Let's turn together in God's word to Hebrews. Surprise, surprise. Hebrews chapter four. We're going to begin to read at verse 11 and read into chapter five and verse 10. So Hebrews chapter four and verse 11. Hebrews 4, the 11th verse. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 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 sympathize 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. For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this, he is required, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins. And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but it was he who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you. As he also says in another place, you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him, called by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. We'll end the reading there at verse 10, and now let's ask the Lord to be our portion today, to speak to each of us, and to minister the truth of this great sight of Christ to all our hearts. Let's bow in prayer. Oh, Father, you are a good and a gracious God. You gave your only begotten son, and we thank you this day, Father, that we have the glorious opportunity to look to him. Thank you for this book. Thank you, Father, that it is an exposition of the living Christ in the written word. And Father, we ask you that you will today, Lord, give us such a sight of him. Lord, we want to transcend Earth today. We want to transcend human things. We want today, Father, to be caught up in that which is eternal, caught up in the eternal Son of God. So Father, we ask you pour out your goodness on us today. Grant us today that we will know your spirit speaking to each of us and giving us a sight of Christ greater than we've ever had before. So Father, we bow in your name. We bow in your presence. We ask you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you will answer in abundance and do every last one of us eternal good. We pray in Christ's name, amen, amen. Well, as I prayed about what to bring you today from the word of God, I was struck with how perfect the very next words in Hebrews are for this occasion. And so I'm going to the very next passage in this series that we've been in. It says this in verse 14, seeing then, that we have a great high priest. Those words, seeing then, some translations will say since then, but the idea is after some things that I'll rehearse again in just a minute, it comes to a conclusion and an exhortation based on that conclusion. So it's saying here, listen, here is a place to focus your attention, to focus the eyes of your heart, if you will, right here. And what is that place? We have a great high priest. We have a great high priest. This is one of the most wonderful truths we'll ever hear if we can take it in, if we can just see what this is saying. This is, I think, a really good day to remember that we have a great high priest. You see, that's gospel right there. That is the good news. have a great high priest. And so the author is telling these struggling, disheartened Jewish believers the good news of Jesus, that He is the answer that changes everything. He is the one who redeems every situation. But it's also helpful to see these words in their context. And we have, in these last few weeks, been going over that particular context. As I've emphasized over these last few weeks, based on the example of Moses, this is from the beginning of chapter three into chapter four, but based on the example of Moses and the children of Israel during Moses' time, what happens here is we're given a most solemn warning and a very serious exhortation based on the warning. Now, just trace it with me. We'll look at just a few of those verses. Chapter 3, verses 12 and 13. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, urgently, in other words, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And remember the example that this is based on. This is based on the children of Israel who, as I mentioned, had just walked through walls of water, had just seen the 10 plagues, had seen so many displays of God's power, who were being fed with manna that the living God created for them day by day to meet their need. And yet they didn't believe. They didn't enter in. And that's verse 19 of chapter three. as sort of a concluding statement, but then leading into more warning and exhortation in chapter four, verse 19 says, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And then chapter four, verse one, therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it. And then we come down to verse 11, where we began our reading this morning. And we read these words, let us therefore, this is the exhortation, be diligent to enter that ultimate rest in Christ, which leads to ultimate rest in glory. Let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience or unbelief. Both words are meant there. So, you know, having given such a warning and such an exhortation, he tells us, now, here's how you go on. Here's how you go on. And that has two parts to it. There are things that these three verses we're looking at this morning, verses 14, 15, and 16 of chapter four. There are things to realize or remember and there are things to do. And in effect, it boils down to this. The good news in Christ is the thing to remember and realize and what to do with that good news in Christ. So as we prepare our hearts to come to the Lord's table this morning, let's consider what is here and how to go on, how to go on. So we begin with those things to realize or remember the gospel part of it. And it's really just one great truth, and I've highlighted already, but then it has some constituent elements, some very encouraging elements of that truth. The truth is this, verse 14. We have a great, we have a great high priest. We have a great high priest. Now the apostle, he's already introduced the fact that Christ is a high priest. Look at chapter two and verse 17, and just read a few verses with me there. Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren in order that, to this end, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest. in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of his people. For in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus Christ. Look at him. He is the high priest of his people. And as we saw from the reading this morning in chapter five, he represents man to God and he represents God to man. But you see this great high priest is not like all the others. And if we were to go on, by the way, we're at the transition point. This is where we would start the section that talks about Christ being a greater high priest than Moses, or than Aaron, excuse me, and all that order of priesthood. And as we just saw in the reading in chapter five, he's not a priest after the order of Aaron. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek. a different order, a higher order, and all the way into chapter 10, he's expounding that. He's just showing us what powerful implications that has for us, and why we wanna cling to him as the greatest of high priests. So here, in this section, it's not just telling us he's like all the others, it is telling us he is the greatest high priest. And then it's telling us why. So let's look, these are the constituent elements that I mentioned just a minute ago below this statement, we have a great high priest. The first thought, and I'm doing this in more logical order than chronological order, but the first thought is this. Look at verse 14, where it says, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus, the Son of God. Now it's already emphasized his deity and already emphasized as a qualification for his being a high priest, he had to have humanity as well. But this is not just the Son of God, this is God the Son. And so it's humanity joined to divinity, but when you're joined to divinity, everything that goes with that is present. See, your high priest, your personal high priest. Because you see, if he's not a high priest to individuals, he's not a high priest at all. It's a representative office. It's a ministry that has to do with actually representing people before the living God and representing God to those people. And so to say he's a great high priest is to say he is your great high priest. And your great high priest is all knowing. He sees exactly where you are and what you're going through. He knows it all, every last bit of it. It means He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His love, and His mercy, and His faithfulness, and His wisdom. And according to this book, he purposes and he accomplishes the very best for you if you'll only believe it and receive it. That's who he is. All things work together for good. Why? Because he's at the controls. Because he is working, actually, and turning things to good, even when we can't begin to see it or fathom that. And remember, the context is always through much tribulation. Remember when the Apostle Paul, in Acts chapter 14, goes back in all the churches, and he's doing the basics. He's telling them to cling to Christ. He's telling them, he's ordaining elders in all those churches, because that's important and needed for the church. But you know what else he says among those very, very few things? Remember this, we, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom. It's not going to be easy. It's not going to go, you know, just like cutting butter with a hot knife. That's not going to be the case. There's going to be difficulty. There's going to be tribulation. Yet in that context, he's able to say, the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works. All his works will praise him and his saints will bless him. There's only one end for any of us. And that is the end in glory. If we'll just trust Christ, if we'll just own him as our great high priest and believe him and receive him. So infinite faithfulness here, infinite wisdom by which to do us good, the very best thing in the very best way. So we've gotta let that sink in. You see, your high priest is the son of God, and if he is for you, who can be against you? If your welfare is his responsibility, how can you lose? How can you lose if you're just looking to him? And of course there is one way, and that's what he is wrestling against here. That one way, and this is what was true of those of the old covenant, they entered not in because of their unbelief. That one way is by not believing and not receiving all he is and all he did for you. That's the only way. And it's right there for you, he's right there for you. So we are to believe him, to make him our everything because he's our great high priest. But then there's another element here of this high priestly person and work that is emphasized. And again, it's verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. Some translations are passed into the heavens. It doesn't matter. He's in the presence of God. That's what's being emphasized. He's gone through the heavens that are above, but he's in the presence of the living God. And what is that saying? Well, just this. He finished his work. It's all done. He has finished his work in our behalf, and he's raised again by the Father into the Father's very presence, to which he would not have access if he didn't complete and finish his work. Romans chapter four emphasizes that very powerfully, where the end of chapter four, and it's talking about the faith of Abraham, trusting in the work of Jesus Christ, looking forward to it as we look back on it. And it's talking about that and it says of the Lord Jesus who was raised again because of our justification. He was raised again because God looked at his work, perfectly fulfilling the law, earning a spotless perfect righteousness for us and then dying an atoning death. He looked at it all and the Lord Jesus did everything that was required of us and then became required of him. He did every last bit of it. And so in testimony to that, he raised him from the dead, put him at his own right hand and said, there you sit until your enemies are made your footstool, until I complete this conquering work that shall bring my people safe to glory and have them be with me forever and ever. That's what he did, you see. So folks, I think sometimes we just don't let that sink in enough and be the foundation of our confidence in Him. His work is finished. It is finished. And you can't add anything to it and you're never asked to add anything to it. It's finished. You're to receive it. You're to rest in it. You're to rejoice over it. You're to worship for it. And you're to walk in faith based on it. that He did everything the Father required of Him. You know, I remember one time a man involved in a debate, And the debate was over how much God looked at our own works in order to let us into heaven, quote unquote. And so the idea, this guy, you know, they argued and they argued and the one man was saying, no, it's all the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and none of our work. And so the other man kept raising the percentage. I kept raising the percentage, you know, well, I'm willing to say 90%, and then he was willing to say 95%. Few more passages of scripture, well, maybe 99%. And the man said, no. If there's the tiniest, tiniest part of a percentage that Jesus didn't do, we are lost. It's the work of Jesus Christ that saves us from start to finish, and that provides everything we'll ever need. Apart from Him, we have nothing. So all you and I need for victory in Him, all we need to prevail in life, those are the words of Romans chapter five, is to believe and to receive the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is a finished work to which we need add nothing. You know, in the Gospels and in 1 John, the Lord says the devil is defeated. In John's Gospel, it says the world arrayed against us has been defeated. And then in Romans, it teaches us our sin, our flesh is defeated. See, each of those enemies that we face have been defeated, and why? Because Jesus passed through the heavens to sit at the right hand of the throne of God, expecting till his enemies, which include, by the way, his enemies are our enemies, it includes all our enemies, to see that they are made his footstool. So this phrase, it says he is victorious, and so are you, if you'll only believe it. But then there's one more element here, and that's found here in verse 15. In verse 15 we read, 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, that is an amazing thing. Because of his temptations, because of his taking human flesh, because of his living a life in which he suffered, because of all that, he enters into our weaknesses. Now, do you see what this is saying? It is saying that you and I can never say, well, nobody knows what I'm going through. Nobody knows what I'm going through. Nobody knows what I'm feeling. Nobody understands. You can't say that. Because if not another human does, and I tell you, that's a lie from the devil, that nobody else. It's one of the things I found as a pastor, how many times people would say things like that. Nobody knows what I'm going through. And I just spoke to two people the previous week who were going through the exact same thing. So even when I'm thinking it, it's not right, it's not true. But if we could rule out every other human, we could never rule out the Lord Jesus. In every point in which we feel pressure, in every way that we are tested and afflicted, in all those, Jesus has endured. He has known that affliction and therefore is able, as we read in Hebrews 2, he's able to give us aid, he's able to help us, he's able to enter in. See that, is the reality of the situation. You have a great high priest, and he always knows what you're going through. And to him, it's not a, you know, knowledge. It's not just something. With him, he has more loving care and concern than you can possibly fathom, infinitely so, according to what he says. And so much so that he says whenever you are suffering, he's suffering with you. He's actually entering into that. And so therefore, he's gonna be the enemy of that suffering, and he's gonna find a way of deliverance. As he says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but he delivers us out of them all. When they're afflicting us, they become his enemy, and therefore, he goes after to give, and again, we can't dictate to him what that deliverance looks like, but the deliverance is coming, one way or another. The Lord delivers him out of them all. You know, that's the beauty of one of my all-time favorite parts of scripture, Philippians 4, that I lean on. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. You really can cast the care on Him. You're really not meant to bear any of its weight, not the slightest bit of it. We cast all our care on Him who cares for us. So folks, there's nothing you will ever face that is bigger than He is. Nothing. And he always has an answer. Always without exception. So you see, to realize or to remember that you have a great high priest is how you face everything. And you face it with peace, with joy, and with confidence. And because this is so, then that leads us to the second thing, the things to do. Because that's so, based on seeing him as our high priest, then there are things we are to do. The first one is to hold fast our confession. Go back again to 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. Let us hold fast our confession. Now right from the beginning of this series on Hebrews, I have emphasized many times that these Hebrews to whom this epistle is addressed were discouraged and decidedly under attack. And what they were going through made them feel like giving up. And you see evidence of that again and again. We saw it here in these words we've read at the beginning. made them feel like giving up. And that's exactly what this book is written to counteract, if you will, to remedy. Now, it's pretty fitting for us because this church has gone through so much difficulty in these last two or three years, not to mention what many of you have individually endured or are enduring. And the devil, whenever this is the case, he spies his opportunity to discourage us, to anger us, or to frustrate us, and certainly to make us feel like giving up. What's the use? But in such times of trial, that is just, according to the Lord, just the time to prove the greatness of our high priest and prove the greatness of our king. It's just the time to prove what he says about himself and his love and his faithfulness and his power, because they're all there. And again, folks, those things aren't meant to sit on a mantle and be admired. They are meant to be brought down and made the weapons of how we walk by faith and not by sight. They are meant to be realities of our personal Redeemer, our Savior. And they're meant to be experienced by us. He doesn't have those attributes, and that's one of the beauties of the thing that this book is not a set of principles. This isn't just knowledge for you to have, and I know we treat it that way sometimes. We wanna just add knowledge and add knowledge, but I'm telling you, this is an introduction, a face-to-face drawing of the most glorious portrait of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son. It is telling us that whatever your need is, you need Him. and he will be your deliverer. As I was preparing for this, I thought of a quote that I read decades ago by A.B. Simpson. A.B. Simpson was a pastor and preacher, evangelist back at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. And so listen to what he says here. He says, we once heard a simple old man say something that we have never forgotten. When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test him by putting his promises to the proof and claiming from him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary. There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply try to get rid of the trial and be thankful when it's over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine grace. Thus, even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way. Surely this is to be more than conquerors through him who loved us. What a word. And yes, that's true, not for the A.B. Simpsons and Spurgeons of the world, that's a word for every sheep of the shepherd. for every last one of us. So folks, it's our business to face all our difficulties by fixing our eyes on our great high priest and expecting everything we need right from his hand and from his heart and taking our eyes off of man and especially off ourselves and fixing them on him. You see, he has given us and he is to us everything we need to hold fast. But then there's one final thing to do, and that is represented by the words of 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. What are we to do? We are to come boldly to the throne of grace. Now those are amazing words, and I think there's several things that we wanna notice, we don't wanna miss here. First of all, let us therefore. So what's the foundation of this admonition? It's all that's gone before, but especially those words, seeing you have a great high priest. Lay hold of that. Because that is true, let us therefore. Come boldly to the throne of grace. But then notice also the words boldly, the word boldly. I mean, first of all, it just doesn't seem to fit here, right? If you're coming boldly and then the very next words are, let us come boldly to obtain mercy. Wait a second, I mean, obtaining mercy would certainly keep in mind our frailty, our faults, our sins, and so how in the world can we come boldly? Well, we come boldly because we're told to come boldly, and we come boldly because we have a great high priest. That's the point, is looking to that reality. The Lord Jesus going before us enables us to come boldly. And certainly that says that, you know, The greatest confidence is all in Him. And we are not looking to ourselves, but to our great high priest. In other words, we recognize that it's not who you are, it's who He is. It's who He is, that's what makes the difference. So because you have the greatest high priest, you can come boldly to the throne of grace. But then notice the word throne. Why would you use the word throne? Well, because nothing less would be appropriate, and even throne doesn't get it, you know, in a sense, when you're talking about coming to the very throne of God. But nothing less would be appropriate. It's a place where the living God sits, and the word throne lifts our thinking to take in his majesty. that he sees all and he knows all, to take in his power, that he's able to do anything, to take in his sovereignty over everything because there is nothing outside of the realm of his control. But by saying throne and emphasizing this as the seat of the living God, it shows us why it's so important to press into our hearts that we have a great high priest. He's representing a sinful people, you see, who deserve nothing but wrath, but because he's a sinless great high priest who paid for our sins, who brings his own spotless blood to the Father in payment of our sins, the throne becomes a throne of grace, a throne of grace, where God gives us everything he would delight to give his perfect Son, who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. That's the reality. So think of that. I mean, what does that say to you? A throne of grace. Why would you say it that way? A throne of grace. Well, you would say it that way because that word, for instance, a verb form of that word is to give. to give. It has the idea of favor in it. See, the word grace here, there are a couple of things that we can focus on. Favor is the first. In other words, He loves us. He's for us in every way. We have the favor of God. So we come to a place where God is, you know, we don't have to be terrified and come on our, you know, crawling as it were. Scared? No, we are to come because we have a great high priest who walks us into his presence, who we know is perfectly loved of his father, who is doing this because he loves us and brings us into his presence on purpose with all his heart, that we can have utmost confidence. So favor is the first idea, but the second one is bounty. The verb form to give is part of this, is this word. He gives us and so we come to a God, a throne marked by bounty. His love for us is going to be fulfilled by giving to us. And we know that from John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We know that because Romans 8.32 says as if he gave his son in his love, then he wouldn't hold anything else back. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him? Also freely give us all things. You see, so coming to the throne of grace means this, and I think it was Spurgeon, if I remember correctly, I didn't write that down, but I think it was Spurgeon who said something like this, I'm paraphrasing. He said, coming to the throne of grace means this, it means that neither the faults of my person nor the faults of my prayers can keep me from that throne or keep from me the wonderful answers to prayer a loving father wants to pour out on me. I'm coming to a throne marked by grace, earned and purchased by Jesus Christ, and no one can take that away. That's the reality. So you see, he's given us his righteousness, he's given us his deserving, he's given us his own dear name to plead. He said, look, every time you come, You know, every time you come, and don't be bashful about it, use my name, use my name. Pray everything you have to pray, things great, things small, everything that touches you, make it a matter of prayer and use my name, use my name. The all-prevailing name of Jesus. A few weeks ago, it was a friend of mine, and we're friends on Facebook, and he posted a single statement, and it was, you know, we know the doxology, right? Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And he altered it just a little and posted this on Facebook. He said, praise God from whom all blessings gush. That's a good word right there. from whom all blessings gush. And you see, a throne of grace means just that, gushing blessings from the gracious hand of God. But the next words, as I mentioned earlier, might seem to be contradictory. that we might obtain mercy. As I mentioned, mercy presupposes our sin and our weakness, so how can we come boldly if we have to obtain mercy? The shorter answer is because we have a great high priest, and a high priest who ever lives to plead his blood over our sins. Folks, we will never be sinless this side of glory. Now, in a sense, we know that. But think about that. We will never be sinless this side of glory. That means we're always part of the problem. You know, it's easy to point at other people. We're always part of the problem. You just can never be exempt from that. We're always part of the problem. And if we're honest before God, honest before his word, honest before ourselves, we're all a mess. We're all a mess. We're always in need. We're always growing. I read a quote here not long ago that was saying we always, at any point in our life, look back on our former self, you know, a little bit back or a lot back, and just think, oh, I knew so little, and I did so many stupid things, and I had such foolish ideas, you know. I mean, that's me, you know, go back five years, go back one year, go back one month, go, you know, there are just so many things I didn't see, and oh, but now I've got some more experience. Folks, we're all on that road, you see, and I hate to tell you this, but five years from now, you're gonna look back on this self and see some folly, see some things you just didn't know and didn't understand, see some inexperience. Now, you may be sincere as the day is long, and I trust we all are, But we miss things. We have blind spots. We get influenced in ways that we shouldn't because there's always things that our great shepherd is burning out of us. And as he's doing that work, we will never be perfect till we get to glory. So we're always part of that problem. But what does this passage say? We have a great high priest. We may come to a throne marked by grace, and we will obtain mercy. We will obtain mercy. That's a precious thing. We are all dependent on the mercy of God. And therefore, we should all extend that same mercy to our fellow believers, even when we disagree or don't like what they're doing. As James puts it in chapter three, he says, for we all stumble in many things. That's the word of God, folks. and none of us are exempt. We all stumble in many things. That's just the reality, this side of glory. But when we come to the throne of grace, we do obtain mercy. But one other thing then, it goes on to say we come to find grace to help in time of need. And once again, we are always in a time of need, always. We always have things we need to see God do. It just is always a time of need. And yet as we heard from A.B. Simpson a few minutes ago, we're receivers of his grace. We're intended to be victors because our savior, our shepherd, our king is also the lion of the tribe of Judah who always prevails. That's who he is. And so therefore we can be winners just as we trust in Him. Think of these two passages here. Now thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. We always triumph in Him. And 1 Corinthians chapter 15, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. But Lord, we're imperfect, and we mess many things up. Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord. In other words, we have this treasure in earthen vessels in order that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. In other words, he works in us, he works through us, in spite of us, hallelujah. Because if he didn't, nothing would ever be done. But he does, he does. So let us be believing, let us be earnest, let us be sincere, let us be for one another, and let us labor on. Let us hold fast. So you see, coming boldly to this throne of grace is a key part of going on. It's what we do. I was thinking of Matthew 7 and verses 7 to 8, one of the greatest of all the prayer promises in the word of God, Matthew chapter 7. I think most of you will know these words. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. But that particular passage, and from time to time I've mentioned this when it's kind of important to see it underneath the words, that particular passage is in what is called the present or the linear tense. And what that means is it has the idea of something that is presently but constantly going on. So if we try to reflect that in those words, and we ask this question, okay, how do we live? How do we go on? What do we do? Here's what the answer would sound like. Be asking, and you will be receiving. Be seeking, and you will be finding. Be knocking, and the doors will be opening to you. See, that's what's true. That's what we have in him. So may the Lord let us remember those words of James, we have not because we ask not and at least let that not be the problem. Let us ask, let us seek, let us find. Now all of this is based on the fact that we have a great high priest and we must remember that. We must constantly look at him and to him. Robert Murray McShane used to say this, for every look at self, take 10 at Christ. Now that's good advice, folks. I would say the norm is for every look at Christ, we take 100 at self. But that's something to change. For every look at self, take 10 at Christ. I remember one time, and I was in college, Dr. Ian Paisley was preaching at a Bible conference, and I remember just feeling like I was gonna come out of my seat because this one statement was just so gloriously exhilarating and liberating all at the same time. He's preaching along about the glories of Christ, and all of a sudden he just leans across the pulpit, all six, eight of him or whatever, you know, and just leans across the pulpit and says, it doesn't matter about you. And I thought, really? Hallelujah, you know, I'm delivered. It matters about Jesus Christ. He did all that was required and what a liberating thing it is. So folks, keep your eyes on your great high priest. Make it all about him because it is all about him. And if we make it all about him, each of us will be just fine. We will be fine. We can't do better for ourselves. And keep our eyes on him and live for him. So may this church and every one of us keep the attention of our hearts on our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have a great high priest. May the Lord bless his word. Let's bow in prayer. Oh, Father, we do thank you and bless you today that you are so good and so gracious, and you have given us a great high priest. So we thank you, we praise you, we bless your holy name, and we ask you, our glorious God, that you will give us grace to fix our eyes on him. Lord, enable us, we just simply and plainly ask you, you said, let your request be made known unto God, and here's our request. Father, we want to spend our days taking 10 looks at Christ for every one of ourselves. Enable us to do that, we pray. Enable us to believe all that we've seen today that is true of Him and therefore true of us because of Him. So receive our thanks and our praise in Jesus' name. Amen.