Bibles and turn to the book of
Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. Let's pray together. Our Father. We thank you this
evening. of the privilege to be here.
Lord, we realize that of all the things that could possibly take place in this world, the glorious privilege to be
able to meet and to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
what meeting can compare to this. We ask You, Lord, help us. Lord, would You bless the Word
tonight. I pray that, Lord, You'd bless it to our hearts. I know,
Lord, unless You bless this Word by Your blessed Holy Spirit to
our understanding and to our comfort, Lord, it's just going
to be words that fall on ears that do not have the ability
to hear themselves. Lord, help us. I pray for our
brother Tommy. Lord, I pray that you would,
in accordance with your perfect will and purpose, heal him. Lord, whether it's temporarily
or permanently, Have mercy, we pray. I pray for that church. Lord, I pray for those there
that are Yours, truly Yours. Pray for the sheep that's within
that place. Lord, have mercy. We pray for
Christ's sake. Amen. Believers, all believers, Believers
here, believers everywhere. They're struggling. They're struggling. Struggling with self-righteousness, that flesh, this body in which
we must walk around in for a while longer. We're in a body. tied to that body. And there's two men that's within. And you're struggling. Struggling with the world. Struggling with doubts and fears. But listen. Right now, for all
of God's people that are struggling with the frailties of this flesh,
this body that is going down, it is because of the sin that
does so easily beset us. Remember something. There is
the glorious, great High Priest. And He ever liveth to make intercession. Now listen. Listen. He's real. He's real. You say, why would
you say that? Sure, He's real. I know it. But
you know what? There's a nature in us that just
doesn't believe that. And we struggle with it right
now. Lord, help us to believe. We believe. Help our unbelief. priest of God's appointment. There's one. And everybody else
that claims that title in this world is a liar and an imposter.
There's one high priest. There's one mediator between
God and man, and it's the man, Christ Jesus. Now listen, right
now, while we're struggling, while we're struggling to hear,
while we're struggling to believe, and we do believe, We believe. But oh, how we struggle, struggle,
strive. But listen, He knows our frame. He knows that we are dust. Sympathetic? Oh, that's such good news. I
just feel how many times in my flesh while there is a battle
raging. And while I am struggling, the
thought will go through my mind, Lord, I know, I know, never leave us,
never forsake us. We are in a warfare. We've been
called to a race that's got to be run. And here's the bottom
line. The believer is going to run it. The believer is going
to run it. There's a fight that's going to be fought. It's
a fight. It's a fight of faith. It's a struggle. And a believer
is going to fight. He's going to fight as a good
soldier. That's what Scripture says. But
oh, what He's given us, a helmet of salvation. I'm going to say what Bruce Crabtree
said the other day at Don Fortner's when he was preaching. Bruce
said this. He said, Oh, that God would give me faith to believe
what I know. There is stuff that I know, a
helmet of salvation, a sword of the Spirit. Listen, we've
got the Word of God. Make much of it. Read the Scriptures. Our loins
girt about with truth, a breastplate of righteousness, Our feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. There is nothing that
Almighty God has called us to do that is unreasonable. Labor to enter into that rest. Labor to enter into God's Sabbath. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
Sabbath. He is our day of rest. He is
our rest. Labor. You say, well, why would
the Spirit of God say in verse 11, let us labor therefore to
enter into that rest? Because there was many that failed in unbelief. They
started well. Oh, if He doesn't keep me, I
know this. And I'm telling you, a believer
gets up every day. I'm just telling you the way
it is. A believer gets up every day with this thought and this
request and this prayer. Lord, help me today. Lord, keep
me or I'm not going to be kept. Lord, guide me. Order my steps.
Lord, keep me by Your grace. Reveal yourself to me. Lord,
help me when I read. You're sitting here right now.
Lord, help me to hear. Lord, help me to hear, and I
mean truly hear. He knows our frailties. How are we going to do that?
I mean, this struggling, laboring, striving, how? Remember, it is
God which worketh in you both to will and do of His good pleasure."
I thought about that today. His good pleasure. What is His
good pleasure? Luke 12, 32, Fear not, little
flock. Isn't that just kind? Think of how the Spirit of God
worded those. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke those
words, and the Spirit of God moved upon Luke to write that
down. Fear not, little flock. He didn't say great and mighty,
great and abundant, increased with riches. Fear not, little
flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom." You didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it yourself.
He gave it to you. Labor. How do you labor? Well, I know it's by faith, because
without faith it's impossible. to please God. Where did I get
that faith? It's given unto you to believe.
Faith which is from above. So we labor by faith, prayerfully,
striving. Lord, I don't have sense enough.
I don't know what to do. Help me. Guide me. Order my steps. Lord, You said the steps of a
good man ordered by the Lord. Lord, order my steps. Attend faithfully the hearing
of the preaching of the gospel of God's grace, the gospel of
Christ. This is where the Lord teaches.
I'm telling you, we're in a great spot right here. And I'm telling
you, God's people know it. And I'm telling you, when I think
about it, and it comes across my mind so many times, How many
places, I told you this, that I can remember where there used
to be a candlestick, and they're not there. It's not there anymore.
Places that I've gone, and I feel like, well, I used to feel like
the new kid on the block. I'm starting to realize that
maybe I am getting older. But I'm thinking, you know, places
that I I preached that. Not there. Attend. Pray for this congregation. I'm telling you, labor to enter
into that rest. Labor to enter in. And all the
while realizing that when you've done all you could do, it was
God that worketh in you. You have a desire? You have a
desire to hear, a desire to pray, Desire to study, desire to ask,
a desire to seek, a desire to knock. It is God that worketh
in you. If he didn't work, you wouldn't.
Oh, no. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. Ask him. Seek. Strive after. I tell you, we labor for His
power, grace, work and Word that made us willing in the day of
His power. The same power that spoke this
world into existence, same power, God's power, calls a man out of darkness.
Keeps Him. You're looking at a miracle of
God's grace that anybody's here. Anybody wants to be here. Anybody
desires. Well, let's look at verses 13
to 16, Hebrews chapter 4. We labor to enter in. We strive. Now, you consider this. Laboring.
Labor, therefore, to enter into that rest. Consider this, neither is there
any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things
are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Neither is there any creature
that is not revealed. He is omniscient. He knows. what you just thought. He knows what you're going to
think. He knows what you will think. Before you even ask, He said,
I'll answer. There is no creature, nobody
escapes His notice. Strive to enter in. He knows. He knows all the insincerity
and the unbelief and the hypocrisy. He knows the struggles of our
daily walk. I tell you, this is a great comfort
to a believer. He knows. He knows. If any man sin, you say, well,
I thought everybody does. They do, but not everybody knows
it. Remember what Brother Scott said?
A sinner is a precious thing. There are so few of them. Almighty
God reveals to you, if we confess our sin, if we confess what we
are, if God Almighty has made us to know something of our need. He is faithful and just. He forgives us justly. Absolute justly. The blood of
Christ has put away the guilt of it. And He justly forgives. Oh, I tell you, but to an unbeliever,
his omniscience, they don't know it now. They don't know it now. And I'll tell you how I know
they don't know it. They don't care. They just don't care. They act as if they're going
to live forever on this earth. Oh, they're going to live forever.
But on this earth, they think nothing of rebelling against
Him. They think nothing of not loving
Him. They think nothing of not hearing
His gospel. It just doesn't matter. But I'm
telling you, there's coming a day, Scripture says, when the books
are going to be opened. And I think about every word,
idle word, you know what that is? Worthless. Every worthless
word. My, how many have I spoken. How many have I spoken? The books
will be open. And the only thing that gives
me any comfort is to know this, I have a rest. I have a great
high priest. I have one whose blood has put
away my guilt. And that causes me to stop and
to think to myself, oh, how disrespectful. I've been to him. He knows. Lord, forgive me. I'm so sorry. Believers, deal with him right
now. Neither is there any creature not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked, open unto the eyes of him with whom we
have to do. We've got to deal with him. Believers,
deal with him right now. And thankfully so, he is our
prophet He has spoken God's Word from God to us. He has told us
in the Word. In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God and the Word was God. And He has
told us what Almighty God has to say. And everything that He
has to say, He says in His Son. He has spoken to us in His last
days in His Son. He's our priest. Priest. I got to thinking. A priest. What's the office of a priest?
Well, let me tell you what it is. The office of a priest, as
I said, there's only one. That office of that priest is,
number one, for the people, to God. Pray for them. Number one, pray for them. He
said in John 17, those that you've given me, I pray for them. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but I pray for those that you've given me. The office
of a priest. Now here he is right now. Right
now. Seated. at the right hand of
the Majesty on High." Whatever the fullness of that means, I
know this. Here is God Almighty, Christ
Himself, seated, accepted. That which He accomplished on
this earth, the Father accepted it. And here He is praying. And He is praying right now.
that my faith fail not. And I'm standing here right now
believing Him. And the reason that I'm believing
Him is because He's praying for me. Oh no, I don't have the ability
to be able to maintain faithfulness. And you don't either. You believe
in Him right now by His grace and by His power. We have a great
high priest who prays for us. The great high priest also, he
was the one that actually sacrificed. He'd take in the Old Testament,
he'd take that lamb, he'd cut that lamb, that bullock, whatever
it was, that goat, cut his throat, blood poured out, blood was poured
on the brazen altar. It's a sweet savor, sweet smell
before Almighty God. And here the priest would actually
sacrifice that animal. Here was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
here He is. He's the priest that administers
the sacrifice, and He's the sacrifice itself. A priest. He's the one that prays. He's the one that sacrifices.
And He's the one that will intercede. On the great day of atonement,
one day a year, a great high priest would go into the Holy
of Holies, not without blood. And he would sprinkle that blood
on that mercy seat. And Almighty God accepted it. And here the Lord Jesus Christ
entered into heaven with His own blood. And the Father accepted
it. There's the blood. There's the
payment of that everlasting covenant. That covenant made before the
foundation of the world that God was going to show mercy to
a people that He chose to show mercy to. That He everlastingly
loved and chose them, elected them in Christ and looked to
Him. Never did He look to the sheep
again. Never! He looked to the lamb. He looked
to the surety. He looked to the substitute.
And whatever the substitute did, that's where the elect stood. And the Scripture says that we
stand accepted in the Beloved, not because of anything that
we've done, because God Almighty showed mercy to whomsoever He
would. That's a priest. praise and sacrifices
and intercedes and He blesses the people. He blesses them. We are blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Nothing ever separated
from Him. Verse 14 says, Seeing then we
have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. We have a great
high priest. Oh, but that I could enter into
the depth of that right now and just know. There is one right
now that is absolutely praying for me. interceding, pleading
His own worth and work and will. He officiates in heaven. And
His priesthood never ceases. He ever liveth. Ever liveth. How long will we live with Him?
Forever. Forever. Oh, this life is but
a vapor. And I know, I know that we're
struggling. Oh, but listen, we have a great
high priest passed into the heavens, accepted of God. Jesus, the Son
of God, let us hold fast. Hold on. Hold on. Not very many
more rising suns, not many more setting suns, not many more. Not many more. Hold on. Hold
on. I tell you what, if you hold
on, it's because He held you. He wouldn't let you go. You don't
let Him go because He doesn't let you go. Without Him, you'd
do nothing. Oh, make much of the means of
grace. Remember, hear the Word of God. Pray for the preaching of the
Gospel. Pray that God's will. Pray. Ask
Him. You say, well, I know He does
as He willed in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. He's going to give His people. I know that. And He said, He said, yet for
all these things will I be inquired of. You're going to ask Me. He's purposed to give them and
He will give them. And He's going to give you a
heart to ask. I'm telling you, it's a miracle of God's grace
that you want to do anything concerning asking Him, desiring
Him. God's people hear of their great
high priest, and their heart burns with thankfulness and adoration. And in themselves, they're still
struggling. And they hate it. And they know all the while that
God Almighty knows it. Verse 15, For we have not in
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
Yet without sin. He was in this world without
sin. You know, that's a blessed state. A believer thinks about that. I don't even know how to think
what it would be like to be without sin. I mean, I'm so stupid. I would desire that. I would
desire that. And I cannot imagine. I know
it's got to be a glorious... I know it. And I'm telling you
very soon, for all that He's everlastingly loved, you're going
to experience it. You're going to be like Him. See Him as He is. Oh, Lord, help
me to believe this. Help me to enter into this. This
is so much greater than I can even imagine. I'm talking about something here
that's so far above me, and by faith, Lord, I do believe. Oh, please help me. Soon we'll
experience that. But right now, you've got to
walk by faith. We're in this world. Scripture says, But we have not
a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without
sin. Temptation is not sin. He was tempted of the devil,
and the Scripture says he was without sin. Temptation is not
sin. He was tempted, the scripture
says, like as we are. The devil came to him and tempted
him to commit suicide. He had tempted him with the lust
of the eyes. There's some rocks over there. I bet you're hungry and you haven't
eaten in 40 days. Why don't you turn those rocks
into bread? I know you're hungry." It tempted him to idolatry. It
took him up there and showed him all of the kingdoms. You
bow down to me and I'll give you every bit of this. He was
tempted. He was tempted to distrust his
father. Why don't you cast yourself down?
For it is written. Boy, I tell you what, Satan can
quote Scripture. It's written. He's not going
to allow you to bash your foot against a stone. He'll bear you
up once you jump off. Tempted to distrust his father.
And I'm telling you here I am. tempted, and he was tempted,
the scripture says, in all points. Now you think about this. Every
way that you've ever been tempted, he was tempted just exactly like
that. All points. You said, yeah, but you don't
know the temptations I've had. I don't care. I've had them just
like you have. I bet you I can name some you
ain't never had. He was tempted in all points
like as we are, yet without sin. See, sin is when I yield to it. And I do it every time. I do
it every time. Oh, we have one that is touched. with the feelings of our infirmities.
He knows. He knows just exactly. When one
of my kids called me up, I've told you this before, Dad, I've
got a problem. I'm thinking, oh, I don't want
to hear it, but go ahead. And then I'm surprised at what
they say. Not surprised, but I learned it for the first time.
Not him. He knows just exactly. When one
of my kids hurt, he hurts. I mean, my kids, I hurt. If one
of my kids are abused or talked down to or something like that,
Gary, what are you going to do if somebody hurts that little
girl right there? He hurts. He's touched with the
feelings of our infirmities. You say, I just can't enter into
the depth of that. I'm telling you, the Scripture
says, we have not, a high priest cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infinities. He was made likened
to his brethren. We have a great high priest. whoever liveth, that God Almighty
has accepted the man, Christ Jesus, obedient. Do you struggle with temptations? And you know the struggles that
you have would be dishonorable, yielding to that temptation,
dishonorable to him. Tell him about it. Lord, I'm
struggling with this. He knows what the temptations
are. Lay bare your soul. He knows and He cares. Lay all
your care upon Him. He cares for you. Let us therefore, verse 16, come
boldly into the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. You know, entering into
the presence of earthly kings, I'm sure back in the days of
old when knights were bold and all that kind of stuff. Walking
into the very presence of a king would be, I would suspect, permitted
for just a very few. I wouldn't doubt that a bit. destitutes, knaves, you know,
common folks. But for all that Almighty God
has shown mercy to, those that this world considers not even
worthy to be spoken of, those that this world treated with
such disrespect, hated, for the glorious gospel that they believe,
the Christ that they love, the God that they worship, the poor
of this world. God Almighty has shown mercy,
and for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, by His blood, by Him who
is the great High Priest, because of Him in whom we are accepted Let us, therefore, come with
assuredness." Not arrogance. Not arrogance. With fear and
respect. Boldly. Assuredness. You're not worthy in yourself,
so don't think you are. You think you're rich and you
have need of nothing. No. Because God Almighty has shown
mercy to me. And for the sake of His Son, years ago, I was someplace and there was
a crowd of people. And I was talking, just talking
to this one and talking to this one. And I just, you know, trying
to say hi, trying to speak, and there was a few more standing
back. And then all of a sudden, I could just see the crowd just
right out there, people moving a little bit, you know. And it
was everybody just standing there and just being polite and all
this kind of stuff. And all of a sudden, people started
moving and opened it up, and there was Amber, my little granddaughter. Hey, baby, here, I'll hold you.
Everybody else, you wait. That's my granddaughter right
here. She didn't mind one second coming
right on up. That's my papa. I'm going to
go up there and see my papa. My papa will accept me. Let us, therefore, come boldly
into the throne of grace. It's not a throne of judgment
for God's people. It's a throne of grace and mercy. He that loves his people with
an everlasting love, you're robed in the righteousness of his Son.
His blood has put away your guilt. You've kissed his Son. By the
grace of God, he's given you a heart. Without fear and without distrust, no rejection. Lord, can it be that you would
accept me? Come boldly unto the throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy. I think about O blind Barnabas.
Do you need mercy? Come to the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy. Are you a sinner that needs a
Savior because you can't save yourself? That you may find grace
to help in a time of need. I need grace. I need mercy. I
need it now. Now is the time of need. Today
is the day of salvation. Come unto me, all you that labor
heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. We have a great High Priest,
and He ever liveth to make intercession for us. May the Lord add His
blessing on this word to the comfort of His people and the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.