Let's remain standing and take our Bibles and turn to Psalm 146. Psalm 146 and Hebrews chapter 13. Psalm 146 and Hebrews chapter 13. Hear now the word of the living God to you this morning. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord while I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Do not trust in princes, in mortal man in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob. whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects the strangers. He supports the fatherless and the widow. But He thwarts the way of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever. Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord." Hebrews 13, verses 15 and 16. Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing. For with such sacrifices, God is pleased. Let's pray. Father, enlighten our minds. Send to us Your Holy Spirit. And perform in us a work of grace and mercy. Enlighten our minds to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our need of Him. Our duties that You require of us, O God. Help us to understand what You desire for us to do. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You may be seated. The author of Hebrews is putting the finishing touches on what will be his theological masterpiece. A poetry of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 13 are those finishing brush strokes of this poetry whereby he closes this epistle Basically, this sermon ending it with the duties that God requires of His people, of those who have embraced this covenant of grace, to those who understand the work and role of the Lord Jesus Christ, to those who have confessed Him with their mouths and have believed in their hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord, is Savior, and has been resurrected from the dead, and who now sits at the right hand of God. That's what this masterpiece looks like. And Hebrews is a book unique in all of the New Testament because no other book in the New Testament will give you this picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are going to understand the priestly work of the Lord Jesus Christ, In the New Testament, you must read the book of Hebrews, and you must read it with understanding. You must read it being able to embrace all of its terminology, all of its priestly Old Testament language that he uses to describe the person and work of Jesus Christ. And if you don't know those things, beloved, if you're not familiar with those things, in fact, if you haven't made yourself familiar with those things, then you're going to be completely lost when you read the book. You're not going to understand the book. You're not going to be able to see with the eyes of faith all of the glory that's encompassed in Jesus as our mediator. You're going to miss it. I mean, you're going to see fragments of it. I mean, you're going to see part of it, but you won't be able to see the full glory and mercy that Jesus offers and is in and of Himself if you don't understand that ceremonial language that the author of Hebrews uses to explain Christ. Now, beloved, he's a master theologian. He's demonstrated to us on a regular basis, beginning in chapter 1, his skill of the Old Testament and understanding the Old Testament. I believe there are over 30 quotations in the book of Hebrews from the Old Testament. 30 direct, there's no telling how many indirect quotations that the book of Hebrews has in it from the Old Testament where the author takes the Old Testament and he says, see Christ, Do you see Christ? Do you see His glory? Do you see His work? Do you understand now that everything pointed to Him? And beloved, we don't need to rehash all of those things, but we need to understand that Hebrews chapter 13 are those finishing touches that an artist must make to the portrait. I was told by an artist that one of the hardest things to figure out as an artist is when to stop. When to leave it alone. And so this pastor, I believe a second generation pastor, I don't believe it was one of the original apostles. I believe that he was a second generation pastor, somebody who walked with the apostles, somebody who had direct contact and relationship with the apostles. I believe he is the one writing this letter. I don't believe it was the Apostle Paul, even though I'm willing to be wrong on the subject. I'm not going to go to war over this. But I think, again, there are various clues throughout the epistle when you read it that indicate that Paul probably did not write it, but whoever wrote it was definitely influenced by the Apostle Paul and probably set up under his ministry to some extent. We need to understand the glory of the portrait that we're gazing at. You know, one of the things, you know, when we went to the Howard Museum or whatever it's called up in Atlanta, and you're looking at all of this impressionist work and you're looking at all of these poetries, if you really don't understand some of the stories behind it, they don't really mean anything. They're just pictures. I mean, and they're good pictures, some of them. Some of them aren't so good. I think I could paint some of them. But you need to understand the reason behind what motivated the artist to write this or to paint this portrait. And we know that this motivation was that to see the church who was struggling, who had entered into a decade of serious turmoil, the 60s, right before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. I don't have time this morning to explain to you some of the details and some of the issues surrounding the New Testament church at this time, but brothers and sisters, it was serious. It was grave. I mean, these brothers and sisters needed encouragement, and when your life is at stake, you will probably do things you never thought that you would do. When somebody threatens your life, or your children's life, or your loved one's life, you may say and do things that you thought that you would never do. And that's the predicament that these brothers and sisters found themselves in. So the motivation behind this portrait is to explain to them that if they leave this world, in which they have no substance. There's nothing chaining them down to this world that their citizenship is in the spiritual Zion. It's in the spiritual Jerusalem. It's in the heavenly courts. That is, to be absent from this world is to be in the presence of their mediator, Christ Jesus. And He encourages them, stand fast in the midst of this persecution. and trouble. Stand fast in your confession. Draw near to God through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He will give you grace. He will give you help in time of need. He will come to you when you need it. See, most Christians worry about not having something before they really even need it. If you're not in the midst of a serious trial or affliction at this time, you don't need that serious grace that God gives during that trial. You don't need that grace that He comforts the afflicted with. But when you get in that situation, when you find yourself in that situation, your mediator, prophet, priest, and king will give you the grace you need in order to endure what you need to endure so that you are that trophy of grace that Christ has established in the household of God. That is, when people see God's people, When those who know not God see God's people suffering for His glory, suffering because Christ has suffered, and we understand it to be a privilege to suffer. If our Lord and Master suffered, how much more so should we find it a privilege that we suffer for the name of Jesus and for His sake? That He is glorified and magnified because of that, our response. to that suffering. So the motive is to see God's people strengthened in the covenant of grace. His motive is to see God's people put off their lethargy, put off their apathy, and to remain faithful under difficult and hard times. And he does this in chapter 13 by reminding them of a few things. Number one, brotherly love, hospitality, sexual purity, contentment, imitation of godly men, the pursuit of grace over law, that Christ belongs to Christians only and not to all men, but only to those who embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 13.10, Christ is their altar, their sacrifice. He is their salvation. He has sanctified them through the shedding of His blood. Not everybody is going to be saved. Not everybody has a Savior. Only Jesus is a Savior to those who have what? received Him." That's what John chapter 1 says. John chapter 1 says, He gave them the power to become sons of God to them who have received Him. You see, beloved, He's explaining to these Hebrew Christians that they lack nothing, that they have everything they need in order to please God. So we see that these duties that we're being reminded of, And eighthly, the eighth duty that he reminds us of is the text that we're on this morning is to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God and to be obedient and submissive to our leaders. Now, beloved, all of these things in Hebrews chapter 13 is a summation of those preservatives. Now, you know what preservatives are. You know what they are and you know what they do to the products we eat and the things that we wear and all this. They make it last longer. These preservatives, these duties are preservatives to the Christian, for the Christian, that he might persevere unto the end. That means if you want to ensure your apostasy from Christ, if you want to ensure your apathy and lethargy, then don't do these things. Don't do them. And if you will commit yourself not to do these things, you can be guaranteed that you will apostatize from the Lord Jesus Christ. You will say things you thought you would never say, and you will do things you thought you would never do, if you do not commit yourselves to these things. And we know the reason we are to commit ourselves to these things is because of what? The portrait. It's of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's worthy. of all of these duties. He's worthy of all of these spiritual sacrifices that we are to continually offer up through Him. So we see that not only these duties act as preservatives from apostasy, but beloved, that these duties are those things that please God. I know you want to please God. I know you desire to please God. In fact, if you were to do a national survey, most people would generically say, I'd like to please God. I want to please God. Sure, nothing wrong with that. But the problem is they don't want to please God and die to their self. They want to please God and please themselves. Now, you can't do that. We're taught in our passage of Scripture that we can only please God by doing the things that He has prescribed for us to do. And beloved, if we're going to be God-pleasers, listen, when you walk out of here this morning, you need to have a renewed mind of what it means to be pleasing to God. You need to ask God to renew your mind and to help you understand what it means to please God. And beloved, as our text this morning is verses 15 and 16, and they have as their aim to impress upon us, as I've already stated, what it means to please God, the question I have for you as we get started is this, are you pleasing God? The question to begin our lesson this morning is this. Are you a God-pleaser? Could you be characterized as a God-pleaser? Could you be characterized by your friends and families, by those who know you best as a man or a woman or a boy, young man, young girl, young woman, young child, as one whose aim it is to please the living and true God? That's the question for us this morning. Now, let's notice our text. Our text says in verse 15, Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing. For with such sacrifices, God is pleased." Our very first point this morning is this. Man's problem. Man's problem. Notice what the text says. Through Him, then. then marks a contrast between what we ought to be doing and what we're unable to do and what we need to be doing in order to please God. Through Him, and he's referring to Jesus, through Jesus, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. Our first point is that man has a problem. We have a problem. You have a problem. The problem is that man in and of himself is not able to please God. The problem is that man is unable to praise and worship God in and of himself. That man does not have the strength it takes to be pleasing and accepting in the sight of God. Man has a problem. Yet we are commanded that through Jesus, we are to offer up the sacrifices of praise. Why does man have a problem? Why? I mean, I don't think we would characterize ourselves as people with problems. We like to describe ourselves in the best light possible. But we need to understand what the Bible says about man. how the Bible teaches us of what God thinks about man. And the one thing the Bible is absolutely crystal clear on is that man has a basic problem, and that basic problem is several fold, but it begins with he is separated from God. That man basically has a problem because he's been separated from God, and that happened in the garden. that when Adam chose to do it his own way, he separated himself in all of his posterity from the living and true God. That means to be separated from God, brothers and sisters, is to be without God. And to be without God is to be without life, light, peace, joy, happiness. and eternal life, all of those things that we desperately seek and desire. Man has a problem. Man has a problem. And of course, if we are without God and without life and light and happiness and eternal life, then the opposite is true about us, is it not? Then the opposite is true. That means that what is it we have apart from God? We have death. Darkness, wrath, sorrow, pain, and eternal damnation. That's what belongs to those who have not the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, our text of Scripture is a miniature gospel presentation because it explicitly tells us what we need to be doing, offering up sacrifices of praise. It tells us when to do it continually. It tells us where to do it. If we're to do it continually, we're to do it everywhere. And then it also tells us how we are to do it. We are to do it through Jesus Christ. through Jesus, our Mediator, our Prophet, Priest, and our King. Even though many today do not think they have a problem, they do if they don't embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, many people have Jesus because they want an insurance policy. That means I might not be as good as I can be, but I'm not that bad. I'm not as good as I could be, but I'm not that bad. But just in case I need Jesus, I don't want to be without him. I'll embrace him. Now, many people have that understanding of the gospel. And beloved, that's not a gospel. That's another gospel. That's a gospel of humanism, and that's not a saving gospel. I'm here to tell you, as I've said several times before, and that is this, if you embrace Jesus Christ just for a fire insurance policy, when you die, you will go to hell. Embrace that thought, because it's biblical. Jesus Christ is not a fire insurance policy. He's God, man, who is worthy of everything you have. your mind, your will, your emotions, your property, your finances, your time, your energy, your effort. And He comes and He has established a relationship with a people, and He has brought them into the household of God. He has saved them, He has cleansed them, and He is cleansing them. He is preparing them for glory, where He will take you, all of you who love and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, He is going to usher you into heaven, and He is going to spend eternity doing what? being your prophet, priest, and king, and explaining to you the depth of His mediation and His exegesis of God, which there will be no end. And I'm here to tell you, if you've been burdened and bored by the high priesthood, the prophet, and the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't want to go to heaven. You're not going to want to go there. If this subject has bored you, heaven's not the place for you. Because it will be in heaven where these things are magnified to its glory and that you will spend eternity sitting in awe at the majesty of Christ and the depth of every one of those offices. And you'll never exhaust it. So don't think we know everything about Jesus as prophet. Don't think you've learned everything there is to know about Jesus as priest. And don't think you've memorized all the verses concerning Jesus as King, because we haven't even scratched the surface of His glory in His offices. You know, brothers and sisters, we need to understand our condition so that we can understand the glory of those offices, okay? Now, we're called to offer sacrifices through Jesus. That means, well, let me say this as a side note, not to be condemning and not to pick on people. Because I don't desire to pick on people, but I do desire to teach the truth and I do desire to call error, error. And I do desire to see God's people called out of darkness and vain worship to the light and true worship of Christ, of God through Christ by His Spirit. So let me say this about a lot of the praise that will go on today all over the world. There are literally tens of thousands of people that are gathered today to praise God. with sincere hearts. But if they are not fitting these requirements in these two verses, they are not offering up praise to God. If they're not lifting up their praise to God through Jesus Christ, Prophet, Priest, and King, then they have not offered up sacrifices pleasing to God. Now, beloved, in order for you to offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, you need to know something about the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, correct? That means you can't come into His presence without this relationship. And this relationship deepens and broadens as you learn about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can't learn about the Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible unless you learn of His mediation. Unless you learn that He's Mediator. That He is Prophet, Priest, and King. I'm going to say it over and over today, because when you leave here, I want it to be implanted and tattooed on your mind. That is, any praise of thanksgiving anything offered up to God, any good work, any good deed, all that we do, everything, our worship, our disciplining of our children, our loving our wives, our working outside, and whatever we may do, whatever activity or calling God may have you in, you must do it through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because without Christ, you are without strength in this world, and you are wholly defiled and polluted and unable to please the living and true God. Apart from Christ, you are weak and pathetic and dead and dark and ignorant. That's our condition before embracing the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to look at a few passages of Scripture that demonstrate that. I think it would be helpful for us to understand how the Bible has characterized us before Christ, and so we can embrace His glory as mediator. Beloved, turn to John chapter 1, and we will have to move quickly. I hate to do so. John chapter 1, look at verse 4. I'm going to read the whole passage down through 13. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through Him. He was not the light, but He came to testify about the light. There was the true light, which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. even to those who believe in His name. who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Beloved, in this text of Scripture, we have before us what is characterized of every person outside of Christ as darkness and death, because He is light, and He brings light, and He comes and shines in the heart of men, because He is the efficacious light of God. Where the Old Testament prophets spoke a word, And it was an outward calling word. It was a word only to the ears. But the word of Christ penetrates into the inner man and offers light to a dark soul, a dead soul, and gives it life. That's the opposite. That's what this text teaches. It teaches that every man, apart from Christ, is in darkness and in death to those who have not received Him. are dark. They grope around, the Bible says, in darkness. Pitch black darkness. Not the kind of darkness where you can see images. Have you ever been in a room where you couldn't even see the hand in front of your face? That's what we're talking about. You can't even see your hand this close to your face. It's an encompassing deadness and darkness that man lives in until God wakes him up. And when you're in darkness, you stumble and you trip and you fall and you can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can't work in the darkness. Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Romans 5 and verse 1. Notice the text. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice, having been justified. That means without the Lord Jesus Christ, we're not justified. We're the opposite of justified. We're condemned. If you are in Adam, you are condemned before the eyes of God. You must be in Christ. You must believe and be justified through. There's that preposition. Through Christ. You can read this chapter later. It would benefit you to do so. Without justification, there is no peace. We are at war with God. Before Christ, we are characterized by the Scriptures. as being condemned and at war with God. Romans chapter 6 and verse 22. Romans chapter 6 and verse 22. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life." Notice he says again, "...having been freed from sin and enslaved to God." Before we were enslaved to God, we are what? Enslaved to sin. To Satan. Do you understand your condition before Christ? Have you forgotten the depth of His love, of His mercy, of His kindness to you? Have you forgotten how wretched and powerless you were before Christ saved you? Have you forgotten? Are these verses reminding you of a condition that you have forgotten about? And because you have forgotten that condition, you have ceased serving Him the way you ought to serve Him. You have ceased serving Him as Master, Love Master, Savior, as Prophet, Priest and King. Have you forgotten the depth of your depravity? Have you forgotten that there was a time when you could care less about the things of God, about the things of righteousness? We're so easily distracted and we're so easily tempted to place our love and our affection upon temporal things, whether it be family, children, jobs, money, security, anything, than Christ, the living God. Notice verse 23 of the same chapter. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Before the Lord Jesus Christ, we were enslaved to sin and unrighteousness, and that brought about pain, misery, and death. And it's only in Jesus that we have life, mercy, and peace. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, a few more of these to enforce my point, and we'll move on. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1. All of these verses I'm sure you know. I'm sure you've memorized some of these verses. But beloved, memorization isn't everything that's required. More than that is required. You are required to live according to the light of that passage that you have memorized. And the light and understanding of the knowledge that that verse brings into your heart and into your mind. In Ephesians chapter 2, we are reminded along with these Ephesian Gentiles that they were dead in their trespasses and sins. Dead! A dead man is unable to do anything. He cannot praise God. He cannot offer up to God sacrifices of praise. He cannot lift up a heart of thanksgiving to God. He cannot please God in any way because he is a dead man, in verse 4. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, You see, you are without strength in this world and totally bent to evil, to impurity, to all kinds of idolatry and fornications. You were bent to those things that bear the fruit of death, misery and destruction. But God, But God saved you. But God had the power to save. But God's right arm is not short in salvation. But God sent His Son. But God sent a mediator. God sent us a prophet to teach us the things of God. God sent us a priest to offer up spiritual sacrifice of Himself. And God sent us a king to rule over us. We did nothing. We could do nothing. And you can still do nothing to please God outside of Christ. Offer up spiritual sacrifices, beloved, through Christ. Through Christ. Ephesians 2, verse 10, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Beloved, listen. Being dead in our trespasses and sins, being the object of God's grace and God's mercy, what has He done? He's recreated us. He has sent us His Spirit. And what does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit enters in you and joins you to Jesus Christ. That's what Romans 8 talks about when it says, and the Spirit groans. When we offer up prayers to God and we don't know how to pray, we're so afflicted, or we're so overjoyed, we don't know what to say to God. The Spirit that indwells us groans to Christ, our heavenly mediator, and then Christ represents that to the Father. The Holy Spirit comes in you and unites you to the person of Jesus Christ. What credit can we take for this great salvation? What credit can we take? Did we choose this mediator among mediators? Did we choose, hey, I think Jesus has the better requirements than these other guys. I think I'm going to worship God through Jesus. I figured it out. Many people may think that, but they did not figure it out. And Jesus is not one way of salvation among many. He's the only way. And we would have never chosen Jesus. Ever. He's too glorious. He's too lovely. He's too perfect. He's too pure. He's too good. He's everything we were not. And we never would have chosen him apart from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and then uniting us to that Savior. I don't think it hurts us to be reminded of our depth of gravity, the depth of our misery, the depth of the work that Jesus Christ had to do because of our defilement. You see, beloved, he's a great mediator. He's the great savior. He's our great prophet, priest and king. Understand the salvation that he's given to you. That is you were wholly defiled and polluted. Wholly. Wholly defiled. There is not one part of you that was good. None. None. None. None. Nothing. And the more you can embrace this, The more that you can grasp your depravity and defilement and pollution before Christ, the greater and more glorious He's going to be. Okay? All of you who are growing tired of church. All of you who are growing tired doing the things that God's called you to do. Have you forgotten His glory? Have you forgotten what it cost Him You just didn't meander in the church and save yourself. He's brought you into His kingdom. He's brought light into your life. He's brought life to your soul. He's given you a law on your heart so that you can even choose good. Because without Him, you can't even do that. You need this, beloved. We need this. We need to be reminded of our great Savior. that our praise and our thanksgiving offerings and our sacrifices must, must, without exception, be offered up through Christ. Now, I ask you this. How many times have we gathered together and gone through the motions and we've not thought about Jesus as our prophet, priest, and king? Think about it. Think about how many times we've gathered together and we've not even considered His glory. that we've not considered the depth of our depravity, that we've never considered the anguish and the suffering and the payment that it cost Christ. You see, beloved, all of that tenderizes your worship. All of that tenderizes your labor of love for one another and for Him. All of that tenderizes your affection for truth. Every bit of this tenderizes Your heart to hate error. To love righteousness. To love everything that Jesus Christ promotes to His people. And not to view them as peripherals on the side. Oh, that we have this misunderstanding of grace. Beloved, grace is free. No doubt. Grace is free. But grace, even though it's free, demands everything you have. That free grace demands every fiber of your being to offer up spiritual sacrifices and thanksgivings of praise through Christ. Through Christ. That's the emphatic position of that preposition. It begins that sentence. Through Christ let us continually, everywhere, at all times, remember Him as Prophet, Priest, and King. I don't have time to go through any more of those passages. But beloved, I want to do this. I'm going to just give you a list of those things that characterize us. And I want you to remember, that was me. Let us say in our minds, yes, that was me. I was characterized as that before the salvation of Christ. Number one, feudal thinking. Darkened understanding. excluded from the life of God, characterized by ignorance, callous and hard-hearted, impure and greedy. But praise God that those who have embraced this Jesus as He is offered in the book of Hebrews as prophet, priest, and king, are no longer characterized by those things, that we have been recreated in Christ Jesus as new creatures in Christ. Hebrews chapter 8 says that He has separated us from our sins, He's cast our sins far from us, and He has written His law upon a heart of flesh. Upon a heart that is willing to go after Christ outside the city. A heart that's willing to be identified with Christ, even when your family members are not. When your workplace does not. When your friends will not. You are to identify yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and you desire to do so. So, beloved, we see we have a problem. We know that we're wholly corrupt, polluted and defiled, dead and darkened and ignorant. I know we don't like that word ignorant because all of us like to think of ourselves as being very knowledgeable. But when it comes to Christ, we're ignorant. Doesn't mean a man can't do a math problem or figure out quantum physics. But it does mean that if that man who can figure out quantum physics does not know Christ, he is ignorant to his own need and his own good. You see, beloved, man has a problem, and God solved the problem. God brought a solution to your problem. And that's why the text in Hebrew says that through Christ. You don't come to God alone. You've got to have a priest. You come through Christ. You need Christ. I've said it over and over, and beloved, and it's amazing. It's amazing to me. How we can say the same things over and over and over and over and over and over, and yet people don't understand anything I said. So we're going to have to keep saying it. We're going to have to keep saying it, beloved, because it's important. And we don't need to forget, as Hebrews 2 says, that great salvation. You see, God brought a solution to man's problem. That is, through Jesus Christ, God has solved man's problem. Man cannot go to God in and of himself. He must have a mediator. He must have a high priest. And Jesus is that high priest. It's only through Christ can we offer up those sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. Paul said this in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 13. I know you can quote it. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. We've all pretty much learned this verse. Well, this verse is not just for the Christian athlete who wants to win the Super Bowl, or the World Series, or the Christian musician that wants to win an Academy Award. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and I'm going to win the Super Bowl. That's not what was intended to do, and that's not what it's for. What Paul was saying is the same thing the author of Hebrews is saying. You can do everything that God requires of you through Christ. There's not one thing that God requires of you that you cannot do. without Jesus Christ. That is, through Jesus Christ, beloved, you are no longer powerless, but in Christ you are powerful to do those things that please God, that you can offer up to Him the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, that through Christ you can do all that God has for you. So when you stand before Him, He says, well done, good and faithful servant. Well done! You can say, with the Apostle Paul, I have run the race, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course. Because Paul would be the first one to acknowledge, I have done all that I've done through Christ. I've been utterly powerless to do anything in and of my own strength. But I have been able, through the Lord Jesus Christ, to do everything that God requires of me. You see, beloved, we live in such a day of excuses. Remember, it's a more gracious, a more glorious, a more powerful, a more greater time than the Old Testament, that our prophet, priest, and king is infinitely superior to the Old Testament. And yet we are still so full of excuses on why we can't serve the Lord, on why we can't edify the brethren, on why we can't do those things that God has required us to do. Shame on us. The Bible is crystal clear on this. This is not a matter of my interpretation over yours. It's a matter of what does the print say? What does the grammar say? And it says that we can do only those things that God requires of us to do through Christ. as mediator. Beloved, again, you see the text, you see it with your eyes as we offer up the sacrifice of praise and good works and deeds and as we serve Him. And we're going to learn next week what that means. But it must be through Christ. It must be a mediated praise. It must be a mediated work. It must be a mediated thanksgiving. Because God only accepts everything you do through Christ. Apart from Christ, God rejects it. without His Son in whom He is well pleased, without the Lord Jesus Christ. He rejects you. He rejects your praise. He rejects your thanksgiving. He rejects everything that you offer up to Him if you offer it up to Him without Christ. His mediation of profit. Why is that important? Well, how do we know what to praise God for if the prophet hadn't told us? How do we know how to praise God for His work, for His work of creation, His work of salvation, for His glory, and for His namesake, if the prophet does not tell us how to worship, how to praise what God is like? You see the importance of having a mediated praise. John chapter 1 and verse 18, and Jesus has explained God. As our prophet Jesus comes, and He's not like the other prophets who were limited in knowledge and understanding. He's infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely full of wisdom and understanding. And Christ, the Bible says, has exegeted God to us. That's what the word explained means. That's the word exegesis. That's where we get our word to preach. exegetically, to take verse by verse, line by line, thought by thought, and explain the Scriptures. The Bible says that Jesus came into the world as our prophet to exegete God to us, to explain God to us. That's why Jesus said, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. He was the glorious revelation of God. Hebrews 1 and verse 2 talks about God has spoken to us in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 2 and verse 14, that Christ through death, that through the death of Christ, He has rendered Satan powerless. Through Christ. Hebrews 7 and verse 19, it says that through Christ we have a better hope. and are able to draw near to God. You don't draw near apart from Christ. Hebrews 9 and verse 12, through His blood, He has brought eternal redemption. Hebrews 10 and verse 10, through Christ's offering up of His own body, we have been sanctified. Through Christ, through the offer of Christ, It is only through Christ that we can experience the saving knowledge of God. That means, you know, beloved, that's why a lot of people come to church and they don't know how to be saved. They can sing the praises, they can sing the hymns, they can say the prayers, they can attend the functions. But see, when Christ comes, when the believer is united to Christ, and I've told you how he's united to Christ, through the Spirit. Along with Christ and the Spirit comes the knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. That is, the evidence of the indwelling of Christ by His Spirit is that there comes a knowledge of God that could not be there any other way. To know what God wants, to know what God likes, to know what pleases God. And if you know what pleases God, that's what you want to do. I mean, it's absolutely absurd for a married couple to know that, let's just say, I'm going to use a silly illustration to make my point, but you understand the point. The point is the wife likes vanilla ice cream, but you keep buying strawberry. She doesn't like it. She's told you she didn't like it. She's pleased with vanilla, but you keep buying strawberry. You don't do that. That's absurd. Neither does the one who truly knows God want to offer up to Him sacrifices that He's not pleased with. Amen? That's why it's so important to understand this book of Hebrews. It's only through Christ that we can know and understand and embrace the infinite value of God's love. You see, beloved, you've just got a small vision of God's love now. You've just got a small taste of it. And the more you access the Word, the more you access the means of grace, the greater that vision is going to become. But the more you reject and the more you stay away from the means of grace, the more you stay out of the light of His Word, that vision is not going to be as glorious as it could be. And that's why I ask you, are you more knowledgeable today of the things that please God than you were a year ago? Be honest. I have nothing at stake in this. Your soul is at stake, not mine. I've got to answer for myself. It is Christ, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 12 says, Christ has proclaimed God's name to the congregation as our prophet. The preaching of men cannot save you. It's only the effectual preaching of the gospel through Christ, and I'm going to tell you this, That gospel will either harden you or soften you. The words of Christ are efficacious no matter what. The words of Christ are efficacious. They enter into your heart to either harden it and to bring glory like He did from Pharaoh, or like the Jews that heard Peter preach at the day of Pentecost, their hearts were burning and turned and they said, what must we do to be saved? He is our great prophet, our faithful apostle, the messenger of the covenant. He is the great witness and amen of Revelation chapter 3. And he is the interpreter of God's infallible truth, 1 John 5.20. Christ is our great high priest who not only as our prophet who takes away our ignorance, but he is our high priest who takes away our guilt. He has offered up himself as a propitiation. That means he has satisfied God. That is through the sacrifice of himself that Christ has placed a smile on God's face. on our behalf." That means when He calls out your name, He no longer frowns, but He smiles and He accepts you into His beloved because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. And we know that through His blood, we have been saved. Beloved, He's our Great King, and through this Great King must we offer up our praise and sacrifices of thanksgiving to Him, because as our King, He takes away our pollution and defilement and subdues our and His enemies. He is our Great Potentate who sits at God's right hand, who has sent His Holy Spirit into our life that we might not live a life like we lived before this relationship, this love relationship, this glorious relationship, beloved. Do you live like you used to live? I hope not. Because we have this great king, we have a different understanding of what is expected of us. He's preached to us, he's made acceptance for us, and now he rules us with his word in righteousness and justice. Let me tell you something about this king. He has a scepter, and that scepter has two edges. Righteousness and justice. Holiness and wrath. You will either bow before this King as Savior, or you will bow before this King as conquered prisoner. A criminal. Because all who don't embrace Christ are criminals. Who have violated God's holy justice and wrath and mercy. Romans 8. In verse 37, we'll close with this. Beloved, it is through Him that God has made us conquerors through Christ Jesus. Conquerors. You're characterized now as a conqueror if you've embraced the Lord Jesus Christ as your mediator. So now, how will you praise God? How will you lift up your thanksgiving? How will you do your good works? Do it through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word, Your Spirit, Your Son. Bless us, O Lord. We have many things to change about us, many things to be diligent in, and we pray that we would do so through the Lord Jesus Christ, because we know that through Him we can do all things, Lord, that You've called us to do. In Jesus' name, Amen.