March 9, 2025 • 38 mins
Pastor of Formation & Mission Benjamin Kandt continues our sermon series on Hebrews, preaching from Hebrews 4:14-5:10, emphasizing two main commands: "hold fast" and "draw near." He highlights that believers facing trials and cultural pressures should firmly hold onto their confession of faith, openly affirming Jesus as their Savior, even when it's difficult. Jesus, as our "great high priest," uniquely qualifies for this role because He is sinless, fully human, and has personally experienced trials and temptations. Jesus learned obedience through suffering, showing believers how to faithfully endure their own hardships by trusting, honestly expressing their desires, and ultimately surrendering their will to God.
Furthermore, believers are invited to confidently "draw near" to God, trusting Jesus’ sympathy and gentleness toward human weakness. Unlike humans who often respond harshly or critically, Jesus responds with compassion. This gentle, sympathetic posture invites Christians to approach God's "throne of grace" freely, expecting mercy and timely help in their moments of need.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello everyone, this is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Please join me in the prayer ofillumination.
Heavenly Father, we bow in yourpresence.
(00:27):
Let your word be our rule, yourspirit, our teacher, and your
greater glory our supremeconcern.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,amen.
Today's scripture reading istaken from Hebrews 4, beginning
in verse 14.
Since then, we have a greathigh priest who has passed
(00:50):
through the heavens Jesus, theSon of God.
Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high
priest who is unable tosympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who, in every respect,has been tempted, as we are yet
without sin.
Let us then, with confidence,draw near to the throne of grace
(01:14):
that we may receive mercy andfind grace to help in time of
need, for every high priestchosen from among men is
appointed to act on behalf ofmen in relation to God, to offer
gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He can deal gently with theignorant and wayward, since he
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himself is beset with weaknessBecause of this, he is obligated
to offer sacrifice for his ownsins, just as he does for those
of the people.
And no one takes this honor forhimself, but only when called
by God.
Just as Aaron was, so alsoChrist did not exalt himself to
(01:58):
be made a high priest, but wasappointed by him, who said to
him you are my son.
Today I have begotten you.
As he says also in anotherplace, you are a priest forever.
After the order of Melchizedek,in the days of his flesh, Jesus
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offered up prayers andsupplications with loud cries
and tears to him, who was ableto save him from death, and he
was heard because of hisreverence.
Although he was a son, helearned obedience.
Through what he suffered andbeing made perfect.
He became the source of eternalsalvation to all who obey him,
(02:41):
being designated by God a highpriest after the order of
Melchizedek.
This is God's word.
Please be seated.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
This is one of those many passages in scripture where
the possibilities, the grandeur, the amazingness of the text
far outpaces my own abilities,and I feel that, and so I bought
you a book, and by you I meanyou, singular, whoever comes and
gets this and says that you'llread it.
This is, gentle and Lowly, byDane Orland, and he's got two
(03:17):
chapters on my text this morningthat are better than my sermon.
I promise you that, and so ifyou especially wanted a better
sermon than this, you've got abook here with your name on it
and it's for you.
Come see me after worship.
Well, after the last few weeksof walking through Hebrews, as
we're preaching through it,february through May one of the
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things I've said every time I'vebeen up here is that the book
of Hebrews was written to acongregation of urban Christians
who were feeling culturalpressures because of their faith
, and so I want to give a littlebit more specificity to that.
So in Hebrews 10, it says thatthey were publicly exposed to
reproach and affliction.
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In Hebrews 10, it also saysthat they had to accept the
plundering of their property.
In Hebrews 13, it says thatthey had to go outside the camp
and bear the reproach.
You see, these Christians.
They were facing culturalmarginalization, they were
experiencing economic hardshipand public stigma, all because
they followed Jesus.
And, as many of us know, withevery trial comes a temptation.
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There's some temptations here,here too.
In Hebrews 10, it says that itwas the habit of some of them to
neglect meeting together.
They stopped doing this and theauthor of Hebrews thought that
that was a devastatinglydangerous place to be, to not
gather with Christians regularly.
In Hebrews 3, it says that someof them had a hardness of heart
because of the deceitfulness ofsin.
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And then in some of them, inHebrews 6, it says they had
become sluggish in their faithBecause with these trials came
temptations to isolation, tocompromise and to apathy.
And I wonder if any of thosepressures or those temptations
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are true for anybody in thisroom this morning.
What do we do when we feelthese pressures to compromise in
our faith and the temptationsthat come with that as well?
And so, as we look at this text, I want to see what the author
of Hebrews told them to do, andreally I get my two points from
the only two commands.
There's only two imperatives inthis whole passage, and that is
hold fast, draw near.
Hold fast and draw near.
That's the two imperatives inthis whole passage, and that is
(05:25):
hold fast, draw near.
Hold fast and draw near.
That's the two points.
And really what I'm getting atis that suffering trial
difficulty it's not just anevent, it's actually an
intersection.
There's a choice point thathappens right there.
Will you, in that moment, holdfast or let go?
Will you draw near or driftaway?
And so I want to look atHebrews, chapter 4 together and
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see how we can hold fast anddraw near.
If you have a Bible or a device, I'd encourage you to get one
out and get it in front of you.
Open up to Hebrews, chapter 4,verse 14, and we're going to
walk through this text together.
Hebrews 4 14 says this sincethen, we have a great high
priest who has passed throughthe heavens Jesus, the son of
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God.
Here's my first point.
Let us hold fast our confession.
Let us hold fast our confession.
What is our confession?
What is it that we're holdingfast to?
Well, the word confession inGreek is a conjunction of two
words that basically just meanssame word.
So a confession is saying thesame words about something that
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God says about them.
This is how we can have bothconfession of sin, which is
saying the same thing about oursin, that God says about it that
it's sin, and a confession offaith, which is saying the same
things about Jesus, that Godsays about Jesus that he's Lord,
that he's our Savior, that he'sthe one who's crucified and
risen again.
So that's what confession meansit's coming into agreement with
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whatever God says or whateverGod thinks about something.
So this is important, becauseconfession must flow from
conviction, from a heart level,confidence that this is true.
The way that Romans 10, 9 putsit is that if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lordand then believe in your heart
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that God raised him from thedead, you will be saved.
You see, confession is core towhat it means to be a Christian,
and so we're called to holdfast our confession, all that we
say about Jesus.
We've got to hold fast to thosethings, but for some of us,
going public about Jesus isproblematic.
Coming out as a Christian cancreate some confusion for you,
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and some conflict maybe even,and so the problem here, though,
is that confession doesn't meananything unless it's public,
like you don't have to hold fastif you hold your tongue, and so
the worst thing that could betrue about you is that people
the only thing worse about thatcould be true about you than
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people not knowing you're aChristian is being shocked when
they find out that you are.
You see, holding fast ourconfession means that we
actually speak about the factthat we know Jesus, we follow
him, we orient our lives aroundhim, that he actually makes a
difference in all of life, thathe's not just something you do
here in this room on Sundays,but then you show up Monday
looking like everybody else.
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You don't have to hold fastanything if that's your
lifestyle.
Day, looking like everybodyelse.
You don't have to hold fastanything if that's your
lifestyle.
No, this is for people who havea temptation, because of
pressure, to lose their grip ontheir confession.
Some of us in this room feelthat we feel that pressure.
So how do we hold fast?
Well, the good thing is thatJesus is both the content and
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the process of our holding fastto our confession.
Let me say it like this theauthor of Hebrews.
When the author of Hebrews istrying to get the people the
Hebrews people to hold fast, allthat the author does is just
start unpacking the confessionto show you how worthy it is to
hold on to, and so I'm going todo the same thing.
And really, the whole book ofHebrews is a confession of Jesus
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Christ, but this text inparticular kind of narrows it in
about how he is.
Our quote great high priest inverse 14.
And so priest is an importantword in this text.
It shows up six times in 13verses and a good definition
maybe the best definition ofpriest in the Bible you could
find is in Hebrews, chapter 5,verse 1.
Look at the text with me.
(09:24):
It says this Every high priestchosen from among men is
appointed.
Here's the key piece to act onbehalf of men in relation to God
.
That's what a priest does.
Corrie Ten Boom has a reallygood illustration about this.
She talks about how bothprophets and priests mediate
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between God and man, but they doit a little bit differently.
I don't do object lessons veryoften, but I'm going to do one
for you this morning, so Ireally want you to get this Okay
.
A prophet stands like this,with his back towards God and
his face towards the people,speaking to the people on behalf
of God.
That's a prophet's job.
A priest hold on, does thisBack towards the people, face
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towards God, speaking to God onbehalf of the people.
Object lesson over.
So do you see the difference?
Jesus is both our prophet andour priest, but this text really
wants to hone in on the factthat he is our priest.
Not only that, but that hequalifies to be our great high
priest.
And there's really only threequalifications, according to
this passage.
The first one is that thecandidates for great high priest
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must be without sin verse 15.
All right, so that narrowed thepool of candidates down to
maybe three persons.
But the second thing is thatthe candidates must be quote
chosen from among men.
They must be human chapter 5,verse 1.
Okay, so that narrows that poolof three called the Trinity
down to one called Jesus.
But then the thirdqualification is that the
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candidates need on-the-jobexperience.
And the reason why is becausethese candidates, these great
whoever might be, the great highpriest, has to be able to have
experienced the things that theyare going to be mediating on
behalf of the people before God.
In other words, they have to beable to be mediating on behalf
of the people before God.
In other words, they have to beable to be sympathetic and
gentle.
They need some OJT.
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They got to learn on the job.
So let's see if Jesus qualifies.
Look with me at the text again,chapter 5, verse 7.
It says this quote in the daysof his flesh.
Let me pause for a moment.
In Christian theology we callthe fact that the second person
of the Trinity, god the Son,became human, fully human.
We call that the incarnation,and all that means is
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incarnation means in the flesh.
He became flesh.
That's what the text says inthe days of his flesh.
If you need to remember that,think carne asada, seasoned
flesh.
That's what that means.
Okay, so the incarnation, jesusin the days of his flesh
becomes fully man.
It goes on in verse 7.
Jesus offered up prayers andsupplications with loud cries
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and tears.
This is important.
This is how fully human Jesusbecame.
He had fully human emotions andfeelings.
If your Christology doesn'thave a category for that, it's
heretical, it's not right.
Jesus had emotion, he had asoul, he had a life with tears.
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Jim Wilder, who calls himself aneurotheologian, that's the kind
of title you just probably haveto give to yourself, but I
really like this guy.
He says it like this.
He says emotional maturity isthe ability to direct feelings,
desires and emotions into theservice of the good Jesus is the
most emotionally mature humanbeing who's ever walked this
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earth.
But how did he become that way?
How did he develop thatmaturity?
Look at verse eight with me.
Verse eight says, although hewas a son, he learned obedience
through what he suffered.
Now this, for some of us, putsthe brakes on.
We go wait.
What is going on here?
Let me tell you a story thatmight make it plain.
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This story's about a man whoinherited a business from his
father.
Now, lest you think, he, youknow, graduated from college and
just gets to step up into theC-suite where he gets a bougie
office and luncheons and golfoutings and all the things that
you'd imagine from somebody whowas born with a silver spoon in
their mouth, that's not whathappened.
In fact.
This man inherited the companyfrom his father during an
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economic downturn, and thefather was a good father and a
good businessman, and so heactually had his son.
Start at the bottom, if youwill.
He said if you're going to runthis company, you need to learn
it through and through from thebottom up, and so he had to
start in the warehouse.
He had to work with some of themechanics as they fixed some of
the things that were oftenbroken.
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And then, after he worked inthe warehouse for a little bit,
he was invited to go visit thesuppliers to see where the raw
materials came from.
And then he had to go out withthe sales team and learn what it
looks like to actually sell theproduct.
And then he had to go sit withthe nerds in the finance
department and crunch thenumbers.
If you're financing here,praise God for you.
I don't mean that derogatorily,I'm a nerd in my own type.
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So he goes in with thefinancial team and he learns
that.
And it wasn't until after hehad worked through every
department in the business washe finally given an office.
But he was given that officeand now he had to lead a
workforce through a difficultseason in their company's
industry.
And you see, although he was ason, the father didn't just give
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him a business and invite himto just kind of do whatever he
wanted to with him.
He trained him.
He had to learn what it lookedlike to lead and to work in the
father's business.
Far from Jesus simply rulingfrom heaven on a throne in glory
and bliss, detached, unmoved,no, no, no.
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This God comes down.
From Genesis to Revelation,this God comes down to be in the
mess and in the mix with hispeople.
The reality is that this fatherloves the world that he's made
and so, even though it's becomewayward and corrupt, god sent
his son to learn the familybusiness from the bottom up.
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That's why, in verse 8, it saysAlthough he was a son, he
learned obedience through whathe suffered.
What could it possibly meanthat Jesus learned obedience,
except that there's a knowledgethat can only come through
experience.
You see, jesus was alwayswithout sin chapter 4, verse 15,
which means Jesus was alwaysobedient, he was never
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disobedient, but it means butthe text here says that he
learned obedience, and sothere's a sense in which you
have to understand.
He wasn't gaining newinformation.
He was learning what it lookedlike to obey in the midst of
trial and temptation, just likethe Hebrews, just like you and
me.
Do you see how our confessionabout who Jesus is actually
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encourages us to hold fast inthe midst of trial and
temptation?
It's almost like this yourimmune system is healthy, and
then it encounters a sicknessand it fights it off, and then
it's stronger on the other side.
In a similar way, jesus learnedobedience through the things
that he suffered.
What does this mean for us?
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Well, if Jesus was a son whosuffered, so will you.
What does this mean for us?
Well, if Jesus was a son whosuffered, so will you.
That's what that means.
And the text goes on.
It says and being made perfect.
In chapter five, verse nine andbeing made perfect, jesus
became the source of eternalsalvation.
For whom?
To all who obey him.
Now, discipleship is learningto obey all that Jesus commanded
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.
That's what the GreatCommission says, right.
But this is learning to obeyall that Jesus commanded.
That's what the GreatCommission says, right.
But this is important to notice.
Usually, misinterpretations ofScripture come from a lack of
care in reading Scripture.
So read this carefully with me.
It says and being made perfect,jesus became the source of
eternal salvation.
Okay, so this is important.
The perfect, perpetual,lifelong obedience provides the
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source for our salvation, notyour obedience.
That's super important to getthat.
So then, what is our obedienceIf it's not the source?
Our obedience is a sign of oursalvation.
It evidences the fact that webelong to Jesus.
Jesus says why do you call meLord?
Lord, but do not do what I say.
In other words, to become afollower of Jesus means that you
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will try to obey him.
That's important.
In fact, it's incrediblyimportant to know that obedience
to Jesus it's evidence that youbelong to Jesus, but it's not
the basis of your belonging toJesus.
Track with that.
That's what the text says here.
If you look carefully at it Now, this word learned in verse 8
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is actually the same root wordfor disciple.
This is where I get the ideathat discipleship is learning
obedience, just like Jesus did.
If Jesus needed to learnobedience, so do you.
This is good news, because someof us in here obey as a
four-letter word.
We just we don't like that talk.
You're getting uncomfortableright now.
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I keep talking about obedience,but here's the thing I actually
think it's a really importantreframe to recognize that the
Christian life is not like anon-off switch, but rather a
dimmer switch.
This is what I mean.
I had a week this week afterkind of two weeks of being sick.
That's why I got my water here.
I keep almost coughing.
I had two weeks of being sickwhich threw off my sleep
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schedule, threw off my spiritualdisciplines, which threw off my
emotional state Like all thesethings Couldn't exercise and I
just had a week of malaise.
And in weeks like that.
I don't know what it's like foryou, but for me, weeks like
that I'm more prone to anxiety,to irritability, to lust, to,
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you know, eating more sugar thanI probably should.
Okay, I'm the only sinner inthe room, apparently, nobody
else Listen.
But the beauty of the calling tobe a pastor what Ryan just got
ordained into is we get to sitwith the Bible and just meditate
on it.
And I needed this text thisweek, for these two weeks.
Sometimes I joke that God mademe a pastor to keep me a
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Christian Like I needed to livein Hebrews 4 and 5.
I needed the hopefulness that,hey, I had two weeks that were
kind of hard.
But I'm learning obedienceBecause my life of obedience is
not on off pass fail.
Nor is yours, nor is Jesus.
Our life of obedience is adimmer switch, going from darker
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to brighter, to brighter tobrighter over time.
That's encouraging.
Carol Dweck says that you needa growth mindset, not a fixed
mindset, when it comes to yourdiscipleship to Jesus.
That last part I added.
This is essential to walkingwith Jesus in this.
So if we're going to learnobedience from the one who
learned obedience, look with meat verse 7 again.
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It says this.
In the days of his flesh, jesusoffered up prayers and
supplication with loud cries andtears.
If you know the story of thegospels, you know that this time
of tears was in the garden ofGethsemane, and you may know the
prayer Jesus prayed in thegarden of Gethsemane.
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My favorite version of it is inMark's gospel and it it says
this Jesus goes before theFather three times and he is
crying and sweating blood and inagony because he's about to go
to the cross.
And he says this Abba Father,all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me, yetnot what I will, but what you
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will.
This is where Jesus learnedobedience, right here.
Now notice the three movementsof that.
The first movement is trust.
So if you're learning obedience, if you're in trial or
temptation, here's the firstthing you can do State your
trust.
Declare back to God who he is.
Confess your faith, come intoagreement about who God is.
Abba Father, first of all,you're the intimate, near close
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God that you've promisedyourself to be, abba Father, and
yet you're the one for whom allthings are possible.
You're transcendent and on highand sovereign, enthroned over
the whole universe.
You declare your trust in thosemoments.
This actually buoys your souland then you declare your desire
.
This is what makes Christianitynot stoic and not Buddhist and
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not Eastern Christianity takesyour desires very seriously.
God cares that you don't wantto suffer.
He actually wants to hear itfrom you.
Jesus, in the face of the cross,said to the Father I don't want
to do this.
Maybe you can do that too then,when you're learning obedience,
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maybe you can tell him what youreally think, what you really
feel, how you really want thisto turn out for you.
Remove this cup from me.
But not only was it trust, notonly was it him acknowledging
who God is and acknowledgingwhat he wants, but it ended with
surrender.
This is where Jesus learnedobedience and this is where we
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can learn obedience from him.
He says remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but your
will be done.
That's the key.
You see, people can cloakChristian garb over a will
that's never been supple andsurrendered to God, and it
creates some really bad things.
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So I don't really care what youknow about the Bible and
theology and how moral you are.
If you don't have a supple,surrendered will before God,
you're a dangerous person.
Jesus knew what it was like tosurrender his will to the Father
.
This is how he learnedobedience.
And so it goes on.
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And in the actual text ofHebrews 5-7, it says this that
Jesus prayed to him who was ableto save him from death?
And he was heard.
What, really?
He was heard.
If you know the story of Jesus,he wasn't saved from death.
So what is Hebrews talkingabout here?
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Jesus died, he was crucified,so was he heard?
You see, god gave Jesus what heasked for, but not the way that
Jesus asked for it, but not theway that Jesus asked for it.
He was saved from death, but hewas saved through death.
You see, the thing that Godgave to Jesus was resurrection,
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not sparing the cross.
This matters because there'sonly two ways that God answers
our requests for deliverance.
There's only two ways.
The first way is that hedelivers us from affliction.
He actually removes theaffliction.
Or he gets you out of it, or hegives you the thing you're
asking for.
He does do that.
But the second way is that Goddelivers us through the
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affliction.
Some people go all in on themiracle.
They just want the miracle, andI'm telling you there is almost
no greater miracle than thegrace to endure hardship and to
keep your heart tender beforethe Lord.
And so there's only tworequests God will either deliver
you from the affliction orthrough the affliction.
And what did Jesus get?
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He had to be delivered throughthe affliction of crucifixion.
And so if this happens to theson, this is the story God, the
Father, chose to tell in his oneand only son's life.
You can assure that life, deathand resurrection is the story
he's gonna retell in your life.
And so Jesus says here washeard by him, who was able to
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save him from death.
Later, in Hebrews, chapter 13,verse 20, it says the God of
peace who brought again from thedead our Lord Jesus Christ.
Resurrection is the outcome, itis the thing that ends.
And yet not only resurrectionbut ascension.
Look at verse 14 again, wherewe started back at the top.
This is to see whether Jesusqualifies as the great high
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priest, you know, if he ascendsand gets to be seated at the
right hand of God.
Verse 14 says this since then,we have a great high priest who
has passed through the heavensJesus, the son of God.
Let us hold fast our confession, this language of passing
through the heavens.
In biblical cosmology, there'sthree heavens.
There's the first heaven, whichis where the birds fly.
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There's the second heaven,which is where the stars are we
call that space.
And then there's the thirdheaven, which is where the
angels are around God's throne.
That's God's holy dwelling.
His holy habitat is that thirdheaven.
Jesus passed through all threeheavens and is seated at the
right hand of God, the Fatherenthroned on high, our great
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high priest.
Why does that matter?
Let me tell you a story.
I had a friend named Rusty andRusty and I would go sharing the
gospel with people on campus atUCF when I was a student there
and we were wonderfully sketchy.
We'd walk up and ask people ifthey'd want to do a spiritual
survey with us, which wasbasically a way to get to talk
to them about Jesus.
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And it was great.
I still do it, I won't stop.
And Rusty was a greatevangelist.
He was really gifted at tellingengaging stories.
He had this one that I loved.
What he would say is Rustywould tell the story like this.
He would say hey, so my name'sRusty, my dad lives in Stone
Mountain Georgia.
This is Ben.
Ben and my dad have never metbefore.
So if Ben went up to StoneMountain Georgia and knocked on
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my dad's front door and said,hey, my name's Ben, can I stay
the night, my dad would probablygo no, and close the door in
Ben's face.
But if I knocked Ben, if Iknocked on the door and I said,
hey, my name's Ben, I'm friendswith your son, rusty, can I stay
the night?
There's like a 50-50 chance.
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But what difference does itmake?
If Rusty shows up and Rustyknocks on the door and he says
hey, dad, good to see you.
This is my friend Ben, we'restaying the night, dad swings
wide the door and invites usboth in, as if we belong because
I come in the status of a son.
This is what it means that Jesus, our great high priest, passed
through the heavens.
Jesus came down from theheavens to give you his access,
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and now he goes back up andenthroned in the heavens to give
you his access to the Father.
What do we do with all thataccess?
Point two we draw near.
Look at the text with me.
Hebrews 4.16 says this Let us,then, with confidence, draw near
to the throne of grace that wemay receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.
Draw near is a phrase thatshows up seven times in the book
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of Hebrews.
That's a perfect number inbiblical numerology.
This is the first of seventimes it shows up.
This is significant.
I like to think about drawingnear.
It's what attachment theorycalls proximity-seeking behavior
.
Think about it like this You'reon a playground.
Calls proximity-seekingbehavior.
Think about it like this You'reon a playground and a kid falls
, excuse me, skins their knee.
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And what do they do when theyfall and skin their knee?
They run to their primarycaregiver, they run to their
mother or father.
Why?
Because closeness equalscomfort.
That's proximity-seekingbehavior.
That's what drawing near means.
We seek closeness with the onewith whom we have a securely
(28:26):
attached relationship.
Well, people have taken JohnBowlby and Mary Ainsworth's
psychology of attachment theoryand they've applied it to our
relationship with God, veryhelpfully actually.
And they say that whenattachment to God, when our
willingness to draw near to God,when it kind of gets
dysfunctional, that dysfunctionshows up in one of two ways.
Maybe one of you is pronetowards one of these two ways.
(28:48):
The first one is that we avoidnearness with God.
We avoid nearness with Godthrough, typically, a need for
self-reliance difficulty,depending on God, trusting for
him to come through, anunwillingness to be emotionally
intimate with God.
What Jesus called or remembersaid about Jesus loud cries and
tears, can you bring those toGod?
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Those are people who avoidnearness to God.
But then there's those of us whoare ambivalent about our
nearness to God and really itcomes from a fear of abandonment
.
This is what that looks like.
We have a fear that God's goingto give up on us, that this was
the last time, the last straw.
We have a resentment because ofGod's perceived lack of
(29:29):
affection towards us.
We've got anxiety over ourlovability in God's eyes.
We actually get jealous, maybe,if other people seem to have a
closer relationship with Godthan we do.
We have a preoccupation withobeying God in order to keep him
close.
So Hebrews 4.16 would say let usthen, with secure attachment,
(29:53):
draw near, with confidence, drawnear.
Where do we get this confidenceto draw near to God from?
Well, there's two phrases that,in Greek, sound way more
similar than the Englishtranslation here.
Here's the two phrases he'sable to sympathize, 415.
He is able to deal gently, 5-2.
This is where we boostourselves and buoy ourselves in
(30:16):
confidence that we should andcan draw near.
Look with me at 415.
It says this For we do not havea high priest who is unable to
sympathize with our weaknesses,but one who, in every respect,
has been tempted as we are, yetwithout sin.
Jesus is both holy and lowly.
This means he is unapatheticand sympathetic.
(30:39):
You see, I'm trying to makethis plain, but it's going to go
fast.
If Jesus was tempted and sinned, he could not offer service to
God.
But if Jesus was without sinbut was never tempted, he could
not offer sympathy to you and me.
Only Jesus, because he was bothtempted and yet without sin,
(31:00):
can offer service to God andsympathy to us as our great high
priest.
That's what this text wants youto see.
Now, ever since Brene Brown,sympathy gets a bad rap.
I'll leave that as a pregnantpause.
And this is why she had thislittle cartoon YouTube video
(31:20):
that went viral and it was abouta fox that fell in a hole in
like a deer or something likethat, and one of the animals
goes down in the hole with thefox and the other animal stays
up maybe it's a hippo and talksto the fox from outside of the
hole and her whole point isempathy gets down in the hole
with people.
Sympathy, basically, isdetached.
Now listen, I understand whatshe's getting at.
(31:42):
She just chose the wrong word.
She chose the wrong word.
Sympathy was not the word todunk on in that video.
She should not have done that,but she did.
And so this is why sympathysympathos means fellow feeling
or to suffer with.
Etymologically, she's wrong touse that term.
And I'm trying to reclaimsympathy because it's in the
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Bible and it says Jesus is term.
And I'm trying to reclaimsympathy because it's in the
Bible and it says Jesus issympathetic.
And I want you to think thatthat's a good thing, not wishing
he was empathetic instead.
You see, what this means isthat Jesus is able to co-suffer
with us.
You want somebody who, becauseJesus is sinless, he's not
trapped in the same hole as youare.
That's the only reason he cangive you help in your time of
(32:25):
need, because he's not in thehole with you.
And yet Jesus climbs down intoour humanity and feels our
weaknesses, yet without sin, andso he actually comes in and he
bears those burdens with us andbears us up out of that hole.
You see, jesus can move towardsyou sympathetically because he
knows the temptation to fall inthat hole himself.
(32:46):
Jesus knows our temptations.
In fact he knows them betterthan we do.
Cs Lewis kind of puts it likethis.
He says only a person who swimsupstream knows the power of the
current.
Only a person who walks againstthe wind knows how strong the
force of it is.
He says only those who try toresist temptation know how
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strong it is.
We never find out the strengthof the evil impulse inside us
until we try to fight it.
And Christ, because he was theonly man who never yielded to
temptation, is also the only manwho knows to the full what
temptation means and he's ableto sympathize with you in your
temptations.
(33:29):
Now, underline this verse.
I'd encourage you to do thatbecause you're going to be in a
circle in the not too distantfuture and hopefully somebody
will confess sin, not becausethey sinned, but because they're
confessing in your circle.
They will confess sin andyou're going to need to
encourage them with words thatare more important than what you
think or what they feel.
And that's when you want to beable to open up to Hebrews 4.15,
(33:51):
and you want to underline, youwant to look at them in the eyes
and you want to say we do nothave a high priest who's unable
to sympathize with us and ourweaknesses.
And then you can go on and tellthem and he's able to deal
gently.
Look with me at verse 5-2.
It says this he can deal gentlywith the ignorant and wayward,
since he himself is beset withweakness.
(34:14):
This word deal gently could betranslated ability to moderate
one's feelings.
I'm really glad they didn'ttranslate it that way, but they
could have.
Why would Jesus or a highpriest, why would they need to
moderate one's feelings?
I'm really glad they didn'ttranslate it that way, but they
could have.
Why would Jesus or a highpriest, why would they need to
moderate one's feelings?
Well, because, according tothis text, we are quote weak,
verse 15 and verse 2, tempted,verse 15, sinners, verse 15 and
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verse 3, needy, verse 16,ignorant, verse 2, and wayward,
verse 2.
And none of that is a surpriseto Jesus.
Which verse 2 and wayward verse2.
And none of that is a surpriseto Jesus, which is good news,
because for many of us, there'sa gap between what we expect and
what we get when we sin.
We expect distance, but Jesuscame from heaven to earth in
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order to bridge that gap.
You see, there's really onlytwo types of people in the world
, two types of people in thisroom.
There are those for whom sin isbetween you and God, and there
are those for whom Jesus isbetween you and God, no middle
ground.
So, whichever one you're inhopefully you're in the Jesus is
between you and God.
(35:16):
Fully embrace that.
Don't let your sin get betweenyou and God anymore.
Don't let it cause a sense ofdistance, because when we look
inside of ourselves, weanticipate only harshness from
heaven, but when we look up toJesus seated on the throne of
grace, we actually receive onlygentleness from him.
This is the good news of thistext we expect harshness.
(35:41):
Honestly, I think the reason whywe expect harshness when we sin
is because we all know peoplewho are unable to sympathize and
unable to deal gently.
Some of you are those people.
Right, you have a hard timewith other people's weaknesses.
You're actually triggered bypeople who are easily triggered,
but you would never call itthat people who are easily
(36:03):
triggered, but you would nevercall it that.
Some people get angry andirritated and frustrated with
their spouse or their kids ortheir co-workers or their
friends.
Why?
Because they're ignorant andweak and wayward and needy.
And you're right and you knowwhat's true and you're so
self-controlled and disciplined.
And yet all of thatself-control and discipline has
(36:23):
made you unsympathetic andlacking gentleness.
Listen, usually people who arenot acquainted with their own
weakness and need are some ofthe harshest people.
They're harsh with themselves,they're harsh with others.
This is why CS Lewis said ofall the bad men, religious bad
men are the worst.
But I have good news for youthis morning.
(36:47):
Jesus is nothing like you.
He is nothing like you.
He is far surpassing all ofyour wildest dreams and
expectations.
Instead of feeling like we'regonna get harshness if we come
to Jesus with our weakness orignorance or whatever it might
be, instead we can, withconfidence, draw near to the
throne of grace.
And what will we find?
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According to the text, mercyand grace to help in time of
need.
My hope is that the Spiritdraws this to mind this week.
When you're at work or at home,or with friends or dealing with
relational strife, oroverwhelmed or anxious or
whatever it is, and you go.
This is a time of need.
I can draw near.
That's how I find mercy andgrace.
(37:29):
Jesus promised it.
I believe it.
Let's go.
That's what I hope happens thisweek.
And I want to underlinesomething else for you.
It's a throne of grace.
Of all the places, all thethings that this throne could be
called A throne of royalty, athrone of gold, a throne of
awe-striking transcendence.
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It could have been all thosethings.
It's called a throne of grace.
It's a throne of grace that youdraw near to because it's a
throne that freely dispenseshelp from heaven to the weak, to
the tempted, to sinners, to theneedy, to ignorant, to the
wayward.
And so we can draw near,because we hold fast to our
(38:11):
confession, because ourconfession tells us who it is
that's seated on that throne.
Let's pray Jesus, we draw nearto you now.
We draw near to you now, seatedat that throne, the throne of
grace.
We come to you with ourweaknesses and our neediness,
even some of us with ourunwillingness to acknowledge our
(38:34):
weakness and our neediness.
Deal gently with us thismorning, be sympathetic towards
us in our weakness this morning.
That's who you say you are andwe believe it.
We pray this in your name, lordJesus, amen.
Hello everyone, this is Pastor Damian.
You're listening to SermonAudio from New City, orlando.
At New City, we believe all ofus need all of Jesus for all of
life.
For more resources, visit ourwebsite at newcityorlandocom.
Thanks for listening.
Please join me in the prayer ofillumination.
Heavenly Father, we bow in yourpresence.
(00:27):
Let your word be our rule, yourspirit, our teacher, and your
greater glory our supremeconcern.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,amen.
Today's scripture reading istaken from Hebrews 4, beginning
in verse 14.
Since then, we have a greathigh priest who has passed
(00:50):
through the heavens Jesus, theSon of God.
Let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high
priest who is unable tosympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who, in every respect,has been tempted, as we are yet
without sin.
Let us then, with confidence,draw near to the throne of grace
(01:14):
that we may receive mercy andfind grace to help in time of
need, for every high priestchosen from among men is
appointed to act on behalf ofmen in relation to God, to offer
gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He can deal gently with theignorant and wayward, since he
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himself is beset with weaknessBecause of this, he is obligated
to offer sacrifice for his ownsins, just as he does for those
of the people.
And no one takes this honor forhimself, but only when called
by God.
Just as Aaron was, so alsoChrist did not exalt himself to
(01:58):
be made a high priest, but wasappointed by him, who said to
him you are my son.
Today I have begotten you.
As he says also in anotherplace, you are a priest forever.
After the order of Melchizedek,in the days of his flesh, Jesus
(02:21):
offered up prayers andsupplications with loud cries
and tears to him, who was ableto save him from death, and he
was heard because of hisreverence.
Although he was a son, helearned obedience.
Through what he suffered andbeing made perfect.
He became the source of eternalsalvation to all who obey him,
(02:41):
being designated by God a highpriest after the order of
Melchizedek.
This is God's word.
Please be seated.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
This is one of those many passages in scripture where
the possibilities, the grandeur, the amazingness of the text
far outpaces my own abilities,and I feel that, and so I bought
you a book, and by you I meanyou, singular, whoever comes and
gets this and says that you'llread it.
This is, gentle and Lowly, byDane Orland, and he's got two
(03:17):
chapters on my text this morningthat are better than my sermon.
I promise you that, and so ifyou especially wanted a better
sermon than this, you've got abook here with your name on it
and it's for you.
Come see me after worship.
Well, after the last few weeksof walking through Hebrews, as
we're preaching through it,february through May one of the
(03:38):
things I've said every time I'vebeen up here is that the book
of Hebrews was written to acongregation of urban Christians
who were feeling culturalpressures because of their faith
, and so I want to give a littlebit more specificity to that.
So in Hebrews 10, it says thatthey were publicly exposed to
reproach and affliction.
(03:59):
In Hebrews 10, it also saysthat they had to accept the
plundering of their property.
In Hebrews 13, it says thatthey had to go outside the camp
and bear the reproach.
You see, these Christians.
They were facing culturalmarginalization, they were
experiencing economic hardshipand public stigma, all because
they followed Jesus.
And, as many of us know, withevery trial comes a temptation.
(04:23):
There's some temptations here,here too.
In Hebrews 10, it says that itwas the habit of some of them to
neglect meeting together.
They stopped doing this and theauthor of Hebrews thought that
that was a devastatinglydangerous place to be, to not
gather with Christians regularly.
In Hebrews 3, it says that someof them had a hardness of heart
because of the deceitfulness ofsin.
(04:44):
And then in some of them, inHebrews 6, it says they had
become sluggish in their faithBecause with these trials came
temptations to isolation, tocompromise and to apathy.
And I wonder if any of thosepressures or those temptations
(05:05):
are true for anybody in thisroom this morning.
What do we do when we feelthese pressures to compromise in
our faith and the temptationsthat come with that as well?
And so, as we look at this text, I want to see what the author
of Hebrews told them to do, andreally I get my two points from
the only two commands.
There's only two imperatives inthis whole passage, and that is
hold fast, draw near.
Hold fast and draw near.
That's the two imperatives inthis whole passage, and that is
(05:25):
hold fast, draw near.
Hold fast and draw near.
That's the two points.
And really what I'm getting atis that suffering trial
difficulty it's not just anevent, it's actually an
intersection.
There's a choice point thathappens right there.
Will you, in that moment, holdfast or let go?
Will you draw near or driftaway?
And so I want to look atHebrews, chapter 4 together and
(05:49):
see how we can hold fast anddraw near.
If you have a Bible or a device, I'd encourage you to get one
out and get it in front of you.
Open up to Hebrews, chapter 4,verse 14, and we're going to
walk through this text together.
Hebrews 4 14 says this sincethen, we have a great high
priest who has passed throughthe heavens Jesus, the son of
(06:11):
God.
Here's my first point.
Let us hold fast our confession.
Let us hold fast our confession.
What is our confession?
What is it that we're holdingfast to?
Well, the word confession inGreek is a conjunction of two
words that basically just meanssame word.
So a confession is saying thesame words about something that
(06:34):
God says about them.
This is how we can have bothconfession of sin, which is
saying the same thing about oursin, that God says about it that
it's sin, and a confession offaith, which is saying the same
things about Jesus, that Godsays about Jesus that he's Lord,
that he's our Savior, that he'sthe one who's crucified and
risen again.
So that's what confession meansit's coming into agreement with
(06:54):
whatever God says or whateverGod thinks about something.
So this is important, becauseconfession must flow from
conviction, from a heart level,confidence that this is true.
The way that Romans 10, 9 putsit is that if you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lordand then believe in your heart
(07:16):
that God raised him from thedead, you will be saved.
You see, confession is core towhat it means to be a Christian,
and so we're called to holdfast our confession, all that we
say about Jesus.
We've got to hold fast to thosethings, but for some of us,
going public about Jesus isproblematic.
Coming out as a Christian cancreate some confusion for you,
(07:40):
and some conflict maybe even,and so the problem here, though,
is that confession doesn't meananything unless it's public,
like you don't have to hold fastif you hold your tongue, and so
the worst thing that could betrue about you is that people
the only thing worse about thatcould be true about you than
(08:01):
people not knowing you're aChristian is being shocked when
they find out that you are.
You see, holding fast ourconfession means that we
actually speak about the factthat we know Jesus, we follow
him, we orient our lives aroundhim, that he actually makes a
difference in all of life, thathe's not just something you do
here in this room on Sundays,but then you show up Monday
looking like everybody else.
(08:21):
You don't have to hold fastanything if that's your
lifestyle.
Day, looking like everybodyelse.
You don't have to hold fastanything if that's your
lifestyle.
No, this is for people who havea temptation, because of
pressure, to lose their grip ontheir confession.
Some of us in this room feelthat we feel that pressure.
So how do we hold fast?
Well, the good thing is thatJesus is both the content and
(08:41):
the process of our holding fastto our confession.
Let me say it like this theauthor of Hebrews.
When the author of Hebrews istrying to get the people the
Hebrews people to hold fast, allthat the author does is just
start unpacking the confessionto show you how worthy it is to
hold on to, and so I'm going todo the same thing.
And really, the whole book ofHebrews is a confession of Jesus
(09:04):
Christ, but this text inparticular kind of narrows it in
about how he is.
Our quote great high priest inverse 14.
And so priest is an importantword in this text.
It shows up six times in 13verses and a good definition
maybe the best definition ofpriest in the Bible you could
find is in Hebrews, chapter 5,verse 1.
Look at the text with me.
(09:24):
It says this Every high priestchosen from among men is
appointed.
Here's the key piece to act onbehalf of men in relation to God
.
That's what a priest does.
Corrie Ten Boom has a reallygood illustration about this.
She talks about how bothprophets and priests mediate
(09:44):
between God and man, but they doit a little bit differently.
I don't do object lessons veryoften, but I'm going to do one
for you this morning, so Ireally want you to get this Okay
.
A prophet stands like this,with his back towards God and
his face towards the people,speaking to the people on behalf
of God.
That's a prophet's job.
A priest hold on, does thisBack towards the people, face
(10:04):
towards God, speaking to God onbehalf of the people.
Object lesson over.
So do you see the difference?
Jesus is both our prophet andour priest, but this text really
wants to hone in on the factthat he is our priest.
Not only that, but that hequalifies to be our great high
priest.
And there's really only threequalifications, according to
this passage.
The first one is that thecandidates for great high priest
(10:27):
must be without sin verse 15.
All right, so that narrowed thepool of candidates down to
maybe three persons.
But the second thing is thatthe candidates must be quote
chosen from among men.
They must be human chapter 5,verse 1.
Okay, so that narrows that poolof three called the Trinity
down to one called Jesus.
But then the thirdqualification is that the
(10:49):
candidates need on-the-jobexperience.
And the reason why is becausethese candidates, these great
whoever might be, the great highpriest, has to be able to have
experienced the things that theyare going to be mediating on
behalf of the people before God.
In other words, they have to beable to be mediating on behalf
of the people before God.
In other words, they have to beable to be sympathetic and
gentle.
They need some OJT.
(11:10):
They got to learn on the job.
So let's see if Jesus qualifies.
Look with me at the text again,chapter 5, verse 7.
It says this quote in the daysof his flesh.
Let me pause for a moment.
In Christian theology we callthe fact that the second person
of the Trinity, god the Son,became human, fully human.
We call that the incarnation,and all that means is
(11:34):
incarnation means in the flesh.
He became flesh.
That's what the text says inthe days of his flesh.
If you need to remember that,think carne asada, seasoned
flesh.
That's what that means.
Okay, so the incarnation, jesusin the days of his flesh
becomes fully man.
It goes on in verse 7.
Jesus offered up prayers andsupplications with loud cries
(11:57):
and tears.
This is important.
This is how fully human Jesusbecame.
He had fully human emotions andfeelings.
If your Christology doesn'thave a category for that, it's
heretical, it's not right.
Jesus had emotion, he had asoul, he had a life with tears.
(12:19):
Jim Wilder, who calls himself aneurotheologian, that's the kind
of title you just probably haveto give to yourself, but I
really like this guy.
He says it like this.
He says emotional maturity isthe ability to direct feelings,
desires and emotions into theservice of the good Jesus is the
most emotionally mature humanbeing who's ever walked this
(12:39):
earth.
But how did he become that way?
How did he develop thatmaturity?
Look at verse eight with me.
Verse eight says, although hewas a son, he learned obedience
through what he suffered.
Now this, for some of us, putsthe brakes on.
We go wait.
What is going on here?
Let me tell you a story thatmight make it plain.
(13:01):
This story's about a man whoinherited a business from his
father.
Now, lest you think, he, youknow, graduated from college and
just gets to step up into theC-suite where he gets a bougie
office and luncheons and golfoutings and all the things that
you'd imagine from somebody whowas born with a silver spoon in
their mouth, that's not whathappened.
In fact.
This man inherited the companyfrom his father during an
(13:23):
economic downturn, and thefather was a good father and a
good businessman, and so heactually had his son.
Start at the bottom, if youwill.
He said if you're going to runthis company, you need to learn
it through and through from thebottom up, and so he had to
start in the warehouse.
He had to work with some of themechanics as they fixed some of
the things that were oftenbroken.
(13:44):
And then, after he worked inthe warehouse for a little bit,
he was invited to go visit thesuppliers to see where the raw
materials came from.
And then he had to go out withthe sales team and learn what it
looks like to actually sell theproduct.
And then he had to go sit withthe nerds in the finance
department and crunch thenumbers.
If you're financing here,praise God for you.
I don't mean that derogatorily,I'm a nerd in my own type.
(14:06):
So he goes in with thefinancial team and he learns
that.
And it wasn't until after hehad worked through every
department in the business washe finally given an office.
But he was given that officeand now he had to lead a
workforce through a difficultseason in their company's
industry.
And you see, although he was ason, the father didn't just give
(14:28):
him a business and invite himto just kind of do whatever he
wanted to with him.
He trained him.
He had to learn what it lookedlike to lead and to work in the
father's business.
Far from Jesus simply rulingfrom heaven on a throne in glory
and bliss, detached, unmoved,no, no, no.
(14:49):
This God comes down.
From Genesis to Revelation,this God comes down to be in the
mess and in the mix with hispeople.
The reality is that this fatherloves the world that he's made
and so, even though it's becomewayward and corrupt, god sent
his son to learn the familybusiness from the bottom up.
(15:10):
That's why, in verse 8, it saysAlthough he was a son, he
learned obedience through whathe suffered.
What could it possibly meanthat Jesus learned obedience,
except that there's a knowledgethat can only come through
experience.
You see, jesus was alwayswithout sin chapter 4, verse 15,
which means Jesus was alwaysobedient, he was never
(15:35):
disobedient, but it means butthe text here says that he
learned obedience, and sothere's a sense in which you
have to understand.
He wasn't gaining newinformation.
He was learning what it lookedlike to obey in the midst of
trial and temptation, just likethe Hebrews, just like you and
me.
Do you see how our confessionabout who Jesus is actually
(15:58):
encourages us to hold fast inthe midst of trial and
temptation?
It's almost like this yourimmune system is healthy, and
then it encounters a sicknessand it fights it off, and then
it's stronger on the other side.
In a similar way, jesus learnedobedience through the things
that he suffered.
What does this mean for us?
(16:19):
Well, if Jesus was a son whosuffered, so will you.
What does this mean for us?
Well, if Jesus was a son whosuffered, so will you.
That's what that means.
And the text goes on.
It says and being made perfect.
In chapter five, verse nine andbeing made perfect, jesus
became the source of eternalsalvation.
For whom?
To all who obey him.
Now, discipleship is learningto obey all that Jesus commanded
(16:43):
.
That's what the GreatCommission says, right.
But this is learning to obeyall that Jesus commanded.
That's what the GreatCommission says, right.
But this is important to notice.
Usually, misinterpretations ofScripture come from a lack of
care in reading Scripture.
So read this carefully with me.
It says and being made perfect,jesus became the source of
eternal salvation.
Okay, so this is important.
The perfect, perpetual,lifelong obedience provides the
(17:06):
source for our salvation, notyour obedience.
That's super important to getthat.
So then, what is our obedienceIf it's not the source?
Our obedience is a sign of oursalvation.
It evidences the fact that webelong to Jesus.
Jesus says why do you call meLord?
Lord, but do not do what I say.
In other words, to become afollower of Jesus means that you
(17:28):
will try to obey him.
That's important.
In fact, it's incrediblyimportant to know that obedience
to Jesus it's evidence that youbelong to Jesus, but it's not
the basis of your belonging toJesus.
Track with that.
That's what the text says here.
If you look carefully at it Now, this word learned in verse 8
(17:49):
is actually the same root wordfor disciple.
This is where I get the ideathat discipleship is learning
obedience, just like Jesus did.
If Jesus needed to learnobedience, so do you.
This is good news, because someof us in here obey as a
four-letter word.
We just we don't like that talk.
You're getting uncomfortableright now.
(18:10):
I keep talking about obedience,but here's the thing I actually
think it's a really importantreframe to recognize that the
Christian life is not like anon-off switch, but rather a
dimmer switch.
This is what I mean.
I had a week this week afterkind of two weeks of being sick.
That's why I got my water here.
I keep almost coughing.
I had two weeks of being sickwhich threw off my sleep
(18:32):
schedule, threw off my spiritualdisciplines, which threw off my
emotional state Like all thesethings Couldn't exercise and I
just had a week of malaise.
And in weeks like that.
I don't know what it's like foryou, but for me, weeks like
that I'm more prone to anxiety,to irritability, to lust, to,
(18:52):
you know, eating more sugar thanI probably should.
Okay, I'm the only sinner inthe room, apparently, nobody
else Listen.
But the beauty of the calling tobe a pastor what Ryan just got
ordained into is we get to sitwith the Bible and just meditate
on it.
And I needed this text thisweek, for these two weeks.
Sometimes I joke that God mademe a pastor to keep me a
(19:14):
Christian Like I needed to livein Hebrews 4 and 5.
I needed the hopefulness that,hey, I had two weeks that were
kind of hard.
But I'm learning obedienceBecause my life of obedience is
not on off pass fail.
Nor is yours, nor is Jesus.
Our life of obedience is adimmer switch, going from darker
(19:35):
to brighter, to brighter tobrighter over time.
That's encouraging.
Carol Dweck says that you needa growth mindset, not a fixed
mindset, when it comes to yourdiscipleship to Jesus.
That last part I added.
This is essential to walkingwith Jesus in this.
So if we're going to learnobedience from the one who
learned obedience, look with meat verse 7 again.
(19:57):
It says this.
In the days of his flesh, jesusoffered up prayers and
supplication with loud cries andtears.
If you know the story of thegospels, you know that this time
of tears was in the garden ofGethsemane, and you may know the
prayer Jesus prayed in thegarden of Gethsemane.
(20:17):
My favorite version of it is inMark's gospel and it it says
this Jesus goes before theFather three times and he is
crying and sweating blood and inagony because he's about to go
to the cross.
And he says this Abba Father,all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me, yetnot what I will, but what you
(20:41):
will.
This is where Jesus learnedobedience, right here.
Now notice the three movementsof that.
The first movement is trust.
So if you're learning obedience, if you're in trial or
temptation, here's the firstthing you can do State your
trust.
Declare back to God who he is.
Confess your faith, come intoagreement about who God is.
Abba Father, first of all,you're the intimate, near close
(21:02):
God that you've promisedyourself to be, abba Father, and
yet you're the one for whom allthings are possible.
You're transcendent and on highand sovereign, enthroned over
the whole universe.
You declare your trust in thosemoments.
This actually buoys your souland then you declare your desire
.
This is what makes Christianitynot stoic and not Buddhist and
(21:25):
not Eastern Christianity takesyour desires very seriously.
God cares that you don't wantto suffer.
He actually wants to hear itfrom you.
Jesus, in the face of the cross,said to the Father I don't want
to do this.
Maybe you can do that too then,when you're learning obedience,
(21:46):
maybe you can tell him what youreally think, what you really
feel, how you really want thisto turn out for you.
Remove this cup from me.
But not only was it trust, notonly was it him acknowledging
who God is and acknowledgingwhat he wants, but it ended with
surrender.
This is where Jesus learnedobedience and this is where we
(22:07):
can learn obedience from him.
He says remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but your
will be done.
That's the key.
You see, people can cloakChristian garb over a will
that's never been supple andsurrendered to God, and it
creates some really bad things.
(22:28):
So I don't really care what youknow about the Bible and
theology and how moral you are.
If you don't have a supple,surrendered will before God,
you're a dangerous person.
Jesus knew what it was like tosurrender his will to the Father
.
This is how he learnedobedience.
And so it goes on.
(22:48):
And in the actual text ofHebrews 5-7, it says this that
Jesus prayed to him who was ableto save him from death?
And he was heard.
What, really?
He was heard.
If you know the story of Jesus,he wasn't saved from death.
So what is Hebrews talkingabout here?
(23:09):
Jesus died, he was crucified,so was he heard?
You see, god gave Jesus what heasked for, but not the way that
Jesus asked for it, but not theway that Jesus asked for it.
He was saved from death, but hewas saved through death.
You see, the thing that Godgave to Jesus was resurrection,
(23:35):
not sparing the cross.
This matters because there'sonly two ways that God answers
our requests for deliverance.
There's only two ways.
The first way is that hedelivers us from affliction.
He actually removes theaffliction.
Or he gets you out of it, or hegives you the thing you're
asking for.
He does do that.
But the second way is that Goddelivers us through the
(23:55):
affliction.
Some people go all in on themiracle.
They just want the miracle, andI'm telling you there is almost
no greater miracle than thegrace to endure hardship and to
keep your heart tender beforethe Lord.
And so there's only tworequests God will either deliver
you from the affliction orthrough the affliction.
And what did Jesus get?
(24:16):
He had to be delivered throughthe affliction of crucifixion.
And so if this happens to theson, this is the story God, the
Father, chose to tell in his oneand only son's life.
You can assure that life, deathand resurrection is the story
he's gonna retell in your life.
And so Jesus says here washeard by him, who was able to
(24:41):
save him from death.
Later, in Hebrews, chapter 13,verse 20, it says the God of
peace who brought again from thedead our Lord Jesus Christ.
Resurrection is the outcome, itis the thing that ends.
And yet not only resurrectionbut ascension.
Look at verse 14 again, wherewe started back at the top.
This is to see whether Jesusqualifies as the great high
(25:05):
priest, you know, if he ascendsand gets to be seated at the
right hand of God.
Verse 14 says this since then,we have a great high priest who
has passed through the heavensJesus, the son of God.
Let us hold fast our confession, this language of passing
through the heavens.
In biblical cosmology, there'sthree heavens.
There's the first heaven, whichis where the birds fly.
(25:27):
There's the second heaven,which is where the stars are we
call that space.
And then there's the thirdheaven, which is where the
angels are around God's throne.
That's God's holy dwelling.
His holy habitat is that thirdheaven.
Jesus passed through all threeheavens and is seated at the
right hand of God, the Fatherenthroned on high, our great
(25:48):
high priest.
Why does that matter?
Let me tell you a story.
I had a friend named Rusty andRusty and I would go sharing the
gospel with people on campus atUCF when I was a student there
and we were wonderfully sketchy.
We'd walk up and ask people ifthey'd want to do a spiritual
survey with us, which wasbasically a way to get to talk
to them about Jesus.
(26:08):
And it was great.
I still do it, I won't stop.
And Rusty was a greatevangelist.
He was really gifted at tellingengaging stories.
He had this one that I loved.
What he would say is Rustywould tell the story like this.
He would say hey, so my name'sRusty, my dad lives in Stone
Mountain Georgia.
This is Ben.
Ben and my dad have never metbefore.
So if Ben went up to StoneMountain Georgia and knocked on
(26:32):
my dad's front door and said,hey, my name's Ben, can I stay
the night, my dad would probablygo no, and close the door in
Ben's face.
But if I knocked Ben, if Iknocked on the door and I said,
hey, my name's Ben, I'm friendswith your son, rusty, can I stay
the night?
There's like a 50-50 chance.
(26:53):
But what difference does itmake?
If Rusty shows up and Rustyknocks on the door and he says
hey, dad, good to see you.
This is my friend Ben, we'restaying the night, dad swings
wide the door and invites usboth in, as if we belong because
I come in the status of a son.
This is what it means that Jesus, our great high priest, passed
through the heavens.
Jesus came down from theheavens to give you his access,
(27:21):
and now he goes back up andenthroned in the heavens to give
you his access to the Father.
What do we do with all thataccess?
Point two we draw near.
Look at the text with me.
Hebrews 4.16 says this Let us,then, with confidence, draw near
to the throne of grace that wemay receive mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.
Draw near is a phrase thatshows up seven times in the book
(27:46):
of Hebrews.
That's a perfect number inbiblical numerology.
This is the first of seventimes it shows up.
This is significant.
I like to think about drawingnear.
It's what attachment theorycalls proximity-seeking behavior
.
Think about it like this You'reon a playground.
Calls proximity-seekingbehavior.
Think about it like this You'reon a playground and a kid falls
, excuse me, skins their knee.
(28:06):
And what do they do when theyfall and skin their knee?
They run to their primarycaregiver, they run to their
mother or father.
Why?
Because closeness equalscomfort.
That's proximity-seekingbehavior.
That's what drawing near means.
We seek closeness with the onewith whom we have a securely
(28:26):
attached relationship.
Well, people have taken JohnBowlby and Mary Ainsworth's
psychology of attachment theoryand they've applied it to our
relationship with God, veryhelpfully actually.
And they say that whenattachment to God, when our
willingness to draw near to God,when it kind of gets
dysfunctional, that dysfunctionshows up in one of two ways.
Maybe one of you is pronetowards one of these two ways.
(28:48):
The first one is that we avoidnearness with God.
We avoid nearness with Godthrough, typically, a need for
self-reliance difficulty,depending on God, trusting for
him to come through, anunwillingness to be emotionally
intimate with God.
What Jesus called or remembersaid about Jesus loud cries and
tears, can you bring those toGod?
(29:08):
Those are people who avoidnearness to God.
But then there's those of us whoare ambivalent about our
nearness to God and really itcomes from a fear of abandonment
.
This is what that looks like.
We have a fear that God's goingto give up on us, that this was
the last time, the last straw.
We have a resentment because ofGod's perceived lack of
(29:29):
affection towards us.
We've got anxiety over ourlovability in God's eyes.
We actually get jealous, maybe,if other people seem to have a
closer relationship with Godthan we do.
We have a preoccupation withobeying God in order to keep him
close.
So Hebrews 4.16 would say let usthen, with secure attachment,
(29:53):
draw near, with confidence, drawnear.
Where do we get this confidenceto draw near to God from?
Well, there's two phrases that,in Greek, sound way more
similar than the Englishtranslation here.
Here's the two phrases he'sable to sympathize, 415.
He is able to deal gently, 5-2.
This is where we boostourselves and buoy ourselves in
(30:16):
confidence that we should andcan draw near.
Look with me at 415.
It says this For we do not havea high priest who is unable to
sympathize with our weaknesses,but one who, in every respect,
has been tempted as we are, yetwithout sin.
Jesus is both holy and lowly.
This means he is unapatheticand sympathetic.
(30:39):
You see, I'm trying to makethis plain, but it's going to go
fast.
If Jesus was tempted and sinned, he could not offer service to
God.
But if Jesus was without sinbut was never tempted, he could
not offer sympathy to you and me.
Only Jesus, because he was bothtempted and yet without sin,
(31:00):
can offer service to God andsympathy to us as our great high
priest.
That's what this text wants youto see.
Now, ever since Brene Brown,sympathy gets a bad rap.
I'll leave that as a pregnantpause.
And this is why she had thislittle cartoon YouTube video
(31:20):
that went viral and it was abouta fox that fell in a hole in
like a deer or something likethat, and one of the animals
goes down in the hole with thefox and the other animal stays
up maybe it's a hippo and talksto the fox from outside of the
hole and her whole point isempathy gets down in the hole
with people.
Sympathy, basically, isdetached.
Now listen, I understand whatshe's getting at.
(31:42):
She just chose the wrong word.
She chose the wrong word.
Sympathy was not the word todunk on in that video.
She should not have done that,but she did.
And so this is why sympathysympathos means fellow feeling
or to suffer with.
Etymologically, she's wrong touse that term.
And I'm trying to reclaimsympathy because it's in the
(32:02):
Bible and it says Jesus is term.
And I'm trying to reclaimsympathy because it's in the
Bible and it says Jesus issympathetic.
And I want you to think thatthat's a good thing, not wishing
he was empathetic instead.
You see, what this means isthat Jesus is able to co-suffer
with us.
You want somebody who, becauseJesus is sinless, he's not
trapped in the same hole as youare.
That's the only reason he cangive you help in your time of
(32:25):
need, because he's not in thehole with you.
And yet Jesus climbs down intoour humanity and feels our
weaknesses, yet without sin, andso he actually comes in and he
bears those burdens with us andbears us up out of that hole.
You see, jesus can move towardsyou sympathetically because he
knows the temptation to fall inthat hole himself.
(32:46):
Jesus knows our temptations.
In fact he knows them betterthan we do.
Cs Lewis kind of puts it likethis.
He says only a person who swimsupstream knows the power of the
current.
Only a person who walks againstthe wind knows how strong the
force of it is.
He says only those who try toresist temptation know how
(33:08):
strong it is.
We never find out the strengthof the evil impulse inside us
until we try to fight it.
And Christ, because he was theonly man who never yielded to
temptation, is also the only manwho knows to the full what
temptation means and he's ableto sympathize with you in your
temptations.
(33:29):
Now, underline this verse.
I'd encourage you to do thatbecause you're going to be in a
circle in the not too distantfuture and hopefully somebody
will confess sin, not becausethey sinned, but because they're
confessing in your circle.
They will confess sin andyou're going to need to
encourage them with words thatare more important than what you
think or what they feel.
And that's when you want to beable to open up to Hebrews 4.15,
(33:51):
and you want to underline, youwant to look at them in the eyes
and you want to say we do nothave a high priest who's unable
to sympathize with us and ourweaknesses.
And then you can go on and tellthem and he's able to deal
gently.
Look with me at verse 5-2.
It says this he can deal gentlywith the ignorant and wayward,
since he himself is beset withweakness.
(34:14):
This word deal gently could betranslated ability to moderate
one's feelings.
I'm really glad they didn'ttranslate it that way, but they
could have.
Why would Jesus or a highpriest, why would they need to
moderate one's feelings?
I'm really glad they didn'ttranslate it that way, but they
could have.
Why would Jesus or a highpriest, why would they need to
moderate one's feelings?
Well, because, according tothis text, we are quote weak,
verse 15 and verse 2, tempted,verse 15, sinners, verse 15 and
(34:35):
verse 3, needy, verse 16,ignorant, verse 2, and wayward,
verse 2.
And none of that is a surpriseto Jesus.
Which verse 2 and wayward verse2.
And none of that is a surpriseto Jesus, which is good news,
because for many of us, there'sa gap between what we expect and
what we get when we sin.
We expect distance, but Jesuscame from heaven to earth in
(34:55):
order to bridge that gap.
You see, there's really onlytwo types of people in the world
, two types of people in thisroom.
There are those for whom sin isbetween you and God, and there
are those for whom Jesus isbetween you and God, no middle
ground.
So, whichever one you're inhopefully you're in the Jesus is
between you and God.
(35:16):
Fully embrace that.
Don't let your sin get betweenyou and God anymore.
Don't let it cause a sense ofdistance, because when we look
inside of ourselves, weanticipate only harshness from
heaven, but when we look up toJesus seated on the throne of
grace, we actually receive onlygentleness from him.
This is the good news of thistext we expect harshness.
(35:41):
Honestly, I think the reason whywe expect harshness when we sin
is because we all know peoplewho are unable to sympathize and
unable to deal gently.
Some of you are those people.
Right, you have a hard timewith other people's weaknesses.
You're actually triggered bypeople who are easily triggered,
but you would never call itthat people who are easily
(36:03):
triggered, but you would nevercall it that.
Some people get angry andirritated and frustrated with
their spouse or their kids ortheir co-workers or their
friends.
Why?
Because they're ignorant andweak and wayward and needy.
And you're right and you knowwhat's true and you're so
self-controlled and disciplined.
And yet all of thatself-control and discipline has
(36:23):
made you unsympathetic andlacking gentleness.
Listen, usually people who arenot acquainted with their own
weakness and need are some ofthe harshest people.
They're harsh with themselves,they're harsh with others.
This is why CS Lewis said ofall the bad men, religious bad
men are the worst.
But I have good news for youthis morning.
(36:47):
Jesus is nothing like you.
He is nothing like you.
He is far surpassing all ofyour wildest dreams and
expectations.
Instead of feeling like we'regonna get harshness if we come
to Jesus with our weakness orignorance or whatever it might
be, instead we can, withconfidence, draw near to the
throne of grace.
And what will we find?
(37:07):
According to the text, mercyand grace to help in time of
need.
My hope is that the Spiritdraws this to mind this week.
When you're at work or at home,or with friends or dealing with
relational strife, oroverwhelmed or anxious or
whatever it is, and you go.
This is a time of need.
I can draw near.
That's how I find mercy andgrace.
(37:29):
Jesus promised it.
I believe it.
Let's go.
That's what I hope happens thisweek.
And I want to underlinesomething else for you.
It's a throne of grace.
Of all the places, all thethings that this throne could be
called A throne of royalty, athrone of gold, a throne of
awe-striking transcendence.
(37:49):
It could have been all thosethings.
It's called a throne of grace.
It's a throne of grace that youdraw near to because it's a
throne that freely dispenseshelp from heaven to the weak, to
the tempted, to sinners, to theneedy, to ignorant, to the
wayward.
And so we can draw near,because we hold fast to our
(38:11):
confession, because ourconfession tells us who it is
that's seated on that throne.
Let's pray Jesus, we draw nearto you now.
We draw near to you now, seatedat that throne, the throne of
grace.
We come to you with ourweaknesses and our neediness,
even some of us with ourunwillingness to acknowledge our
(38:34):
weakness and our neediness.
Deal gently with us thismorning, be sympathetic towards
us in our weakness this morning.
That's who you say you are andwe believe it.
We pray this in your name, lordJesus, amen.
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