Obedience Is Necessary

Hebrews 5:8-10
Richard Spencer | Sunday, August 12, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Richard Spencer

Hebrews 5:8–10 is a difficult passage to understand. Jesus Christ was and is perfect God and perfect man and he always obeyed the Father, so it is puzzling to read that he “learned obedience” and that he was “made perfect.” We will look at what that means in a few minutes, but for now notice that because he was made perfect “he became the source of eternal salvation,” which refers to the fact that his sacrifice was the once-for-all sacrifice able to save his people from their sins. In fact, he was given the name Jesus because he would save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).

We read about his efficacious sacrifice in Hebrews 9. The writer first explains the significance of the fact that in the Old Testament period, the high priest was the only one who could enter the Holy of Holies, and he could only do that once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Starting in verse 7 of chapter 9 we read, “Only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.”

In other words, as long as the Aaronic priesthood and the Old Testament sacrificial system were still in use, we did not have personal access to the throne of God. That was because the sacrifices being offered were not efficacious; they could not do the job. The writer explains this in verses 9 and 10 of chapter 9, which tell us, “This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.” And he goes on in verse 11 to explain, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.”

But, friends, we do not just need outward cleansing. We are not just ceremonially unclean. We come into this world totally depraved; we are inwardly filthy. As Jeremiah says in chapter 17, verse 9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” What we need is nothing less than a new heart, for Christ told us in Matthew 15:19–20 that “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean.’”

The writer of Hebrews explains the infinite contrast between the sacrifices of the Old Testament and Jesus’ sacrifice in Hebrews 9:14, where we read, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

Now, when it speaks of our conscience here, it speaks of our inner knowledge of our guilt, and the Old Testament sacrifices could not take that away as Pastor Mathew notes in his book on Hebrews.[1] That is why we are told in Hebrews 10:11, which is referring to the Old Testament sacrifices, “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.”

Friends, there is only one way of salvation and there is only one Savior. It is only Jesus Christ “who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God” who is able to save us. He alone “learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, . . . became the source of eternal salvation.” He alone said, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

But we must very carefully take note of those for whom Christ became the source of eternal salvation, because Hebrews 5:9 gives us a very specific answer. It says, “He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” It does not say for all who claim to be Christians.

Therefore, in looking at Hebrews 5:8–10 this morning I have three points: First, what does it mean for Christ to learn obedience and be made perfect? Second, why is eternal salvation only for those who obey him? And, third, how can we apply this message to our own lives? Let’s first look at what it means for Christ to learn obedience and be made perfect. 

I. What does it mean for Christ to learn obedience and be made perfect?

Hebrews 5:8 begins by saying, “Although he was a son.” This phrase is referring to the stark contrast found in the preceding verses—the contrast between all earthly high priests and Jesus Christ. In verses 1-4 we read, “Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was.” These verses make two extremely important points about human high priests: First, the high priests had to be called and appointed by God; and, second, they were sinners themselves. They needed the sacrifice for their own sins.

Then we are told about Jesus Christ, who appears in stark contrast to these earthly high priests. In verses 5–7 we read, “So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ And he says in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’ 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.”

I want to take notice of three things from these verses. First, the writer quotes from Psalm 2, writing, “God said to him, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’”  This is a clear indication that Jesus Christ is the eternal Anointed One of Psalm 2. He is the King that God the Father has installed on Zion. He is the Son about whom the psalmist declared, in verse 12, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Second, we are told that Jesus Christ is “a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” And the passage we are considering this morning says in verse 10 that Jesus Christ “was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”

We learn the significance of this fact in Hebrews 7, where we are told that perfection could not be obtained through the Aaronic priesthood, but that another priest had to come, one on the order of Melchizedek. And in verses 15 and 16 we read, “What we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.” This tells us that Jesus Christ was made high priest on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. We read in Acts 2:24, “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

Death is the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23). But Jesus Christ was sinless, so death had no power over him, nor does it have ultimate power over those for whom Christ died. That is why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:55–57, “‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Third, we read in verse 7, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions . . . and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” Why does the writer specify that it was during the days of Jesus’ life on earth? Because, as the Second Person of the holy Trinity, there never was a time when our Lord did not exist, so the writer had to specify that he is talking about the time he spent here on earth, incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth.

And while he was incarnate, Jesus lived a perfect life, learned obedience, and was made perfect. He “was heard because of his reverent submission.” We read in 1 Peter 2:22, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” This agrees with the Old Testament prophecy about him in Isaiah 53:9, where we read, “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” Therefore, we know that Jesus Christ was not a sinner; he never sinned.

In addition, Jesus himself told us in John 8:29, that he always did what pleased the Father. And in John 14:31 he told us, “The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” Then, in Philippians 2:8, Paul writes that Jesus, “being found in appearance as a man, . . . humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” That, brothers and sisters, is true obedience. That is an indestructible life.

We read in 1 Peter 1:18–19, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” Christ had no blemish or defect. He was perfect God and perfect man, two natures in one person.

And so, when verse 8 of Hebrews 5 begins by saying, “Although he was a son,” it is drawing our attention to this critically important distinction, that Jesus is not like any of these earthly high priests. Rather, he is the King that God has installed, the eternal Son, who was made our eternal high priest because of his perfect, indestructible life. He is the Holy One of God who defeated death itself. He is the unique God/man, the only Redeemer of God’s elect, the only Savior.

Therefore, when verse 8 goes on to say, “He learned obedience from what he suffered,” it does not in any way imply that he was ever disobedient; he was not. Nevertheless, it was necessary in God’s great plan of salvation for Jesus to experientially learn in his humanity greater and greater degrees of obedience during his life on earth by doing the will of the Father.

And God’s plan included suffering. John Murray explains this well. He writes, “In all circumstances, at every stage of his humiliation, he was obedient to the full extent of divine demand. But the demands became more extensive and exacting as he went on to the climactic demand, and as the implications of his commission became more fully known. And these expanding demands required increasing resources of obedient disposition, resolution, and volition. He learned obedience from the things he suffered.”[2]

Brothers and sisters, we must not forget that even though Jesus was a perfect man without sin, he was still a man. And as a man, he had to fulfill all of God’s law and be prepared to be the perfect sacrificial lamb.

This was all prophesied in the Old Testament. We read in Isaiah 53:2–5, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” And in verse 10 of that chapter we are told, “It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.’

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul tells us why God did this. He explains, “[God] made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is the glorious double transaction. God takes all of our sins and puts them into the account of Jesus Christ, and he takes Christ’s perfect righteousness and puts it into our account. We read in Galatians 3:27, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” And this was spoken of in the Old Testament as well. In Isaiah 61:10, we read, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Praise God, the gospel message is incomparably gracious. Christ died for our sins so that we will never have to die in the ultimate sense. And he gives us his perfect, unimpeachable righteousness to make us just in the sight of God. And that transaction required great suffering on the part of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of a poor carpenter.

Jesus had to endure the unimaginable humiliation of becoming a man and walking among sinful men and women. He had to grow up and work hard, keeping every letter of the law of God perfectly every moment of his life in spite of great temptation and trouble. He had to endure the scorn and ridicule of men and, ultimately, the wrath of God on the cross in our stead. And as he did all of that, he grew in his experiential knowledge of obedience.

When his obedience was complete, he had been made perfect—not in the sense of having any imperfections removed, but in the sense of having proven his perfection and of having completed the work necessary to fulfill the purpose for which he came. And so verse 9 tells us, “Once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” And that brings us to my second point. We must consider why eternal salvation is only for those who obey him. 

II. Why is eternal salvation only for those who obey him?

We all know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone as the Latin phrases behind me proclaim (on church banner: sola gratia, sola fide, solo Christo). Why, then, is this eternal salvation limited to those who obey Christ? Isn’t that a contradiction? Aren’t we guilty of adding a work requirement to grace when we say that?

Absolutely not! There is no contradiction at all in saying that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and that we must obey Christ to be saved. Salvation does come through faith alone, but faith is impossible without new birth. As I noted earlier, Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” And I quoted Matthew 15:19–20 where Christ tells us that it is the wicked sins that come out of our hearts that make us unclean. As I said, we come into this world totally depraved.

Romans 8:7–8 tells us, “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” It is an impossibility for the natural man to please God. He is God’s enemy, as we just read: “The sinful mind is hostile to God.” James also writes, in James 4:4, “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” And the worst news of all is in Romans 9:22, where we read that God’s enemies are “objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction.” Friends, I want to warn you: “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God . . . for our ‘God is a consuming fire’” (Heb. 10:31; 12:29).

But, praise God, we do not have to remain enemies of God. Paul wrote in Romans 5:10, “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” Praise God! What a glorious proclamation that is! We can be reconciled to God. (RRS) We were his enemies, but we can become his dearly loved children. We are told in John 1:12–13, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

As God’s children, he will lead us by his Holy Spirit. We read in Romans 8:14, “Those who are led [being led] by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” And in Romans 15–17 Paul writes, “You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

These verses contain wonderful words of comfort. We can call the Creator of the universe “Abba, Father.” What an amazing privilege that is! We are God’s adopted children, which John Murray correctly calls “the apex of [Christian] grace and privilege.”[3] We become joint-heirs with Christ. And our heavenly Father owns everything! And so, in Christ, we own everything. Friends, we make Jeff Bezos look poor!

But these verses also contain some news that most people like to try and ignore. Notice that the word “if” appears. This is a conditional statement. All of these wonderful things are true of us “if indeed we share in his sufferings.”

Oh, we don’t like to hear that. And very few preachers will tell you this anymore, but there is a cross that comes before the crown of glory. We read in all three of the synoptic gospels that Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (e.g., Matt. 16:24). To take up our cross means that we must be willing to follow Jesus to death itself, and many Christians have done so throughout history.

But even if we are not called to be martyrs, we are still called to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. We are told in 1 John 3:13, “Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” And Jesus told us in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” We are starting to experience that more and more in this country, as people are having their livelihoods taken away from them and are being commanded by the courts to take “sensitivity training” where they are being taught values that contradict the word of God. And everywhere you go, if you speak of Jesus, people look at you as though you have some horrible communicable disease. We must be prepared to suffer.

And, even if you are not presently experiencing any suffering, there is still a daily requirement for you to carry your cross. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” And in the great commission, Jesus commanded his disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20).

Friends, if you call yourself a Christian, obedience is not optional. As our passage declares, Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Do not be deceived by the huge number of so-called evangelical ministers who will tell you that obedience is optional. They fill their churches by telling people that Jesus kept the law so that you do not have to. They claim that God is not angry with sin; it only breaks his heart, as if God is sitting up in heaven weeping, wringing his hands and unable to do anything about your sin. Do not listen to them. They are liars. They are peddling the word of God for a profit. But in this church, we stand with the apostle Paul, who wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:17, “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.”

These false ministers are peddling a different Jesus and a different gospel, which is no gospel at all. Paul wrote about them in Galatians 1:9: “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” In other words, let him go to hell. And those who accept these false gospels will go to hell along with the false preachers. We read in Jude that they “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality” (v. 4), so “blackest darkness has been reserved” for them (v. 13).

So do not be deceived. Jesus Christ is “the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” and for no one else. If Jesus himself had to learn obedience from what he suffered, how on earth can we think that any of his disciples should be exempt? That brings me to my third point: How can we apply this message to our lives? 

III. How can we apply this message to our own lives?

The simple and short answer is, of course, obey. But it is not possible for you to obey God if you are not born again. That is why Pastor Mathew has been emphasizing for some time that every one of us must make our calling and election sure. Even though we cannot cause ourselves to be born again, the Bible does not absolve us of responsibility. The gospel is a bona fide offer of peace with God. If you will humble yourself and cry out to God for mercy, he will grant it. God commands everyone everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). God commands everyone to believe (1 John 3:23) and to prove their repentance by their deeds (Acts 26:20).

So test yourselves. Do you see any hatred of sin in your heart? And I do not mean hatred of the sins of others, I mean hatred of your sins. If you do not, then you are not born again. Do you love God’s people sacrificially? If not, then you are not born again. Do you long for Christ’s appearing? Do you love God’s word? Do you long to be with him and to be made perfect? If not, you are not born again. Do you find it impossible to obey God’s commands? Then you are not born again. I am not talking about perfection; we all sin every day. But if you are not having any victory at all over your sin, you must question whether or not you have been saved. And, finally, do you love God himself? If the answer is no, then you are not born again. And do not be deceived by some mushy feelings. John tells us what it means to love God: “This is love for God: to obey his commands” (1 John 5:3).

Friends, this is why God demands obedience. It is the proof that we have received a new heart. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” And the new man cannot look the same as the old man. The new man must display the fruit of the Spirit. The new man must be growing in grace and love for God and his people. The new man must see himself as a stranger here. If you feel perfectly at home in this wicked world, you are not a child of God. If you have been saved, you have passed from death to life (1 John 3:14) and from darkness to light (Eph 5:8). There will be a significant difference!

Our obedience must grow over time. Being trained is hard and sometimes painful. We are told in Hebrews 12:11, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” You do not teach a child to run before he can walk. We must all grow up in our faith and in our ability to obey God. If you do not see any positive change in your life, then question your salvation. If you do, then praise God, and continue to press on toward the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus.

In Hebrews 10:14, we are told that by his sacrifice, Christ “has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” If you have been born again, then you are already perfect in the sense that you have been given the perfect righteousness of Christ. But you are also being made holy, which is speaking about your personal righteousness. There is always a balance between the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is ours by faith and which is the basis of our salvation, and our own personal righteousness, which is the proof of our salvation and the goal of our salvation. We are told in Ephesians 1:4 that God the Father “chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” And in Romans 8:29 Paul tells us that we are “predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Think about that; Christ was perfectly obedient to the Father all the time, and we are to be conformed to that likeness. In other words, we are to be obedient children as well.

False ministers may agree that you should be conformed to the image of Christ, but they then present you with a false Christ—one who always smiles, never gets angry, and does not take sin seriously. This false Christ is more concerned with being nice to everyone than he is with holiness. But the real Christ is the one described in Psalm 2, who rules with an iron scepter and whose wrath can flare up in a moment. Revelation 6:16 also speaks about the wrath of the Lamb, who is Christ.

These false ministers will tell you that you are clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is true, but then they will say that because of that, you will be saved no matter how you live, which is a monstrous lie. The truth is presented in Revelation 19:8, which speaks about the wedding of Christ and his church. It says, “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” Oh, this is wonderful! Fine linen is given to the church. But the verse goes on to tell us, “Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.” So do not be deceived. The apostle John tells us in 1 John 2:3–4, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Brothers and sisters, we must have the proper biblical understanding. We are saved by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ alone, but we are also being made holy. We are, as we read in Ephesians 2:10, “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Christ is the source of eternal salvation, but only for those who obey him. Our obedience does not earn anything from God and is never perfect in this life, but it is absolutely essential.

And you know what it means to obey. It means you do what the word of God tells you to do. Children, obey your parents. Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Everyone, submit to all delegated authorities whom God has placed over you. Get up when you should get up. Go to bed when you should go to bed. Go to school when you should go to school. Go to work when you should go to work. Work hard and do your very best. Be honest. Guard your thoughts and your heart. Submit to God and resist the devil. Lean not on your own understanding but seek out God’s will by looking into his word and by seeking godly counsel. Love the brothers and use your gifts to edify the church. Go back over your notes of this year’s retreat, which had the theme of loving one another. And do all of this for the glory of God. Speak to others about God and live in a way that makes the gospel attractive. And, remember, you don’t do any of this in your own strength, as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Therefore, if you think you are a Christian, I counsel you to test yourself by the word of God. Don’t trust your own judgment. Ask your parents, your spouse, your elder, or, best of all, ask your pastor. Don’t equate external compliance with true obedience. John Murray explains, “To be an act of obedience, the whole dispositional complex of motive, direction, and purpose must be in conformity to the divine will.”[4]

And be comforted and encouraged by God’s great promises. If you have been born again, you can be certain that your heavenly Father knows what is best for you. He will discipline you as a father disciplines a son, for your good. And you can be confident, not in yourself, but in God, that he will complete the good work he has done. And in all things he will work for your good, as we are told in Romans 8:28. But work out your salvation with fear and trembling to be certain that God has begun this good work in you.

And when you experience trials and troubles, take heart and turn to God. Remember that life is short and there is only one thing truly needful. Remember what Job said in Job 23:10, “He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”

 

[1] See P. G. Mathew, Muscular Christianity: Learning Endurance from the Book of Hebrews (Davis, CA: Grace and Glory, 2010), 188, especially the quote by Philip E. Hughes.

[2] John Murray, Collected Writings, Vol. II: Select Lectures in Systematic Theology (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 153.

[3] John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 134.

[4] John Murray, Collected Writings, Vol. II, Systematic Theology, 152.