last three verses. Verses that
are familiar to you, I'm sure. The title of my message is Christ
Can Be Touched. Christ Can Be Touched. This is
what we read in these verses. Have you ever, child of God,
ever said to or thought to yourself, man, I wish there was somebody
I could talk to. I wish there was somebody that
I felt understood, could sympathize with what you might be going
through at some particular time, perhaps at this moment. I wish
somebody understood and you feel There is no one. There is no
one. Well, there is. There is. There's someone that can be touched,
that identifies with, that sympathizes with his people all the time. Whether they're on the mountain
or in the valley, whether they're rejoicing or crying, weeping
during that long, long night when you feel morning will never
come, and it does come, and joy returns with it. The joy of knowing
that one, that one that can be touched. Verse 14, Hebrews 4,
seeing then in light of what we have read
before, what the writer of this epistle has written before and
what follows after. In view of those things, this
being the case, seeing then that we have a great high priest that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession. Don't lose heart. Don't throw
in the towel. Hold fast our profession, and
this is the reason, for we have not a high priest which cannot
be touched with the filling of our infirmities, but was in all
points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. A Christ, high priest, elder
brother can be touched. That alone is a great comfort,
isn't it? Mr. Newton put it this way. I
found this helpful when I was preparing this message. I ran
across this hymn by old John Newton. He wrote many. The one
he's most famous for, everyone knows, and my favorite, is Amazing
Grace. But he also wrote these words.
Behold the throne of grace, the promise calls me near. There
Jesus shows a smiling face and waits to answer prayer. That
rich atoning blood, which sprinkled round we see, provides for those
who come to God an all-prevailing God, Paul wrote, hath for Christ's
sake forgiven you. That precious blood presents
to God an all-prevailing plea. What will God not do for Christ's
sake? What will God not do for his
people for Christ's sake? Mr. Newt went on to write, my
soul ask what you will. Thou canst not be too bold, since
his own blood for thee he spilled. What else can he withhold? God, who spared not his own son,
how shall he not also with him freely give you all things? Behold, thy utmost needs his
love and power can bless. To praying souls he always grants
more than they can express. And so it is. Verse 14, we read
of some blessed people, some favored people, people who have. And then in verse 15, we read
of those who have not, but it's not speaking of two different
groups of people. It's speaking of the same ones,
the same ones. First of all, in verse 14, let's
consider for a few moments the high priest we have. Seeing then
we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus,
the son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Remember the
key word in the book of Hebrews. I know your pastor has pointed
this out. I'm not telling you nothing you don't already know.
But is the word better? You see that word, I think, perhaps
more than any other in this epistle. Better, better, better. And in
each instance, the better is Jesus Christ. Compared to the
temple, compared to the sacrifices, compared as here with the priest,
Whatever you compare him to, he's better. He's better. That's the key word. And concerning
our great high priest, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was
passed into the heavens, it doesn't get any better than that. Is
it not so? We have such a high priest. Last
Sunday before last, Brother Paul Mahan brought the last message
at Brother Darvin's conference. there in Louisville, Arkansas. And his text was from Numbers
chapter 6. And his message was called, The
Blessing. The Blessing. Let me just read
a few verses from that passage. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron, and unto his son, saying, On this wise, this
way, ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face
to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his
countenance upon thee and give thee peace. That's a mouthful. Isn't that rich? Aaron could
pronounce that blessing as he was commanded to do. He could
intercede as the high priest. He could intercede for God's
blessing on the children of Israel. He could, again, as the high
priest, offer sacrifice for God's blessings. But he could not bestow
that blessing. Oh, but our high priest, he can
bestow it. He bestows the blessing. He is
the blessing. Our great high priest can't and
does. As a matter of fact, his pronouncing
the blessing brings the blessing. Just saying so. If Jesus Christ
says, for example, thy sins be forgiven thee, it's done. Thank you, Pastor. It's done. Because as even his enemies had
to confess, never a man spake like this man. Who is this, the
religious leader said, that forgives sins also? It's the Son of God. They said only God can forgive
sins. They were exactly right, and God just did. When He said
to that poor woman in Luke 7, Go in peace, thy sins are all
forgiven thee. His saying so makes it so. When I was a young boy still
at home, back in the mountains of West Virginia. That's been
a while. But when my father would tell
me to do something, My father had never heard of
a timeout. I mean, if he did, he kept it
to himself. He didn't practice it. I never
had my father tell me when I disobeyed him, Larry, you need to go stand
in the corner. Man, I'd have loved to stand
in the corner. It would have been so much easier
than what he did do. He would say to me, son, I've
told you, and that's final. That's final. I'm not going to
tell you again." And I knew exactly what he meant. God the Father said concerning
His Son, by whom He made the world, we read in chapter 1,
at one time He spoke at sunry times and in diverse matters.
He spake in times passed unto the fathers by the prophets,
but hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." When His
Son came into this world, when that eternal Word of God, the
very expression of God, tabernacled for a while among
us, being made flesh, God Almighty spoke from heaven. with words
He had never said before concerning any other man or all men put
together, this is My beloved Son, hear ye Him." That's final. That's final. He's not going
to speak by anyone else. God has nothing to do with any
sinner apart from, and because of, and through this great High
Priest, His Son. So again, when Christ This high
priest, this great high priest says, thy sons are forgiven thee.
You know what? They really are. They really
are. We're not imagining this. We're not just closing our eyes
and saying, well, I hope so, I hope so, I hope so. Oh, no.
God has a way. The God-man, our mediator, the
Lord Jesus Christ, if He wants to get a message through to you,
He will. Don't worry about whether God
can or not. He wants you to know something.
You'll know it. And when the Son of God says
to any believing sinner, any redeemed, chosen sinner, when
He draws them out of darkness to Himself, gives them life,
and grants them faith, and says, Thy sins be forgiven thee, hallelujah,
they'll know it. and they'll never get over it.
Will they? Darwin, have you ever got over
it? The wonder of that, that he would have mercy on a sinner
like me, and when he says again, like he did to that poor woman
in that self-righteous Pharisee's house in Luke 7, that man looked
down his self-righteous nose and said, I'm so embarrassed.
How did she get in there? Who let her in? Everybody in
town knows who she is. She's a sinner. Oh, yeah. That's why Christ went to Simon's
house, not for Simon's sake, because that woman would find
him there, and he said to her, Thy sins are forgiven thee. Go
in peace. Go in peace. Look over in Luke
chapter 7. Just turn the page there to chapter
7, and look what's written. about our great high priest.
Verse 22, by so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. There's that word again, better. Verse 23, Hebrew 7, and they
truly were many priests because they were not suffered or allowed
to continue by reason of death. Oh, but this man, because he
continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, because,
yes, as he told John, I am he that liveth, was dead, but behold,
I am alive forevermore. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Someone
said he saves from the guttermost to the uttermost. our great high
priest, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Hebrews chapter 1, we read that He, that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's Son, to whom, through whom rather He has spoken to us by,
verse 3, describing Him, Not only has he made the worlds,
not only has he been appointed heir of all things, but he is
the brightness of his glory. That's the son, the brightness
of God's glory, the expressed image of his person and upholding
all things by the word of his power when he had, don't you
like this, when he had by himself, by himself. People say, well,
if you will let God, if you will allow God, I had people tell
me that. They would buttonhole me, try
to make me make a decision, a profession. Well, you just need to let God.
And I thought, man, you're asking me to trust somebody that needs
my help? He needs my help? You mean he
can't do nothing for me unless I help? If he needs my help,
we're both in trouble. I'm in trouble and he's in trouble
because he's not God. Oh no, our great high priest,
we read, when he had by himself purged our sins. Oh, can you... I was going to say picture, but
that's not the right word. Imagine, I don't... Our great high priest, by himself,
trods the winepress alone. God says of him, says concerning
that one who is his fellow, that one in whom his soul delights.
But now he says, awake, O sword, against that man that's my fellow.
Smite the shepherd! Smite the shepherd! I've trodden
the winepress alone, he says, of the people. I looked for one,
I looked for some to help, but there was none. Therefore, my
arm brought salvation unto me. When he had by himself purged
our sin, my soul, who else should get the glory for the salvation
of a sinner? Who else should we praise but
that one who bore our sins and his own body on the tree? Yes,
he's better. He's better in every sense of
the word. Is there anything too hard for
him? Is anything impossible for him? And I hope you don't have to
think about that. No. Oh, no. No, our God's in
the heavens. I believe you preached on that
recently, Brother Paul. Our God's in the heavens. Where's
he at? Was that the title of your message? Our God is in the
heavens and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Oh, brothers
and sisters in Christ, he says his arm's not shortened. Oh,
his arm's not shortened. I mean, after all, didn't he
reach down his hand for you? I mean, when you were in that
miry pit of sin and depravity, and darkness was his arm shortened? Was it not powerful enough and
long enough and mighty enough and merciful enough and graceful
enough to reach down his hand and bring you up out of that
miry pit and set you on a solid rock, the foundation of the church
Jesus Christ himself, and put a new song in your mouth? Oh
no, nothing's too hard for him. Is anything impossible for God? Is His grace still reigning grace? Of course it is. I am the Lord,
I change not. Is it still abounding grace?
Well, if it is, then it must be sufficient grace. It must
be sufficient for even me. Another old hymn, that billows
in fury around me may beat. The cleft in the rock is my blessed
retreat. My shield and defender forever
is He, the Savior whose grace is sufficient for me." Isn't
that comforting? Here's the second thing, verse
15. The high priest that we don't have. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the filling of our infirmities.
No, no. But in all points was tempted
as we are, yet without sin. He was made like unto his brethren. Because we read this in chapter
2 of this book. Because the children were flesh
and blood, he likewise took part of the same. Why? So he could
be a merciful and faithful high priest. He knows, he feels, he
identifies. Why? Because he's been there. Isn't that a blessing? Thank
God we have a high priest who can be touched. I was watching
the news several weeks ago. These fires out in California,
just burning acres and acres and acres and homes after homes.
And they were in this area, the news broadcasters, they were
broadcasting rather from this area. And they had the camera
on this poor woman kneeling down, her home being burned in the
background. And she's praying, oh, holy Mary,
mother of God, have mercy on us sinners. And I told Robin,
isn't that sad? There is no way in this world
that that prayer was heard, because Mary Mary is not the one mediator
between God and man. It's not Mary. It's not Mary. And it's not Pope Peter. And
it's not Baptist preacher. And it's not priest. It's King
Jesus. He's the only mediator between
God and man. And when we call upon His name,
when we go to Him as our Great High Priest, God hears us. God
hears us for Christ's sake. It's the man Christ Jesus. Paul says in Romans five, grace
came by one man, one man. Grace comes by one man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember that night on that stormy
sea. We've all been on them. And the disciples, at least four
of them, were experienced fishermen. Peter, James, John, Andrew. But
they were frightened. This was a bad storm. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
asleep. What about that? He's asleep.
My, so great is the mystery of godliness. He casts out devils. He raises the dead. But he gets
tired. He lay down and slept. And you
remember what happened. They woke him up. Master, Master,
don't you care? Have you not noticed? Are you
aware of what's happening now? We're going to perish. Oh my
soul, what an awful thing to say to the Son of God. To that One who loved them and
gave Himself for them. What an awful thing to imagine
of Him. Who in here is not guilty of
that very thing? I am. I am. My soul. God forgive me. There's been some troubled seas.
And I'm thinking, oh, this next wave's going to take me down.
This is the last straw. I'm gone. And I think, Master,
Where are you? He's always there. He's always
there. He arises as only He can and
says, peace, be still. I don't mean to the troubled
sea, but to my troubled heart. Oh, the peace of God that passeth
understanding. It's probably in your hymn book.
Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth
or song? As the burdens press and the
cares distress and the day grows weary and long. Anybody feeling
that way at this moment? Does Jesus care when my way is
dark with the nameless dread and fear as the daylight fades
into deep dark shades? Does he care enough to be near? Master. Cares not that we perish. Does Jesus care when I've said
goodbye to the dearest on earth to me and my sad heart aches
till it nearly breaks? Is it all to him? Does he see? And God given faith. By the grace of God, we answer,
we answer. Oh yes, he cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my
grief. When the days are weary, the
long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. And He says, fear
not, little flock, it's my Father's good pleasure. And He does all
His pleasure to give you the kingdom. Here's the last thing. What my pastor, Brother Don,
calls some shoe leather. theology, some walking around
use of this blessed truth that we have a high priest. Look at
the last verse, verse 16. Let us therefore, in light of
this blessed reality, not reality according to Hollywood, It seems like these reality TV
shows have just about taken over the networks, and I wouldn't
give you a nickel for the whole shooting match. I've not seen
one of them so-called reality shows yet that convince me of
anything but fake. Not so here. In the light of
this blessed reality, the reality of our great high priest, the
reality of Him sitting upon a throne of grace, the reality of being
full of grace and truth, the reality of saying, come, come
unto me. Come boldly to the throne of
grace. You'll find help, mercy and grace
in time of need. Christ bids us come to Him. He
invites us to come to Him. And He welcomes us when we do
come to Him. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. All that the Father
giveth me, he said, shall come to me. Where else would they
come? They shall come to me, and him
that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. Him that cometh. Him that cometh. Even if he comes
with bitter tears of repentance, Like that apostle that cursed
and denied that he even knew him, after making such a promise,
although all men forsake you, not me, Peter boasted, even Peter,
oh, to deny one of his own. Is this
right, Darwin? If we deny him, yet he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. To deny
one of his children would be to deny himself. It would be
to deny who he is. Because we're flesh of his flesh
and bone of his bones. He says to his bride, come to
me. Come to me. Come with your tears. Come with your heartache. Come
with your bewilderment. Come with your confusion. Come
with your doubts. Just come to me. Come to me. Crawl to me, but come to me,
O my soul." And he said, you'll find grace. You'll find grace. Because he sits upon a throne
of grace. John said, we saw him. We saw
him, the only begotten of the Father. And what impressed you
about him, John? What struck you most, John? He's
full of grace and truth. I wonder how much, this is not
the right way to put it, but words are all I had. How much
grace does it take to keep a sinner like me? How much grace is required
to keep me from falling? And not only that, to present
me without fault before the throne of God. My soul, the grace, the
all-sufficient grace that's necessary to keep me from denying Him and
walking away with the crowd. And that same grace, that abundant
grace, reigning grace that's sufficient for this sinner is
sufficient for a multitude of sinners that no man can number,
and yet, after the supply of all that grace, it's never diminished. It still is full. I mean, it's
as though if I took this glass and drank it dry, but it's always
full. It's always full. Jesus Christ
is never without grace, reigning grace. Because he sits upon the
throne of grace. And you know what makes it a
throne of grace? Because of the one who sits on it. The Lord
Jesus Christ. He says, come boldly. Let me
share this with you. You may have heard it. Unconditional
pardon. It's written by John Bunyan. He said there was a certain man
that had committed treason against his king. But for as much as
the king had compassion on him, he sent him by the hand of a
faithful messenger a pardon under his own hand and seal. But in
the country where this poor man lived, there was also many that
sought to trouble him by often putting him in remembrance of
his treason and the law that was to be executed on the offender. Now, which way should this man
so honor his king? as by believing his handwriting,
which was the pardon, certainly he would honor him more by so
doing than to regard all the accusations of his enemies. Just
thus it is here, Bunyan said, you have committed treason against
the king of heaven. He, through the compassion for
Christ's sake, has sent you a full free pardon. But the devil, the
law, and even our own conscience, accuse us. Now, how would we
best honor our king? By believing the record that
God gave concerning his son has set to his seal that God is true. And this is the record that God
had given to us eternal life. And this life is in his son. So I believe him by God's grace. I believe him not my own conscious,
not the devil, not my sins, in the teeth of all my sins. Oh, I thank God that I have an
advocate before Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what else
it says in verse 16. Come boldly that we may obtain
mercy and find grace. Oh, that should grab our attention.
Is there anything we need more? Is there anything more precious,
anything more needful, necessary than those things, mercy and
grace. God's rich, rich mercy and his
full free grace. Second Corinthians one in three,
blessed be the God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Grace. Without grace, there's
no salvation. Without grace, there's no hope,
because we only have a good hope through grace. Without the experience
of grace now, there's no hope or possibility of glory hereafter. Oh, but brothers and sisters,
look there. Look there. Oh my, look there. There sits my great high priest
upon a throne of grace, and he says to this sinner, come, come,
come to me, come to me, and find grace to help in time of need. Thank God for such a great high
priest as this. Grace to help. I like that, don't
you? Now, a lot of folks today, too
many of them, sorry to say, preach about grace that only offers
to help. I hope you don't hear any good
news in that. That's not good news. Or grace
that only makes help available? Oh, no, no, no. The Lord Jesus
Christ gives real grace for real need. He's not a sham savior. He's a real Savior for real sinners. There's no question about His
ability to say. There's no question about His
reigning grace. The question lies here. Where
is the sinner? Where is the sinner? As old Scott
Richardson used to say, Oh, I've got good news. The gospel's good
news. Glad tidings for sinners, but
I can't find the sinner. Everybody's made a decision.
Everybody's walked an eye. Everyone's made a profession.
Oh, I wish I could find a real sinner like that publican. God be merciful to me. I'm the
sinner. I'd love to find one. Good news
for guilty sinners. I know it was that that leper,
wasn't it? He found that The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ was sufficient when he came and fell down before
him and said, if you will, oh, are you willing to touch me? Are you willing to have anything
to do with me? I'm an outcast. The law legally
pronounces me unclean. God's own law says I'm unclean. I wonder how long it's been since
that man had felt the touch of a human hand. He was an outcast. He had to leave his family. The
only company he would have with other lepers. Can you imagine
when he fell before the Lord in the dust? There's a sinner. Lord, if you will, you don't
owe it to me, but if you will, you can make me clean. Can you
imagine? Can you imagine the joy that
must have overwhelmed his heart when the Lord Jesus Christ reaches
out, touches him, and at the same time says, I will be thou
clean. I tell you what, that man had
no doubt about the sufficiency of God's amazing grace. And we
could go on and on. How about blind Bartimaeus? Bartimaeus,
can you imagine meeting him on the road one day? Barnabas, aren't you that? You remind me
of somebody, but it can't be you. Because you see. Oh, Barnabas said, yeah, that's
right. It's me. It's me. I once was blind. Oh, but now
I see. What happened, Barnabas? Oh,
let me tell you. One day I sat at the gate of
Jericho like I do every day, in my rags, in my darkness, just
begging. depending upon the alms of some
passerby. And one day, one day I heard,
oh, just a commotion. And I said, what's, what's this
about? And they told me Jesus of Nazareth
is passing by. And I'd heard of him. So I began
to cry out. Can you picture him? Can you
picture him? Have you been there? Have you
been? Put yourself there. Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And Bartimaeus would say, let
me tell you something. Now this part you're going to
find hard to believe. But when I cried for mercy, Jesus
stood still. Right, brother. That's good.
That's a good comment. He said, that's what I say. Jesus. Jesus Christ heard the cry of
this blind beggar. And he stood still. Bring him
to me. What do you want? I just want
to see. I just want to see. I want to
see my sins rolled away. I want to see myself lying down
at night and not tossing and turning, but having peace with
God. I want mercy. I want mercy. I need your mercy and your grace." And he said, I will. He delights
to show mercy. And he opened Barnabas's eyes.
And the first thing that man ever saw in his life, he was
looking in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. How about that? How about that? Let me wrap this up. I'm pretty sure that what I'm
going to read to you and close with was a favorite of dear Brother
Henry Mahan's. I remember him reading it on
more than one occasion. The Touch of the Master's Hand.
You remember that? It was battered and scarred,
and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while to waste
much time on the old violin, but he held it up with a smile.
What am I bidding, good folks, he cried, who'll start the bidding
for me? A dollar, a dollar, then two,
only two, two dollars, who'll make it three? Three dollars
once, three dollars twice, going for three, but no. From the room
far back, a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow.
Then wiping the dust from the old violin, and tightening the
loosened strings, he played a melody pure and sweet as a caroling
angel sings. The music ceased and the auctioneer
with a voice that was quiet and low said, what am I bid for this
old violin? And he held it up with the bow.
A thousand dollars, who'll make it two? Two thousand, who'll
make it three? Three thousand once, three thousand
twice. And going and gone, said he,
the people cheered. But some of them cried, we do
not quite understand. What changed their worth? Came
the swift reply, it was the touch of the master's hand. And many
a man with life out of tune and battered and scarred with sin, you're looking at one. Is auction cheap? to the thoughtless
crowd, much like the old violin, a mess of pottage, a glass of
wine, a game, and he travels on. He is going once. He's going twice. He's going,
and he's almost gone. That's what my mother and father
thought would happen to me. And they had good reason to think
so. Good reason to think so. He's
almost gone. A car wreck. an overdose. He's almost gone. And this last verse tells the
reason why I'm not. But the master comes and the
foolish crowd never can quite understand the worth of a soul
and the change that is wrought by the touch of the master's
hand. We have a high priest that can
be touched. Glory to his name.