Well, if you have your Bibles, would you please turn with me to the book of Hebrews? We're looking tonight at Hebrews chapter four, verses 14 to 16, under the heading, How Can I Keep Going? And that might be how you're feeling tonight in the heat. But I pray this will be a word of encouragement for each one of us. Hebrews chapter four. from verse 14. And the writer to the Hebrews, I'll probably say it's Paul because that's my personal belief, although nobody officially knows, okay? So if I say Paul, you know what I mean. Verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. On October the 29th, 1941, Sir Winston Churchill visited his own childhood school of Harrow to give a speech. And it was in the darkest days of World War I, sorry, World War II, sorry, thank you, when Britain was under its heaviest attack from Germany. And given the fact that he was just speaking to a bunch of schoolboys, You could well be forgiven for thinking that he'd just bluff his way through it and wouldn't make much of an effort. But not Winston Churchill. Instead, he gave one of the most memorable speeches of all time, in which he said these now legendary words, quote, never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. Words which Winston Churchill himself lived by and helped our nation to live by and got us to victory with over Nazi Germany in World War II. And they're words which we could say are applicable for the Christian life as well because in Christianity we are never called to give in but to go on. we're called to go on. Someone has said that becoming a Christian and living the Christian life is like riding a bike. Once you've started, you've got to keep pedaling and keep going, otherwise you'll fall off. Not that that's meant to describe work salvation, but it's meant to be a picture of persevering and going on in our faith and this is what the Bible calls us to do. In Colossians chapter 1 verse 23 Paul says, if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard which was preached to every creature under heaven of which I, Paul, became a minister. Did you hear that? He said we were to be grounded and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the gospel. We're to keep going, in other words. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself had said this previously in John 8, verse 31. If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. if you abide in my word. In other words, if you continue, if you persevere in my word, in my teaching, you are my disciples indeed. But you know what, to many people right now, that's a great challenge, almost too great to overcome, and too great to be overcome. To those who are troubled, those who are tempted, those who are tired, those who are tarnished by sin, they would say, come on, John, how do you expect me to keep going? How do you expect me to keep going? Think of a lady like this, dear lady here. Her name is Madiki. Her husband and herself live in the country of Cameroon in Africa. And in 2023, her 10-year-old son, Joseph, was kidnapped by Boko Haram militants. and she's been praying for him to come home. Imagine losing your 10-year-old son to terrorists. What a terrible thing. And yet the Bible says, keep going, Nabiki, keep going, don't give up. You know, it's hard to say to people, isn't it, in the face of that. You think, well, there's got to be a point at some point where you give up. Those who are weary as well, you know, we sometimes get so weary. George Whitfield, the famous preacher, at the end of his life just wanted to preach the gospel one more time. And he said this. He said, Lord Jesus, I am weary in thy work, but none of it. If I have not yet finished my course, let me go and speak for thee once more. He wanted to keep going just a little bit more. Yet sometimes we grow so weary in the Lord's work. How can I keep going? We may be tempted like Joseph in the Bible was tempted by Potiphar's wife and then put through trials for the sake of obedience. How are we to keep going? We may be tarnished by sin like the Apostle Peter who fell in front of everybody. Everybody knows what you've done. Everybody knows. How do you keep going in the Christian life? Well, to answer those words, I'd like to answer those objections, I'd like to take you to Hebrews chapter four, verses 14 to 16. Because here Paul is addressing the Hebrew Christians who are also going through great trials. The year is probably something like 66 AD. and it's coming near to the judgment of God that the Lord Jesus Christ prophesied in the Gospels when Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies, in other words the Roman armies, and be destroyed. And he's calling the Christians who are Jewish Christians in Jerusalem to leave Judaism and go on with the Lord Jesus Christ, instead come away from Jerusalem. Instead, because of persecution, they're tempted to go back, to face it, to go and live under the old religion again, because they don't want to be tempted. And Paul's saying, no, you've got to come away and you've got to go on with Jesus. And they might be saying, but Paul, you don't know what it's like. You don't know how hard it is, what we're going through. How can you expect us to keep going? And Paul here gives three reasons in these verses that I want to share with you tonight. And these are really words to live by. You know, the world says, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Or I came across a new one recently, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. And we look for other things in the world, other mottos, other things to give us comfort, to help us keep going. Well, here in Christianity, we have something that can really help us keep going. And there's three things in this text. First of all, we can keep going. You can keep going because Christ is in heaven for you. That's verse 14. Secondly, you can keep going because Christ is human like you. That's verse 15. And you can keep going because Christ offers help to you in verse 16. So let's have a look at these three things on this warm evening. tonight and see how the Lord will bless them to us. First of all then, Christ is in heaven for you and that's the reason you can keep going. In verse 14 he says, Now, if I was talking to somebody on the street and they said to me, well, okay, you know, Christianity is all very interesting, but Jesus died on the cross. A friend of mine was walking past a church with me one day and the poster outside said Jesus is alive. He looked at me and he said, no, he isn't. He said, I thought he died on the cross, didn't he? And I had to explain to him, yeah, he did die on the cross, but he rose again. My friend had never heard that. Makes you realize, you know, how much ignorance there is out there in the world, doesn't it? But he'd never grasped the fact that Christians believe Jesus rose again. But his next question was, well, where is he? Where is he? And that would be the question many people would say right now. Where is your Jesus then? Why isn't he here? Why didn't if he stick around, if he rose from the dead and has power over death, why doesn't he stick around? The answer is because he's gone back to heaven for us. He's gone back to heaven for us. You see, his earthly ministry is finished, but he has a heavenly ministry that will carry on. And this is his ministry for us as our great high priest. Can you see that in verse 14? He says, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. Now, the Jewish people understood what a priest was because they had a temple in Jerusalem that they could see and they could understand that. But Jesus isn't just the high priest, the top priest out of all of them. He's called here a title which no priest in the whole of Judaism was ever called. He's called a great high priest. And the reason is because in this book, Paul is laboring to strengthen their belief that Christ is greater than everybody else, including Aaron and the priesthood that they're wanting to go back with. And he's showing that Christ is a great high priest, greater than all the others. The Greek word of great, of course, as you probably know from me by now, is the word mega. He's a mega high priest. He's the most awesome one there has ever been. And he has now passed through the heavens for us. And he is now in heaven. Now you notice it says the phrase he's passed through the heavens, plural. According to 2 Corinthians 12 verse two, there are three heavens. Do you remember Paul said that he passed through to the third heaven. um you know a lot of people talk about the you know nine heavens or so or cloud nine and all that that actually comes from islam i understand but uh the biblical or seventh heaven as some people say the biblical thing is that there are three heavens there's the sky we can see there's space And then beyond that is the invisible world, which we cannot see from earth, which we can only see by faith, which is where God is in heaven of heavens, the glorious heaven that we will go to when we die. And the Lord Jesus has passed through all of these. You remember when he rose from the dead, they saw him go up into the sky and a cloud hid him from their sight. He went up into the blue sky. He went through space. the black night sky, and then he went into the heaven of heavens where God is, and he then became our priest there. Interestingly enough, the three colors there match the three colors and the layout of the priesthood on earth. The first level, the sky is blue, isn't it? Blue is the color of the priesthood. and it is the area outside the temple, the outer court. Then you go inside and it's dark in the inner court. and the inner sanctuary, the holy place, as it's called, just has lights on the menorah to light it. Some lights, just like space, you know, it's dark, but there are lights up there to light it. But then you go through to the holy of holies, the third part, which is where God himself is. And this is the image we've got here. Jesus has gone into the heavens, through the heavens, for us. And notice he's called here Jesus the Son of God. That title is so significant because he's Jesus who is his human name, he was given at Bethlehem, but the Son of God, his divine name, he's human and divine, God and man in one, and therefore he is able to minister for us as a priest before God. And that is the most wonderful thing in the world. Do you know, Robert Murray Machine, the great Scottish preacher, once said these words. He said, if I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. Isn't that a lovely thought? And you know today, dear friend, when you go home and you've got to go home to that awful situation, or you've got to go this week into that awful situation that you dread and hate, take comfort from this. You have one who is praying for you in heaven. Do you know, if you have anybody praying for you, you're a blessed person, but if you've got the Lord Jesus praying for you, how blessed you are indeed. And do you think his prayers are powerful prayers? Do you think he's a powerful interceder? One who really knows how to pray? You know, when our first church, we had an elderly couple called Ted and Lucy, and Ted and Lucy could pray the heavens down, they really could. If you had a situation, you would go to Ted and Lucy. If I'd go and visit Ted and Lucy and I saw somebody else coming out, I felt like I was going into a surgery. And people would go and see them and pray. And this old couple, they really walked with the Lord and they saw tremendous answers to prayer through their ministry of praying for people. And they were such a blessing to us in the church. But you know what, we have one even greater. We have the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in heaven to intercede for us. They say that where you sit determines what you can do for people. If I was to be able to sit behind the desk in the Oval Office, think what I could do. Think what some people are doing. Your position determines your power, doesn't it? Where is Christ today? He's in heaven for you. So what's the application? Paul says at the last line in verse 14, let us hold fast our confession. King James says profession, meaning our profession of faith, that we are Christians. Don't give up on your faith in Christianity, but hold fast your walk with the Lord, hold fast your courage to keep going and persevere with the Lord because you have Christ who is in heaven for you, for you. He didn't go to heaven for himself, he went to heaven for you. You might think, oh Lord I wish you were here. But actually the Lord is here by his spirit, but he is in the best place for your benefit tonight at the right hand of the Father. So keep going with that precious thought. Second thing that will help us keep going is the fact that Christ is human like you. Christ is human like you. Do you know what? The Roman Catholic Church is the church which is famous today for believing in priests on earth. We don't have priests, you'll notice. I mean there's a sense in which every Christian is a priest. We can all pray for each other and the Bible calls us priests and kings unto our God and Father in Revelation. The Roman Catholic Church is the one where you see men dressed up in great big long nighties, and they walk around pretending to be something they're not. But even they are finding it hard to field a number of priests for their parishes, and so they've come up with a real doozy. Do you know what it is? It's RoboPriest. And now, thanks to AI, the Roman Catholic Church in Poland is installing robot priests. And it's caused such a big kickback from the people. And what they're saying is, you know, I can't go to a robot and tell my problems. I can't go to a robot that doesn't understand about how I feel and what I'm going through. And I praise God, we don't come to a robot when we come to the Lord Jesus. We come to one who is of great understanding for us. Have a look at verse 15. He says, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Now this is building on chapter two where he's told us that Christ became human as well as divine, not leaving aside his deity, he became human and added humanity to his deity so that he could be our kinsman redeemer. But that means when Christ came to earth, he experienced the things that we experienced. He lived a very humbling life, one of the reformers put it like this, talking about the wonder of the incarnation. It's a little bit flowery, but you'll get what the picture is. He said, man's maker was made man. That he, the maker of the stars, might nurse at his mother's breast. That the bread might hunger. that the fountain might thirst, that the light might sleep, that the way might be tired in its journey, that the truth might be accused by false witnesses, that the teacher might be beaten with whips, that the foundation might be suspended on wood, that the strength might grow weak, that the healer might be wounded, their life might die. And what they're trying to express there is the humanity that the Lord Jesus took and the fact that it was real humanity. So much sight so that he is able to understand our infirmities and our weaknesses as they're called here, our difficulties of what we go through. In fact, we have one who can sympathize. He says we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. The contrast is the point he's making. We have one who can. He can sympathize with us because he has been where we are. In all points, he was tempted. Now, that doesn't mean that Jesus was tempted with every single sin, because there's some sins that are peculiar to the age. The Lord Jesus wasn't tempted to waste time scrolling on his mobile phone, obviously. But was the Lord Jesus tempted in a similar area that would be comparable in his day? Yes, he was. And so in all areas of life, he was tempted as we are, yet he never sinned. And he had a perfect life through it all. But he understands the point of this. He sympathizes with our weaknesses. You know, one of the great military leaders of the American Civil War was a man by the name of General Stonewall Jackson. And Stonewall Jackson was, I understand, a believer and he was a friend of another man by the name of Dabney, who was a theologian. at that time, I think they were in the army together. Anyway, he had his men in wintertime in battle where they were actually having to sleep out under the snowy skies at night. And anybody would have said, you know, blow this for a lot, I'm not going to do this. But Stonewall Jackson himself didn't stay away behind at the back where it was safe, where the generals ought to be. He went out and he slept under the stars. He woke up in the morning next to the men and had to brush the snow off his blankets. And he was side by side with them in the battle. That's why they loved him so, because he was right there with them through it all. This is what the writer to the Hebrews is saying that the Lord Jesus has been through with us. He hasn't just sort of shouted down a few commands for us to live a good life from heaven. He came down to earth and he went through all the ordeals of life just as we have done as well. And as a result, he can sympathize with us. He can sympathize. And you know what? Isn't that what each and every one of us really want? We want someone to sympathize with us. You know, often I find with counseling, you know, when people come to you and they want to talk about their problems, I start thinking, right, now there's this verse here, and there's this verse here, and I want to tell them about this book, and this will help them, and I've got a sermon on CD I can let them borrow, stuff like that. Do you know what? To my surprise, they're not the slightest bit interested. What most people want is to unload And they just want you to listen and sympathize. They just want you to listen and sympathize. And you know what, that's what the Lord Jesus can do for every single one of us. He can listen like nobody else can, and he can sympathize. He is the great high priest who's able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He has become human like us. This makes Christianity so personal and real, doesn't it? I love the story about Queen Victoria. She went to After Albert died, she went to visit another lady who had been, I think, one of her ladies-in-waiting some years before, who had recently been bereaved. When she went in to see her, the lady got up and Victoria said to her, no, please don't stand up. She said, today I haven't come to you as a queen. She said, today I've come with you as a fellow mourner. She came alongside. The hymn writer put it best. He said, no one understands like Jesus. He's a friend beyond compare. Meet him at the throne of mercy. He is waiting for you there. So if you need someone to pour your heart out to, go to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is there, ready, and he understands. He understands. And what a friend we have in Jesus. Someone has said, you know, you may remember those you laughed with, but you will always remember those who you cried with. And Jesus is one of those. He is the one we can turn to. So that's helped us to keep us going. And the third and final reason, the most encouraging thing of all, I think, out of all this, although it's all wonderful, is Christ offers help to you in verse 16. Verse 16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The Lord Jesus offers real help to us in our difficulty. And that can look like different things. It can look like a miracle that can be the answer to our problems. or it can look like grace to help us get through our problems and bear them. But he welcomes us to come to him that we may give him, he may give us his help. It says, let us therefore, which is a classic phrase for application in the book of Hebrews, you find it especially chapter 10 I remember an old preacher used to talk about the lettuce patch of the the book of Hebrews let us this let us that and it was a good way of remembering it but it's his application let us therefore come boldly and to the throne of grace. Now, normally a priest doesn't have a throne, but this priest does. He's a different priest. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was a king priest, as we read in chapter seven, and a king has a throne. And in Zechariah chapter six, one of the amazing prophecies about the Messiah to come is that he will be a priest who will sit on a throne, and they will put the crown on him. And it's a phenomenal prophecy to be able to show to a Jewish person that the Messiah would be prophet, priest, and king. And there was no way that could happen under Judaism. It needed a new person to come, one who was both God and man, which is what Jesus Christ is. It's a wonderful prophecy to share with them. But his throne is called a throne of grace for us to come to, a throne of mercy. You know, sometimes in the Old Testament, people would try to go to see the king or something. And it was a frightening thing to do. Think of Esther going in to see King Ahasuerus. She said to all the Jewish people, she said, fast and pray for me for three days before I go in. Because everybody knows the king's command that if you approach the king without being invited to death, that's what will happen. You'll be killed. And it was a frightening, frightening thing to go before the king's throne in the ancient cultures. But we don't have to be afraid coming to the Lord. We can come boldly, as Charles Wesley said in his hymn, bold I approach thy eternal throne. And we come boldly to the throne of grace. And it's a throne where grace reigns for us. As Jeremiah 17, I think it's verse 21 says, a great high throne is our sanctuary forever. And it's a place we can flee to for help and mercy. Like a child fleeing to their mother's seat or their father's seat was a place of refuge in a moment of need. And we can come there to find mercy and find grace. Now this is lovely because we have these two things, mercy and grace, next to each other here in this verse. Mercy is not getting what you deserve, i.e. punishment, and grace is getting what you don't deserve, which is good things which sinners don't deserve. And we can find both of those at Christ's throne. So if we're coming to him and we've been tarnished by our own sin and we think, how can I go on with the Lord? We can come to his throne and we can find mercy. we can find grace, help to help us. If we've been struggling with strength, we can come to the Lord and find mercy and grace. It's interesting that Paul said to Timothy, mercy, grace, and peace be with you. Mercy, grace, and peace in one of the benedictions, in one of the pastoral letters. I think it's his last one. And you know you can find that from the Lord. If you're troubled you can come for help in time of need from the Lord and he will give the help that you need. Now it's easy for me to stand here and say that, isn't it, as a preacher. Preachers are very good. Let me give you a couple of testimonies so you can see people who've really gone through it and you can see how the Lord did this for them. I'd like to begin by telling you about a lady in Vietnam who's a believer. And her story was in a copy of Trans World Radio's magazine way back in 2014. And it said this. She said, when my husband abandoned me, I felt rejected and wanted to commit suicide. At that time, I received a radio from Trans World Radio and listened to your program. God's word comforted me and Jesus healed my broken heart. No, I didn't say that, she said that. That's what she said, the Lord did for her. Furthermore, he brought peace and hope to me. Since that time, I have shared the gospel and his love with others, and I've invited them to my house to hear your programs through the radio. So that's a real-life testimony, isn't it? Someone going through real-life problems. Similarly, we could add a story of a lady from the Hindu countries. Her name is Burmika. I think she's from India. And when she became a Christian, she was abandoned by her family. Basically, what happened was she used to work as an old lady in her 60s. She used to work at the Hindu temples. And when she became unwell, she wasn't able to carry on. Now, I know you can't see her face. That's deliberate, because the open doors don't always show the faces, because it would identify people who are in danger of further persecution. But she was abandoned. by the Hindu religion and she was basically taken under the wing by Christians. She said through the kindness of other Christians God slowly softened her heart towards him and she became a Christian one day in June 2022. Now, when she told her family about this, because they were loyal Hindus, they, quote, verbally and mentally persecuted me. They kept threatening me either to leave Jesus or to leave the house. So I chose to leave the house. What a faithful lady in her 60s. I chose to leave the house rather than leave the Lord Jesus. And separation for her from her family is hard. She said, they are my children, but they disowned me. Listen carefully. Nevertheless, my God was with me. He gave me comfort and strength. Now again, that's not what I said. That's what she said. She found mercy and grace in her time of need by coming to the Lord. And now with the help of open doors, she has a little shop that she can run in her house where she's able to sell things from her front door and earn an income and look after herself. She said, I also help other believers who are in need. I feel satisfied to help them with the blessing I got from the Lord because Jesus showed that example to us and I want to follow his steps. What a great witness that is. So dear friend, Christ offers help to you. And I want to tell you, his help can make a real difference in your situation if you continue to seek him for it. It may be a dramatic change in your situation overnight. It may be something that takes place a long time down the road. Turning a ship around is a very slow process, and maybe some situations will take a long time to put right, and he can do that over time. Or he may give you the grace just to bear what you're going through. What I'd say is this, though, and I read this in a book just recently, don't judge the whole story by the page that you're on now. Isn't that a good line? You know, the page in a book right now you may be on may be a sad page and a difficult page, but don't judge the whole book by one page. The rest of the story is yet to come. Suffering is a difficult thing, isn't it? Johnny Erickson Tarder, the lady who was in a wheelchair as a result of a diving accident, somebody who herself has suffered more than I've ever done, said this, it is a glorious thing to know that your father God makes no mistakes. in directing or permitting that which crosses the path of your life. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. It is our glory to trust Him no matter what. So dear friend, I want to take those words and use those as the ending of my sermon and say, keep going with me. He said, how can I keep going? You can keep going because three things. Christ is in heaven for you. He's there praying for you and will be tonight. When you go to bed tonight, he'll be interceding for you. When you get up in the night, he'll still be interceding for you. When you get up in the morning, he'll still be interceding for you. When you're in the dark days this week, he'll be interceding for you. Take comfort from that. Secondly, Christ is human like you. He has sympathy. He's been there. You can tell him all about it and pour it all out to him. He's ready and willing to listen. He understands. And thirdly, he offers his help, mercy and grace to help you in your time of need. So don't give up, friends. Remember Winston Churchill's words, never give up. Keep going. God bless these things for you.