rightly that I am a king. How is he a king? Because he’s righteous. We’re not. Have you ever lied a little bit? Just to solve problems you lie a little bit. Have you ever done a situational
ethical thing? If I do it this way, the benefit will be good, Romans 3:8.

I twist it a little bit. I put a spin on it and get out of some trouble. Everyone is happy about it and it’s all better. God is not like that. God is so straight up, right, all the way truth in the inner man. The way it falls is the
way it falls. If Jesus tells the truth, he’s going to hang on a cross. And he says for that reason I
came. I have a kingdom and the scepter is righteousness. Human beings don’t have a scepter.
They have a scepter of convenience, of situational ethics.

They have a scepter of reasonableness and practicality. But God’s scepter is my scepter. My kingdom is not of this
world. I will die. You will throw me away. You will crucify me. But keep your eye on that grave.
I’m coming out. This is isn’t about people. This is about God. God has established a kingdom
and I’m the seed of David. And I’m the one promised to David that on his throne would sit his
son and his throne would be forever and ever and that’s me.

That’s the Messiah. I am the Christ. I am the answer for you. Wow! This is good. Hebrews 1:8 He will rule in righteousness. He was recognized by some of the people as being king. Jason in Acts 17:7 welcomed them into his
house. They defied Caesar’s decrees saying there is another king, one called Jesus. He will
return as the King of the ages. He will come back. Halleluiah. I don’t know about you but you
kind of got to get that into your heart and get it flowing in your veins that there’s a kingdom
coming that’s better than this world.

Have you ever watched the news and said you guys are nuts! I’m waiting for the King of Kings to come back. Have you ever run into a problem and said, okay, so be it. This is the way it rolls. I mean I can’t change it. I can be salt. I can be light. But there’s a day coming when man, I’ll tell you, it’s going to be good because it’s going to be
righteous and true and right and healthy and changing and beautiful. No more pain and no
more heartache like we have today in our troubled world.

No more lying and stealing and cheating and no more locks on the doors. No more cameras for security and all kinds of stuff that people do because we are afraid and guilty and ashamed. We are troubled and we are
hurting. Here’s the good news in closing. Men are complicated. We can draw it this way. Here’s
a man all dressed up. Can you tell! He’s dressed his best, his best suit. In his makeup as a person
he has a mind, emotions, and a will. If this King can’t touch my mind, my emotions, and my will then his government it’s in heaven but we need his government on the earth.

It means his influence has to go to my mind and my emotions and my decisions. Is there such a kingdom where the king could actually go with his hand, all the way to my guilt and fear and my life. Go all the way and my will and change my will to obedience and my emotions not fear but love. My mind not confusion and earthly thoughts alone but could he affect my mind so that I could think the way he does. So his three offices: the prophet affects my mind. As a priest he affects my emotions and the king affects my will. The three needs that we have as people. Why am I
obeying? Because the King has put his Spirit in my heart in my life.

What are you thinking about? The way God handles his enemies. The way God cares about people. I’m thinking about redemption. I’m thinking about this wisdom. I’m reading the Proverbs. By the way, I read like
five psalms, one chapter of Proverbs. I really start to think about it and God has a kingdom and
you know the world says where is it? What do we say? It’s here.

They say I can’t see any kingdom. We say I see it. Just like those kings when they worshiped the baby. I see it. I see it. He is the King. He is the King of Kings. That has to happen to you. You have to say this church is
more than just people. It’s the presence of God. I can see it. I can see it. Your life is more than
just your trouble. You can see it. The kingdom of God is on the earth and it’s with us.

Amen.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.