I want you to turn in your Bibles
to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. And then I'm going to read a passage
in Hebrews chapter 7 also if you want to get there and sort
of anticipate it. While you're turning, again,
let me tell you how thankful I am to be here with you this
week and this weekend. how much I cherish your fellowship
and support how you stand firm by the grace of God for the gospel
of his free and sovereign grace in Christ. And that's why we're
here, to worship him and to honor him. And as one man said, that
preaching the gospel is just getting up bragging on Christ.
And that's what we're going to do today. Thankful to have our
brother Richard with us from Missouri thankful that he's going
to confess Christ in believers baptism this morning. And so
I want to talk to you a little bit about Christ intercession. The title of the message is Christ
intercedes for his people. Christ intercedes for his people. My main text will be verse 34
of Romans 8, but let's read verse 33 with it. Scripture says, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Now, you know, that charge there
is talking about the charge of sin. Being charged with sin. And so, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? The elect being God's elect in
Christ, chosen before the foundation of the world. And the reason
that no charge can be laid, or accusation in that sense, legal
accusation, and this is talking about in the court of God's justice
now. This is not talking about the
fact that we're all sinners. There's two types of people in
the world, sinners lost in their sins and sinners saved by the
grace of God. But he says in God's court, God
as judge, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
And he says, it's God that justified. Now, what does it mean to be
justified? It means to be declared by God not guilty. That's something, isn't it? Not
guilty. I don't know if you've ever been
falsely accused of a crime or anything like that and had to
come up before a judge, but if they have no proof of your guilt,
then they have to find you not guilty. And I'm sure if you've
ever been accused of a crime and done that, you'd love to
hear those words, not guilty, not guilty. But it also means
something on the other side of it, and that is to be justified
before God is not only to be not guilty, but it's also to
be righteous before him, to be declared, counted righteous before
God. Not only are you not guilty,
but in God's justifying work, It doesn't leave you neutral.
In other words, like on a, on some kind of a even plane now,
you know, God gets you up this far and you're not guilty, now
you've got to work out something in order to recommend yourself
unto God. It means, it means also that
you're righteous before God. He declares it so. And I guarantee
if God declares it so, it's true. Whatever God thinks, however
God sees things, all right? And so what he says, he says
now in verse 33, who shall anything to the charge of God's, it's
God that justifies in verse 34, who is he that condemneth. Now,
if you're not guilty and you're righteous before God, and I'll
emphasize this now, this is not talking about how we appear before
men. Now, our appearance is important. You know, the scripture says,
avoid the appearance of evil. I'm not saying our appearance
is unimportant, but I'm saying that this, the issue here is
how we appear before God, God who knows everything, God who
sees our hearts. So he says, who is he that condemneth?
Now, what is the basis or the ground of being declared not
guilty? What is the basis or ground of
being declared righteous before God? And here it is, look at
it. It is Christ that died. yea rather that is risen again
who is even at the right hand of God the right hand is the
right hand of power the right hand is the right hand of acceptance
in the courts of that day it is said in some of those courts
that when judgment was passed upon a criminal if they raised
the left hand it was guilty if they raised the right hand it
was not guilty So this is the right hand of acceptance. And
of course, in the scripture, the right hand of God is a symbol
for Jesus Christ himself. He is God's right hand. He's
the son of God incarnate. So it's Christ that died, yea
rather that is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. Now turn over to Hebrews
7. Hold your finger there at Romans
8. Turn over to Hebrews 7. Let me read just a couple of
passages here. You know in Hebrews he's talking
about Christ being the better high priest, the better sacrifice,
substitute, the better mediator. Everything's better. Better than
what? Better than the Old Covenant. The old covenant being the law
of Moses at Sinai that the nation Israel was under for 1,500 years. And that old covenant has been
abolished by way of fulfillment by Christ, who's better than
any of that. The blood of bulls and goats,
for example, could not take away sin. But the blood of Jesus Christ
takes away all the sins of his sheep, his church, his people,
God's elect. That's the idea. So here he's
talking about verse 22 of Hebrews 7, by so much was Jesus made
a surety of a better testament, better covenant. Christ is the
surety of the covenant. Now what does that mean? Well,
that means all the responsibility of the salvation of his people
was placed upon him, not upon them. Why did that old covenant
fail? as far as bringing the nation
Israel into favor with God. It really didn't fail in the
sense that God purposed it for a specific reason and it accomplished
that. But why did it fail to bring
the nation Israel into salvation, into favor with God? You know why it failed? Because
it was conditioned on men. And it's a grand testimony. That's
why the Old Testament, you know, people read it wrong. That's
why they don't understand. Because the Old Testament is
a grand revelation from God that any salvation or any blessedness
that is conditioned on men will fail. Even the best of men. Now why? Because we are sinners.
That's why when preachers preach a gospel of salvation conditioned
on you or on me, they're not helping you. I'm telling you,
they're not helping you read this Bible. If salvation, if
our salvation today is conditioned on us, then you would have to
read the Old Testament like this. Whenever it talked about the
promise of a better future. You'd have to read it like the
promise of a better future is the fact that in the future there's
gonna be a better class of people than what existed under the old
covenant. And that's not true. Paul said
that in Romans chapter three, verse nine, are we better than
they? He said, no, in no wise. We're not any better than them.
They're not any better than us. We're on the same boat, he said,
for all have sinned and come short. That's the best of us
and the worst of us. You see, by nature, man can see
how the worst of society deserves hell. But here's what we don't
know by nature, that the best of society deserves the same.
And that's what man by nature will not accept. Man at his best
state is altogether what? That means worthless. There's
none righteous, no not one. Do you believe, if you don't
believe that there's none righteous, just put out from that, as I
said, told you before, just put except me. There's none righteous,
no not one, except me. There's none that doeth good,
no not one, except, or put whoever's name you think should be in.
Let me tell you something, among man, by nature, fallen in Adam,
we will never measure up, no matter how improved we get, or
how reformed, or how religious we get. That's the state of all
men and women by nature. You know what that tells us?
It tells us that the only hope of salvation for any of us is
the sovereign grace and mercy of God. Now that's it. And that comes in Christ. But
Christ is the surety. I'm not the surety of the covenant.
I'm not the surety of my salvation. It's not based on my will. It's
not based on my faith. It's based on Christ and what
he did. And our faith is in Him. See,
we don't have faith in our faith, we have faith in Christ. It's not because I believed,
it's because He did the work. He put out the effort and accomplished
redemption. He fulfilled all righteousness.
He is my righteousness before God. He put away my sins. I heard a preacher up in Atlanta
on TV, he said, made a statement, he said, the cost of forgiveness
is repentance. Now that may sound good when
you first hear it, because we know sinners must come to repentance,
don't we? God says that, he's commanded
all men everywhere to repent, says Acts 17 30. But he said
the cost of forgiveness, but my friend, that's not right.
What was the cost of forgiveness? the blood of Jesus Christ. And
if you ever see that, you'll be brought to repentance. That's
it, isn't it? But you see, that's the subtleties
that come about. Well, Christ is the surety. All
right, now look at Hebrews 7, verse 23. It says, and they truly
were many priests. That's the old covenant priest,
the sons of Aaron, the Levitical priesthood. They were many. because
they were not suffered or allowed to continue by reason of death.
They died. That's why they had to have a
new high priest each, you know, every generation. You know, one
came along, he was the high priest, he died. He was human. And he
says in verse 24, but this man, now the word man is in italics.
If you have the KJV there, that means it wasn't in the original
manuscript, but it is, it is a, it's a, it's a pronoun that,
that refers to the person. That's what he's talking about.
And it could literally read, but this person, the one I'm
talking about, the writer's saying here, because he continueth ever. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about Christ. Well, didn't he die? Yes, but he didn't stay
dead. He arose again and he continues
ever. Now this is the key to what I'm
talking about today. He continues ever and he hath
an unchangeable priesthood. Christ, that priesthood of Aaron
changed. In fact, Hebrews chapter nine
speaks of the time of reformation. That's the time of change. You
know what that time is? That's when Christ came and abolished
that priesthood and established his own on earth. So that priesthood,
an unchangeable priesthood, verse 25, wherefore, for this reason,
he, Christ, is able to save them to the uttermost, not just partially. Now one of the things, let me
tell you something about preaching a gospel, which I call a false
gospel, of salvation. by grace but salvation maintained
by works. And that's what people do when
they preach you can be saved one day and lost the next. That's
what they're doing. They're saying salvation is by
grace initially, but it's maintained by works. To say that is a denial
of what he's saying here. He saves to the uttermost. You
know what that word uttermost means? Forever. Means evermore. There's no part
salvation. There's no temporary salvation
here. The old covenant couldn't do that. The blood of bulls and
goats couldn't do it. The human priesthood couldn't
do it. But Jesus Christ did it. And when he saves, he saves forever
and ever. Now I know all the objections
that come along, and I'll tell you about those objections. They
come because people do not understand salvation. They think about it
as something in the past that happened to me when I was maybe
12, 13, 14, when I, in some revival meeting, made a decision. That's
not salvation in the Bible now. And I know that offends a lot
of people, and I don't mean to offend, but that's what the book
says. That's not in the scripture. Salvation is a lifetime of God's
grace in the life of a sinner saved by grace. And so he says
he saves to the uttermost them that come unto God by him who
come to God by Jesus Christ, seeing, now here's the foundation
and the power of it now. Now, how do I know I'm going
to live, if I'm saved by the grace of God, based on the blood
and righteousness of Christ, that I'm going to be saved forever?
Right here, look at it. Seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. That's how I know. because he
ever lives to intercede for me." Now, what is this intercession?
Well, it's his work as a mediator. 1 Timothy 2, 5, there's one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Intercession, to intercede, means that Jesus Christ stands in my
place before God. that he represents me before
God and I don't represent myself. I don't stand for myself. I hear
a lot of people talking about judgment. When I stand before
God, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna say, you're not gonna say
anything. Those who die without Christ
and stand at the judgment without Christ, what does the Bible say?
Every mouth may be what? Stopped, shut. and all the world. And those who stand in Christ,
they don't have to say anything. He'll do all the talking for
you. That's what it's all about. He'll
intercede for you even at judgment. If you're in Christ today, He's
interceding for you even now, right now. We're worshiping God. He's interceding for us. He's
standing in our place. He's representing us. He's pleading
our cause. Our case, we don't have to plead
it ourselves. Thank God we don't have to plead
it ourselves. Because we'd mess it up. That's
right. I guarantee you, I'd say the
wrong thing. How about you? That's what his intercessory
work is all about. And it's the fulfillment of his
priestly office. That's why I read the passage
in, over here, look back at Romans 8. Look at it again. Verse 33, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who's
he that condemneth? God's people cannot be condemned. Why? Well, look over at verse
one of that chapter, Romans 8. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Jesus Christ. Condemnation's gone. Why? Because you Are such a good person? No. Because you joined the church? No. Because you got baptized?
No. Because you made a decision? No. Because he died. He died. And that was in fulfillment
of his priestly office. He's our great high priest. We
read that a while ago in Hebrews 4. So who is he that condemneth?
It's Christ that died. There's the issue. That's why
I cannot be condemned. Because Christ died for my sins.
That's why this issue. atonement is so important. Who
did he die for? He died for all who are not condemned. He died for his sheep. He says, yea rather he's risen
again. What does that mean? That means he ever liveth. He's
not a dead martyr. He's not a Listen, Jesus Christ
is the greatest example of holy living, but he's not just an
example, he's a redeemer. He paid the debt. My debt, that
debt that I've been running up to God's justice because of my
sin, it was laid to his charge. That's what assurity does. Assurity
says, I'll pay the debt. And he paid the debt. What was
the price? His blood. And he did it. And he's at the right hand of
God. He's there as the representative
and substitute of his people. And he's accepted because of
the work he did. And all whom he represents before
God are accepted because of the work he did. It's not because
of the work you do. I've said it this way. I've been preaching this gospel
for over 30 years now. I mean, I think Mark mentioned
last night, you know, how many, like 28 just in here, hadn't
it? But one message, or all those
messages that I preached altogether, none of them make me righteous
before God. None of them give me acceptance
before God. My only righteousness, my only
acceptance before God is in Christ, my intercessor. That's what I'm
saying. Aren't you glad that you preach
the gospel? Yes, I'm glad. I'm thankful to the glory of
God. It's by his power and his goodness
and his grace, but that is not my righteousness before God.
Christ is. God forbid that I should glory
save in what? The cross. That's the death of
Christ. The cross work of Christ. Turn
to Isaiah 53. The Old Testament. You know,
this is the passage of the prophecy of the suffering servant, the
suffering Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ's priestly office as our
intercessor consists of two parts. Number one, the offering up of
himself as a sacrifice for the sins of God's elect. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Now listen to it
as it's related right here in verse 12. This is all based upon
the death of Christ. You know that. He was bruised
for our iniquities. He wounded for our transgressions,
all right? And it says, because he accomplished
the work in verse 12 of Isaiah 53, therefore will I divide him
a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with
the strong. That's a symbolic way of saying
he's going to save his people from their sins. And because
he, and why? What is all this based on? It's
because he poured out his soul unto death. You see that? It's
not because, listen, Will God's people believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Yes, but that is not the ground
of their salvation. That's not the cause of it. That's
not the source of it. That's the fruit of it. And all
this greatness is going to be, this spoil that he says, that's
because he's the conquering, suffering serf, is going to be
given to them. Why? Because he hath poured out
his soul unto death. That's why. There's the source
of it. There's the ground of it. There's the cause of it.
There's the merit of it. In other words, that's what earns
it for us. What Christ did. He earned it.
He earned it all. You say, well, how much of it
did he earn? Well, Ephesians 1.3 says we're blessed with all
spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All of
it. All right, read on. It says,
and he was numbered with the transgressors. That word numbered
means he identified with his people in their sins. Not in that he became a sinner.
He did not become a sinner. Not in that he was made a sinner.
He was never made a sinner. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians
5.21, he was made sin. What does that mean? That means
that all the debt of all the sins of all his people was charged
to him, imputed, accounted to him. Just like, oh, you remember
the book of Philemon? Paul wrote to Philemon about
Onesimus, the runaway slave who had robbed him and run away.
And then God, by his providence, brought Onesimus to Paul at Rome,
and Paul preached the gospel to him, and God saved that old
robber. And he wrote back to Philemon
telling him about it and how thankful Philemon ought to be
that God brought one of his sheep into the fold. And he made this
statement to Philemon. He said, Philemon, if he owes
anything to you, put it on my account. That's a picture. That's a symbol. That's a symbolic
way of showing us how Christ looked upon the Father and his
people, his elect, and said, Father, if they owe anything
to you, put it on my account. I'll pay for it. That's what
he did. He was numbered with the transgressor.
He didn't become a transgressor. He wasn't made a transgressor,
but he was numbered with us. And then it says, and he bear
the sin of many. How many? I don't know. I don't
know. And I'm not in the counting business.
That's why we don't have one of those plaques up here. But
I know it's as many as the Lord purposed to save. It's what the
scripture says. And look at the last line there,
and made intercession for the transgressors. He made intercession. That's talking about his cross
work. That's talking about the righteousness
that he established on the cross for his people in putting away
our sins. So that's the first part of his
priestly office. He interceded at the cross. as
our substitute, our surety, having been made sin so that we might
be made or become the righteousness of God in Him. Redemption accomplished. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. other ground is sinking Santa
here's the second thing about his priestly office in line with
intercession he continues forever making continual intercession
for all whom he redeemed at the cross I mean right now now go
back to Romans 8 that's what he's saying here verse 34 who
is he that condemneth It's Christ that died, yea, rather than is
risen again. See, it's all based upon his
death, burial, and resurrection, not just the historical fact
of it now, but what he accomplished, putting away sin, establishing
righteousness to enable God to be just and justify the ungodly. And then he's at the right hand
of God as our intercessor, who also make an intercession for
us. He's at the right hand of God for his people. Ephesians 1, I think it's verse
6, says we're accepted in the beloved. He makes continual intercession
for us when we sin. And we sin all the time. He does
it. Why? He died for our sins. He
put them away. But why is it that we can never
be charged with our sins? Because they were charged to
him and he died for them, he put them away, he satisfied the
debt, and he makes continual intercession as our representative
before the throne of God. Look over at 1 John 2. Verse one. He says, my little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. Now that should
be our goal. As a believer in Christ, you
know, a person who says, well, I'm saved by grace, therefore
I can go out and sin all I want to. That's not, they're not,
listen, that's a lie. That's a sham religion. That's,
that's false faith. James says that. James 2. Because
where the grace of God saves a sinner, it also empowers a
sinner by the Holy Spirit's presence and in the new birth to desire
to be like Christ. It's there. You can't get rid
of it if you're a saved person. It's there, it's with you, it'll
be with you throughout. It's never realized in its goal
in perfection because we have the flesh, the warfare of the
flesh and the spirit. Paul wrote about it in Romans
7. The flesh, that sinful desire within me that's still present
within me, that selfishness, still contaminates everything
I think, say, and do. So that I can never come before
God on my own. It must be through Christ. So
my goal is to sin none, and he says, and if any man sin. Now,
the way that English translates this leads a lot of people to
believe that, well, that means, well, if you sin, you need him,
but if you don't, you don't need him. No. The if there is because. It's really, it's kind of like
this, and because we sin, which we do, we have an advocate with
the Father. We have one who intercedes for
us, Jesus Christ the righteous. In other words, I don't have
any righteousness in me, but I am righteous in him. Legally
before God, I stand in Christ. He's my representative. He's
my substitute. He's my sin-bearer. He's my offering,
sin offering. He's my lamb. The Lamb of God. And in Him, no charge can be
brought against me. I'm sinless in Christ. Not in
myself now. Not in my thoughts and my desires
and all that. I have a warfare going. Listen,
if you were sinlessly perfect in yourself, you wouldn't have
the warfare. Wouldn't have to fight it at all. Wouldn't be
there. We won't be like that until we
go to be with him in glory. But right now there's a battle
raging within every one of us who are saved. Warfare of the
flesh and the spirit. And it keeps us from being sinlessly
perfect in our thoughts, in our desires, and in our goals. But
why is it that we cannot be lost again or condemned again or guilty
again before God? Because we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, verse two, and he
is the propitiation. What does that mean? Propitiation
means a satisfaction based upon the death of a suitable substitute. God's been satisfied. And he's
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Now, the whole world there doesn't mean everybody without exception.
In fact, I challenge you, if that offends you, or if that
upsets you, and I know what we've heard all of our lives, I challenge
you, go into the New Testament, and you show me anywhere where
the world used in context like that means everybody without
exception at any time. It doesn't. I'll give you an
example just off the top of my head. It's 1 John 5, I think
it's verse 21, where he says, we are of God and the whole world
lieth in the wicked one. Now he's making a distinction
there between two classes of people. Those who are of God,
sinners saved by grace, and the whole world lying in Satan, the
wicked one. What he's saying there is that
Christ didn't die just for the Jews. But God has a people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation all over this world.
Who are they? They are all who come to faith
in Christ. That's who they are. And he says
he's the propitiation. Now if Christ is the propitiation
for your sins, there is no way you can be condemned. If he intercedes
for you before the throne of God in heaven, you cannot be
condemned. Because God accepts him. and
accepts his people in him. Then one more, turn over to, turn over to Revelation 12. Let
me show you this. He intercedes for us when we
sin. Satan is the accuser of the brethren,
you know that. He brings accusations. And look
at verse nine. Revelation 12 9 he says and the
great dragon was cast out. That's Satan He's talking about
the death of Christ here. That's what read John 12 I won't
go in all this because I don't have time this morning Read John
12 where Christ said the prince of this world cometh and he's
going to be cast out cast down Well, he's talking about the
great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil
and Satan which deceiveth the whole world now now let me ask
you something are God's people deceived and the answer is no
now we start out deceived and There's the whole world there,
isn't it? Does he mean everybody with access? Well, John here,
the revelator, he wasn't deceived. You see what I'm saying? What's
he talking about is those who are connected to the world. This
world system which is opposed to God. That's how we're born,
but God saves his people out of the world. Remember Christ
prayed that in John 17. They're in the world, we live
here, but we're not of the world. So the world here means the world
in opposition to Christ. But he says, Satan deceives the
whole world. And he was cast down into the
earth and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength in
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night. Verse 11, now read this. If you
don't have this underscored, then your Bible underscored.
And they overcame him. How? By the blood of the Lamb. See that? And by the word of
their testimony, well what, the blood of the Lamb, that's the
blood of Christ. What's the word of our testimony? We preach Christ. We believe in Him. We rest in
Him. He is our Savior. He's our Redeemer. He's our intercessor. He's our righteousness. As long
as we plead the blood of the Lamb, Satan's accusations will
not hit their mark. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? You see that? You want to turn
back Satan? Don't go get you a cross. Don't
get any holy water. And don't start chanting. Just
plead the blood. That's enough to put him down.
His accusations cannot stick. And he says, and they loved not
their lives unto death. He makes continual intercession
for all the redeemed. And then lastly, he makes continual
intercession for us when we pray, when we serve God, when we worship,
and even in our obedience. Here's the issue. The gospel has been under attack
in every generation. It's either under attack by open
denials or neglect or confusion. Some way or another, it's always
gonna be under attack because the Lord has set Satan loose
to do that. I was reading an article last
week that really disturbed me from a bulletin in church, a
man that you'd think would preach the gospel, and what the article
basically said was that when a believer obeys God or does
any good work, or does any service to God. And we're to be active
in all of that. We're to be praying. God's people
are to be a praying people. And our prayers won't save us,
but God to whom we pray saves us. But we're to pray to Him,
in honor of Him, worship Him, out of love for Him, out of gratitude,
with the desire to be connected with Him. We're to be obedient
people. We're to serve God. We're to
fight sin. We're never to be neglectful
or lackadaisical towards sin in our lives. We're to be at
war against sin. We're to be servants of the Most
High. Not in order to be saved, but
because we already are. Not in order to be made righteous,
because we already are in Christ. You see what I'm saying? Now,
does God accept our prayers? Does God accept our service?
Does God accept our obedience? Does he receive it well unto
himself? And the answer is yes. Now, here's
the question. Up on what ground does he accept
us, receive us, and all those things? Well, this article said
that he receives it and accepts it and counts it holy because
of our new heart, our honest, sincere new hearts. Not sober. Do we have honest, sincere new
hearts when we're born again? Yes. But that's not the way,
that's not the reason God accepts my prayer. That's not the reason
God accepts what I'm doing right here today. You know why he accepts
it? Because I have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. You see, both our
persons and our obedience have to be cleansed by the blood of
Christ. It's not that Christ makes up where my works fall
short. My works never even come close
to the righteousness and holiness God requires. Christ is all in
everything. He's all and in all, the scripture
says. Our works have to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. Our worship
has to be presented before God through the blood and the righteousness
of Christ. Paul wrote in Romans chapter 12 verse 1, he said,
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove, that is, you may be living proof of that
which is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And
what does that mean? What's it take to make our obedience,
our service, our worship accepted with God? Well, it takes the
same thing that it takes to put away our sins and to make us
righteous before God. It takes the continual, powerful,
beautiful intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ presenting
us and all that we do for the glory of God unto the Lord, not
in our sincerity. Should we be sincere? Yes. But
that's not what makes my work acceptable for God. It's Him. It's His blood. Good works are
the fruits of becoming God's children by faith in Christ and
His work done solely outside of us. That's how he is our intercessor
and our mediator and our advocate with the Father. He mediates
for his people to make our obedience and our service and our worship
and our prayers accepted with the Father. He is our intercessor. Now that was pictured back in
the Old Testament in the tabernacle. The altar of incense. That altar. That smoke going up before God. The prayers of his people. And
that also pictured the merits of Christ's intercession, his
perfect righteousness imputed, charged to his people, which
alone makes our prayers acceptable. A sweet-smelling savor, it says,
unto God. And we have to understand that
clearly. We who are saved, listen, if you're saved, you have a new
heart, new mind, new motives. And from that proceeds the obedience
of grace and glory. God accepts those, not because
they're perfect in themselves, they're not, but because they're
in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness,
accepted in the Bible.