This is the Scripture-Driven Church broadcast brought to you by Teaching the Word Ministries. The Church of Jesus Christ must be the Scripture-Driven Church, relying on God's inspired and inerrant Word as our sole authority and our infallible critic in every area of life and ministry. And now, here's author, Bible teacher, and Teaching the Word president, Dr. Paul Elliott, to introduce today's program. The month of October is Reformation Month for the Protestant Church. And during October, we're remembering the Reformation on the Scripture-Driven Church Broadcast. This is the month when we remember the event that began the Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. That act lit the flames of the Reformation that would sweep across all of Europe and later into America as well. A key truth that was recovered at the Reformation is the fact that the Bible tells us that we do not need the intercession of an earthly priest with God. There is one mediator between God and man, the Bible tells us, the man Christ Jesus. Today we're presenting the first half of a message on this great truth from Hebrews chapter 4. The message is titled, Resting in the Intercession of Christ. And Father, I pray that as your word goes out today, that you will, by your Spirit, speak to each listening heart according to each individual's need. Whether that need is to come to the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, to be saved from sin, or to come before Christ as a believer, resting in the great fact of His intercession for Christians before your throne. Thank you, Father, for the work that you will do, as you have promised. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I'd like for you to turn this morning to a familiar passage of Scripture, Hebrews chapter 4. Turn with me there, if you would, please. I'm going to read Hebrews chapter 4, verses 9 through 16, and I want to focus our attention in particular this morning on verse 16. Hebrews chapter 4, beginning at verse 9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." And the writer, of course, here is speaking of God's rest on the seventh day of the creation week. Verse 11, "'Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.'" And here the writer is speaking of Israel's unbelief in the wilderness. Verse 12, For the word of God is quick, that is, it is alive, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Father, we thank you that your grace is truly amazing. Father, you have lifted us up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, set our feet on solid ground, and put a new song in our hearts, even praise unto our God. We thank you for that. We thank you for your grace extended to us through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that as we look into Your Word this morning, that Your Holy Spirit would use Your Word to instruct us and to meet the need of every individual as only Your Spirit can. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. The portion of Scripture that we have before us this morning speaks to us about three things. It speaks to us about the power of the Word of God. It speaks to us about the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it speaks to us about His intercessory work on our behalf. And it also tells us how we are to approach the Lord when we come before Him in prayer. And the key word in this passage, I believe, is the word rest. R-E-S-T, rest. Resting in Him, resting in the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that will be our focus this morning. These verses form one of the climax points in the book of Hebrews. There are many climax points as you step through the book, and the end of chapter 4 is certainly one of them. The writer has been building up to this point, and so before we consider verses 9 through 16, and verse 16 in particular, together, I want to take a few moments to set the stage for us. We need to step back and briefly review what the writer has covered in the first three and a half chapters leading up to this point, in order for us to better understand what we find here. First of all, we need to understand, think about the overall theme of the book of Hebrews. And of course, we know that the theme of the book of Hebrews is the superiority and the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews is telling us that Jesus Himself is superior, first of all. He is superior to the prophets. He's superior to Moses. He's superior to the angels. He's superior to the priests of the old covenant system. He's superior to Abraham, our father in the faith. And He's superior to all those saints that are mentioned in that great roll call that we find later on in chapter 11. And then in chapter 12 we see looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews also tells us that not only is Jesus himself superior, his atonement is superior. It is superior to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the blood of bulls and goats, which could not forever take away sin. He is a high priest not in the Levitical line, but in the order of Melchizedek. And Hebrews tells us that by being both our great high priest and the perfect sacrifice for our sins in one, that Jesus is the all-sufficient Savior. He's the author, the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. And that's the theme of the book, the superiority and the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Secondly, we need to remind ourselves why the book of Hebrews was written. Why did the writer emphasize these things so? And it was actually for much the same reason that Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians. It's clear from later chapters in Hebrews. that the author is writing this book to people who might be tempted to fall back away from Christ into Judaism, into legalism. They might be tempted to try to add legalism, legalistic Judaism to the gospel. And so the writer is exhorting them to recognize the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old. He's encouraging them to stand firm in the New Covenant. And He's reminding them that the reality of Christ in the New Covenant is far superior to the shadows and types of the old. And I want to just briefly run us through the first three and a half chapters or so that come up to this point. The writer to the Hebrews is building up to this climactic point. He starts out in chapter 1 by saying that Jesus is superior to the Old Testament prophets. God spoke in old times by the prophets. Now He speaks to us by His Son. He also reminds us that Jesus is the Creator God. that he participated in the creation of the universe itself as the second person of the Godhead. And then the writer does something which at first seems curious. He reminds us that Jesus is superior to the angels. Now, if we didn't read on into chapter 2, the comparison might seem strange. We say, of course Jesus is superior to the angels. He's God himself. Why even draw such a comparison? And why should the writer spend most of the rest of that first chapter of Hebrews talking about that particular point which seems so obvious. Well, he's making the point because in chapter 2 he's going to explain the reason for the comparison. He wants to explain to us that Jesus, the Creator God, the Creator of the angelic host, was made lower than the angels, made lower than the beings that He Himself created by coming to earth to live in a body like ours. And the reason for this, we're told in chapter 2 verses 10 and 11, is so that he might be made perfect or complete as the author of our salvation through sufferings, through affliction. Now the term made perfect or made complete there doesn't imply any sinfulness or any propensity towards sin on Jesus' part. It means perfect in the sense of completeness. It means perfect in the sense of proving the fact that Jesus was fully qualified to be our substitute. And because Jesus was made lower than the angels and suffered in human flesh, he is, we are told, not ashamed to call us brethren. The ones he's saving and sanctifying. And the writer concludes chapter two by saying that because Jesus suffered in being tempted, he is able to aid those who are being tempted, you and me. And that's going to be especially important as we move on. In chapter three, the writer goes on to tell us that Jesus is superior to Moses. Moses was considered the greatest of the prophets by the Jews, still is. But in John 1.17, we're told that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. And in Hebrews chapter 3, Moses is spoken of as a servant over God's house. He fulfilled that role, but Jesus is the son ruling over his own house. And the writer tells us that we, along with Moses and all of our fellow believers from all of time, we are all members of that same household of faith. We're going to talk more about that in a moment. Then later in chapter 3, the writer tells us what happened in the wilderness to Israel under Moses. And he sets it before us as an object lesson, as a warning for believers in the time in which he was writing, a warning also to us today. He reminds us that the generation of Israelites that was brought up out of Egypt was not permitted to enter the promised land of Canaan. And why was that? It was because of unbelief. God said of that generation, we read here, they always go astray in their heart and they have not known my ways, so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. So they died in the wilderness in unbelief. Unbelief in what? Unbelief in what? Well the writer makes that plain for us at chapter 4 verse 2. Their unbelief was unbelief in the gospel. He tells us that the same gospel is preached to us today that was preached to Israel in the wilderness, the gospel of redemption through the Messiah. And there has been now always has been in the past, always will be in the future, only one way to God. Through faith in Jesus Christ. In those days, it was the gospel looking forward to the cross. In our time, it's the gospel looking backward to the cross accomplished. But we're told that in the case of the generation of Israelites in the wilderness, the preaching of the gospel did not profit them, the writer says. In the original, it means that it was of no advantage to them. And the reason that the hearing of the gospel was of no advantage to them, he says, is because it was not mixed with faith to produce salvation in their hearts. The preaching of the gospel was not united with faith, and we learn from Ephesians chapter two that faith itself, saving faith, is the gift of God. And the writer reminds us in chapter 4, verse 10, that those who have entered into God's rest have ceased from what? From works. Just as God ceased His work on the seventh day of creation week, God ceased from His work on the seventh day because creation was complete, and we cease from our reliance on works because Christ's work of salvation on our behalf is complete. And in chapter 4, the writer also reminds us that even though that generation of Israelites failed to keep the faith, he says in verse 9, nevertheless there remains God's promise of eternal rest for believers, unchanged. And so that brings us to the passage we're focusing on this morning. And what is the writer saying to his readers then, to us today? Well, first of all, I want to begin now at verse 11. He exhorts us to be diligent to enter into that rest, to rest in Christ, and not to fall away through disobedience. And why does He do that? Well, we have the answer in verse 12. That familiar verse, the Word of God is living, quick, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And we have that little conjunction at the beginning of verse 12. We often quote it without that, but there's that little word for, at the beginning of verse 12, which means, the reason is that, or because, And what the writer is doing, he's referring to what's preceded. He's saying, be diligent to enter into that rest in Christ, and don't fall away, because you can't fool God. You can't fool God. Verses 12 through 15 make it plain why this is true, and there are three reasons. First, the Word of God reveals who you are. The Word of God reveals who you are. Oh, this is convicting. As verse 12 tells us, God's Word is a discerner. And in the original, as many of us know, this is the Greek word from which we get our English word, critic. The Word is a critic. The Word is a critic of your thoughts and your intentions. You need the Word of God to speak to you and tell you if you are not truly resting in Christ. We're not fit to judge this on our own apart from the Word of God. Our feelings rise and fall and circumstances can confuse us. We need to rely upon the Word of God as our discerner, as our critic. And scriptures have the life and the power to do this. Secondly, We're told here that we cannot hide anything from God. In verse 13, the writer reminds us that all things are naked and open before him to whom we must give account. Who you are, what you are, what you do, what you think, the innermost and most private thoughts, the things that you do and think and say when you're alone, But we're never alone. All laid bare before God. All of it laid bare before God. You don't get any more plain spoken than the writer does here. The two-edged sword of God's Word, he says, has once and for all laid open everything that you are. You can't hide anything from God. And the very first thing we can't hide from God is that we are sinners, that all have And thirdly, the writer also reminds us that Jesus understands your situation from first-hand experience, verses 14 and 15. We're told that the one to whom we must give an account is also our high priest. He understands what you're going through in this life from first-hand experience in his own flesh. He was tested in all points, just as we are, in all the points where you and I fail, but He did not sin. And so God possesses complete and intimate knowledge of us, everything, but how now does this tie back to the idea of entering into God's rest? In the previous verses, what's the inspired writer telling us? He's telling us that it is a vital, practical, everyday part of entering into that rest from works. A vital part of that is to enter into rest in the intercessory work of the Lord Jesus Christ on your behalf. If you're truly resting in Christ for your salvation, then one of the outworkings, one of the evidences of your faith in Christ should be that you are resting day by day in the intercession of Christ before the Father on your behalf. You should be coming before Him every day, entering into that rest, coming away from the struggles of life and coming before the throne of grace and entering into that rest. That's the picture. And that brings us to verse 16. Verse 16 tells us how you should come before God, what your expectation should be as you come, and what God has promised to do as you come. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The writer says, let us therefore come. And in the original, this speaks of approaching or drawing near. It's a term that was used in many ancient writings. It's reminiscent of many ancient writings, the way he puts it here, to describe what took place when someone came into the court of a monarch or a ruler. You didn't come unless you were invited. You didn't just come on your own. You didn't come unless someone acted as an intermediary for you, to bring you into that place. And that's the picture we have here. We need to remember that we're drawing near and approaching the holy God and sovereign of the universe, and the one who is bringing us before the Father is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Here once again is Dr. Paul Elliott with some closing comments. What a comfort to know that there is grace to help in time of need for every believer in Christ. If you are a believer today you are welcome in the throne room of God. We'll be presenting the second half of this message on our next broadcast and I hope you can join us then. I want to remind you again today about our latest free book offer. I believe this is one of the best and most useful books that we've ever offered on the Scripture Driven Church broadcast. The title of the book is Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Cure. and the author is one of the greatest pastors and preachers of the 20th century, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. So many Christians need this book. Today, many Christians and churches are turning to pop psychology and even elements of New Age philosophy for the answers to life's problems, instead of turning to God's Martin Lloyd-Jones takes us back to the Bible for the answers in many areas in which people find themselves in bondage today. Perhaps you or someone you know is having difficulty with one or more of these issues. Lack of a foundation in Christ. lack of clarity in our thinking, placing too much confidence in emotions, inability to receive forgiveness for all of our sins, inability to move beyond past failures, fear of the future, bondage to legalism, failure to recognize false teachings, weariness, bitterness, lack of discipline, lack of contentment, failure to face trials in God's power, failure to respond correctly to God's chastening, This book is a marvelous resource to guide you in your study of God's Word on these and many other challenges in the Christian life. Once again, the title of the book is Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Cure by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. The normal price of this 300-page book is $24.95 including shipping. But right now we're offering it free and postage paid while supplies last to anyone who requests it. Here's how to receive your copy. You can call us toll-free 24 hours a day in the United States at 888-804-9655. Once again that's 888-804-9655. Or you can go to our website teachingtheword.org and click the contact link. Once again, that's the contact link at teachingtheword.org. Or you can write to us at Box 2533, Westminster, Maryland, 21158, USA. Once again, our mailing address is Box 2533, Westminster, Maryland, 21158, USA. And don't forget to ask for the book, Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Cure, by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. On our next program we're going to present the second half of the message titled, Resting in the Intercession of Christ, from Hebrews chapter 4. And until then, may God richly bless your personal study of His inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word. of God.