Sunday Sermons

In Hebrews 6:13-20, the author shows us how God’s promises are

completely and totally unbreakable. This gives us assurance that God will keep us as His own

and never forsake us.

God’s promise is binding.

God’s promise reflects His unchangeable character.

God went to the greatest length to keep His promise.

Good morning, Harvest. It’s always a good morning when we wake up to a new day of life and

it’s especially good when we wake up on a Sunday morning to be with our family and it’s very

especially good when we have a baptism on a Sunday morning and celebrate the work God has

done in the hearts of others. Praise God for His good work!

Before we get into the message today, just a reminder to encourage you all to be praying over

the vision initiatives for this year. They’re on your bulletin. Take that home. Put it on your fridge

or wherever you’ll see it. Let’s keep lifting these things to the Lord, asking Him to move in

mighty ways in our church this year. God is so good!

Four times in our lives, Heather and I have had to get a lawyer to represent us in court so that

we could adopt our precious children. When dealing with legal matters, it’s almost always best

to get a lawyer. I know there are times people choose to represent themselves, but quite

honestly, that rarely goes in their favor. Representing yourself in court is not recommended.

You need someone to represent you. You need an attorney. You’ll get nowhere with the court if

you don’t have one. That’s the way it works in the legal system.

Believe it or not, it works the same way in the heavenly legal system. You don’t want to show

up in the heavenly court room and represent yourself before God. That won’t turn out well. No

one can represent themselves in heaven and have a favorable outcome. No one. You need an

advocate.

This morning, as we continue our study in Hebrews, we’ve come to chapter 4 and we saw last

week how Jesus offers us a greater rest. The rest Jesus offers us is greater even than the rest

Joshua gave the Israelites when they finally entered the Promised Land.

And when we left last week, we saw that the only way to receive God’s rest was to have God’s

Word do spiritual surgery on our hearts. We need God’s Word to show us where we still cling to

idols in our lives, repent of those, and enter His rest.

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From there, the author does another one of his brilliant transitions. We’ve seen the author of

Hebrews transition from one topic to another and he’s brilliant at it. In fact, this passage,

Hebrews 4:14-16 is another transition, another segue, into his next topic. This is why I had

George read the last few verses from the passage last time along with our passage today

because I wanted you to see that the author of Hebrews ties the last topic and the next topic

together. He shows us in these three short verses that we need Jesus as our advocate to enter

God’s rest and at the same time, he transitions to talking about Jesus as our great High Priest.

Jesus brings us the greater rest than even Joshua did for the Israelites. How does He do that? By

being our great high priest. That’s what I want to talk about this morning. Jesus is our great high

priest. What makes Him our great high priest? That’s the question I want to ask: “What makes

Jesus our great high priest?”

So, the flow of the argument looks like this: Jesus is our greater rest. He gives us our greater

rest by being our great high priest and there are three things in this passage that makes Him

our great high priest. Do you follow that?

Maybe I could say it this way, “why should I trust Jesus as my advocate, my great high priest

who brings me the rest my soul needs?”

That’s what we’re going to look at. Three things, from this passage, that qualifies Jesus to be

our great high priest, our advocate, the One who represents us before the Father, who brings

us rest.

So, if you haven’t done so already, please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4, as we consider

verses 14-16. If you’re using one of the blue Bible provided for you in the seats, you’ll find

today’s passage on page 1003.

Follow along with me as I read in verse 14.

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son

of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Here’s your first point, what makes Jesus our great high priest? Point one: Jesus has perfect

credentials.

Notice what it says about Jesus. He is our great high priest. Now, let’s give a definition to that

title. What is a high priest? We don’t operate with priests today, not in protestant circles

anyway.

In the Old Testament, the high priest was the guy over all the priests. Think of him as the

supervisor of priests. He oversaw the other priests. He was the only one who could wear the

Urim and Thummim, which were small, dice-like stones used to make decisions. This means

people went to the high priest to discover the will of God.

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But most importantly, the high priest was the one who advocated for the people of Israel on

the Day or Atonement.

Do you remember back in Leviticus we talked about the Day of Atonement? On that day, the

high priest entered the Holy of Holies? Remember that?

In Leviticus 16, we are told the high priest entered the holy of holies- the inner room in the

tabernacle where the ark of the covenant was. It was the white-hot center of the presence of

God. Only the high priest could enter the holy of holies and only once a year on the Day of

Atonement. He did this to make atonement, that word means “to cover”, it’s reconciliation

between sinful man and holy God. The Priest did this for himself and for the people so the

whole nation could be declared clean. That was the point of the Day of Atonement.

The high priest entered the holy of holies. What our passage in Hebrews tells us is that Jesus

went way beyond the earthly Holy of Holies to advocate for us. Jesus entered heaven itself.

The text says: Jesus “passed through the heavens”. In other words, He went in to the great holy

of holies, the true holy of holies, the heavenly holy of holies. He entered heaven itself. Jesus

didn’t represent us in a place made by human hands, the tabernacle or the temple, Jesus went

into the very throne room of God and represented us before the face of YHWH.

Perhaps think of it like this, Jesus represented us all the way up to the Supreme Court. He

advocated on our behalf before the great judge of all. That’s what makes Him our great high

priest.

But not only that, as if that weren’t enough, Jesus is the “Son of God”. Look at the verse again.

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son

of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Now, this is the first time the author has combined the name Jesus and the Son of God. He’s

hinted of this before, but now, it’s like a climax, he brings the two together. Jesus is the Son of

God. So, what we have here is the human name: “Jesus” and the heavenly title: “Son of God”

bringing the dual nature of Jesus together. He is the God-man. He is God in the flesh. Jesus, the

Son of God.

If you think back, we covered in chapters 1 and 2, how Jesus was greater than the angels. We

saw how He was greater in His divinity, He is God and we saw He is greater than angels in His

humanity, because of the atoning work that He did. Here, the author brings those two concepts

together. Jesus, the Son of God.

These are His credentials. This is what makes Jesus the great high priest. So, because of all that,

let us hold fast our confession.

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What does he mean there? This is a challenge, in light of all that Christ is and all that He has

done, to hold fast our allegiance to Him. That’s what the word: “confession” means there. It’s

our allegiance. It’s what we claim to believe. It’s our commitment to who He is and what He has

done for us.

The term: “hold fast” is a Greek word that means: “to seize”, “to apprehend”, even “to adhere

to”. In other words, we don’t loosely handle our allegiance to Christ, we cleave to it. We adhere

to it. We fasten ourselves to it.

I had previously head of the David Letterman skit in which a guy in a Velcro suit runs and leaps

up onto a mini trampoline and then attaches himself to a Velcro wall and adheres to the wall.

Anyone seen that? It’s ridiculous, but funny too. I pulled it up this week on YouTube just to say

I’d seen it. That’s the idea here. Attaching ourselves to Jesus. Like a Velcro suit, we run and

adhere to Him. We stick to what we believe. We hold fast our confession.

If we follow the argument in chapter 4, Jesus gives us a better rest by cutting us open with the

Word of God to expose where our hearts are rebellious to Him, we go to Him, through

repentance, and because of who He is, our high priest, He is able to advocate for us to the

Father and give us that soul-satisfying rest.

Why is He able to do that? Because of His credentials. He has passed through the heavens, He’s

Jesus, the Son of God, so stick to your allegiance to Him.

Jesus has perfect credentials. When you hire an attorney, you want someone who knows what

they’re doing, someone who is very good at their job. How do you figure that out? You look at

their credentials: their education, their pass successes, their reputation. And when you find a

good attorney, you do what they say or you likely won’t achieve a favorable outcome in court.

Same with Jesus, He is our great high priest, with perfect credentials, to represent us to the

Father, so don’t neglect Him. How do we neglect Him?

Remember, the author is writing to those Christians who are discouraged and questioning the

Christian life. They’re wondering if they should go back to Judaism, like the Israelites in the

wilderness complained and wanted to go back to Egypt. The author is saying: “you have no idea

what you would be throwing away if you went back.” Don’t go back. Don’t give up. Hold fast to

your confession.

And I’m pressing in to you the same encouragement, don’t give in, don’t give up. Now, maybe

you are in a place in life where you are so discouraged, you’re actually tempted to give up.

Perhaps someone out there is at a place in their Christian life where that’s a reality. My

encouragement would be: “don’t give up. Don’t give in.” Christ, the Son of God, went into the

heavens for you because He wanted you. Think about that. Heaven and earth would not stop

Him from saving and getting you.

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But also, I know most of you probably aren’t at that point. You’re probably not ready to throw

in the towel with your Christian faith, but let me ask you this, have you grown complacent in

any area of your life? To be complacent is to be unconcerned with something so there’s no

motivation to change it.

Have you ever thought: “this is as good as it gets?” “I’ll never get beyond this point.” “I’ll never

change in this area?” Every thought anything like that?

Have you ever thought: “this is as far as we’ll get in our marriage. We’ll never get beyond this

point in our communication. That’s just the way he is, that’s just the way she is. There’s not

changing it.” Every thought anything like that?

Or what about this: “that person will never accept Jesus. They’ve heard the Gospel over and

over and they’ll never accept.”

Or how about with God? Have you ever thought: “I’ve prayed about this and God hasn’t

answered, it’s just not going to happen.” Perhaps you’ve even dared to think: “He doesn’t care

about this area of my life.”

Complacency. I don’t know why God chooses not to act or, better said this way: appears to

choose not to act. I don’t know why it seems God is not active in some area of your life, but rest

assured, God is working. We sing a song during worship sometimes, Waymaker. The Bridge

goes like this.

Even when I can’t see it, You’re working

Even when I don’t feel it You’re working

You never stop, You never stop working

And that’s the truth. We can’t often see or feel His work, but He is not idle. God is always

working in you and for you. He never stops working. Don’t give in to complacency. Don’t think

any area of your life, or anyone’s life is hopeless, God is at work. Jesus went into the very

presence of God on your behalf don’t grow complacent. Look to the One with perfect

credentials.

Jesus has perfect credentials, cling to Him. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Not only that, look at

our second point, how is Jesus our great high priest? Jesus understands us. Look at verse 15.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one

who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

This is probably one of the most comforting and hopeful verses in all of scripture. God

understands.

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It’s interesting to think about this, the high priests in the Old Testament understood the people

they ministered to. They understood the weakness, their propensity toward sin. They

understood temptation, because, they too, were human, just like those they ministered to. A

good priest would have been understanding when an Israelite brought in their little lamb to be

slaughtered for their sin. The priests had to make sacrifices for their own sins. There was

understanding between priest and layman.

So, we might be tempted to think: “Jesus, who penetrated heaven because He is divine, can’t

understand me and my, mere human, struggles.” But He can. The text tells us right here that He

can sympathize with us. That word: “sympathize” means exactly what it says: He has sympathy

for us in our weakness. He is compassionate toward us. He understands. Why?

Because He has been tempted. Look at the text, “in every respect… as we are…”

He has been tempted in every way as we have been. You might think: “I remember when Satan

came to test Jesus, He was only tempted in three ways. How is that being tempted in every way

that I have been tempted?”

That was not the only time Jesus was tempted. Jesus was human, as well as divine, and because

He was human, His humanness was tempted all throughout His life just as you and I are

tempted all throughout our lives.

But let’s dig deeper here. If we just focused on the temptations of Satan, recorded for us in

Matthew 4 and Luke 4, we do see three distinct temptations that cover broad categories of

temptations. Follow me on this:

Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread and thus to satisfy a longing in His flesh, the

longing of hunger.

Jesus was taken to the pinnacle of the temple and told to toss Himself down and the angels

would catch Him, God would protect Him. In other words, it would have been an abuse of His

own power to do this.

Finally, Satan tempted Jesus to bow down and worship him and he, Satan, would have given

Jesus the kingdoms of the world. Bypass the cross and just take the world’s kingdoms for

yourself.

In other words, what were these three temptations? The lust of the flesh, the pride of life and

the lust of the eyes, 1 John 2:16.

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of

life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

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In other words, in just those three temptations, Jesus was faced, in broad terms, with the

gamut of temptation.

Sinclair Ferguson, a Scottish Theologian and author, said it this way…

And since He always withstood that temptation the way we don’t, He knows what it’s like to be

tempted to the extremity. When Hebrews says God’s Son was tempted in all points as we are,

obviously it doesn’t mean that He experienced every single temptation in every situation of the

sum total of Christians who have ever lived. It means there’s no dimension of temptation and

testing He didn’t experience to the full.

He truly was tempted as we were. Look at the last part of verse 15, “yet without sin”. That’s

fascinating. You and I have no idea what that’s like. To be tempted and never give in. This is an

essential doctrinal point. Jesus never sinned. He was sinless.

1 Peter 2:21-22 reads…

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example,

so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his

mouth.

Jesus, Himself, said to His accusers in John 8:46…

Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

Why is this so important? Because, had Jesus sinned, He would not have been the perfect

sacrifice needed for you and me. The whole idea of the Levitical, sacrificial system using a

spotless sacrifice, no blemish or deformity, was to symbolize the perfection needed for an

atoning sacrifice. Without that, the sacrifice is void.

This is why I can’t die for someone else’s sins and you can’t die for someone else’s sins. We

have sins of our own that would void any sacrifice on behalf of others. He had to be sinless to

be the perfect sacrifice.

But let’s go a step beyond that. If Jesus had sinned, if perfect God had rejected Himself and

sinned… what in the world? When it’s put that way, it doesn’t make sense, but let’s just go with

it. What would have happened?

I once asked a professor that question: “what would have happened if Jesus had sinned?” He

kinda chucked and said: “I’ll put it this way, the universe would have melted like someone going

into a nuclear power plant and turning off the coolant systems.” All creation would have

become nothing. Praise God He didn’t sin!

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It’s vitally important that Jesus never sinned. All of creation hinged on that. All of salvation

hinged on that. Jesus sympathizes with us, having experienced temptation like us, yet without

sin. What a marvelous, comforting verse.

Why is it comforting? Because we have a high priest, one who advocates for us to the Father,

who understands us.

Isn’t it always a comfort when you speak to someone who’s been there? Someone who knows?

Jesus has been there! Jesus understands us.

Jesus knows what it’s like to be tempted. If you think: “Nobody knows the sins I struggle with.

Nobody knows the temptations I face.” You’re wrong. Jesus knows. He’s been there. He

sympathizes with us. He does not excuse our sin. Please hear me on this, Jesus does not excuse

sin. Sin is still sin. Rebellion is still rebellion. Evil is still evil. He will, by no means, clear the guilty.

But He does sympathize. He says: “I’ve been there. I’ve felt that. I know what it’s like to be

tempted.”

Do you know what this should do? It should motivate us to share our struggles with Jesus. You

know the place in the Lord’s prayer where Jesus says: “forgive our debts…” That word for

“debts” means “sins”. That’s an invitation to share your sins with your Savior. Jesus,

compassionate toward us who are weak, invites us to share our sins with Him. Tell Him how

we’ve failed. You might think: “He knows, He’s omniscient.” Sure, no doubt, but He’s an inviting

God. He’s a welcoming God. He wants you to share with Him. Be open. Be specific.

Repentance of sin should include naming your sins, naming your temptations, being upfront

and honest with God about all of it.

And let me say this, if you take the time to do that, if you sit down and repent of your sins and

admit the areas in your life where you are tempted, you will sense relational growth between

you and God. It’s astonishing. Try it. Take some time this week to do that repent and you’re

your sins to God and watch what it does to your relationship with God.

Jesus understands us. Last point…

Because Jesus is our great high priest who has gone into heaven, is divine and was human and

because He sympathizes with us in our weakness, yet without sin… Jesus offers what we truly

need.

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help in time of need.

This is an invitation to draw near. Ring a bell? That was the title of our series through Leviticus.

The Israelites were given the prescriptions needed to draw near to YHWH and we are invited to

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do the same, only, we have a great high priest who has gone into the heavenly holy of holies

and thus has secured full, unhindered access for us to the Father.

See, even though the Israelites had a high priest who advocated for them with YHWH, there

were limitations. The people could only come so far. The high priest was the only one who

could go into the white-hot center of God’s presence. But in Christ, He has done all the work to

grant us full access to the Father.

See, the high priest could never take anyone into the holy of holies with them. But Jesus

pierced through the heavens so you and I could have the same access He has. We have full

access to the Father.

Going back to the Lord’s prayer for a moment, when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, how

were they to address God? “Our Father in heaven…” Did you know, that was the first time

people were encouraged to address YHWH as Father? In the Old Testament, God is referred to

as “Father”, but it wasn’t until Jesus taught His disciples to pray that people were encouraged

to refer to God as Father.

Christ has granted us full access to draw near with confidence. That word means: “boldness,

fearlessness, courage”. We can simply approach God. We can draw near to Him anytime,

anywhere, with no sacrificial prerequisite. Any Old Testament Israelite would have been

appalled at this idea.

Now, hear me, I’m not saying we can approach God irreverently. We talked about this last

week, we should always have a reverent awe of our heavenly Father for who He is, but

nevertheless, we are invited, the author encourages his readers by saying “Let us then”, come

to God! Come to God. Draw near to God.

The author writes: …draw near to the throne of grace…” not the throne of judgement. Not the

throne of condemnation. The throne of grace. The throne of favor. The throne that invites us.

A few years back I had the privilege to meet Dave Harvey, he’s the president of GCC, the Great

Commission Collective, the organization we are affiliated with. I talked about GCC a couple

weeks back and their passion to plant churches. We want to be a part of that. But I had the

great privilege to meet the president of GCC, the top dog you might say. Guess what he did? He

gave me his phone number. He gave me his phone number and said: “I want you to contact me

if you ever need anything.”

Wow! Really? Yes. I have access to the president of GCC anytime. That’s awesome and

encouraging that he would do that but friends, that’s nothing compared to the access we have

with the Father. We have access to the throne of grace. And what do we find there?

that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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Jesus gives us what we truly need. We receive mercy in the sense that we receive forgiveness of

sins and grace when we are tempted because our Lord was also tempted as we are, yet without

sin. We are to go to Him anytime to get either forgiveness or help.

Jesus says: “Did you mess up? Come to Me. I paid for that. There is forgiveness for that.” Wow!

And by the way, there is no sin He won’t forgive. You might think: “You don’t know what I’ve

done.” I don’t care what you’ve done. No sin is beyond His forgiveness. I am convinced, had

Hitler turned to Christ, he would have received forgiveness. There’s no evidence that he did,

but I believe whole-heartedly he would have received forgiveness, had he sought for it.

Believe this. One of the things that holds Christians back from becoming the bold men and

women God wants them to be is deep down, they don’t really believe they are forgiven. Deep

down, their conscious bothers them. It won’t leave them alone and, although they can quell it

at times, it comes back and they don’t really believe this. Hear me now, God forgives your sin.

It’s was paid for a the cross. You confess it, He forgives it, see 1 John 1:9.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness.

Memorize that verse and quote it to yourself. Get this truth down deep. Deeply believing in

God’s forgiveness of your sin will bring you that soul-satisfying rest we talked about last week.

But also, there’s this, through our great high priest, we “find grace to help in time of need.” In

the moments you are tempted, tempted to sin, tempted to despair, tempted to fear, tempted

to rely on your own righteousness rather than Christ’s righteousness, turn to Him for help. He is

right there ready to help.

So many times, the reason we fail and sin is because we don’t turn to Him. He promises help.

1 Corinthians 10:13 reads…

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let

you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of

escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Make this a practice every day. Turn to Christ for help. Do it till it’s automatic. You sense the

temptation, you turn to Christ. You ask your high priest for help. Make that a habitual practice

in your life and watch God provide that way of escape that you may able to endure it.

Sometimes this comes in just gaining the inner strength to resist. Sometimes God simply gives

you the strength you need. Sometimes God brings a verse to mind that you can meditate on or

a song that helps you overcome. Sometimes God brings a friend to mind that you can call or

text and say: “hey, I need help here!” My small group dudes are there and ready to pray for me,

when I need it. I appreciate them. Do you run to Christ for help in time of need? Is there an

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ongoing conversation with Him in your head? Do you have scripture ready to quote in response

to temptation as our Savior did? Do you have friends you can reach out to who will pray for

you? The grace to help in time of need is there, take it! Draw near with confidence.

Jesus is our great high priest. He has perfect credentials. He understands us and He offers what

we truly need. And this is why He went to the cross. You know, a good lawyer will stand in the

gap between you and the court. They will go to whatever lengths they need to go to in order to

represent you well. They will research and file the right paperwork and stand before the judge

fully prepared to argue your case.

Jesus left His throne, went to the greatest depths, experienced the most painful events in

human history, so He could properly represent you to the Father. When He prayed for the cup

to pass from Him, He even experienced the silence of heaven so you and I could be met with

grace.

So, don’t for a moment, try to represent yourself to the Father. You need an advocate. You

need a high priest. You need Jesus. Hold fast your confession and draw near with confidence.