let's pray a gracious god and heavenly father we thank you for this opportunity to once again open your word and to consider the lively oracles of god the word that is living and active that is piercing and that is revealing and so father we do pray that you would open our eyes now that we might behold wonderful things in your beautiful word we pray you would take our minds and think through them and take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you take my lips and speak through them and what we know not please teach us and what we have not please give us and what we are not please make us offer the glory and praise of your daily beloved son who lives with you and who reigns with you together with the holy spirit one god forever blessed and forever praised amen amen well brothers and sisters we arrive at a wonderful turning point in our study of this letter to the hebrews we've arrived at chapter 4 verses 14 to 16 which in many many ways is one of the most encouraging passages in all the bible and i pray that as we look at this passage together this evening that you and i will both find glorious grace to help us in our time of need just to summarize briefly where we've been so far the the main the main theme of this wonderful sermon this word of exhortation in the letter to the hebrews the main idea is that jesus is better i've said that pretty much every bible study but you need to remember and if you wanted to to summarize in chapter one we see that jesus is the superior final word or revelation from god he's better than the prophets he's better than anything that came before he's the son incarnate jesus is superior to angels that's what the writer talked about in chapter one amen chapter two jesus is superior to moses uh he's superior to joshua and what we're gonna find and so basically if you're gonna summarize this is this is really what he's been saying from chapter one all the way up to the end of chapter 3. that's really a summary he's the superior word he's superior than angels he's superior to moses he's superior to joshua and and and along the way the writer of hebrews has given us several frightening warnings we've we've been thinking about this warning that he's been giving us in chapter two he says pay closer attention to what we've heard don't drift from it in chapter three he's issued several warnings related to psalm 95 about entering god's rest and so the writer of hebrews is a is a wonderful pastor he doesn't just frighten his hearers with the sober-minded warning of failing to take hold and enter god's rest he also tenderly and gently reminds us and points us to our savior and he comforts us with the grace that is found in christ alone and that's exactly what he does uh tonight after after telling us in chapter 3 after telling us in chapter 3 um excuse me chapter four sorry i'm forgetting what chapter we're in uh after telling us in chapter chapter four verse really verse 11 down to verse 13. he said that the word of god no creature is hidden from his sight and all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him by whom we must give an account and that's a frightening it's a frightening warning sober morning and so what does he tell us beginning in chapter 4 verse verse 15 let's look over first of all we want to make sure that we understand that words have meanings context is king scripture interprets scripture and this evening as we look for the glory and grace of jesus i pray you will find that glory and grace wonderful so let's let's read our passage and then we'll break it down together since then we have a great high priest who's passed through the heavens jesus the son of god let us hold fast our confession for we do not have do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize up with us to unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin let us then let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may find grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need oh brothers and sisters there is so much glory in this passage we may have to take two weeks on it but let's just get the general sketch and flow of the argument this evening and lord willing we may come back to it next time you look at our passage there's really two main ideas um there's two main was one main idea but two main applications and i've i've put those on the far left we have two exhortations you find the first one there in verse 14 you see right here let us hold fast our confession and then the next idea is let us draw near okay and so what we're going to find if i was going to summarize this passage in a sentence i would say because jesus is our great and sympathetic high priest let us hold fast our confession and let us draw near to his throne that's the main idea of our passage so these these exhortations everything in this passage everything in verses 14 to 16 is intended to support to motivate to encourage each one of us who knows jesus to hold fast our confession and to draw near to jesus now let's see how the writer supports undergirds and uh exhorts us to those glorious realities okay first verse 14 begins with the phrase since then you see that um this is an inferential particle or a conjunction he's pointing us back to what he's just said and i actually take this as to be a turning point in the letter a turning point in the argument so what i would say in verse 14 is this this is really looking back to pretty much everything he has said so far think of verses 14 to 16 of chapter 4 is the writer of hebrews is drawing a major conclusion to everything he has said from really chapter 1 all the way to 4 13.
some don't take it that way but i take it that way this is this passage is summarizing uh and pulling together glorious bright strands of the tapestry of hebrews and he's drawing it into a beautiful uh knot in his in his arguments major turning point so let's look at verses look for look at verse 14. notice what he he says that we have notice we have right now present tense we have we have a great high priest you see that we have a great high priest so this little the old testament talks about a high priest but this this language of great high priest um what makes what makes jesus such a great high priest well first we're told that he has passed through the heavens and secondly we're told that it's jesus the son of god so we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens um your bible may say something different it may say something like he has uh ascended into heaven and i think that gets at the same idea remember back in chapter one verse three remember we read in chapter 1 verse 3 um that after making purification for sins what did jesus do he sat down at the right hand of the of the majesty on high so this language of passing through the heavens refers to to this reality jesus christ died on the cross and what happens three days later jesus rose again from the dead and think about this just like the high priest in the old testament under the old covenant would would would actually go into the holy of holies the holy place on the day of atonement and as it were make an offering a sacrifice for the sins of the people he would offer a sacrifice for himself for the sins of the people jesus christ the son of god our great high priest has actually gone into heaven he's ascended into heaven and he has presented himself as both priest mediator as well as atoning sacrifice to the father before the throne and that sacrifice has been accepted and he has set down at the right hand of the majesty on high and so that's what makes jesus such a great high priest it's what he has done for us but it's not only what he's done for us it's who he is he is jesus the one who has saved us from our sins he is the incarnate son of god he is a transcendent high priest no high priest can compare to jesus no high priest who has gone before him can compare he is in a category all by himself he has an astonishing superiority that makes him such a great high priest now if this is true if he is the god man our great high priest what should that motivate us to do well it's going to draw this conclusion well what should it do we should what hold fast hold firmly our confession we should hold fast our confession or our profession of our faith the faith of the gospel this new covenant gospel that we've received we should just as we read in chapter 3 verse 1 we should we should hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering and that wonderful we should hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering because we have such a great high priest it's not because we're so great it's because he's so great it's because the gospel is so great why would we want to give give up the gospel when it's the greatest news in the whole world why would we want to walk away from jesus he's the greatest savior he's the only savior he's our great high priest and so what the writer of hebrews does in verse 15 is he's going to give us another reason he's going to explain well again we have another reason it's not just because he has astonishing superiority that might frighten us right it might frighten us i love the way calvin put it he says the son of god not only excelled in glory so that would be what i would say here he excels in glory but he is also endued with an equal kindness and compassion towards us so i would say what we find here is grace the glory and the grace of jesus so he's just demonstrated his glory look at verse 15. he's going to say we do not have a high priest who is unable now that's that's a got two negatives there right we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses so so so for example think about what he's saying he's just said how great jesus is but you might make the wrong inference from that you might say something like well if jesus is so high and lifted up if jesus is so exalted if jesus is so separate from sinners if jesus is so utterly astonishingly superior to us well then how in the world can he relate to us at all what kind of mediator is he if he's so exalted if he's so holy if he's so innocent if he's so unsustained if he's so separated from sinners if he's so exalted above the heavens which is what we're told in chapter 7 verse 20 6.
well can he relate to us at all can he sympathize with us at all notice what he says well we don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize in other words there's this astonishing sympathy that jesus has towards us he is in fact able to sympathize this is astonishing with our weaknesses incredible he is going to say he's going to make a statement over in chapter 5 just in a few verses chapter 5 verse 2 he's able to sympathize with our weaknesses and chapter 5 verse 2 says he's able to deal [Music] gently with us oh that's amazing he's able to deal gently with us he's able to sympathize with us he's able to not only come alongside us but he's able to help us notice this he's not like this so he says jesus is not like this but see that little word but well what kind of what kind of high priest is he but so he was going to positively negative positive not this way but this way but he is one notice this who in every respect has been tempted or tested as we are yet without sin isn't that wonderful now if you want a wonderful meditation is just just start going through all the passages in the new testament that talk about jesus being the sinless savior he's the sinless one he's the sinless savior i'm going to write down a few you can look them up we read about this in luke chapter 23 verse 41. we read about this in john chapter 7 verse and john chapter 8 verse 40 6 i believe in john chapter 14 verse 30. you read john first john first john 3 5.
my favorite one is probably this one second corinthians 5 verse 21 god made him who knew no sin to be sin in order that through him we might become the righteousness of god you can see this in first peter chapter 1 verse 19. you see this in chapter 2 verse 22 and chapter 3 verse 18 the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us to god chapter first peter chapter 2 verse 22 it says he committed no sin neither was deceit found in his mouth first peter chapter 1 verse 19. it says chapter 1 verse 19 it says about jesus he is the lamb without blemish or spot now so why am i telling you all this it's it's because we have a high priest there's no high priest like jesus jesus was tempted in every respect jesus can relate to us when we are going through temptation and that's what makes him deal so gently with us he's a sympathetic and faithful high priest so what should that do what should that do to us what should it do that he's such a glorious and gracious sympathetic high priest what what should it do for us that jesus is so highly exalted and yet so humble that he can sympathize with us that he can relate to us that he can deal gently with us he's not ashamed of us he's not ashamed to be called our elder brother chapter 2 verses 11 and 12.
what should we do well he tells us what we should do right here here's the inference here's the application let us then there's that little connecting word you see then or therefore let us then let us therefore draw near let us approach we we can approach approach god we can approach notice says i love this with confidence to the throne of grace now first this action he tells us how to do it how should we approach the throne of grace he says with confidence with other translations with boldness in that great i mean think about only the high priest only once a year could ever access the throne the as it were the the the holy of holies which was a a shadow of the heavenly reality only once a year and even then with trepidation right but we the the curtain has been torn we have access through jesus to the holy place the holy of holies and we can go into that place with confidence with boldness it's incredible think about worshipers would draw near to the sacrifice to the sanctuary the high priest would access the holy place on the on the day of atonement we can go anytime we want with boldness not in ourselves but because of jesus and notice where are we going we draw near where i love this it's just such a two aspects of we're going to the throne the throne of almighty god where christ is seated where the father is enthroned we're going to the throne of god which ought to frighten us but yet when we go there it's a throne of grace we're entering the sanctuary of the holy one of israel in heaven and we go with boldness and we go to receive grace our our father our god is a it's a god of mercy and he sits on a throne of grace when we go with confidence and draw near we're going to receive grace how do we know that because that's what he says if this is how we go and this is where we go why do we go why do we go well this is the y so this is how this is where and this is why you see how i'm getting these these i'm getting all this just because of these connecting words with two and in order that well there's a twofold purpose what's the twofold purpose in order that number one we may receive mercy we need mercy you need mercy i need mercy i'm a sinner i need god to show me mercy every single day i need new mercies every single day i need me mercy every hour and guess what we can draw near with confidence and boldness to the throne so that we may receive mercy that's the purpose and that wonderful and the second purpose is so that we may find grace to help in time of need when we draw near to the throne we can be confident that we will find grace it's a throne of grace we're going to find grace to do what to help us grace to help us that wonderful god gives us grace to help in time of need that is when we're going through temptation right we need help well he is able to help us in our temptations he's able to help us in our temptations the son of god excelled in glory but he's also been endued with equal kindness and compassion to help us and access to god is open to all if you're listening to this but for some reason if you're listening to this and you don't know jesus access to god the god who made you the god whom you have sinned against his access to him is open to any and all who come to him relying on jesus christ alone as our mediator so just like paul said let me erase this real quick just like paul said some people think ephesians written by art that uh the hebrews is written by paul but paul says something very similar whether or not that's who wrote hebrews but look with it look what he says in ephesians chapter 3 verse 12.
