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Sermon Manuscripts
A Compassionate High Priest
a sermon in the series,
Hebrews: an Epistle of Encouragement
A sermon delivered
Sunday Morning, February 18, 2001
at Oak Grove Baptist Church, Paducah, Ky.
By S. Michael Durham
© 2001 Real Truth Matters
Hebrews 4:12-16
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than
any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened
unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 14 Seeing then that
we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:12-16 AV)
The writer of Hebrews
patiently and strategically laid out his course of strategy, and he followed
it to the letter. He was writing to a people who had suffered for the name
of Christ. They had undergone one hardship after another since becoming
Christians. Someone said to me, “I thought that I wouldn’t have any more
problems once I came to know Jesus, but ever since I've become a Christian
I've had nothing but problem after problem.” Dear friend, we are in a
spiritual war, and the enemy will come against you from every front and in
every manner of disguise. The writer of Hebrews was writing to a company of
troops who had undergone heavy mortar fire. Some defected and went over to
the enemy. Thus, the message of the book----the Christian must fight the
fight of faith. The whole of the Christian life is a fight for faith and against unbelief.
From chapter one to chapter four this theme has come to us clearly and
loudly again and again. We must keep the faith. The question is how do you
keep the faith? By fighting against unbelief. You fight the fight of faith
by fighting against unbelief. The moment when crises occur you are
challenged with whether or not you are going to believe what God said. Will
you believe that He'll “never leave you nor forsake you”? It's the fight
against unbelief.
We looked at verse eleven last week, which states,
Let us labour therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. (Hebrews 4:11)
It is as if the author is pleading in the verse preceding today’s text, “I
don't want you to lose this battle against the enemy of unbelief.” He then
shares a weapon in verse twelve, Jesus Christ our High Priest.
We're not alone in this battle against unbelief. You are not commissioned
as a soldier in the army of God to fight the enemy by yourself. The
Commander-in-Chief of heaven’s Royal Legion has commissioned you, but He
does not stay back within the lines of safety. He's in the heat of the
battle with you. That's what the writer of Hebrews is communicating to us
in these verses, chapter four verses twelve through sixteen. We have a
compassionate High Priest. So it doesn't matter what you are facing today,
no matter what's gone on the last few weeks of your life, you were not and
are not alone. No matter how much it might have felt like it, you were not
alone. The times when you thought you were alone, you were losing your
battle against unbelief. In verses twelve and thirteen the author has
established the fact that we have a weapon against unbelief, it's the Word
of God. He calls it a “twoedged sword.” It is the Word that we are to use
in the battle against unbelief. In other words, in the fight of faith you
have to rely and trust in the promises of God, because that's all His Word
is, it's a promise to you. As you rest in the promise, unbelief finds no
lodging in your heart.
But what does this have to do with Christ as our High Priest? Much in one
very interesting way. Christ is the “word of God.” In chapter one of
Hebrews the author established the superiority of Christ as being the
greatest revelation of God. It is Christ that is “upholding all things by
the word of his power.” But the most compelling evidence that this “word of
God” of Hebrews chapter four and verse twelve is Jesus Christ is in the
immediate context of verse thirteen.
Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13)
The writer does not change his subject from verse twelve to thirteen.
Instead of calling his subject the word of God, he gives the subject the
pronouns, “his” and “him.” He calls the word of God a person before whom
everything is visible. In verse fourteen the writer states,
Seeing then that we have
a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast [our] profession.(Hebrews 4:14)
The words, “seeing then” are words used to make a concluding statement. In
light of what he has said about Christ, he states that we have reason to
“hold fast our profession.” That Christ is the word of God is our weapon
against unbelief, and as our High Priest Christ is mediating and interceding
on our behalf. It is true; He is in the battle of faith with us. “For all
the promises of God in him (Jesus) are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory
of God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Let's look first at Christ as our High Priest, and then let us see the
compassion of our High Priest, and thirdly, let us attend to the call of our
High Priest. In verse fourteen, he says that we have a High Priest and that
priest is Jesus. The first thing that struck my eyes about this verse was
the personal possession that we have in Jesus in that He is “my” High
Priest. The author says, "seeing then that we have." He is our High
Priest. There is something in this element of possession that is a weapon
against unbelief. Dear Sir, are you confident that Christ is your High
Priest? You must be persuaded that He is yours, not just a high priest, but
that He is your High Priest. What glory fills my soul today as I realize
that I have a High Priest and He is Christ Jesus the Lord.
Now the words "high priest" may mean very little to you at this moment
because we do not practice priesthood. Many have tried to use a metaphor
from our times that would illustrate what a high priest is, and some have
come up with words like "mediator" or "defense attorney." Frankly, those
words come very short in explaining high priest. Certainly a high priest
was a mediator between the people and God, a go-between if you please, but
he was not a defense attorney. If he were to have argued the case of
anyone, it would have been the Lord’s case against the people’s sin. The
high priest did not argue justice for the people for whom he interceded. He
cried for mercy on their behalf. He went into the sacred court of God and
approached God’s bench once a year but he did not approach it as a bench of
justice but as a bench of mercy. The mercy seat is where the blood was
applied and pleas for mercy were uttered.
God set up a religious system that operated with a priesthood for almost two
thousand years. The reason for which God set up a priesthood was to help
Israel see the purpose of the Messiah. It also serves us if we study the
Old Testament and learn how the priesthood worked. In so doing we have
beautiful types and illustrations of what our High Priest has accomplished
on our behalf. The priesthood was established to help us understand Jesus
as our Priest, as our go-between. Today as a High Priest, Jesus mediates
for us, leading us to the Father. Fellowship with our Father is possible
because of the mediation of heaven’s High Priest. Before the Priest came
there was no hope of fellowship for there was no mediator. I could not come
into the presence of God because I was sinful and my sins separated me from
my God. But now my High Priest has made atonement for my sin and has given
me bold access to the Father.
Let's look at the obligations of a high priest and understand what a high
priest was ordained to do. Foremost, the high priest was ordained to
minister unto the Lord on behalf of the people. That was his main task. I
went through every reference containing the words “priest” or “high priest”
in the first five books of the Old Testament. One thing that was
predominant in the research was that God established priesthood to minister
unto Him. The high priest was ordained to act as a minister for the people
and to minister unto God. He had primarily four functions. The first
function was to make atonement. Under the law of God the people could not
minister to or worship God. God would not accept the congregation of Israel
gathering at the tabernacle or temple for each and every one of them to
offer up sacrifices. It would have taken too long, and, therefore, it
wouldn't work. Instead, God chose one of the twelve tribes to be the
priests of all the people of Israel. Every sacrifice the high priest
offered was an offering or sacrifice representing all the people. When he
sacrificed the animal and presented it to God, he was not only doing it on
his own behalf, but also he was doing it on the behalf of the people. So
the first function of the priest is to make atonement.
Jesus is a High Priest that has made atonement for us. Jesus not only
offered a sacrifice as a high priest, but He was the sacrifice. Upon
Calvary's altar, He lifted Himself up as the sacrifice for our sins, and His
shed blood is offered as an atonement to satisfy the justice of God against
our sins.
The second obligation of a high priest was to make intercession, or in other
words, to pray for the people. Once the sacrifice was made, the high priest
would then take the blood and, once a year, would enter into the Holy of
Holies, where there was one piece of furniture, the Ark of the Covenant. On
top of the Ark of the Covenant was the lid of the Ark which was called the
mercy seat. He would take the blood and sprinkle it upon that mercy seat,
praying to the Lord asking for mercy and forgiveness of his and the people’s
sin. The function of the high priest was not just to make the sacrifice,
but to enter into the very presence of God and to intercede on behalf of the
people.
In this sense, Jesus certainly fulfills the obligation of a high priest and
can be therefore duly qualified and called our High Priest because the Bible
says He “everliveth to make intercession” for us.
The third function was to keep the congregation pure. I mean by this
ceremonially pure. It was the responsibility of the priest to pronounce
someone a leper or not, in other words, to judge them pure or not. Leprosy
was a type of sin and unholiness. If you had a skin disorder you were to
immediately present yourself to the priest. He would perform a test
prescribed in the law. If the test came back and you were discovered to
have leprosy, he was to pronounce you a leper and have you removed outside
of the camp where the lepers would have remained. God was illustrating His
Son’s future role as High Priest. It is incumbent upon Jesus as High Priest
to keep his people pure. He has made atonement for us and intercedes on our
behalf, but it is also His to purify us. We call this sanctification.
If mold or mildew was to appear in a Jewish house, the occupants were to
call for the high priest. He would come and inspect the mildew and shut up
the house for seven days. If it the mildew grew, then you would have to
remove the plaster and the stones that the mildew had affected and cleanse
it, put it back and restore it new. If it reappeared, the priest would shut
up the house another seven days, and if it spread, he then ordered your
house to be torn apart stone by stone and cast into the fire. Why such
drastic measures? Because mildew represented sin.
God was showing us in this typology that Jesus Christ would come, and not
only save a people unto Himself, but also He would sanctify them. Our Lord
is conforming us unto His very own image. And that's what's God's doing in
your life. No doubt some of you feel like your lives have been uprooted,
plucked up, turned upside down, and hung out to dry. You wonder why, “What
have I done, Lord, to deserve this? I'm trying to live for you. I'm trying
to do good. I'm trying to be obedient. And the more I try, the worse my
circumstances become.” Oh, dear friend, thank God. Truly God is purifying
you. He's cleansing you. Take this opportunity to rejoice, and not to grow
weary, not to become faint. Fight the fight of faith against unbelief and
believe His promise that He who called you will also do it. The question is
what has He promised to do? The answer is, sanctify you.
And the very God of
peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful [is] he that calleth you, who also will do [it]. (1 Thessalonians
5:23-24)
The fourth and last function of the high priest was a result of his death.
At his death the persons in exile in the cities of refuge were free to
return home. God established in the civil laws of Israel that if someone
accidentally killed somebody, (it was not pre-meditated but an accident, we
would call it manslaughter today) the next of kin could take your life in
revenge of the life of their dead relative. But God also made a provision
for this person who accidentally killed someone. Six cities were
established throughout the land of Israel as cities of refuge. If the
person by whose hand someone had accidentally died could get to a city of
refuge before the nearest of kin found them they would be safe. The next of
kin couldn't come inside the city of refuge. However, he could wait outside
the city, if he had a mind to, and wait for the person who had killed his
relative. If the person came out of the city’s gate, then the relative
could avenge his deceased relation’s death.
The law also stated that at the death of the high priest, the persons who
had fled to the appointed cities for refuge were allowed to return to their
homeland without fear of harm. Oh, glory to God! Do you not see Jesus
illustrated? When Jesus died as our High Priest on Calvary's cross, we who
trust in Him were set free----free, without fear of condemnation, without
fear of God retaliating upon us with His fierce anger for our sins. We are
free. “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? (Romans
8:33). Now these are the reasons we have a High Priest in Christ Jesus
the Lord.
Let's look at the compassion of our High Priest. The author of Hebrews
states,
Seeing then that we have
a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast [our] profession. (Hebrews 4:14)
Oh, I must make a brief comment and call to your attention the priesthood
terminology being employed by the author. He makes reference of Jesus
passing into the heavens. This is not only a factual statement of the event
of Christ’s ascension, but it is a reference to Christ’s high priestly
role. There is a veil that separates us from heaven for the time being. If
men learn by science and technology to fly to the farthest galaxy in our
universe, they still will not be able to fly their ships and craft into the
very gates of heaven. There's a veil. Once a year only could the high
priest enter beyond the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the
remainder of the tabernacle. It was behind the veil, where nobody could see
him, that He made atonement for the people. Our text says that Jesus has
ascended to the right hand of the Father. He is beyond the veil, and now we
cannot see Him as He does His work of intercession for us. Jesus the Son of
God our High Priest!
Verse fifteen the writer continues his analogy.
For we have not an high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was
in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
First our author shows us the degree of Jesus' compassion. Notice that our
text does not say the Lord Jesus feels sorry for us. That's not the word
that's used here. He says that Christ Jesus feels our weaknesses. The
words, "touched with the feeling," is all one Greek word, sumpayew,
(pronounced, soom-path-eh’-o). From this word we get our English word
“sympathy.” But the word was not used as we use the word “sympathy.” The
word comes from a root word that literally means to feel the pain of one's
suffering. To have sympathy meant you were touched with the feeling of
someone's pain. It's used only two times in the New Testament. In First
Corinthians chapter twelve and verse twenty-six, it illustrates what this
word means. The word is not translated in English as “sympathy” but is
translated, “suffer.”
And whether one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the
members rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:26)
In other words, the Apostle Paul means that when one member of the body is
hurting, the pain travels through the remainder of the body. You and I may
not feel the exact same pain they feel, but because of our love for God and
our brother or sister, we feel pain with them. It hurts us to see them
hurting. We do more than pat them on the back and say, “Boy, I'm sorry
you're feeling this. I wish I could help you,” and go on about our merry
way. The word sumpayew means you feel pain with
them and will help them.
The blessing of our text is that Jesus, as our High Priest, has such
compassion for us that when you feel pain, He feels it. When He intercedes
for us at the throne of God, it's not as if He is just bringing our
requests, but He is literally living out in His own soul what we're feeling
before the Father. What a High Priest!
And not only is He able to feel what you're going through right now dear
friend, but He's able to express it to the Father better than you could ever
express it. When you're in your moment of crisis, and on your knees at the
foot of your bed crying, saying, “Lord, I don't know what to say, I don't
know how to say it. I'm hurting.” Oh, dear one, you have a High Priest that
feels what you’re feeling, and is able to express it in such a way that the
Father is also moved.
Jesus has also experienced the weakness of our human frame. He says that,
"We have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities." The word “infirmity” of course means “weaknesses.” Do you
not know that Jesus when He became a man assumed with that the weaknesses of
a human body, yet without sin, without Adamic corruption? The Bible tells
us repeatedly that Jesus thirsted, grew weary, and was grieved. He
experienced the frailties of the human body and the limitations thereof.
The degree of our Lord’s compassion leads us to the proof of His
compassion. The writer has stated in this fifteenth verse of chapter four,
"But was in all points tempted like as we are." Not only can He feel what
you're feeling, but He too was tempted in every way you are tempted. How
does a perfect man who could not sin experience temptation? I'm not
disbelieving the writer of Hebrews, no, I believe the Word even though I may
not always understand. How does a perfect man who has no unrighteousness in
Him and does not have the ability to transgress, how could He be tempted?
The Bible says He was tempted. C.S. Lewis, a brilliant apologist and
author, helped us tackle this dilemma of Christ’s temptation. He wrote to
the critics' objection that said, if Jesus could not have sinned, how could
He have been tempted? If Jesus never sinned, then He doesn't know what
temptation is like. Jesus didn't understand temptation because He lived a
sheltered life. In response to the critics, C.S. Lewis said something that
I believe is absolutely brilliant. It doesn’t answer where the Bible is
silent, and, therefore, wisely leaves some issues to the wisdom of God, yet
silences the critics. Lewis wrote,
A silly idea is current
that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie.
Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. A man who
gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would
have been like an hour later. That is why bad people in one sense know very
little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving
in. Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is
also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means, the only
complete realist.
How this helps us to understand that our Lord withstood temptation more than
any man has withstood temptation, but still it doesn’t answer the concept of
God being tempted. How could Jesus understand me when I'm being tempted
because He never had any of the lust in Him that I have? He never had any
of the evil desires in Him that I have. He never had anything in His heart
to be enticed by the temptation. So I went to my old friend and pastor,
Charles Spurgeon for help. Many years before Lewis ever tackled this
question, Spurgeon tackled it and he answers it much in the same way.
Here's what Spurgeon said,
Many persons are tempted
but do not suffer in being tempted. When ungodly men are tempted, the bait
is to their taste and they swallow it greedily.
In other words, temptation is a pleasure to them. There's been a time when
I was looking for the tempter. I enjoyed the sin so much I'd go looking for
it. Temptation to an ungodly man is an enjoyable thing. He enjoys the
temptation. It tantalizes him, it feeds his wicked flesh. Spurgeon went on
to say,
Our Lord Jesus Christ
enters into this trying experience very fully because His suffering through
being tempted must have been much greater than any suffering that the purest
hearted believer could know seeing that He is more pure than any of us.
Along this line Hebrews chapter two verse eighteen says,
For in that he himself
hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
(Hebrews 2:18)
Jesus being tempted, suffered. In other words, the Bible is calling the
temptation of Christ a suffering for Jesus. In this idea that Jesus
suffered as He was being tempted we can see how He truly can sympathize with
our temptations. Let me go back to the day when He was fasting on the
mountain in Matthew chapter four. Satan comes in after a forty day fast
and suggests to our Lord that He should not rely on the Father to meet His
needs and to go ahead and prove His deity by turning the stones into bread.
The very idea of this temptation upon the mind of Jesus caused Him to suffer
in a way in which we cannot imagine. For such a thought to come upon a pure
mind, a mind that cannot even think of sinning, must bring great grief. The
cunning suggestion of Satan to cast Himself off the pinnacle must have taken
His soul back in horror. To have such a thought dash across His blessed
brain was torture. To have heard the evil whisper in his ears to bow down
and worship the devil, in order to gain the kingdoms of the world, must have
produced an agony of mind that we cannot tell. Not an agony of decision on
whether He should do it or not, but an agony brought about by having His
pure mind tainted with the very thought of rebellion against God. Jesus was
not for one moment enticed by any of Satan’s temptations, but to have His
holy thoughts interrupted by suggestions from the evil one, caused such
great grief.
Thus, He does know what it means to be tempted in all points like as we.
His mind is so pristinely pure, the very suggestion upon His mind must have
created unbearable torture in it. He could not yield to that temptation,
but He had to suffer from it. What mental and spiritual anguish must He
have suffered to have His holy thoughts interrupted by such vile
suggestions? You especially see this in the garden on the night of His
betrayal. There He shows us His grief when He sweats as it were great drops
of blood falling to the ground. As the words of the poet said,
Exposed to wounds
Most deep and sore,
The
great redeemer stood
While
Satan's fiery darts He bore
And did resist to blood.
Let me tell you the power of Jesus' resisting temptation, He resisted it to
His death. He died because He resisted temptation. Don't tell me He
doesn't know how to resist temptation. Don't tell me He cannot identify
with you. He knows where your breaking point is and He went even beyond
it.
Thirdly, and lastly, let us examine the call of our High Priest. There's a
call He extends. In verse sixteen we see the message of the author.
Because we have a High Priest who understands us so, let us come near Him
and find His strength and solace.
Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to
help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
The compassion of Christ is in itself an invitation to draw near Him. He
says, "Let us therefore come." This call is the call of the High Priest
Himself. Because of such a compassionate High Priest, I bid you come. Oh,
dear friends, hear the call of this High Priest today. Listen to Him. He's
as close as your very breath. Are your ears so hard of hearing and so dull
that you cannot hear Him say to you, “I know you're struggling, come to
Me”? Do you not hear His gentle plea, “I can feel your pain. I've lived
your pain. I have been tempted. I know what you're being enticed with. I
know that the devil is now using your crisis to wage a war against your
faith and to cause you not to trust Me. But come, I can handle this because
I care.”?
You can also come with confidence, because we have our High Priest’s track
record of accomplishment. The Bible says, “yet without sin” He was, “in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”. When you are in a
difficult financial situation needing advice, do you go find a homeless
person and ask them for help with your finances? I think not. You go to
somebody who has experience and has proven themselves accomplished with
finances. When you are sick, do you call up a hypochondriac, or do you go
to someone trained with a track record of success in helping people to
outlive their ailments? Christ is saying to us, “Come to Me, if you're
struggling with temptation because I've got a track record of success
against it.” There's not one temptation you've ever faced that Jesus didn't
face somehow, some way. That's what the writer of Hebrews means when He
says, "in all points."
Do you think that the temptation recorded in Matthew four is the only
temptation He endured? I don’t think so. I wonder what it must have been
like for Jesus as a boy when Joseph His father died. Could not Satan even
then have whispered in His ear, "Now you've got to provide for your family,
you're the oldest son, why don't you steal?" What about the temptation of
gloating over His enemies when He confounded them with His wisdom? Wasn't
He tempted to gloat? What about when Mary Magdalene, a beautiful woman,
took her hair and wiped His feet? Could Satan have been there to try to
entice Him to lust? Friends, in every temptation you've ever been tempted,
He was tempted, and “yet without sin.” You can come to Him. And you can
come to Him knowing He has the know-how and the ability to get you through
your temptation without sin. To be tempted is not sin, but what you do with
the temptation can be.
This call to come to our High Priest is a call of grace.
“Let us come boldly and to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy.”
It's a call to receive forgiveness. Again we must remember that the writer
of Hebrews is writing to a church that has been persecuted. Some are
teetering in their faith. They're weak. They've been wounded, and they're
wondering, “I don't know if I can handle this much longer. Lord, where are
you? Maybe they're right, maybe Judaism is the way to go, this has been a
lie.” But the High Priest is there and He is saying, “Come, oh won’t you
come? You’re growing weak in your fight for faith. Come to me, I'll
forgive you. There's mercy. There's mercy!”
Oh, dear friend, God is not quick to anger. When you and I sin, God is not
quick to blow the proverbial “top” like you and I are. My children have
done things, that although wrong, didn't deserve my harsh reaction. But
quick tempered we sometimes are, and in quick temperedness we say things
that we later regret and must go back and apologize for. But God, our
Father, is not like you or me. He's not quick tempered, but rather “slow to
anger and plenteous in mercy.” It's a call of grace. Don't sit there today
and say, “I can't come because of what I've done this week. I didn't fight
the fight of faith well. I am full of unbelief. I didn't trust God. I
can't come.” No, the call is a call of grace. His mercy seat is where the
atonement is offered. Don’t you remember that He's passed through the
veil? He's at the mercy seat of God, and He's your blood sacrifice.
It's also a call to receive the sufficiency of Christ. He says, "Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need.” Oh thank God for this verse. It's
one of those promises you cling to. Christ is saying, “You are not
sufficient to fight the fight against unbelief. You need help. You need
me, I'm a High Priest. I can stand between you and it. I can preserve you
because I've been there and I've conquered. You need faith to fight
unbelief. Come to Me and I'll give you grace, undeserved kindness, giving
you the desire and the power to obey me when you need it. “
The words, “in time of need,” literally means, “in the nick of time.” If
you feel like you are hanging by your fingernails, thinking God is overdue
in His rescuing of you, remember, He isn't. It's just not the nick of time
yet. The nick of time will be when your fingernails slip and you're falling
and about ready to crash. He swoops down and catches you in His loving,
compassionate arms and preserves you. God knows how much you're able to
bear, “but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may
be able to bear it.” The truth is none of us can fight against temptation
alone. None of us can fight the battles against unbelief alone. We need
God's grace.
Lastly, it's a call that we must give an answer. He will not be put off.
God has extended a call and if I'm going to win the battle, I'd better
answer. If you're going to be victorious in the fight against unbelief,
you'd better answer this call. Here's how you come to this throne of
grace. First, do not come timidly. Do not be timid. He says, "Let us
therefore come boldly." Yes, you sinned. You failed. You trusted and
relied in yourself more than you trusted God for what was good and
pleasurable. But He said come boldly anyway. How can I come boldly if I've
sinned? Because at the right hand of the Father is a High Priest
interceding on your behalf who was the sacrifice for all our sins. Let's
come boldly. Let us come boldly right here and now. To not come boldly is
to suggest that God is a liar and that you cannot trust Him. Is that your
confession? That is the confession of one who has lost the fight against
unbelief. If you have sinned grievously this week and have not already come
to the throne of grace to receive the very thing you do not deserve but
absolutely need, then you should be running to God right now. You ought to
be running; you need to run and boldly at that. Come boldly!
Second, you must come believing. Don’t dare bring before such a gracious
throne thoughts as to being turned away. Believe. I close with the words
of a poem I found this week. And before I read it to you, I want you to
hear this. There have been times when I have experienced such heartache
that it didn't seem that my High Priest intervened when I wanted Him to and
the way I wanted Him to. And I've not always believed and fought the good
fight of faith, but I have never known Him to forsake me because of my weak
faith.
His heart is
made of tenderness,
His soul is
fill’d with love.
Touched with
a sympathy within,
He knows our
feeble frame;
He knows
what sore temptations mean,
For he has
felt the same.
Then let our
humble faith address
His mercy
and his power;
We shall
obtain delivering grace,
In every
trying hour.
Amen. |
