The following message was delivered
on Sunday evening, November 13, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist
Church in Montville, New Jersey. Many of you, I'm sure, are familiar
with those words in Hebrews 13, 7, which the writer to the Hebrews
says to the Hebrew Christians Remember them that had the rule
over you, men that spoke unto you the word of God." And in
commenting on this particular verse, particularly the phrase,
men who spoke unto you the word of God, John Brown, a godly and
eminently useful servant of Christ from another generation wrote,
But in truth, it is only in the degree in which we speak the
word of God, in which we clearly exhibit its meaning and evidence,
in which we bring man's mind into contact with God's mind,
that we discharge our duty to our Master or promote the real
spiritual improvement of our hearers. To have made a single
doctrinal statement of Scripture better understood and more firmly
believed, to have made a man in his conscience feel more strongly
the obligation of a single biblical or moral duty, is in reality
doing more solid good than sending away an audience delighted and
astonished with the ingenuity of the preacher's speculations,
the force of his reasoning, the splendor of his imagery, and
the resistless force of his eloquence. To speak the Word of God is the
grand duty of the Christian teacher. Such are the persons in reference
to whom the Apostle enjoins a variety of duties, the deceased pastors
of the Hebrew church, men who had ruled them and had spoken
the word of God to them. And it is crucial from time to
time to remind you as a congregation of the truth so perceptively
stated by John Brown. to make a single doctrinal statement
better understood or more firmly believed. to have made a man
in his conscience feel more strongly the obligation of a single religious
or moral duty is doing more solid good than sending away an audience
delighted and astonished with the ingenuity of the preacher's
speculations, the force of his reasoning, the splendor of his
imagery, and the resistless force of His eloquence to speak the
Word of God is the grand duty of the Christian teacher. And
I urge you as a people to continually evaluate everything that comes
to you over this pulpit or in any setting where there is supposedly
a ministry of the Word. Ask yourself, What doctrinal
statement of Scripture do I understand more clearly and believe more
firmly because I heard that preacher? What duty, what privilege is
more powerfully impressed upon my mind from the Word of God? And why do I emphasize that and
periodically bring it to the floor? For the simple reason
that many a congregation has ultimately turned aside from
a ministry of the Scriptures not overnight. But when they
began to be more fascinated with how the preacher spoke than with
what he spoke, more concerned with the manner of his speaking
than the matter and the substance of his speaking, it was only
a matter of time before they tolerated and even encouraged
the speaking of things that were contrary to the Word of God. And what I have been attempting
to do this Lord's Day is to take one fundamental, central, biblical
truth and to help you as a congregation to understand it more clearly. to believe it more firmly, to
feel the impress of it upon your internal consciousness as those
who are on that narrow road that leads unto life. And the subject
that has engaged our mind is that of the intercessory work
of our Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of God the Father. For the few of you that I see
here tonight who, to my knowledge, were not with us this morning,
just a word of explanation and review is in order. I am presently
bringing a brief series of texts of encouragement to tried and
tested saints of God, having come through a period of intense
self-examination in which we examined a number of scriptures
which are calculated to expose shallow, sham, and false professions
of the Christian faith, and to identify the distinctives of
genuine saving faith, It was my judgment that in the interest
of pastoral balance, a few sermons on pivotal texts, which could
be, in the blessing of God, handles it as it were, that the saints
of God could lay hold upon in prayer and in their Christian
experience, would be used of the Lord for our stability and
our ongoing nerve in seeking to live the Christian life. And
in the course of laying out such text, we came to Hebrews 7 and
verse 25, a text which affirms that our Lord Jesus Christ is
able to save those who come unto God by Him to the uttermost,
that is, to the very consummation of redemptive design and purpose,
because He ever lives to make intercession for them. And after
opening up that text last Lord's Day morning, we then return to
the subject of the intercession of Christ in our study of the
scriptures this morning, at which time we address but one question. And the question was, what is
the place or the posture from which our Lord Jesus carries
on this ministry of priestly intercession? And we saw from
the scriptures, four texts in the book of Hebrews and Romans
8 and verse 34, that he carries it on at the right hand of God,
at the right hand of the majesty on high. And from Hebrews 9 and
verse 24, he carries on that work of intercession before the
face of God. And we saw that the significance
of these descriptions of the place of his intercession point,
on the one hand, to his position of exaltation and power and on
the other to his position of favor and acceptance and in that
position he ever lives to make intercession for us. Now tonight
we take up a second concern with respect to this ongoing intercessory
work of the Lord Jesus And it is this, having considered the
place of His intercession, now we address the matter of the
ground or the foundation of His intercession. On what basis does
the glorified, exalted Lord, before the face of God, carry
on this work of intercession? And I answer, the intercession
of Christ is based upon the once for all sacrifice of Christ. In other words, his oblation
upon the cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem lies at the
foundation of his intercession at the right hand of the Father
in the face of God. What he did once for all upon
the cross determines what he does by his constant intercession
in heaven. In other words, his sacrifice
and his intercession are two inseparable facets of his high
priestly work. Now, his high priestly work is
not to be understood as limited to intercession, but it is his
intercessory work at the right hand of the Father that is the
focus of our concern. And when we ask the question,
what is the ground or the foundation of that present work of intercession,
the answer of Scripture is that His intercession is based upon
His once-for-all sacrifice. What's the biblical proof of
this? Well, I want to lay before you four lines of biblical evidence
and then consider the question, what is the significance of this
fact? Why even bother to exercise our
minds with respect to it? First of all, then, the biblical
proof of this assertion that the intercession is based upon
the once-for-all sacrifice. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
7. Hebrews chapter 7. Read the text with which this
study began, verse 25. Wherefore, also, he is able to
save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him,
seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. For, you see, there is a connection
with the next direction of thought. For, such a high priest became
us, holy. guileless, undefiled, separated
from sinners and made higher than the heavens, who does not
need daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices first
for his own sins and then for the sins of the people, for this
he did once for all when he offered up himself Having asserted that our Lord
Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those that draw near
unto God through Him because He ever lives to make intercession
for them, the writer to the Hebrews says He did this In his function
as a high priest, a high priest who became us, was perfectly
suited to us in our need, holy, guileless, undefiled, one who
did not need to make repeated sacrifices, but made a once-for-all
sacrifice when he offered up himself. And you see that in
the context, the intercession which is subsequent in time to
the once-for-all sacrifice is inextricably bound up with that
sacrifice. It is on the basis of what he
accomplished in offering up himself once for all that he carries
on his continuous work of intercession. As our High Priest, his intercession
and his offering up of himself are inseparably joined in that
action of the High Priest. Then to Romans chapter 8 and
verse 34. Having thrown out the question,
who is he that condemns? The apostle answers, it is Christ
Jesus that died. yea, rather, that was raised
from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes
intercession for us. So with respect to the question
leading in to this statement of the four aspects of redemptive
work of Christ, who shall condemn? And with respect to the question
that follows it, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? In
between is the assertion of these four acts of Jesus Christ. He died. He was raised. He is at the right hand of God,
who also makes intercession for us. And we see that within the
framework of these actions of the Lord Jesus, that there is
an intimate connection between the intercession for us and the
death that He died in our room and in our stead. And likewise
in the Hebrews 9 passage, where the terminology intercession
is not used, But where we consulted this text this morning in answering
the question with respect to the place of His intercession,
you will see the intimate connection again in Christ's priestly work
between what He presently does before the face of God and what
he did once for all in offering up himself a sacrifice to God. Verse 24, For Christ entered
not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face
of God for us. nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
year by year with blood not his own, else must he often have
suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once at
the end of the ages has he been manifested to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed
unto man once to die, and after this cometh judgment, so Christ
also having been once offered to bear the sins of many shall
appear a second time apart from sin to them that wait for him
unto salvation." You see again, the writer to the Hebrews brings
into the closest conjunction Christ appearing before the face
of God for us and Christ having been manifested to offer a once-for-all
sacrifice on our behalf. And unless there is some compelling
reason to bring these two realities into totally insulated categories,
the oblation upon earth, the once-for-all sacrifice, and the
ongoing perpetual intercession for heaven, being brought together
as they are in these contexts in conjunction with Christ's
function as a high priest. We should expect that indeed
the whole perspective and the direction and the basis and the
virtue of his intercession derives from his sacrifice, his oblation,
his once for all offering of himself unto God. Then we add
to these texts, Hebrews 7, Romans 8, Hebrews 9, the fourth line
of biblical argument, the Old Testament typology. As you've
often been reminded, the types and shadows of the Old Testament
were just that. God, who saw before his face
the realities of redemption in the person and work of Christ,
cast, as it were, the light of His own countenance over those
realities, and the shadows that were cast shaped and formed the
Old Testament rituals that were types and foreshadowing of those
realities. The realities were not the Aaronic
priesthood, the Levitical priesthood. The realities were not the blood
of bulls and goats. The realities were not the veil
and the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat and the cherubim.
No, those were shadows of the substantial realities of Christ
and His redemption. And when we see in Old Testament
rituals that which points to Christ, it is often helpful in
validating, illustrating, and confirming what we have discovered
in the clear witness of the New Testament. And if we turn to
a passage such as Leviticus chapter 16, and see the account of the
directives that God gave for that most solemn of all days
in the ritual worship of Israel, the annual day of atonement.
We see this inseparable relationship between priestly offering and
priestly intercession, particularly verses 11 through 14. Leviticus 16 and verse 11, And
Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin offering which is
for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house,
and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for
himself. And he shall take a censer full
of coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his
hands full of sweet incense, beaten small, and bring it within
the veil. And he shall put the incense
upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense
may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he
die not. And he shall take of the blood
of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy
seat on the east, and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle
of the blood with his finger seven times. Now we have read
in Hebrews that Christ did not need any offerings for himself. And in that sense, we find Aaron's
ritual has no direct application to our Lord Jesus, but in terms
of the principle that the oblation, the sacrifice, formed the basis
and the preview for the intercession. It was what transpired at the
altar that shaped the activity behind the veil in that more
immediate presence of God before the ark of the covenant and the
mercy seat. The intercession was based upon
the oblation and the sacrifice. had no blood been shed that could
have been taken within the veil, no intercession could have been
made with that blood and with the incense that was brought
up into the presence of our God. And so when we assert that the
intercession of Christ is based upon the once-for-all sacrifice
of Christ, we not only have these texts which show them in the
closest relationship, but we also have the confirmation of
the Old Testament typology. Now then, the question is raised
so what? What is the significance of this
fact? The significance of the fact
that the once for all death of Christ is the foundation of the
ongoing perpetual intercession of Christ? Well, let me answer
that it has at least a threefold significance. First, with respect
to our Lord's work and office as a high priest, It demonstrates
that the sacrifice and the intercession are essential for our completed
salvation. With respect to our Lord's work
and office as a high priest, it demonstrates that the sacrifice
and the intercession are essential for our salvation. Again, as
you have been told on at least a number of occasions in this
place, there are no extras in God's salvation. Everything which
our state and condition as sinners demanded, if we were to be righteously
saved and thoroughly saved, God in the design of His salvation
has fully provided in the person and work of the Redeemer and
in the granting of the Holy Spirit. And in Hebrews 7 and verse 25,
we are told in no uncertain terms that Christ's ability to save
us to the uttermost, to the completion of God's saving desire, Christ's
ability to save us with a salvation that brings us all the way to
heaven made into His own likeness is as much dependent upon His
intercession as it is upon His sacrifice. He is able to save
to the uttermost, not seeing He died a death which fully satisfied
all the demands of justice. That is true, but that's not
what the writer to Hebrews tells us. It tells us He is able to
save to the uttermost, seeing He ever lives to make intercession. And the teaching and its implications
are clear. Without the intercession of Christ,
we would not be saved to the uttermost. And to come to that
conviction, that as surely as I would be lost, hopeless, undone,
doomed, and damned, did Christ not die? That conviction must
be joined by a biblically-based, intelligent conviction of faith. I would be lost and damned if
Christ, by His intercession, did not secure for me everything
He died to procure for me by His death upon the cross. Do you find at least a veiled
reference to this in the language of Romans chapter 5? Romans chapter
5 and verse 10, 9 and 10, much more than being
now justified by his blood, A reference to the fruit of His willingness
to die the just for the unjust while we were yet sinners, Christ
dying for us. Verse 8, much more than being
now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath
of God through Him. For if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by or in His life. And what is His life, according
to Hebrews 7.25? He ever lives to make intercession. for us. And as surely as his
bloodletting there, outside the city walls of Jerusalem, was
absolutely essential for the fulfillment of his priestly function
as God's appointed and final priest, both offerer and offering,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot
unto God, Hebrews 9.14, So it is by His life, His ever-living,
to make intercession for us that our full and complete salvation
is secure. While I am not saying that we
will not be fully and completely saved if we do not understand
nor have heard of the place of his intercession in our salvation,
I am not saying that a knowledge and an understanding of his work
as an intercessor is essential to our participation in the salvation
he died to procure. What I'm saying is that from
God's perspective of His own revealed saving work, the sacrifice
and the intercession are essential for our salvation. And the works
of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure
therein. And the more we understand the
extent to which God has been willing to go righteously to
secure our salvation, to save us with a certain and indefectible
salvation, then surely the more we have an enlightened faith,
we will have an inflamed love to the Savior, and we will have
a well-grounded confidence yea, I to the end shall endure, as
sure as the earnest is given, more happy, but not more secure,
the glorified spirits in heaven." With respect to our Lord's work
and office, as a high priest, it demonstrates that the sacrifice
and the intercession are essential for our salvation. You see the implications of this
for your devotional life? Surely every true Christian finds
himself instinctively saying, Lord Jesus, thank you for your
willingness to die for me. Thank you for your willingness
to come by way of Mary's womb and take to yourself a true human
soul and body. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being
willing in the language of Philippians 2 not to think it robbery to
remain equal, to be equal with God, but emptying yourself, taking
the form of a servant. Thank you for being willing.
to be found in fashion as a man and to humble yourself and become
obedient of the death, even the death of the cross. Thank you,
Lord Jesus, for your willingness, you who knew no sin, to become
sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your
willingness. to go through the agony of Gethsemane,
to embrace the will of the Father, and to pray, not Thy will be
done upon me, but Thy will be done by me, even though that
will meant treading the winepress alone. How long has it been since you
said, Thank you, Lord Jesus, for ever living, to intercede
Thank you, Lord Jesus, that while you could legitimately bask in
the luxury of being the adoring wonder of all of the host of
the beings in heaven, you live with a concentration of energy,
of soul, for the task of interceding for the likes of me. You ever
live to make intercession for us. You appear before the face
of your Father, well beloved and accepted, but there you appear
for us. That's what Wesley was trying
to express when he says, there for me the Savior stands, shows
his wounds and spreads his hands. He was trying to capture that
thought. He ever lives to make intercession. Therefore, our attachment to
Christ in intelligent faith and in loving devotion should be
enriched by our knowledge that as surely as his sacrifice is
essential to our salvation, so is the intercession that is based
upon that sacrifice. The second aspect of the significance
of all of this is this. With respect to our participation
in the saving work of Christ, it demonstrates that the intercession
secures for us in our experience all that was procured in the
sacrifice. Not only are they joined as essential
for our salvation, But in our actual participation in the saving
work of Christ, it is the intercession of Christ that secures for us,
in our experience, all that was procured by His sacrifice. In a masterful treatment of the
high priestly activity of Christ, originally delivered in London
a number of years ago as the Campbell Morgan Lecture It appeared
in print and now is found in the collected writings of Professor
Murray, Volume 1, an essay entitled, The Heavenly Priestly Activity
of Christ. Listen to these perceptive words
of the late Professor Murray. In Hebrews 7, 24, and 25, the
thought is clearly to the effect that Christ is able to say, to
the uttermost, he has an unchangeable priesthood and ever lives to
make intercession. But because he abides forever,
he has the priesthood unchangeable, wherefore he is able to save
to the uttermost them that draw nigh to God through him, seeing
he ever lives to make intercession for them. The intercession is
mentioned more specifically as that which ensures salvation
to the uttermost. The idea of saving to the uttermost
is very inclusive and implies salvation to the full extent,
salvation complete and perfect. The inference is inescapable. that the intercession of Christ
brings within its scope all that is necessary to salvation in
the fullest extent of its consummated perfection. That is to say, the
intercession covers the whole range of what is necessary to
and what is realized in a completed salvation. The intercession of
Christ is interposed to meet every need of the believer. Now listen to the concluding
words of the paragraph. No grace bestowed, no blessing
enjoyed, no benefit received can be removed from the scope
of the intercession. And the intercession is the guarantee
that every critical need will be met by its efficacy. The security of salvation is
bound up with his intercession. And outside of his intercession,
we must say that there is no salvation. Outside of his intercession.
There is no salvation. I go back to the Romans 8, 34
passage with you. Notice on the one hand there
is the irreversible vindication of the people of God questioned
at the beginning of verse 34. Who is he that condemns? This is a question of the vindication
of the people of God. Verse 35, the question has to
do with who shall separate us from the love of Christ. That's
the security of the people of God, and between the certain
vindication and the absolute security stands the death, the
resurrection, the session, and the intercession of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it is by that intercession
that he brings into the realm of the experience of every true
child of God that which is essential to his salvation. Not a grace received, not a blessing
experienced is the language Professor Murray has used. no benefit received,
no blessing enjoyed that can be removed from the scope of
the intercession. And when we come, God willing,
to deal more particularly with what Scripture reveals of the
specifics of His intercession, I trust to demonstrate from the
Word of God, using the few clear examples that are given to us,
the great principle that in the outworking of an indefectible
and sure salvation, God does not operate like some pre-programmed
celestial computer. that has programmed into it the
names of all of His elect, and the certain, indefectible salvation
of all of His own. And somehow God just, as it were,
pushes buttons in His own computerized purposes, and they fall out to
the keeping of His own. In the totality of our salvation,
there is a personal engagement of the entire triune Godhead. No little part of that personal
engagement is Christ ever living to intercede for us, to, as it
were, by His intercession, to secure according to our need
every dimension of grace and blessing which we need to make
it to the uttermost. to be brought home at last into
the presence of our Father, totally conformed to the image of His
Son, in the language again of Romans 8, glorified, conformed
to the likeness of the Lord Jesus. And where that means along the
way we must confess our sin, There the intercession of Christ
is likened in 1 John 2 to an advocacy of any man's sin. We have an advocate with the
Father. The sin of a believer is not
overlooked by God. It is no less heinous in the
sight of God than the sin of an unbeliever. All sin cries
for judgment. The difference is we have an
intercessor who, as an advocate, There embodies in the presence
of God all the virtue of the death that He died upon this
earth once for all. And by His representative place
there at the right hand of the Father, He secures our ongoing
forgiveness that those sins do not bring down upon us the wrath
of God. Who is He that condemneth? Christ
is at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. When there is weakness and when
there is vulnerability to temptation, Satan has desired you to sit
you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. I have prayed for you,
when you turn, strengthen your brethren. That was clearly from
the lips of Christ an indication that Peter's restoration was
the fruit of his intercession. And by arguing from analogy,
surely when we find ourselves at times spiritually dull and
listless and prayerless and insensitive, what is it? We find our hearts
turned afresh to God. The Lord brings a brother or
sister into our path, who by his or her example, or by his
or her words, by his or her recommendation of a book, a tract, by this influence
or that, we find ourselves sharply or gently reproved or rebuked
drawn back into the way of spiritual vigor and vitality. What is this? You say, well that's, God used
the means of my brother's influence, my sister's influence. Ah, but
what lay behind that? The intercession of the Lord
Jesus. there at the Father's right hand,
securing for the experience of all of His people that which
He purchased for them in His once-for-all sacrifice upon the
cross. And if indeed the foundation
of His intercession is His once-for-all sacrifice, we not only that the
sacrifice and the intercession are essential for our salvation,
that the intercession secures in our experience all that was
procured in his sacrifice. But with respect to the extent
and the efficacy of the atonement, it demonstrates the fact that
Christ's death was what some people call a limited atonement. Some of us don't like that terminology,
because immediately the concept of limited carries with it the
connotation of some deficiency. The man's limited in his knowledge. He's limited in his strength
or his ability. He's limited in this or that. And we would rather use the term
Christ's death was an efficacious atonement. It was an atonement
that actually secured the salvation of those for whom it was made. And in John chapter 17, that
our Lord Jesus was conscious that he had a particular people
in his heart, for whom he was about to lay down his life. This
comes out very clearly in what has commonly been called our
Lord's high priestly prayer, a prayer that at least gives
us in broad strokes some of the things that may well constitute
the substance of our Lord's intercession at the right hand of the Father.
But having described those for whom he prays in this particular
prayer, seven times he uses the designation, he prays for those
who were given to him. Let's take a pencil sometime
and go through as I did in preparation for a conference recently when
I was assigned to go through this prayer and to preach on
who for whom Christ is praying in this prayer. I found no fewer
than seven times he refers to the objects of his prayer as
those who were given to him by the Father. Four times they are
described as those who are not of the world. They have been
given to Him out of the world. They are a people distinct from
the mass of humanity in general. And with respect to those, his
own, his elect, those given to him by the Father, notice what
he says in verse 19 in this prayer, John 17, and for their sakes, For their sakes, for the sake
of those whom you have given to me, for the sake of those
who are not of the world but have been given to me out of
the world, for their sakes I sanctify myself. I set myself apart unto
you, my Father, for the remaining acts of redemptive work that
are mine to accomplish. There is the crucifixion before
me. There is the resurrection and
the session and the ever-living work of intercession, and for
the sake of these whom you've given to me, I deliberately,
consciously, joyfully set myself apart. I sanctify myself for
their sakes. Why? That they themselves also
may be sanctified in the truth. Neither for these only do I pray,
but for them also that believe on me through their word. He had before his mind all of
his people. that would come to faith through
the apostolic testimony and proclamation of the message of salvation. And he says, it is for their
sakes that I now consciously and deliberately set myself apart
for these remaining redemptive activities. that they might actually
know the blessing of the salvation that I will procure for them. I sanctify myself that they themselves
also may be set apart unto you, in their case from sin, in my
case set apart unto you for this redemptive task, that they may
be sanctified. In truth, in other words, I'm
dying not to make salvation possible for everyone in general, but
no one in particular, and without any certainty that it will be
effective in anyone. But I'm setting myself apart
for this redemptive activity that those whom you have given
me and those who will come to me through the proclamation of
the word of the gospel may actually know in their experience the
salvation that I am about to procure by setting myself apart
for these redemptive acts. And because the intercession
is based upon the oblation, and it has the same objects in view,
it has the same subjects in view, it has the same end in view,
If we see that the intercession of Christ at the right hand of
the Father is a particularized intercession, an intercession
that actually secures a completed salvation for all of those on
whose behalf He intercedes, and it does, He is able to save to
the uttermost all who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives
to make intercession for them, then surely the sacrifice and
the oblation that undergirds the intercession is not wider
in its purpose than is the intercession founded upon it. It was his death
for his own, I lay down my life for the sheep. Other sheep I
have not, I hope to have, if they will only believe. I may
have, if only men are persuasive enough in their evangelism, other
sheep. I have! I already have them,
that are not of this fold. Them also I hope to bring, if
they'll only decide for me. No, them also I must bring, and
there shall be one fold, one shepherd. You see, those who
think with compassion for men, they must have an atonement that
was made for all men indiscriminately, without any specific intention
as to those for whom it is made. In reality, it is a most uncompassionate
redemption or sacrifice, for it secures nothing for anyone
for certain. Someone has said, It's a big
wide bridge that goes halfway across the chasm and takes no
one to the other side. But bless God for a redemption
that is a bridge that goes from one side of the chasm of man
in his sin to God in his burning holiness and actually carries
us there so conformed to Christ. that we will be at home in the
presence of burning holiness as well as infinite love. And if the intercession is a
limited, a specific intercession for His own people, Then, not
only do we rest our doctrine of a specific atonement, a definite
atonement, an efficacious atonement upon the other passages that
I have quoted, but again, from the whole analogy of Scripture,
that it is on behalf of those for whom he died that he intercedes. And His intercession secures
on behalf of all those for whom the sacrifice was made, everything
that the sacrifice procured. And we see the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit not only conspiring to conceive so great
a salvation, but committed to bringing that salvation to fruition
on the behalf of all those for whom it was graciously and sovereignly
purposed. So at the end of the day, my
friend, if you've come standing in the nakedness of your own
felt sinfulness, ready to take the posture of a publican, say,
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God does not require of any sinner
that he discover himself to be an elect sinner in order to come
to Christ. He does require that you own
yourself a sinner, and that Christ is an adequate Savior, and that
He's a willing Savior, that He's an inviting Savior, that He's
a pleading Savior who does not talk with forking tongues. And
when he says, Come unto me, all that labor and heavy laden, he
doesn't say, parenthesis, if you have somehow discovered in
some way or another that you are elect. And if you have in
some way or another discovered whether or not you are one of
those for whom Christ in particular died with a death that would
secure the eternal snow, he simply says, Come unto me. All you that
laden are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. All that the Father
gives me shall come to me. Well, how do I know I've been
given and shall come? And him that comes to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. Your privilege and your duty
is to come. God nowhere says it is your duty
to discover your election. It is your duty to own the indictments
of God's Word against you as a sinner. It is your duty to
behold the Lamb of God, who is the only Savior this world will
ever have. He is the Lamb of God who bears
away the sin of the world. You are invited to come and to
put the whole case of your need as a sinner in the hands of a
mighty Savior, who in the virtue of His death and in the power
of His ever-living intercession can save even you to the uttermost. Who would not want to commit
himself to so glorious, so mighty, so powerful, and so efficacious
a Savior? There is no question but that
if you put yourself in His hands, He'll receive you, He'll keep
you, and He'll accomplish in you all of His saving purposes. And one day He will say, Here
I am, Father, I, and the children and you have given me. And the
Father will look and smile and see the perfect image of His
Son, the family likeness mirrored in all of the for whom the Son
shed his blood, and for whom his intercession secured their
perfected redemption. O dear child of God, should we
not grieve that we loved so feebly a Savior who saved so graciously
and powerfully? And my unconverted friend, do
you see why God must deal so Strongly with you in the day
of judgment, if you are found in that day indifferent to His
Son and His salvation, do you see why God must destroy in flaming
fire those who obey not the gospel? How could God love His Son? How could His face be toward
His Son with favor, and God just wink at the way you treat His
Son if you go on treating in that way? A man who comes up
and spits in my wife's face and calls her a slut and treats her
like dirt, if I stand idly by, say nothing and do nothing, where
is my professed love for my beloved wife? By your unbelief and love of
the world and love of sin and love of your face and love of
your friends and love of fun and love of everything, but God
revealed in Christ, you spit in the face of an immolated,
crucified Savior. You inwardly disdain an exalted,
interceding Savior. You say, whatever life has for
me, I can have it and I can enjoy it without a crucified and an
interceding Christ. You treat God's Son with disdain
and God will treat you with righteous fury in the day of judgment. I beg you men, women, boys and
girls, go to so graciously say, who not only died but just for
the unjust to bring us to God. but who now ever lives to intercede
on behalf of all who come unto God by him, and in interceding
for them, he is committed in the whole of his exalted, glorified
being and activity to save to the uttermost every single one
who comes unto God by him." He said, You don't know my struggles
with remaining sin. You don't know the ghost of the
past that haunts me. No, I don't. But he does. And he dares to say, commit yourself
to me, and by the virtue of my death and the efficacy of my
intercession, I will save even you for the uttermost. Let us pray. Our Father, what can we say before
the sight of your glory mirrored in the face of Jesus Christ? We pray that you will help us
by the Spirit's illumination to grasp the wonder of this dimension
of the work of our Savior on our behalf, and in our prayers
to remember that he does intercede for us. And in our stumbling
and falling to remember that he continues to intercede for
us. And when we've received blessing
from your hands, may we trace it back to the fruit of his intercession
and to the tap roots of that intercession in his sacrifice
upon the cross. We pray for those who have been
indifferent to the Lord Jesus. We ask that the pleadings and
the warnings and the entreaties and the exhortations would be
made effectual by the Spirit, cause them to see the emptiness
and the barrenness as well as the danger of their present state
being outside the orbit of his loving, tender, ever-living intercession,
O that they may come to Jesus, mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood that speaks better things than that of Abel,
and find rest in the Savior who invites them to himself. Seal
then your word to our hearts, and may your blessing rest upon
us in the days of this week, that we who name your name may
be living monuments of the efficacy of the intercession of our Lord
Jesus, as the fruit of his saving mercy is wrought out in us, we
ask in his name.