I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the epistle of
Paul to the Hebrews chapter 7 and reading verse 25. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25. Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. This is a very wonderful and
glorious New Testament text because it shows us the vast importance
of the work and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it speaks to us about the
Saviour, who is able also to save to the uttermost them that
come unto him by God, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. Now the Apostle, of course, in
the epistle to the Hebrews does set before us the great blessing
that the Lord Jesus Christ brought to the Church of God because
prior to his death there was the ceremonial law which had
been really instituted in the time of Moses and been carried
on for all those years and of course Israel were commanded
to keep everything as carefully as they possibly could in accordance
with those laws. And yet, of course, nothing was
perfect. Nothing was perfect. Because
man was involved. Man, of course, is imperfect. And therefore there was sin mixed
with all those things. But we have a little explanation
of the wonder of this truth Look at the 10th chapter of the Epistle
of Paul to the Hebrews, where the Apostle says, and he says,
this is the covenant, that's a sworn conditional promise,
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now
where remission, or forgiveness of these is, there is no more
offering for sin. And then he says, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now, the significance, of course,
of that statement is that in the Old Testament, the holiest
place, the most holy place was where the Ark of the Covenant
was. And the only way that that could
be approached was blood had to be shed. And so we find here
that there was no possibility naturally for the Israelites
or for us today if we were on earth and that's it or if the
same situation existed. But we're told here that we have
boldness to enter into the holiest, not by the shed blood of any
calves or goats or bullocks but by the blood of Jesus. So our
great privilege today is that we can come into the holy place
and we can come and pray unto our God through this new and
living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say, his flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So what a wonderful
privilege it is for us in this Gospel day, this Christian era,
to be able to come in prayer individually to our Father in
Heaven through this wonderful and glorious High Priest, the
Lord Jesus Christ." Well, it's important, isn't it, that we
have a right understanding of these things and appreciate what
a favour it is. And the truth is, of course,
we cannot enter into the holy place. Our prayers will not be
entered if we just try and present them ourselves. It is only as
the Lord Jesus Christ takes those prayers and presents them to
his Father. Now, wherefore he is able, ought
to save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. So we can come to God
by him and through him, through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a
wonderful blessing it is. come in prayer and I hope we
do come in prayer and as we pray to our God in prayer to realize
that our prayers would not be accepted if it were not for the
life and death and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. To think then of the greatness
of this wonderful work of redemption, this wonderful work which made
it possible for sinners of the earth to come directly unto almighty
God through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just think
for a moment, go back in your mind to the Old Testament times
and the ceremonials and all the detail that had to be carried
out in order for a sacrifice to be acceptable. And of course,
in every case, the blood had to be shed, the death had to
have occurred, before anything would be acceptable. And we read,
without shedding of blood, there is no remission, there's no forgiveness. Do we bless God today then, for
what the Lord Jesus Christ did? He did bring about, didn't he,
this new and living way. You see, it's a new way, but
it's a living way. It's a way of life. It's not
a dead way. And so may we thank God for it,
by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh. That was the way of entrance.
Before, of course, you will probably remember that in the Old Testament,
in the tabernacle and in the temple, there was the most holy
place and it was separated from the holy place with that veil.
And therefore there was no entrance past that veil. only when the
high priest went, and that not without blood. But here we have
this great statement, and the entrance is not now through a
veil. Where is the entrance? It's through
the Lord Jesus Christ, consecrated us through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh. The veil was done away with.
Remember when the Savior died upon that cross, when he uttered
those glorious words, it is finished, What happened? We're told the
veil of the temple, that veil we're speaking about now, that
veil of the temple was rent in twain, torn from the top to the
bottom. And therefore there was no more
secrecy or no more difficulty with entering into the holy place
because that was done away in Christ. And now what a blessing
for us today. So we come and pray to our God.
We can enter into the holy place, which of course is in glory.
Remember the most holy place in the tabernacle and the temple
represented heaven, the way of entrance into heaven through
the veil with the shed blood. And now today we see Jesus. My friends, what do we see in
Jesus? Do we see in him? all that we need for our salvation.
Do we see in Him the great blessing of this new and living way, so
that we today can approach unto our Father in Heaven through
the Saviour, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. And He is therefore our great
and glorious High Priest. Well, you can read about the
high priesthood and the line of it, but it's wonderful to
recognize that today we are privileged to be able to pray unto almighty
God, sinners of the earth, unworthy sinners. And it's only because
that the Lord Jesus Christ made that new and living way through
his death. The crucifixion was so, so important. Christ had to die. He had to
finish that great work his father had given him to do. And my friends,
thankfully, he did not fail. But let us not forget the cost
of this great blessing. The wonderful favour that we
have today was procured through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, to ponder the Lord
Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God, became man to stand
in our place, to keep that law which we had so easily broken
and so constantly broken. The Lord Jesus Christ, he kept
that law. And by keeping that law, he made
it honourable as a righteous law. And we should be thankful
the Lord Jesus Christ did keep it. And as he kept that law,
therefore he was the just one, able therefore to satisfy the
demands of that law on our behalf and to give his life in our place,
to take our place. He stood in the dying traitor's
place. He stood in our place. And my
friends today, what a blessing to think then that through that
death you and I as we come to God in prayer, whenever we do,
however we do, to come remembering for Jesus Christ's sake. It's for Jesus Christ's sake
that we enter in. Without Him, there is no hope. Poor, unworthy, hell-deserving
sinners cannot approach unto the Holy Father, Almighty God
cannot look upon sin, but you see, he sees his people through
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is him instead of us that
is seen as we approach to God. What a humbling thought it is,
isn't it? To think that we, so unworthy
of any favour, are able to come to our God because of what Christ
has done. Now, do we then appreciate and
have any right understanding of the value of the death and
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or how valuable it was,
how vital it was. And so in this Gospel day, what
a privilege it is to be found in this situation. And to be
able to say, wherefore he is able also to save to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. So the picture we have is that
we can come to God. Black sinners, no one can be
too bad. No one can be too bad because
the debt has been paid. The debt has been paid. It was
finished. It was complete for all the sins
of his church. My friends, all the vile sins,
all the wicked sins, they were paid for on that glorious day
on Calvary, when the Savior gave his life as a ransom price to
set us free. He gave his life as that great
and glorious sacrifice, which was satisfactory to the holy
law of God. What a blessing it is then for
us today to be able to think of these things, to meditate
upon them, and to realise however black we are, however great a
sinner we are. And my friends, the Spirit of
God does show to us our sinfulness and makes us realise what a sinner
we are. We may think perhaps we're not
very big sinners. We may think we're just a little
sinner. We may think we're a small sinner. And we may think, well,
therefore my sins aren't very bad. Well, when the Spirit of
God comes and convinces us of our sin and shines his light
into our heart, we then discover our true sinful condition in
part. I suppose we never will really
understand the full depth of our sin. But when the Holy Spirit
does shine into our hearts, And we see there all manner of wickedness,
things that we never thought at one time were perhaps sinful. But then as God shows us a little
more, a little more of the evil of our heart, we realise how
sinful we are and how we need a great and glorious salvation. When the Apostle wrote to the
Romans, he tells us in the fifth chapter, but God commended his
love toward us. Now it was because of his love
toward us that he was willing to die for us. Because of his
love. Now think of that. His love to
you, his love to me. What was there in us that was
attracted to God naturally? All there was was sin. But my
friends, bless every God. In eternity past, he chose a
people who he loved. And therefore we have this great
statement, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. How important it is to
know that Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, that precious shed blood which justifies us, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. Here we have these words,
wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost. You see that means however bad
we are, however wicked we are, the blood of the Saviour saves
to the uttermost. Isn't that wonderful? No sin,
not catered for. Have a bad, have a wicked. And
tragic it is, isn't it, when perhaps God's people sin against
light and knowledge. God is faithful. God is gracious. We're not faithful, are we? We
fail so often. But to realize we have such a
faithful God. And so here we have these words. But God commendeth his love to
us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us much more
than being now justified by his blood. We shall be saved from
wrath through him. There's our hope, my friends.
It's nowhere else. Our hope is only through what
Christ has done. We shall be saved from wrath
through him. For if when we were enemies,
We were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only
so, but we also join in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. And of course, the atonement
means to be made at one with God. You see, we were alienated
from God. Because of our sin, because the
Apostle tells us, wherefore as by one man, Adam, sin entered
into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon
all men, for the all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in
the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned,
after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure
of him that was to come. And therefore, as we go on in
this chapter, for if by one man's offense, death reigned by one,
much more they which receive abundance of grace, remember
grace is the unmerited favor of God, as I spoke on this morning,
receive the abundance of grace, And it is abundance, isn't it?
To deliver us from all our sins. It's wonderful, isn't it? Abundance
of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one. Who is that? Jesus Christ. My friends, do we see, do we
appreciate the preciousness of Christ? What value, what value
can we put on the death of the Savior? My friends, it's impossible
for us to do so. It's without price. It's without
price. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so,
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. That of course means all men,
all nationalities. And the Lord brought this about,
how wonderful it was to realise that by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. And just to finish this couple
of verses in this chapter, moreover, the law entered that the offence
might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Must
be so, mustn't it? and how wonderful it is to think
that this grace is abounded on your behalf and my behalf, that
as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. We are dealing here with eternal
realities. We're not dealing with things
which pass away with the using. But my friends, these are great
blessings. And yet they are most important
blessings. They are really essential blessings. But wherefore he is able also
to save them to the uttermost. You see, no one can go beyond
that word, can they? No one can be too bad. We have
a God who comes to the uttermost, to the very worst of sinners.
to the uttermost, that come unto God by Him, come unto our Father
through the Lord Jesus Christ, pleading for His mercy, pleading
for His favour, pleading for forgiveness, pleading to know
that we are indeed under the blood. You know it's a great
favour to think of those days when the Passover was instituted
and the safety that was under the blood and yet that Picture
was carried on year by year with just a few stops, but generally
every year right down until the time of the Saviour. And you
see there was then no more need of the Passover because the Lord
instituted the Lord's Supper. And we see there the lamb slain. We see the Lord Jesus Christ,
we see his broken body and we see his shed blood. And so here
we have this, them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Remember those well-known
words also in the eighth chapter to the Romans, where the apostle
says, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. This is the great truth
of the Gospel, that we have a risen Saviour. If Christ had not risen
from the dead, our hope would be vain. There would be no hope
for us, but today we can be thankful that Christ is risen from the
dead, and He does sit on the Father's right hand, and He does
intercede for his people. And so in answer to the question,
who is he that condemneth? Well, it's Christ the died. And
therefore, that's why the beginning of this eighth chapter we read,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. No condemnation. We are condemned.
by the law of God, and we will stand condemned by God's holy
law. The law will condemn us. We will
come in guilty. We will have to bow down and
confess our sins and come to our God confessing that we're
black, we're vile, we're wicked, we don't deserve any mercy. We
won't be able to come at justifying ourselves, but we can come this
great and glorious high priest seeking that he indeed will look
upon us and he will present our request to his father in heaven. Well it's a wonderful blessing
isn't it to realize today that we have the Lord Jesus Christ. You see he didn't, if he died
and not risen from the dead there would be no victory. He would
have not been a victor over the grave. The grave would have conquered
And there would be no salvation. But Christ rose from the dead. The tomb could not hold him.
Death could not hold him. He completed that glorious work
that his father had given him to do. And therefore he rose
from the dead. And he rose from the dead a conqueror. He had conquered sin. He conquered death. He conquered
hell and the grave. a glorious victor. Do we rejoice
in that tonight? Can we say indeed, hallelujah,
praise the Lord for his great glorious condescension of coming
into this sinful world to die so that I might be blessed with
a glorious gift of eternal life. He died and he rose again. Yes,
he rose again a conqueror. The devil may have thought he'd
conquered, but he'd not. He'd failed. My friends, the
Lord did not fail. Death could not hold him. It
could not. Because he'd done that which
was necessary to atone for all the sins of his people. Every
one. The uttermost. The uttermost sinner, if we fail
to be, is no doubt, I hope we do sometimes, fail to be an uttermost
sinner. The worst sinner. The Apostle
Paul felt himself to be the worst sinner, didn't he? Yes, he felt
to be that. And I believe the work of the
Spirit comes into his people's souls. And as we spiritually
grow in grace and we see greater abominations in our heart, what
does it do? It makes us realise how black
we are and how we need to be cleansed from our sin. And we're
thankful then tonight that it is such a word as this, save
them to the uttermost, uttermost. And the great word is that come
unto God by Him. We come unto God through the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when that is made over to
us, when we understand the great blessing of this work, this work
of the Saviour, And we understand that there is this way of salvation. There is hope for us, not in
what we've done, but what the Saviour's done. It then will
produce that desire to love the Saviour, to love the Saviour
more as we consider His great love for us. His great love for
us. And we will be very amazed as
the Spirit of God leads us to recognise that we were utterly
unworthy, and yet the Lord loved us. Yea, I have loved thee, as
Jeremiah says, with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. See, these things are not something
that you and I produce ourselves. It's all to God's glory. We have
to come and say glory to thy great and holy name. for giving
me that good hope in thy mercy, that through thy sin atoning
death, it is well with my soul. Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost. And we all need to be saved.
And we all come into that condition where we will plead to our God
to be saved. We may be saved. we may receive
the mercy of God. Yes, it won't be something alien
to us. We'll come down utterly dependent
upon God's mercy. We will be, without any strength
ourselves, without any realisation of any goodness, we'll realise
that we need the Saviour to come to us and to deliver us from
the wrath to come. It's a fearful thing, as we may
ponder that to fall into the hands of the living God. As an
unpardoned sinner, there's only one solution, and that is eternal
hell. A terrible consideration. An unsaved soul, an unforgiven
soul, will go to hell forever and ever. But my friends, those
who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, those for whom Christ
died, those for whom he gave his life, are safe. Yes, they're eternally safe.
They're safe in the arms of Jesus. And so how important for us tonight
to be able to enter into the truth of this verse and to thank
God for it. not just read it as another verse
of scripture, but to realize this has a personal application
to my soul. And I tonight can come and bless
God for this great truth, that the Lord is able, the Lord is
able to also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by Him. And so we have to come unto God,
don't we? But you see, The Lord draws us
to himself. The Lord gives us that grace
to come to him. He creates in our heart that
desire. And that's why we come and we
have to acknowledge it is all of grace. No merit to man, all of grace. The uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And when the Apostle John wrote
his epistle, and the first epistle of John, he says this in the
second chapter, My little children, these things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, you have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now an advocate in our courts
is somebody who pleads the cause of the person who is condemned. And he pleads his case before
the judge. Well, we today, we have an advocate
with the Father. All his people have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous. What an amazing truth that is,
isn't it? To think that the Lord Jesus
Christ He pleads our case. A sinful wretch. A hell deserving
wretch. The Blessed Lord pleads our case
for this Father. And it's because of His love
toward us. And my friends, it is true therefore
that He died on our behalf. And that's what He pleads. to
his father as our advocate. He brings our case and he confesses
us as those for whom he's died, those for whom he suffered all
that horrendous suffering in Gethsemane, in the Judgment Hall
and on the cross. He suffered so that we might
be delivered from the wrath to come which was due to us. And I believe when the Spirit
of God comes and works in our heart, we can't say, well, I
don't deserve anything like that. I believe when the Spirit of
God works in our hearts, we will realize that we do deserve the
wrath of God. We do deserve to be sent to hell. And to recognize the righteous
law of God approves it well. And therefore, what a mercy then
to realize that We today are so gloriously blessed with the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who laid down his life that we
might receive life. The freedom from the wrath of
God. And if the Son therefore hath
made us free, we shall be free indeed, says the Lord Jesus. And my friends, it is true. And
what a mercy if tonight the Spirit of God gives us that faith to
believe. The Lord Jesus Christ did indeed
come into this sinful world specifically to save your soul. Specifically
to save my soul. So that we weren't passed by.
He came where we were. He came to reveal himself unto
us. He came to touch our heart. He
came to convince us of our sin. He came to direct us to His death. He came to direct us to the wonderful
cleansing efficacy of the blood of Christ, the shed blood of
the Saviour that delivers us, that saves us, that cleanses
us. What a mercy it is then to be
able to come tonight and Realize that we have a great and glorious
high priest and we have a great and glorious advocate. You see
the high priest, he laid down his life and then the advocate
comes and presents our case to almighty God. And what a favor
then to think of that tonight as we come here to consider these
words, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Our Saviour lives forever. Our
Saviour will not die. Our Saviour lives forever. And
my friends, He's never weary. He's never tired. He's always
ready to receive us. He's always ready to hear our
prayers. What an amazing truth that is. As you and I carry on in this
poor old world, and so often, We have to please, don't we,
for mercy. Mercy is welcome news indeed
to those who guilty stand. And that mercy comes through
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that mercy comes to us as
we're able to come and to confess our sins. And we're told, if
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, just think of that. It sounds a very easy statement,
isn't it? But it's not as easy as it sounds.
God gives confession. You and I cannot produce real
confession ourselves. No, because of our own self-righteous
nature. We're unwilling to come truly
and confess that we are absolutely helpless and absolutely lost
and there's no goodness in us at all. But when the Spirit of
God shines into our heart like that and we come, nothing in
my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. We're just empty
handed, nothing that can recommend us, but we're dependent. on the glorious death of the
Saviour who died on our behalf, to atone for all our sins, so
that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. The great, wonderful position
of the Saviour today. Whenever we pray to God, we come
through that High Priest. Whenever we come in prayer, it's
the only way. And how can we perhaps forget
the great relevance of presenting our prayers to our God the Father
in this way, for Jesus Christ's sake. We are accepted in the
Beloved. We're not accepted anywhere else.
It's only through the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore,
as we pray to God, may we always remember how important it is
to close our prayers with those simple words, for Jesus Christ's
sake. He is that one that we have here
before us, whoever liveth to make intercession for us, intercedes
with his Father. We are unable to ourselves. But we can come to the Saviour.
And the Saviour does take our prayers because He's loved us
with everlasting love. Because He's died on our behalf. And we are precious to Him. Isn't
it wonderful to think of that? You and me, such base people. In the eyes of the Saviour, we're
precious to Him. You know, such a thought, such
a realisation should break down all the barriers in our heart,
shouldn't it? To think that the Saviour, Almighty God's love
was so much, that He was willing to suffer and endure all those
terrible things, and also, let us not forget the hiding of His
Father's face. He had to endure hell for us,
for those three hours on Calvary's cross, how willing was Jesus
to die, that we, hell-deserving sinners, should live. Oh, my
friends, we must come and say, surely tonight, oh, what a Saviour
we have, what a kind and gracious God, who does not deal with us
as our sins deserve, does He not produce in our hearts that
desire that we might live a more holy life, a more God-honouring
life, We may be found serving the Lord and not serving ourselves
and definitely not serving the devil, but the Lord may give
us that grace to turn unto him and to be continually concerned
to do his will and come in those words that the Saviour uttered
himself to his Father, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. Wherefore he is able also to
save them to the uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Amen.