Well, people of God, turn with me now to Hebrews 4, as we continue our exposition of the book of Hebrews. With God's help, we come to the end of chapter 4, and our sermon text will be verses 14-16, that last passage of chapter 4. Hebrews 4, verses 14-16. Hear now the word of our God. 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 like 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. Amen. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Praise be to Him. What amazing, comforting verses these are, right? We have a great High Priest. Did you know that? We have a great High Priest, and therefore we can come unto the throne of grace with boldness, boldly, with confidence, and we will always find help in time of need. And what are the times when we're in need? All the time. All the time. And God will richly provide as we come through Jesus Christ. What a privilege we have. What a privilege that we have an access into the very throne room of God. And the throne of God is the throne of grace for all those that are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us, therefore, hold fast our profession. Let us come boldly onto the throne of grace as we live our lives. in this valley of tears. As we come to the end of chapter 4, we continue the theme of perseverance, the theme of endurance, perseverance by faith. Verse 1, if you look at verse 1 of our chapter, it says, let us therefore fear lest a promise left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it. Let us endure. Let us fear the Lord. Let us not fear men, but the Lord. And let us press on. And let us walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not enough to start well. You better make sure that you will finish well. Make sure that by the grace of God you endure all the way to the end. For true believers will continue in the faith to the end. Let us make sure that we don't follow the example of our spiritual fathers in the wilderness, who for 40 years heard the preaching of the gospel. And what did they do? The vast majority of them, the generation that came out of Egypt, They didn't hear. They didn't hear with faith. So look at verse 2. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them. Why? Not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. And so there is a necessity here for us to embrace and receive the promises of God by faith. Let us make sure that we don't just hear the Word of God in one ear and out the other, but let us make sure that we hear mixed with faith and embrace God's gospel promises by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to persevere. We need to endure. You know why? Because we are also walking in the wilderness. We're also on our way to the celestial city. We also await that final rest, and we are on our way. We look to the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So we too are in the wilderness. We are a pilgrim people. We are in our pilgrimage and we are assaulted and attacked by enemies all around us. And there is sin within us. And we have all these temptations and all these temptations that are calling us to depart from the living God. We need help, do we not? We need help in our perseverance. And so it is clear that God's word commands us to persevere. But the problem is we are so weak. We are so frail. We are so easily distracted. How can we make sure that we will persevere to the end? What's the guarantee? that we who have started our pilgrimage will make it to glory. Well, these last verses of chapter four. Give us God's provision for us. God has provided for us all that we need for our perseverance, all that we need for our growth and grace, all that we need so that we might continue our pilgrimage all the way to glory. And you know what God has provided for us? He has provided for us a Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is offered to us in the Gospel so that we might be helped in our pilgrimage, so that we might be enabled by the grace of Jesus Christ to persevere by faith. God has provided for us A great and merciful high priest whose grace is sufficient for us. All that we need. Christian, all that you need, the Lord supplies, because Jesus Christ is our all-sufficient Savior. So notice, in these last verses, we have this glorious proclamation of the excellencies and the sufficiency and the perfection of Jesus Christ. And notice how that is connected to our perseverance. So look at verse 15 again. Verse 14 seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens Who is it not Aaron not even Melchizedek? It is Jesus the Son of God then notice let us hold fast our profession do you see that how our perseverance is aided by this great High Priest, Jesus Christ. This is the key to our endurance. The key to our perseverance as Christians is Jesus Christ, our all-sufficient Savior, who is our great High Priest. So the theme of perseverance then is connected to our sufficiency and help that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul is encouraging us. You have a great high priest who has passed into the heavens. He's in the highest heavens, and He's praying for you, and He's interceding for you. And He's not only exalted, but He's also imminent. He is Emmanuel God with us. He sympathizes with you. He understands your frailty. He understands your weakness. And yet, He is a very present help in trouble. Therefore, Christian, every day, let us come boldly, not with doubts, not wondering if God is going to help us. No, no. With boldness, with confidence, come unto the throne of grace through Jesus Christ. And listen, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Whatever it is that you need today, Christ will provide. You come to the throne of grace by faith in Jesus Christ and you will lack nothing. You can say with David, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I will not be in lack because all that I need is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our great and glorious and merciful and sympathetic High Priest. So that's the focus here on the perfection and sufficiency of the priestly office of Christ in order to encourage us to persevere as we live on this earth. The theme of our sermon this morning is this. God calls you to come boldly unto the throne of grace. That's verse 16, right? God calls you to come boldly unto the throne of grace because your great high priest is perfect, compassionate, and sufficient. God calls you to come boldly unto the throne of grace because your great high priest is perfect, he's compassionate, and he is sufficient for you. Praise be to God. As we meditate on that main theme, that main idea, we'll do so under three heads. The perfection of Christ, our great high priest. Secondly, the compassion of Christ, our great high priest. And then thirdly, the sufficiency of Christ, our great high priest. The perfection, the compassion, and the sufficiency of Christ. Our Great High Priest. So firstly then, our first head, the perfection of Christ's priestly office. Jesus Christ is a perfect Great High Priest. Look with me. at verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest. Isn't that amazing? We have a great high priest. We have an exalted high priest. Children, the Greek here says we have a mega high priest, a great, a mega high priest, which is for us. He's ours. We have him. We will lack nothing if we run to the Lord Jesus Christ and draw from him all the resources that we need to live the Christian life. Well, in the Old Testament, we had priests. A priest was a go-between, a mediator, a representative between God and men. A priest in the Old Testament would intercede on behalf of the people, pray for the people before God, and also would offer sacrifices unto the Lord on behalf of the people. So we had all these priests in the Old Testament. And the point is, it is to show us that we need a mediator. We need a mediator. We as sinners cannot go to God on our own because we are sinful, and all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We need a mediator to bring us unto God. We need a redeemer. Among the priests in the Old Testament, there was one called a high priest, and the high priest could would minister on behalf of the people, but especially once a year, the high priest would enter into the most holy place, the holy of holies, within the veil. But he could only do that once a year on that great day of atonement. And the high priest would come in, enter into the most holy place, and would offer a sacrifice, first for his own sins, because he was a sinner, and then for the sins of the people. And the high priest would bring that sacrifice within the veil before the very Ark of the Covenant and upon the mercy seat. And the high priest would sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat. And this was all a picture to show us that we need sacrifice without the shedding of the blood there's no remission of sin we also need a priest but a better priest than Aaron why because the because all the priests of the order of Aaron all the Levitical priests were sinners themselves right they needed a Forgiveness. They needed to offer sacrifices for their own sins as well as for the sins of the people. And those sacrifices were repeated again and again every year. Why? Because Our salvation doesn't come from the blood of bulls and goats, but those were types and shadows pointing forward to the one true sacrifice that the Lord will provide and our great high priest who would come to rescue us and to bring us unto God. And so we read, as I said earlier in Leviticus 16, for example, We read about the high priest entering into the most holy place, bringing the sacrifice, sprinkling the mercy seed with blood of the animal, and so on. And then the priest. would have to come out and could only go in there once a year, only once a year. But unlike Aaron and unlike all the Levitical priests of the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ has no sin. And therefore, when the Lord Jesus offered the sacrifice, it was not for his own sins. He had none, but for the sins of his people. And not only that. The sacrifice which the Lord Jesus Christ offers is Himself. He is our Great High Priest and He is the sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. He is the priest and He is the sacrifice. It's not the blood of bulls and goats that can atone for sin, but it is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ alone that can cleanse us from our sins. Therefore, Jesus Christ is greater than Aaron. Amen? Jesus Christ is greater than all the Levitical priests. And he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. We'll see that in the next chapter. I believe, in the chapters to come. But the Lord Jesus Christ is greater and He's better than all the priests of the Old Testament. He is greater than Moses. He's superior to Aaron. He's superior to Melchizedek. He is our great High Priest who has passed into the heavens. What makes him the great high priest? He's the God-man. He is truly God and truly man, two natures in one person, so that the Lord Jesus Christ is a most excellent and all-sufficient Savior. Remember, he's the mega high priest. Well, in light of that, think with me, in light of the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His priestly office, in light of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, how wicked and how foolish would it be for us to pray to the saints or to pray to Mary as though Mary is omniscient and can hear our prayers? How wicked it is! Would it be for us to look unto bishops and priests, pretended priests of the Roman Catholic Church, as though they have some special status and as though they are mediators? When the Bible tells us in 1st Timothy 2, there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. How can we think about going unto the Lord through another mediator when there is none except one, Jesus Christ, the great high priest? What blasphemy to think of Mary, a godly woman, a sinner saved by grace. What blasphemy to think of her as a mediatrix or a mediator when Mary herself confessed her need for a Savior, right? When Mary herself said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, Mary confessed that she was a sinner in need of God's salvation. The only Savior of Mary, and the only Savior of all of God's elect, is the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and men. and our great high priest. Christ is not one among other high priests. He is our only great high priest, the only mediator between God and men. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is our priest. The Shorter Catechism teaches us from question 25, how does Christ execute the office of a priest? Answer, Christ executed the office of a priest, number one, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice. Secondly, and reconcile us to God. And then thirdly, in making and in making continual intercession for us. So how does Jesus serve us as our great high priest? Well, he offered himself up, not repeatedly, but once and for all. in order to bring us to God, in order to make reconciliation between God and us sinners. And the Lord Jesus Christ continues to serve as our Great High Priest in making continual intercession for us before the throne of grace. What a glorious Savior we have. Listen to a few verses. Hebrews 9 verse 28 says, Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Hebrews 2 verse 17 says, In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest, things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." And then Hebrews 7 and verse 25, He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Praise the Lord. You see, Aaron couldn't do that. Why? Because Aaron eventually died. And the reason Aaron died is because he was a sinner. The wages of sin is death. But our great high priest, who died not for his own sins, but for the sins of his people, also rose again the third day in triumphant glory. And therefore, Jesus Christ is able to save us to the uttermost because He ever liveth to make intercession for us. What a glorious Savior we have. He prays for us. He intercedes for us. And by virtue of our union with Christ, we have all his benefits. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is given to us. That's why the Apostle Paul says, we have a great high priest. Isn't that wonderful? He's ours. Did you hear me? Jesus Christ is yours and you are his if you are truly saved. He is mine, and I am his, and his banner over me is what? Love. Love. You need this great high priest. You need his perfection. You need his sufficiency, Christian. In Colossians chapter 2, listen to what the apostle says. Colossians 2. And verse 3, in whom, speaking of the Lord Jesus, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9 says, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And then verse 10, and ye are complete. In Him. Praise the Lord. Christian, you are complete in Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And therefore, come unto Jesus. Look unto Him. Look unto Jesus. Today, not through the physical eyes. One day we will see Him face to face. But today, look unto Jesus through the eyes of your soul. Cultivate better eyesight of your soul that you might see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and that you might embrace Him and run to Him in times of need. Do you see Him? Do you see Him through the eyes of your faith? Do you see your need to come unto the Lord Jesus Christ, our great and exalted High Priest? Notice In verse 14, the apostle goes on to say, seeing then that we have a great high priest, listen, that is passed into the heavens. Do you see that? That is passed into the heavens. What's the significance of that? What's going on here? As I said earlier, in the Old Testament, the Old Testament priest, in particular the high priest, could go into the most holy place only once a year, right? But here the Lord Jesus Christ is passed into the heavens. He didn't go into an earthly tabernacle, which is a replica of the heavenly Mount Zion, but the Lord Jesus Christ entered into the very holy of holies, into the heavenly most holy place. The Lord Jesus Christ has entered into the highest heavens as our great High Priest. And the Old Testament High Priest could only go in how many times? Once a year. But the Lord Jesus Christ continues to be in heaven at the right hand of the Father. representing us, interceding for us, applying the benefits to us, aiding us and helping us. The Lord Jesus Christ remains in the heavens. The Lord Jesus Christ is the priest king. In his human nature, where is the Lord Jesus? In his humanity, he's at the right hand of God in the highest heavens. As touching is divine nature, He never left us. He's with us always, even unto the end of the world. But in His humanity, He's at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning, and also interceding for us. David speaks about that. David speaks about Jesus Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father, and the one who's seated as the Lord's anointed king is also a priest. He is our great high priest. As I read Psalm 110, a few verses, listen for the two offices of Christ that David speaks about, that Jesus Christ is the priest-king, the priest-king. So Psalm 110, verse 1, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. This is the Lord Jesus, the Lord's Messiah, the Messianic King who's seated at the right hand of God, who's ruling and reigning, and all the enemies are being made his footstool. But then look at verse 4. The Lord hath sworn and will not repent. Thou art a what? a priest forever after the order of, not Levi, Melchizedek. Here it is, Psalm 110, where David sees the priest king seated at the right hand of God. And David worships his son, Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ, David's son, is David's Savior and Lord. He's the priest king who has passed into the heavens. This is amazing, isn't it? This is amazing. Where is Jesus in his humanity? He's in the heavens, right? Now listen, this means that the work of Christ that he accomplished can never be thwarted. The work of Christ can never be undone. No one can reach Christ. No one can storm the courts of heaven in order to interrupt the intercessory prayer and ministry of our Lord. You see, he's in the highest heavens. There is no bomb that can reach up to heavens in order to frustrate the work of our Savior. You see, this is speaking about the perfection of His work. Jesus Christ has passed not into a sanctuary in Jerusalem, but in the highest heavens. His work is perfect. It is complete. Therefore, He's able to save to the uttermost. those that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Therefore, God's people are eternally secure. No one can frustrate, no one can interrupt, the intercession of our great High Priest. Now in Romans chapter 8, we have those great verses, the last couple of verses, that says nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But notice, before the Apostle gives us that great and glorious passage of our eternal security, notice how he talks about Jesus Christ interceding for us, and therefore we are eternally secure. In Romans chapter 8, Starting at verse 31, what shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Verse 32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Listen to verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, listen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. He's at the right hand of God as our great high priest, and he's interceding for us. He's praying for us. And therefore, those that have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can never perish. Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who? Is there anyone who can storm into heaven and interrupt the ministry of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sore, as it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long, we're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we're more than conquerors, through him that loved us. And the one who loved us is in the highest heavens, at the right hand of God, making intercession for us. For I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Praise the Lord. Christian, persevere. cling unto the Lord Jesus Christ, because He will hold you fast. He will sustain you. He will not let you go. And therefore, you, by the grace of Jesus Christ, your great high priest, you can endure affliction. You can be patient in adversity. You can walk every day by faith in this all-sufficient Savior. And whatever you need, Jesus Christ will abundantly supply, so that there will be no lack for those that are united to Jesus Christ by faith. Jesus Christ prays for you. He intercedes for you. What was he praying for Peter? What was he saying? He said to Peter, I pray that your faith would not fail, right? He prays for you as well, that your faith would not fail. Do you think God is going to answer the prayers of His Son? Of course He will. And therefore, your faith will persevere, for your faithful Great High Priest is interceding for you. A few Lord's days ago, we meditated on that passage from Numbers 21, where God's people rebelled against Him, complained, and it all came out of a heart of unbelief. And the Lord punished them. He sent fiery serpents into the wilderness, and many people died. And those who survived, they ran to Moses in verse 7 of Numbers 21. Therefore, the people came to Moses, And what did they say? We have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord. What did the people say to Moses? Pray for us. Pray to the Lord on our behalf that we might be spared. The people ran to Moses, who was a kind of mediator, he was a type of Christ. Well, Moses prayed for the people, the Lord answered, how much more? are we encouraged to come to the greater Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest, who will continue to intercede for us because he is risen, he ever liveth, to make intercession for us. Therefore, it is impossible for those who are saved by Jesus Christ to be lost. If we could be lost, if Christ's sheep could perish, then that means The work of Christ's intercession for us was frustrated. God forbid. People went to Moses. You go to the greater high priest. Come unto Jesus. All that you need, he will provide for you. You see, Christ's perfection gives us the power, gives us the confidence to persevere. Do you understand? Because we have not put our faith in a sinner. Moses was a faithful servant in the house of God. Praise God. But Moses was a sinner. Our faith is not in frail Moses. Our faith is not in a frail minister. But our faith is in the only begotten Son of God. And therefore, we can endure for he is able to save us to the uttermost. Jesus Christ enters into the heavenly, most holy place and sprinkles the mercy seed, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood. You see how amazing it is? We have a great high priest who has passed into the heavens And the mercy seat in the heavenly sanctuary is sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who died once and for all. You're in Hebrews 4. If you want to flip forward to chapter 10 real quick, let's read a few verses together. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 10. Hebrews 10, verse 10. By the witch, will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ? How many times? Once for all. Once for all. Verse 11, and every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Speaking of the Old Testament priesthood. Verse 12, but this man, the Lord Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever, listen, sat down on the right hand of God. From henceforth, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. That's Psalm 110, right? Verse 1. Now look at verse 18. Well, if we back up to verse 17, look at this sweet promise. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Because we have a perfect Savior. Verse 18, now where remission of these is, listen, there is no more offering for sin. Do you see that? There is no more need to offer any more sacrifices because Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice who died once and for all. Therefore, do you see that in verse 18? There is no more offering for sin, right? In light of this, how blasphemous is the Roman Catholic mass? that maintains that every time the priest, the so-called priest, utters the words of institution. He has the power to pull Jesus down from his heavenly session at the right hand of God, and he has the power to transform the substance of bread and wine into the very substance of the body and blood of Christ, so that he offers a sacrifice on the altar When the Bible says Jesus died once and for all, and it is perfect, and the work of redemption is accomplished, there is no more offering for sin. The Roman Mass is blasphemy. The Hatterberg Catechism calls the Roman Mass nothing else but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Christ and an accursed idolatry. The table of the Mass in the Roman Church is an accursed idolatry. Because Jesus died once and for all. And now he ever liveth to make intercession for us. His work of redemption is accomplished. Praise be to God. And he is our great High Priest. that has passed into the heavens. Who is he? Let's go back to our sermon text, verse 14. Since we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, who? Jesus. Who? The Son of God. We're talking about the only begotten Son of God. We're speaking about the Redeemer, who's truly God and truly man, the eternal Son of God, who became man and so was and continueth to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. We're speaking about the Lord Jesus, not Aaron, not Moses, not Melchizedek, but the Lord Jesus Christ. the perfect, righteous man who is God in the flesh. And therefore, since he is the perfect priest, since he is the spotless and perfect sacrifice, therefore those who have put their faith in him will never be put to shame. He is the second person of the Trinity. This great high priest is a divine person. He's a perfect savior. As touching his divine nature, Jesus Christ is unchangeable. He's immutable. He never changes. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. And therefore, let us hold fast our profession. Do you see that? End of verse 14. In light of all this, let us hold fast our profession, because Christian, you have put your faith in the only begotten son of God. Cling to Him. Cleave unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Hold fast your profession. Confess Him before men. He will hold you fast. He will not leave you. He will not forsake you. He is a most excellent Savior. Do you see how the glory and the majesty of the Lord Jesus is meant to aid us and encourage us in our perseverance? the key to your perseverance, Christian. is cleaving unto Christ. That's the key. The Lord Jesus holds us in his hands. He says in John 10, my sheep will never perish and no man can plug them out of my hands. You cleave unto Jesus. You depend upon him. Depend on the Lord Jesus. Draw from him all the resources that you need. Persevere in dependence on your all-sufficient Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, secondly then, our second head, the compassion of Christ, our great high priest. So we just considered the perfection of his work. But secondly then, the compassion. This is verse 15. The compassion of Christ, our great high priest. Now, you could almost hear an objection. Perhaps you might have that objection before you. Minister you've been talking about this Exalted Christ who is perfect and righteous and he's in the highest heavens and he's seated at the right hand of God It feels so distant like he's out there Does he even remember me? Does he even care for me? I mean he's in the highest heavens and I'm down here on this earth How can I have comfort? Well, the good news of the gospel is that this exalted Jesus Christ, who indeed is in the highest heavens, is not a robot redeemer. He's not a distant deliverer, but he is imminent. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Yes, the Lord Jesus is in the highest heavens as touching his human nature, but as touching his deity, the Lord Jesus Christ is with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. Isn't that comforting? This exalted Savior is also with you. He's with you in your suffering. He's with you in your pilgrimage. As you walk every step of the way, the Lord Jesus Christ is with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Jesus Christ is approachable. How encouraging that is for the Christian. You see, the Lord Jesus didn't just save us from heaven. He came down. He became a man. He became one of us. He underwent the miseries of this life. He was tempted as we are in all points, except for sin. He didn't take the nature of angels, but he became a true man. And he came to live with us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth. He is compassionate. He's your compassionate great high priest. Verse 15. Three things under this heading. Firstly, notice the apostle tells us that Jesus Christ is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That's verse 15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Do you see that? Which means that the Lord Jesus Christ knows your weakness. He knows the feeling of your infirmities experientially. He underwent the miseries of this life and therefore he has a fellow feeling of your infirmities. Remember when the Lord Jesus confronted Saul as he was on his way to imprison believers and persecute and so on? And the Lord Jesus intervened and confronted him. And what did the Lord say? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting? Who? Me. Who was Saul persecuting? God's people. But the Lord Jesus has so joined himself to us. He's our husband, and we are the bride of Christ. That to persecute believers is to persecute the Lord Jesus. He has a fellow feeling. of our infirmity. He is identified with us. He is one with us. We're united to him by faith. He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. There is no one who knows you more intimately and more compassionately than the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he's in the highest heavens, but he's also with you. Isn't that amazing? Yes, he is exalted, but he is also with you. He's Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus Christ has sympathy for you. And since the Lord Jesus is a divine person, guess how much sympathy and compassion he has for you? Unending compassion, unending sympathy. He will never run out of compassion for you. Grace upon grace, he has for his people. And so, verse 15 again, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Jesus indeed was touched with the feelings of our infirmities as he underwent the miseries of this life. Listen to a few verses. Isaiah 53, verse 3. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Luke 9, verse 58, And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests. but the son of man hath not where to lay his head. Yes, he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and therefore he has compassion for you. He understands your struggles, he knows your frailty, and he is there to help you every step of the way. In Christ, there's always mercy. There's always grace. Do you see the irresistible, glorious beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ? Who, being the rich Redeemer, rich Lord, became poor for you, so that by His poverty you might become rich? Jesus Christ understands your fatigue. He understands the pressures of your life. He understands your exhaustion, your frailty. He knows you. Remember when the Lord Jesus was about moments before he was gonna raise Lazarus to life. What does the Bible say? Jesus wept. He was going to raise Lazarus to life and yet he wept. It was not a show. He was moved with compassion. And he wept. And what did the people say? See how much he loved Lazarus. Well, he loves you. He has a fellow feeling of your infirmities because he himself suffered. He underwent the miseries of this life. You can trust the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not just exalted, but he's also come near you so that you can say, as we just sang in Psalm 46, God is our refuge and our strength. A what? A very present help in trouble. The Lord Jesus Christ has the perfect, the most suitable help for your needs. A very present help in trouble. Secondly, notice Christ was touched with the feeling of infirmities. Secondly, he was tempted in all points as we are. So the middle of verse 15, but was in all points tempted like as we are. The temptations of the Lord Jesus were not a facade. They were real temptations. The Lord Jesus was assaulted by the devil. In fact, the devil exhausted all of his weapons to come at the Lord Jesus. And yet the Lord Jesus never gave in to those temptations, right? So the Bible says he was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. Now you might say, but wait a minute, wouldn't it be more, wouldn't a fellow sinner understand me better? Because a fellow sinner can understand that I'm a sinner too. Wouldn't a fellow sinner have more sympathy than the sinless savior? Listen, every sinner, when sins, falls into the temptation that's presented to him, right? But the Lord Jesus, kept on resisting the temptation all the way and never fell in to any sin. The Lord Jesus endured temptations in a far greater measure than any other man who ever lived and remained faithful to the end and never sinned and therefore he has greater, infinitely greater sympathy and compassion for you than a fellow sinner, right? He understands your struggles because he himself was presented with temptations to sin, but he never sinned and therefore not only does he understand your struggles, he's able to save you because he's a sinless, perfect redeemer. He's compassionate. Not only is he compassionate, but he's also able, he's powerful to save, and he's willing to aid those who come to him. So end of verse 15 says, yet without sin, do you see that? Now here we find, let me give you just a theological perspective. Phrase, the doctrine of the impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ. The impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? It means that because the Lord Jesus is a divine person, not only did he not sin, he could not sin. The Lord Jesus could not sin. In thought, word, or deed, it was impossible for the only begotten Son of God to be able to sin. He's a divine person. Yes, he's a true man, and yes, those temptations were real, but all those temptations came from without, not from within. There was nothing in him that sinned. The Lord Jesus could not sin. He remained sinless. He's the spotless, perfect, sinless Lamb of God. And Psalm 45 speaks about the fairest of all men, right? The king to whom Psalm 45, the psalmist is speaking of. Who is that fairest of all men? It couldn't be David. It couldn't be Solomon. The king of Psalm 45 is the Lord Jesus Christ, the fairest of all men, because he without sin. Grace is poured into His lips. The Lord Jesus lived in this fallen sinful world. He suffered with us. He suffered for us and yet without sin. And because of His impeccability, because the Lord Jesus could not sin, because He is who He is, He's able to save us to the uttermost end. And He became our sin-bearer, so that when He died on the cross, He didn't die for His own sins, He had none, but He took our sins upon Himself. Our sins were imputed to Him. He drank the hell that was reserved for us. He satisfied the wrath of God on the cross, in our place, in our room, as our substitute. There's an application, John 1. He came unto his own, but his own did not receive him. But as many as did receive him, to them gave he power to what? Become the sons of God. Jesus Christ is the only natural son of God. He's the eternal son of God. But those who come to the Lord Jesus Christ become the sons of God by adoption, by adoption. He is a merciful high priest. As an application for you Christians, since Christ has unending sympathy and eternal mercy for you, shouldn't you extend mercy unto others? Shouldn't Christians be the most sympathetic, the most merciful people on the earth? Luke 6 verse 36 says, Be therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful. Ephesians 4.32, and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Those of you who are still unbelievers, there's a warning here for you. If you are not in Christ, if you don't know this great high priest, then God is not your father. But you are of your father, the devil. And you will perish eternally in hell unless you repent. You must repent and you must come to this great and glorious high priest who has compassion for sinners. come to him by faith, repent of your sins and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And then finally, our final head with God's help. Look at verse 16. The first head was the perfection of Christ, our great high priest. Secondly, the The compassion of Christ, our great high priest. But then thirdly, verse 16, the sufficiency of Christ, our great high priest. The sufficiency of Christ, our great high priest. All of this glorious theology brings us to the application of verse 16. Let us therefore, in light of what has been said, Do what? Come boldly unto the throne of grace so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Do you see the picture of sufficiency here? Whatever help you need, you'll find it at the throne of grace, right? Whatever mercy you need, whatever grace you need, whatever help you need, you will find as you come by faith in this great and glorious High Priest. He is sufficient for you. He's our very present help in trouble. What gloriously comforting words. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We are in need all the time. but the Savior supplies what we need. The Lord Jesus says in John 10 in verse nine, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and listen, shall go in and out and find pasture. If you come through the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have an unending supply of pasture, an unending supply of all that you need. All the resources that you are in need of are to be found in Jesus Christ. How foolish would it be for you to look elsewhere? Don't look elsewhere. Look unto Jesus, the author and also the finisher of our faith. Christ is enough. Don't settle for anything less. See, what modern psychology can do is only address the external symptoms by giving drugs. Jesus Christ alone is able to heal and save the soul. He changes the heart. He changes a sinner's heart. We need Jesus Christ, and He is enough for you, Christian, in your perseverance, in your endurance, as you seek to live by faith in Jesus Christ. He is enough for you. In fact, when you suffer, and I know that you are suffering, and I may know only 1% of what's in your heart, but Jesus knows, and He knows perfectly, and He knows compassionately and intimately all of your struggles, all of your suffering, and instead of condemning you, He helps you, right? When you suffer, Christian, you never suffer alone. You always are with Jesus Christ. Isn't that comforting? You never suffer alone. Therefore, don't look anywhere else. Jesus says, My grace is sufficient for you. You plus the Lord Jesus Christ are a majority wherever you go, wherever you are. You plus Jesus are a majority. He is with you. Therefore, the only appropriate response in light of the person and work of Christ is to come boldly. And remember that word boldly, don't come with doubts. Never doubt the love of Jesus Christ. Never wonder, today I've sinned one too many times. I'm not sure today if I will find mercy. Never doubt God's promises, but you come boldly unto the throne of grace. You know why? Because there is no condemnation unto them that are in Christ Jesus. Your sins are forgiven. God is for you, not against you. Therefore, come not with doubts, but come boldly. And notice, I love this, the throne of God, where Jehovah is seated with all of his might. Notice how it's described for the Christian. It's the throne of grace. Isn't that amazing? The throne where Jehovah sits, the God who is a consuming fire, that throne. For you Christians, it's the throne of grace. This throne is bad news for rebels, right? This throne is bad news for those who would not repent. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that, the judgment. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The throne, the majestic throne of God, is bad news for the rebels, but for the weakest of Christian, the throne of Jehovah is the throne of grace. For you, the frail, weak Christians, when you come to the throne, You come to the throne of grace. How can we not come boldly? Amen? With all of your trials, with all of your struggles with sin, with all of your needs, come unto Jesus and He will provide the timely, the suitable help. Come with a holy boldness, a holy confidence, with reverence and godly fear, knowing that the veil is rent And we have open access to the throne of grace. I've been reading with my family and our family worship through the book of Genesis. And we read in Genesis 41, there was this great famine, you know, upon the whole world. And listen to Genesis 41 and verse 57. And all the countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn, because the famine was so sore in all the lands. Here we have Joseph as a picture of Christ, as a type of Christ. Here is Joseph, humanly speaking, the only source of bread, right? The whole world, the only place where you could find bread is with Joseph. Joseph. And all these countries come to Joseph for help, for food. What a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. As these countries came to Joseph, you must come to Jesus Christ, the greater Joseph, who is the very bread of life. You must cry out to him, have mercy upon me, O thou son of David. Christ has unending, extravagant grace. for all those who come to him by faith. His bread will never run out. His mercy, his help will never run out for you. Jesus says, those who come to me, I will in no wise cast out. He will never reject. He will never remove. He will never cast out those who come unto him for help. Isn't that amazing? 100% of the time, when you come to Jesus for help, You will find help 100% of the time. When you come, Jesus, for mercy and grace and forgiveness of your sins, you will receive mercy. He will never turn you away. He will never say, I'm busy or I'm out of mercy for today. Come tomorrow. It's never going to happen. For He is a perfect Savior. This is a free offer of the gospel, isn't it? Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace. Let us come boldly. In Isaiah, let me end with just two passages. Isaiah 55, listen to what Jehovah says. Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Are you thirsty? This message is for you. Listen up. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Verse six, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord. Listen, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. And then finally, listen to these words of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew, end of Matthew 11, where our Lord Jesus says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Only Christ can talk like that, because he's our great high priest. His grace is sufficient for us. Come unto the Lord Jesus Christ by help, and you will find grace to help in time of need. Amen. Let us stand for prayer.