And we are good to go, all right. So in your Bible, it's Hebrews chapter seven, or if you're using a church Bible, page one, two, four, eight. And we get to look at the man. the man Christ Jesus and who He is. Jesus' humanity is emphasized in the Word of God as well as His deity. I mean, He was both God in the flesh and He was both fully man. Philippians 2. It says about him, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man. I mean, that's an amazing reality, isn't it, to think that God became a man. And as the disciples got to know the man Christ Jesus, you know, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, and when he went back to his village, it's not that they looked at him and thought, oh, you know, there's something very special about him. They said, is not this the son of Joseph? Aren't his brothers and sisters here? As he came back and everybody was saying, is this the Messiah? They're saying, wait a second, this is just Joseph's son, as they saw it, not realizing who he was. And so the disciples, as they begin to go with Jesus and do different things, in one story, he's on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee region is very much like Scotland. The geology of the landscape is very much the same. And you've got this lock or lake that's there. It's several miles across, several miles wide. It's not massive, but it's big enough that they get huge storms on it. And the disciples one time coming across that Sea of Galilee, huge storm comes and they awaken Jesus. He's sleeping in the boat. Again, a picture of the fact that he is human, that he's tired, he's resting. And he gets up and he just cries out, remember, peace, be still. And he rebuked the storm. and it was a great calm. I was out on the Sea of Galilee. The day we were out there was glass. It was gorgeous, a beautiful, beautiful day. And I can't imagine the contrast between what I saw and what the disciples saw, except for with what they saw afterwards. They saw it at night, but it was perfectly still. Now, what would you say if you had a guy in your boat stand up and go peace be still and a storm stopped? I mean, they said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? You know, to go away from earth and to go up into glory with John, the beloved disciple of Jesus on the Isle of Patmos, as God gives him the revelation, Jesus Christ gives him the revelation that we read, what he saw in heaven of Jesus is also about a man in Revelation chapter five, as the Bible says, I saw in the right hymn of him that sat on the throne a book, there's God, with a book in his hand, written within, and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. And as you hear the word book, don't think book like we think book, think scroll, all right? There's a scroll in the hand of God and it's got these seals on it, wax seals, and they're saying who's worthy to open this. And no man in heaven nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to read the book, neither to look thereon." And there's a reason John's weeping. We'll talk about it in a second. But he's looking at this scroll, saying it's so important that somebody open this, but there's no who? Man worthy to open it. And one of the elders said to me, weep not. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. Who's that? Jesus Christ. the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of orders, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthiest lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him, Christ that liveth forever and ever. See, on the one hand, you've got Jesus on the Sea of Galilee. And there on the sea, the disciples are looking at him and saying, what manner of man is this? And then in glory, you see the incredible power, the incredible authority, the worthiness of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did. But you also see John the Beloved weeping because no man was found worthy to open the scroll. And what was the scroll? The scroll is what is known as the Tribulation. It is what will take place on this earth. It is why the Jews and the Gentiles are debating about the Temple Mound, and there's such an argument about that piece of real estate and Jerusalem. Think about it. Who cares? If Israel has their capital, Jerusalem, why does the world care? Because it's so key to the end times and what's gonna take place when Jesus Christ comes back to reign there. And if that scroll doesn't open, the judgment's not gonna come on the wicked, which they deserve. The vindication of the righteous, the martyrs, all those that died for the Lord Jesus Christ are never gonna be vindicated. if there's not a man that is found worthy to open that. Jesus Christ is, praise God, that man. It's interesting, the word of God does refer to him at times as the man. And we've already looked at some texts regarding that. But Pilate mocked him with the words, the man. In John 19 five, as he set Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said unto them, behold the man. What I want us to do this morning is to behold the man. You know, we ought to weep this morning if in our hearts, if this was the case, if we looked and said, God, where is the Messiah? Why hasn't he come? Where's the Redeemer? Where's the redemption? Where's the price that's been paid? Where's the Savior? I mean, we would weep with John and say, God, is there not a man worthy to fill that position? But we don't have to weep today because behold the man. because of what Jesus Christ did when he died on the cross for our sin. Emily, I'm gonna ask you to sit by Tanya, okay? You go over, Tanya will move that hymnal, and you can sit by her this morning, all right? Head over there, or you guys can shift down, and you can sit by Kaylee, but I want you to move quickly. All right, quickly. Here we go. Hebrews chapter seven, beginning at verse 24, says, but this man, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Now think about this truth about Jesus Christ. This man, because he continueth ever, he hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them. We did this in Sunday school, didn't we? The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which we've lost. He's able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. That's awesome. This morning, you and I ought to stop right there and say, praise God. We ought to fall on our faces this morning. We ought to crawl on the ground and say, oh God, we're so unworthy of your love, so unworthy of your mercy to think today, God, that I can be saved to the uttermost. Why? Because of this man who's able to save. It's incredible. to think about that this morning. Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's no other way. We sing the song, don't we? No other way, no other way, right? We've got that as one of our songs that we sing in the Sunday school, our one way to follow Jesus, one way to be saved, one way is the way of Christ. You know, when you get a car, a car comes with a key, doesn't it? And I don't know if you ever wondered this, I actually Googled it because I was curious, like how many duplicate keys are there? They can't possibly all be different, so how often is a key the same? And I found that Honda keys have 3,500 combinations. And so you're getting one in 3,500. The odds that you or somebody close to you would have the same key would be very remote, except for this lady in the United States. I forget what state she was in. But she found out on accident, as her son went out and unlocked the wrong car with the other car keys, she had two Hondas, two years apart, two different models, that her keys actually fit Both locks. And it's not really something you want to find out. Because then you're wondering, who else has a key to my car? I like to keep valuables in my car. They can't start it because, thankfully, we've got chips nowadays that are even more specific as far as to our car. But they could get into the car with that. You know, this morning, you can have two keys that would get into the same car. But there's only one way to get into heaven. There's no other way. There's not, you know, oops, God left this door open, or oops, there's another way. There's no other way. If you're wondering about anybody that you love and care for, that you wanna see saved, there's one way, and the way is Christ. And so this morning, this man is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. The message this morning is trust the man who is able to save, right? Trust the man who's able to save. He is the one. And as believers, it ought to encourage our heart and remind us of who he is and be a good fodder for witnessing to the lost and saying who Christ is. If you're lost today and not saved, it's who you need to trust in. And it's every reason in the world to trust in him. And so let's pray and ask the spirit of God to bless as we come to the word of God this morning. Father, I thank you. For the time that we could spend in your word, I'm thankful for the privilege this morning of preaching about Jesus Christ. And Father, I pray that you'd exalt the Son of God in our service this morning. Father, if there's anybody here this morning that is lost, Father has not yet put their trust in Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that you break down the barriers. I pray, God, that in their heart, you just speak to them again today, pleading with them to obey the gospel and to get saved. And Father, for us that are saved, I pray, remind us who our Lord Jesus Christ is. And Father, may we see him as he is. And may the spirit of God please help me to speak with the authority of God. Give me liberty as I share the truth of your word. And I pray, God, that it would be shared in the way that you want me to share it, and with your help. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. So who is the man? The message, trust the man who's able to save. Who is this man? Trust the man who is alive, all right, who is alive. Verse 25, if you go to the middle of the verse, after it says, he saves the uttermost of them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth. Jesus Christ is alive, verse 24, has said, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Well, why is that important, especially the writer of Hebrews, as he's writing to the Jewish people? Why is it important to have a priest that lives forever? Because they had not ever had that before. Always before that, their high priest or their priest would die. And so it was with Aaron. Aaron was not the first priest, but he's the first of the priesthood that is under the law, after the law is given by Moses. Before him, there's Melchizedek, and there's some other references to priests in the Bible. But Aaron, the first priest under the law, died at the age of 123. And the story is shared in Numbers 20 verse 23, the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Horeb by the coast of the land of Eden saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel because he rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up into Mount Horeb and strip Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eleazar his son and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded, and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them upon Eliezer his son. And Aaron died there in the top of the mount. And Moses and Eliezer came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. Why are they mourning? Why is their heart so troubled that Aaron has died? Aaron's the high priest. Well, what would the high priest do? The high priest was the one that would enter into the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice to God for the sins of the people. He was, in that case, a mediator between God and His people. He would often be the one that would run with the censer to appease the wrath of God and to get to a point where He could find the mercy of God and the grace of God for God's people. Now, that's an important person. And so, imagine this. I mean, that's a person that you're not trusting in them, but you're trusting in God through them, and they're the person that dies. And now Eliezer is the new high priest. You know Eliezer and you're trusting in God's grace and God's mercy that he's gonna be a good high priest because your great high priest just died and so now there's a change that has happened in your, if I can say it this way, your religion and your relationship with God is affected because there's been a change between your mediator, between you and God. And so here, the Bible tells us, but our high priest is alive. Hebrews 7, verse 14, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. It's yet far more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek, another high priest in the Bible, in the time of Abraham, another priest, there ariseth another priest, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Jesus Christ lives. Jesus Christ is alive. Jesus Christ did not die 2,000 years ago to stay in the grave and to have his body rot there in the grave. Jesus Christ is alive. Acts 5.29, then Peter and the other apostles Answer and said we ought to obey God rather than men the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hang down a tree Last week we looked at this text and what are they saying? They're saying Jesus Christ is alive that Jesus that you crucify that Jesus that you despise. He is alive He's alive Buddha I Is Buddhism is named after a man, Guatama Buddha, all right? And I witnessed a man from China that was Buddhist a couple months ago, a few months ago, as we were fishing Kelsey's fishery at Peebles. We're standing there talking to this guy and helped him bait his hook and catch some fish. We had worms, he didn't have worms, so we helped him out. And just talking, I had a great opportunity to witness to him. But he's a Buddhist and what Buddhists do, they pray to the dead ancestors. And it's a culture of fear that they're afraid if they don't do this that it's gonna affect their eternity and the eternity of that ancestor. And so it's all about dead, worshiping the dead. And Buddha's dead. They say after he died in the fifth century BC, eight ruling families shared the relics from his body. Nobody claims that Buddha's alive. Buddha's dead. The popes, all these popes that have existed in Catholicism, they're dead. And sadly, this is disgusting, but they take parts of their body and they send them around. There's a hand from some pope that goes around as a relic the Catholic Church has, and they venerate the dead, they worship the dead. But listen, this morning, as we gather together, we're talking about who we need between us and God. The one that we have that is there is a God who is alive. We ought to stop this morning again and say, praise God, I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ is not dead, but that Jesus Christ this morning is alive. Jesus said, John 14, 19, yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also. All right, because he lives, there would be no hope this morning if we said this, Jesus died, he's in the grave, he can forgive you of your sin, he can cleanse you. We'd think, yeah, right, so I'm forgiven, so I'm cleansed, but what about life? If Jesus Christ couldn't be victorious over death by the power of God, then you or I will have no way that we can be victorious over death and have everlasting life either. but because he lives, I can live. And you might think about that this morning and say, you know what? That's who I need. I need the Christ who is alive. So trust the man who is alive. Second, trust the man who is pleading. Hebrews 7 verse 25 says, wherefore 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. Okay, the last part of that verse, why he's alive, what's he doing up there in heaven? He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Jesus Christ is praying this morning for us. 1 John 2 verse 1, my little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have somebody that's there in the throne room of God, standing or sitting on the right hand of God that can turn to God the Father and say, I'm an advocate for them. I am on their side. This is who this is and this is why you should accept them this morning or today or this afternoon or this evening, Father, is because of this. And we'll talk about what that is. Buckingham Palace, I saw pictures of The guards outside Buckingham Palace standing in the snow and the article was about the fact that not supposed to move You know, I can't imagine standing in a snowstorm, you know, it's stone faced and standing there But those guards are there for a reason why they're protecting her majesty the Queen and her residence and not just anybody can get into there I could go up to those guards and they will not talk to me anyway, but I try to persuade them and say, you know I've got a really compelling reason today, why you should let me into the Queen's Palace. I have a compelling reason why I ought to have an audience with the Queen, and I could beg, I could plead, I could weep, I could cry. To what? A veil. Nothing. They're not going to even blink. But if I was there with the Duke of Cambridge, or I was there with Prince Harry, And as they began to walk in, as they're allowed, and the guard tries to grab me or stop me, all they'd have to say is, look, they're with me. Right? That's easy. They would advocate for me, hey, they're with me. And as soon as they say they're with me, it doesn't matter anymore that nobody's allowed in. Because if I'm with him, I can get in. And see, isn't that the way it is with our Lord today? You and I, if we try to come on our own, I've got a compelling reason why I need to go to God. I've got this great urgency and I'm zealous about it and I'm begging and I'm pleading and I'm saying, oh God, I want to come into your presence. And the guards, if you want to call them, you know, the angels of heaven, standing there at heaven would look at me and say, nothing. But if I come by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, all he's gotta say is they're with me. He walks into the presence of the Father, they're with me. Father, behold my hands. Father, behold my feet. Father, behold my side. This is what I did for them. They are blood bought this morning. And think about this, Christian. That's our privilege to go right into the throne room of God in prayer, in faith, because we are there because of our advocate who is standing right there with the Father, pleading his blood on our behalf. What a privilege. And so this morning, we can go because of Christ. Hebrews 10 verse 19, therefore brethren, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And as we go to enter into that place, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. That filth that was our life without Christ, we talked about in Sunday school, the prodigal son, and wicked and rebelling against God by the mercy of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's cleansed and we have access. Why? Because he's pleading. Isn't that awesome? It's not just that I'm cleansed. It's that he's interceding for me today. See, you wanna get saved and somebody can stand over here in their filth and say, but there's no way I can get saved because I can't get in, I can't get in. But Christ can get you in and he is asking the Father to allow you to enter into his presence if you'll come through his blood. What a privilege this morning. So trust the man who's alive, trust the man who's pleading. Then trust the man who is who you need. Verse 26, for such an high priest became us. All right, what does that mean? It became us. It doesn't mean he became a man. It's not saying it like that. It means it becomes you. You know, if something becomes you, it might be a lady. I guess they do this. They go and they got color charts, right? I don't know if they still do this, but you know, this color looks good on you. It becomes you. You know, maybe your color's yellow, I guess. Maybe that's nobody's color. I don't know. That becomes you, right? That looks good on you. That goes well with you. Jesus Christ became us. That means he goes well with us. That means he's what we need. He's what beautifies us. He's what makes us what we need to be this morning. You know, have you ever had a problem? I'm going to ask you to not do that, guy, because that's pretty loud. All right. Have you ever had a problem? Have you, Kaylin? What do you do? Who do you go to? I mean, something something tough has happened or you need help and Who do you turn to? You know, one of the great things about being in a family, a lot of times, is there's a parent that you can go to, mom and dad, you know, go to them. I remember, I've told these stories at different times, but the time I scraped that car, you know, it was wintertime and it was really cold outside, and the snow, it's so cold in the United States, it sounds like, you know, walking uphill both ways to school, but it's so cold in the United States sometimes. When you walk on the snow, it squeaks. And your nose hairs freeze and when your nose hairs freeze and the snow squeaks, you know, it's cold I'm talking like minus 30. All right Celsius And so that was going on so snow was squeaking that night and I'm back in my we had a big Call station wagon. All right, and it's just a huge car. I mean It's a car Solid metal. I mean the thing must have weighed several tons, you know from here to the But the door, or the wall there, it was a car, it was a big old car, I'm backing it out of her garage. And I'm hearing, eeeeee, the whole way back. And I'm thinking, man, the snow's really squeaky tonight. And then Andre, who was sitting behind me, said, Stop! You're scraping the car. There was a car parked in my driveway that parked there during church. Friends of ours, good friends of ours. My brother actually married their daughter later. And he had a new car to him. I mean, he doesn't, you gotta know Jim. Jim doesn't throw anything away. I put this big scrape down all four panels, you know, the side of his car. Just not a big, I mean, not big, just long, long scrape. I went to a youth activity that Sunday night after church with this on my mind. I get back and I'm thinking, I felt sick, you know? I felt awful. So what do I do? I call my dad out in the garage and I say, Dad, this is what happened. Dad looks at the scratch, you know? Call Jim out, tell Jim, you know, I need my dad. I mean, that's who I needed to help me. You know, another time, I remember, I'm in Bible college, and my freshman year, I'm just a humanities major, because I'm praying, God, do you want me to be in the ministry? Not. I was scared to talk in front of people, but I felt like I could kind of face that, but I just didn't feel like God had called me. I'm going back after my freshman year, it's my sophomore year, I'm thinking I should probably be a Bible major. but God still hasn't called me to preach. Dad, what do you think? We're going golfing, and asking him on the way, and I remember talking to him about it, and deciding, you know, I'll just be a Bible major. It's not gonna hurt, you know? And Dad helped me figure it out. It was after that year that God called me to preach, and so it was very beneficial to have his wisdom in that. Other times, I mean, I can think of so many times that I talked to my dad. My dad helped me. He was who I needed. You know, this morning, this person in their sin, this person that desires to get into glory but can't because they've got nothing to offer to God. If they try to go themselves, they're not making it. Christ is pleading for them. Christ is there as their advocate. He's also the person, exact person that they need. He's the one that is there for us, to help us. Think about these verses, Romans 5, 8, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Nobody else, we'll talk, the specifics of this will come out in the next several points, but there was nobody else. See, if Christ had, in that garden of Gethsemane, given up and said, it's not worth it, there would be nobody to stand in our place and take our punishment for our sin. It was Christ and Christ alone. And so, he is who we need. His love toward us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 2 Corinthians 5.21, for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He stepped over here into the filth of the awfulness of Calvary and the darkness and the sin of the world being put upon Him. He hath made Him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin? We're gonna look at that. That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. See, here's the thing today. If you're righteous, you can go to heaven. Problem? We're all sinners. So what do we need? Righteousness. How can we get it? The only way we could get it is when our sin is paid for and the righteousness of Christ is put upon us. Who can do that? Christ. See Him and Him alone. Romans 8.31, what shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Christ is who I need. If He's for us, who can be against us? How would He be for me? Only if I'm on His side. Are you on the side of God this morning? Is Jesus for you today? A lot of times, and I'm witnessing to people, and I'll say something about hell. You know what they'll say to me? They'll say, this is hell. And I usually argue with them. I say, you're not in a fire right now. And if I had a lighter in my pocket and I pulled it out and I flicked it on, you wouldn't put your hand over the flame. And I'd say something maybe like, you wouldn't walk into the towers down there, the tower down there in London that burned. I might say something like that. But you know, I think, in thinking about it, I think I'll agree with them. I'll agree and I'll say, the next time I'm witnessing, I hope the Lord brings us to mind, I'll say, you know what, this is hell, because you know what hell is like? You're on your way there and you're godless. See, the people in hell are godless, just like you. So you're right. I mean, this is hell. You're godless. You know, you have no access to God whatsoever. See, people think they do. They think, oh, right, you're religious. And I hear this all the time, too. I don't have to go to church to be a Christian. You can worship God wherever, right? I hear that. People are saying that. But, you know, the reality is they don't know it, but they have no access to God. Just like in hell. None. Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. No man cometh unto the Father but by him. And if they're not gonna go the Jesus way, they're not gonna have access to God, they don't. So it is hell. It's hell because they're wicked and filthy and sin. See, somebody in hell never got cleansed. It's not that the fires of hell are gonna burn away their iniquity. The guilt and the awfulness of their rebellion against God is gonna stink for all eternity. So you could say this morning, yeah, you know, it is hell, and they're condemned. It's not that someday they're gonna stand before God and God is gonna say, Now you're condemned. The Bible says if they don't believe in Jesus Christ, they are condemned already. So it's hell. Do you know, I can say to that person, you know, Jesus is who you need. If that's you this morning, that doesn't have to be you. Because Christ is who you need. Christ is able to set you free from the bondage of your sins. So trust the man who is who you need. For such an high priest became us. And we're gonna talk about why he became us because of who he is as we continue here. So trust the man who is sacred is the next part. Who is sacred. It says who is holy. Right, holy. Holy means to set apart or sacred. Idolaters believe that their idols that they worship are sacred. And so because of that, because of their belief that they're sacred, they actually give an immense amount of their effort and energy. I already mentioned that this morning, but they're so anxious about pleasing that false deity that, I mean, they give up a ton to that entity because they believe it to be sacred. India, there's a temple called the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. It's the wealthiest place of worship in the world. Conservatively, it's estimated that the value of the monumental items is close to 18 billion US. Okay, that's 18 million million. Let's put it in perspective. If the antique and cultural value were taken into account, their assets could be worth 10 times that, the current market price. Included in their treasures, 18 foot long pure gold chain, gold sheaf weighing 1100 pounds, 1,800 pounds of gold coins from 200 B.C., each coin priced at 410,000 U.S.D. I have no idea. I mean, it's incredible numbers. Pure golden throne, hundreds of pure golden chairs. India is not rich. It's not a wealthy country. These people have sacrificed greatly. Why? Because they believe that to be sacred. Think about the cow. Think about how they treat a cow. That they, you know, in their culture, in their understanding of religion, they worship the cow. And they give to it because it is sacred. And yet, that is not sacred. but our Lord Jesus Christ, the man that we're speaking about this morning, that man is sacred. Jesus Christ is sacred. Caesarea Philippi is around the Sea of Galilee. I already mentioned the Sea of Galilee, kind of similar to Scotland, and it's my favorite area in Israel. Obviously, I love Jerusalem, but as far as the... the geology and the landscape. I like the Sea of Galilee region much more. And there in the Sea of Galilee, to the north side of it, quite a ways north, is a place called Caesarea Philippi. It's at Caesarea Philippi that Peter said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, the great confession that Peter made about who Jesus Christ was. It's a beautiful area. There's a huge rock face with water basically flowing out of the rock, similar to something that we saw down in England. There's a rock face down there with water flowing out as well. So it's like that. It's beautiful water. It's like this blue, really bluish water coming out. There at Caesarea Philippi, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. From there, Jesus Christ took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain apart. And it was there on Mount Hermon, which is this high mountain that's right behind there, that he was transfigured before them. His face did shine as the sun. His raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah. While yet speak behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased hear ye him and when the disciples heard it they fell on their face and were sore afraid and Jesus came and touched them and said arise and be not afraid when they had lifted their eyes they saw no man save Jesus only All right, in other texts, when it speaks about the whiteness of Christ, it says he was so white that no fuller, no painter could paint as white as Christ was. What did they see? They saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. They saw the Son of God revealed for who he was. They had no idea. Think again about those men that crucified the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. And then think this morning, he is sacred. See, these idolaters, I mean, they're working for their salvation and the burden of earning their afterlife is so compelling to them that they sacrifice anything for their false deity. Think about it. But we're Christians if we're saved. And as Christians, we go, hey, I got my get out of hell free card. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. And so here I am. I'm saved. I owe God nothing. And the reality is we owe God everything. What? No, you're not. That you're bought with a price. Ye are not your own, you're bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. I mean, think about it this morning. What do I have except for what God has given me? He's sacred, but we treat him as if he's not. Because there's no compelling reason for us to do anything because we don't have to earn our salvation so we don't give him the glory that he deserves this morning. But the reality is, if we understand this morning, he is holy. He's sacred. Why is that important? Because of his holiness, and we'll see this throughout, because he's sacred, he's who we need. He is exactly who could be our savior this morning. Trust a man who's sacred. Trust the man who is gracious. He's gracious. He's holy, then it says harmless, harmless. I saw a video on the news of a polar bear playing with a sled dog. You know, sled dogs, they're actually chained in the snow. Have you seen that? They're chained in the snow. And the sled dog's there, the polar bear's there, and the polar bear's kind of cuddly with it. And, you know, even like the dog is, you know how dogs do, they're laying on their back like, oh, this is great. You know, not realizing this thing could go chomp. You know, but just playing with this bear, and the bear plays with it for a while and then goes away. And I thought, whoa, I mean, that's, the people filming, I thought they were gonna film a dog getting eaten by a bear, but it just played with it and it left. It was harmless in that way. Think about the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, put up your sword. Don't you know I could call legions of angels? All Jesus Christ, rather than say, Father, forgive them, all he had to do was say, Father, destroy them! Right? He could have destroyed them. But he didn't. He's harmless. The Bible says about Jesus, God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He could have come as judge, he could have set up his throne, and he could have, I mean, remember the woman taking an adultery, and Jesus is there, and all he says is, he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. And they all went out. Why? because he knew their guilt. And as judge, he could have set up his throne and said, I condemn you. You want me to condemn her? I condemn you, I condemn you, I condemn you, I condemn you. But he looks at the woman taking in the sin of adultery and he goes, where are thine accusers? And she said, there's no man, Lord. And he said, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. He's harmless. He forgave her her sin. He extended mercy to her in her sin. Matthew. Or Isaiah 53 7, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so openeth he not his mouth, prophetically speaking about the judgment where he's silent as he's judged. And so the Bible says in Matthew 27 verse 11, Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him saying, art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, thou sayest. When he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. He's silent. Why? Because he's gentle. Praise God for the gentility of Christ. If it wasn't for the fact that he's gentle, it's like what we saw this morning. We got the prodigal son over here, the father over there. The son would have been so scared to come back to the father if the father wasn't so loving that he ran, fell on his neck, kissed him. God the Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem the world. You know what he didn't send? He didn't send guards. He didn't send soldiers. He didn't send people to protect his son. In the parable of the vineyard, as Jesus tells it, He's got men watching his vineyard. He sends his servants to go get from them what he deserved from the vineyard. They kill the servants. He said, they'll reverence my son. He sends his son unprotected to those wicked men and they kill the son. He's gentle. Praise God he's gentle. Praise God because he died. If it wasn't for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ of his gentility, he wouldn't have died, but he did. And you might be scared this morning saying, ah, but you don't understand. If I try to go to God, God is against me. Listen, God is for you. And God is for me by his grace, by his mercy. And so the Bible says in Isaiah 40 verse 11, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm. and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. We already read this morning about the lamb. Listen, but remember it said in that same passage, he's the lion of the tribe of Judah, but he's like a lamb. He's got all that power, all that ability to condemn and destroy, yet in God's mercy, he's gentle. Again, I go back to he's who we need. Trust the man who's gentle. Trust the man who is pure, who is undefiled, undefiled. Have you ever had somebody do something really nice for you, and as they did that, you said these words, you shouldn't have done that, you shouldn't have done that. I know back when we were in Bible college, we had nothing. My wife and I got married a year before finishing school, and so I was second year grad school, she was senior year in university, and I got paid for my employment at the university working 30 hours, I got 70 bucks every two weeks plus my tuition. And that was it, except for the fact that we had this really great man that was a landscape architect that allowed both my wife and I to work in his garden at his house. And he paid us really well. But I mean, it's tough getting through that year, and even partway through that year, we almost thought, oh, we're gonna have to get a loan, but we are wanting to trust God, and so we did it, and we trusted God, and God was faithful, and we got to the end of the year, and we had nothing, but we had no debt, except for what, the time we'd been married, we had a little school debt that I inherited with my wife that God allowed us to pay off in a couple years. That's the only debt we've had other than house debt, or car payment where the car was worth much more than the payment. in all of our marriage, by God's grace. That's the way we've lived, is debt-free because God's provided for us. I'm telling this story for a reason, I know I am. Oh yes, okay. So we didn't have any money. And we gotta move to New York City, right after we get out of school, and it's gonna be expensive, and the church is gonna pay me, but my first paycheck is not gonna be until after we've been there for three weeks because of the way they do their pay. Somehow we gotta exist through that. Somehow we gotta get the rental truck and get there. Our church in Georgia, not knowing about that, but just in love to us, they gave us a love offering, $1,700. And if you know the story, you know we needed every dollar of it. It literally came down to exactly what we needed. $1,700 love offering. I'm sure I said to them this, you should know. Many times people have been so good to give and to us in ministry and what God's called us to do. And I'm sure I've said that you shouldn't have, but in saying that, do I really mean that? No, I mean, I do and I don't. I mean, I mean that you shouldn't have done that, but I don't really mean it. Why? Because it is so important that I have that because without that, I can't do what I need to do. You know what we ought to say to the Lord Jesus Christ today? we ought to say to our Lord, Lord, you shouldn't have. Lord, you shouldn't have. You shouldn't have died on the cross for my sin, but Lord, as I say that, I also realize if you hadn't, God, it's everything I need. Why? Because Lord, you're undefiled. See, I couldn't pay that debt. See, it was too great a price for me to pay. I'm defiled, but Christ is undefiled. And we go back to that verse, 2 Corinthians 5 21, he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. See, Jesus was undefiled. They couldn't, remember, they tried to get false witnesses and the false witnesses wouldn't agree against Jesus. They kept contradicting themselves. And when Pilate let Jesus go to the cross, he cried out and said, taking him and crucify him for I find no fault in him. Now notice, I'm gonna share three times at the cross where the innocence of Christ is declared. The thief on the cross, remember him? He says to the other thief, rebuking him, does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man, the man in the middle cross, hath done nothing amiss. Second witness on the cross of the innocence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then remember the centurion after Jesus died? Luke 23, 47, when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God saying, certainly this was a righteous man, undefiled, no sin. All right, don't you rejoice today and say, praise God, the undefiled man died in our defiled place. See, he is, again, who we need. Trust the man, why? Because he is undefiled. He was able to die, not for his sin, but for our sin. Trust the man who is holy. Some of these are gonna kinda go over the top of each other a little bit, but trust the man who is holy. Holy, again, means set apart, and the Bible says, who is separate from sinners. See, Jesus identified with the human race, but he was also at the same time distinctly different from the human race. How so? Jesus Christ was like Adam and Eve before the fall. Jesus was with sinners, but Jesus was separate from sinners. Jesus was man. Jesus was fully able, if I could say it this way, the Bible says it this way, he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. That means he had the flesh that you and I have, but he obeyed God. He pleased God. He proved that Adam and Eve didn't have to sin. They could have obeyed God, they could have pleased God. They didn't have to succumb to sin, but they did. But Jesus Christ did not. He's separate from sinners. Hebrews 12.3, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. But Jesus did. See, you read that and say, what's that mean? I haven't resisted unto blood striving against sin. Does that, is that talking about martyrdom and I'm not, you know, being bloodied? What's he talking about? I believe he's speaking about Gethsemane. See, why? Because Satan was so intensely tempting Christ to go away from the cross that the Bible says in that place of prayer as Jesus bowed his head before God that He was in agony and prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Why is there such an agony? Why is there such a burden? Because of the temptation from the tempter and the resistance by the grace of God resisting unto blood, striving his sin. When's the last time you so resisted sin that you resisted unto blood, that you sweat as it were great drops of blood? Christ was separate, distinctly different, undefiled. And so the Bible says, 1 Peter 1.19, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He's set apart, separate from sinners. How so? He's without blemish, he's without spot. He's, as we talked about, he's undefiled. And so about the sacrifice that God accepts, 46 times in our Bible, the Bible says that the sacrifice that was to go before God was to be without blemish. See, if Jesus had not so resisted that sin and been separate from sinners, Jesus Christ couldn't have gone to the cross and died in our place. You know what we need today? We need, again, the righteousness of Christ. We need holiness. The only one that can give us holiness is He that is holy, He that is separate from sinners. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, 14, that about holiness in our life, without which no man shall see the Lord. So what? So because He was separate from sinners, Jesus Christ is, again, able to give me holiness. Praise God. He's exactly who we need. Then lastly this morning, trust the man who is exalted. Trust the man who's exalted. It says in our verse, who is made higher than the heavens. Jesus Christ is glorious. Now, have you ever seen something that you looked at and you looked at the glory of God's creation, you said, wow, the glory of the moon is glorious, the glory of the sun is glorious, the glory of the sunrise, sunset, the storm, the waves, the sea, the countryside, you look at it and say, God is glorious, but listen, Jesus Christ's glory exceeds all that glory. We talked about the Mount of Transfiguration already, but Jesus in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, verse four, he said to the Father, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Jesus Christ said, Father, bring it back. Bring me back to that place of transcendent glory, of my glory being seen in heaven. And so we read in the Word of God, Peter's message at Pentecost, speaking about it. He's seeing this before our spake of the resurrection of Christ, David did, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. See, these men, Acts chapter two, It's no wonder they cried out and said, men and brethren, what must we do? Why? Because the person they crucified is a person that was on the right hand of God in glory. Stop and think about it this morning. Who do we need? We need somebody that's right there in the presence of God. Stephen at his stoning. Acts 7, 55 and 56. But he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven. He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. He said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. And so the word of God is very clear this morning. Caitlin, if you were to ask me physically, where is Jesus Christ? Where is his body? Where is his being? He is in heaven. He is beside the Father and the Father's throne, sitting on the right hand of God. 2,000 years later. And so what? So you and I this morning, we bow our head, and we go into the presence of God. We're also entering into the presence of our Savior, who stands there this morning, as we already talked about, alive, pleading, who we need, sacred, gracious, pure, set apart, and by God's grace, exalted. And I say again this morning, trust the man. You know, Our world is trusting in so many things, and they're seeking satisfaction in so many things, and they're trying so hard, so many things, but the reality is this morning, this man, Christ Jesus, is exactly who they need. And this morning as you think about it, that's who I need. If I'm in sin as a believer, I've sinned against God, I've disobeyed God, I've displeased God, guess what? I get on my knees and I go to God the Father again through my high priest, Jesus Christ, who is everything that we talked about this morning. If I am unsaved, and I'm lost, and I finally come to my senses like that prodigal son, and I think to myself, I need to go to the Father, I can go because of Christ. And so this morning, if that's you, you could get home to your house, you could get on your knees before God and say, oh God, I'm a sinner, but your son Jesus Christ died for me, and he rose again, and he's by you right now, he's pleading for me, and I accept, God, your gift of everlasting life. And if I did that today, I'd have it because of who He is. It's so important to us this morning to remember this man, Christ Jesus, His humanity. Nobody else, no other man could have taken our place and died on the cross for our sin, but Jesus Christ did. And so the simple question this morning is, are you trusting the man? Trusting the man. who is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would take the Word of God and put it deep into our hearts this morning. Father, I praise you as a preacher. I rejoice this morning in the power of the Spirit of God. Father, I can in no way with words compel somebody to get saved, but I praise you this morning that the Spirit of God is active. I praise you that the Spirit of God is able to internalize this truth and compel men to come to Christ. You know, I pray, may it be so, I pray, Lord, if again, anybody's here this morning that's lost, that today would be the day of their salvation. Today would be the day where they humble their heart and confess their sin and forsake their sin and receive God's gift of everlasting life through Jesus Christ, the Savior. And Father, we ought to realize this morning as believers that we have inside of us somebody so precious, somebody so holy, somebody so set apart, so worthy that, Father, our life ought to change, our life ought to honor Him, our life ought to exalt Him, our life ought to back up the reality of who is in our heart. And so I pray this morning, Lord, it might be that we have to confess and forsake and repent because, Lord, You're worthy. Thank You for being that man, the man that we needed. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Hymn 251, Near the Cross, all right? Jesus, keep me near the cross, 251. Let's stand, please. It's a hymn of invitation. Think about it. This is your opportunity in your heart. If the Spirit of God is speaking to your heart about salvation, you can get saved in your chair, in your heart, asking God, God, I'll just take that right now. I'll take God's gift of everlasting life for us to deal with our sin before God, just to bow our head and close our eyes and pray and repent and ask God, God, forgive me because of who Christ is. Jesus, keep me near the cross. This will take just a second because I've got to stop this.