Chapter 7. I want to read one
verse of Scripture from Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25. also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them." Now, what I would like to do,
if God would be pleased to enable me to do this, I would like to
preach the most simple gospel message that I've ever preached. That's what my goal is. Now,
I realize that even if I preach the most simple gospel message
that's ever been preached, You and I will not understand it
unless God is pleased to reveal it. We're totally dependent upon
his revealing himself. But I do want to preach a very
simple message. I'd like to begin where the Bible
begins. I want us to consider God. He that cometh to God by him. Look at our text once again.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him. Now, this is where the Bible
begins. In the beginning, God. No attempt to prove his existence. He is a self-evident act. I feel no need whatsoever to
try to convince you that God is. He is. And deep down, everybody knows
that that is so. Now, there are some things we
can know about God by creation. You know, this wonderful creation
in which we live tells us that God is very powerful. is able
to speak the world into existence. The creation tells us that he's
good. God's good, and his creation says that. The creation tells
us that God is very wise, but there is much concerning God
we can only know by revelation, not by creation. But by revelation,
that's what this book called the Bible is all about. It's
God's revelation of himself. This Bible is a declaration of
who he is. Now, you cannot tell from the
light of creation that God is merciful, can you? You wouldn't
know. You can't tell by the light of creation that God will forgive
sin. You can't tell by the light of creation that God is holy
or that God is just. You can't know these things from
creation. You can only know these things
from the revelation He's given of Himself in His Word. Now, God is as the Bible declares
Him to be. Hebrews 11, 6 says, He that cometh
to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
them that diligently Now, we read of them who come
to God in our text. There's only two kinds of people
in this world. Those who come to God and those who flee away
from Him. That's the only two kind of people
there are. Those who come to God or those who, like Cain,
went out from the presence of the Lord. When Adam and Eve fell,
what did they do? They went and hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord. They didn't want to be where
the Lord was. They had some idea of who He was, and they wanted
to get away from Him. There are two kinds of people
in this world, those who come to God and those who want to
go away from Him. Now, what does it mean to come
to God? I want to know, don't you? Because I want to be somebody
who comes to God. We read of him who comes to God,
he that cometh to God. We've come to God by Him. What's
it mean to come to God? Well, to come to Him means you
leave something in coming to Him. You can't come to Him without
leaving something. You can't leave that out. If I come to God, I'm leaving
something. When you turn to God, you turn
from something else. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.
Now, if I ever come to God, if you ever come to God, I'm going
to do so leaving something else. Now, what is it we leave? What
is it we leave in order to come to God? We leave this world. Now, what do you mean by that?
You're still in this world. How do you leave the world and come
to God? What's that mean? Well, when I come to God, I leave
this world system that has no love for God. I leave the world's
religion, salvation by works, salvation by human doings. I
leave that. That's the religion of the world.
I leave the maxims and principles of this world, what the world
loves. I'd rather know the Lord. I'd
rather come to God than have anything this world has to offer.
Now when you come to God, you leave the world. You leave salvation
by works. That's worldly religion. You
leave that. You don't stay in it. You leave it. You repent
of that. You leave the values of this
world. You'd rather know the Lord, you'd
rather be found in the Lord, you'd rather come to Him than
do anything else. That's what you want. You come
to God, you leave something else. And if I refuse to leave this
world system that's opposed to the God of the Bible, I never
really come to God. Now, understand this about the
world. The Lord tells us. Well, as a
matter of fact, let me show you. Turn to John. I'm going to be
preaching on this soon. I've been cooking on this passage
of Scripture for about six weeks. I haven't felt comfortable preaching
on it yet, but I think I do now. Lord willing, I'm going to preach
on it next Sunday. But look what he says in verse 25. But this cometh to pass, that
the word might be fulfilled that's written in their law. They hated
me without a cause. Look back in verse 7, 18. If you were of the world, if
the world hate you, you know it hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But
because you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hates you. Now, what is this hatred
of the world that the Lord's talking about here? And this
hatred of the world, it's not necessarily seen in a angry,
oh, I hate God, I hate the gospel, I hate the Bible. It doesn't
necessarily seem like that. You know, to hate the Lord is
to not be very interested. That's hate. To hate the Lord
is to not love Him. To hate the Lord is to consider
the things of the Lord as inconsequential and unimportant. It might come
out in a violent persecution like Paul had against the disciples
of Christ, but it might come out just simply in ignoring. But the point I'm making is that
if I ever come to God, I leave the world. Now, I realize I'm
still in the world, but I leave this world, this world system
that has no love for God because I do. I come to God without aversion. You come to Him because you want
to. You come to Him because you're afraid not to. That's true. But
you come to Him because you want to. You come to Him as He is,
worshiping Him for who He is, and actually loving Him for who
He is. We come to God by Jesus Christ. If I'm a believer, if I'm a Christian,
I'm someone who comes to God. And you come by Jesus Christ. He that cometh to God, he comes
by Jesus Christ. Now, what does that mean? You
come by Jesus Christ. Well, he's able to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him. We just read that
scripture. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Now, what does
that mean to come to God by Jesus Christ? I must know. It means
two things. First, I come to God by Jesus
Christ consciously. I understand I'm coming to God
only by Jesus Christ. And second, I come to God by
Jesus Christ representatively. And both are meant by that text. Now, let's consider what this
means to come to God by Jesus Christ. First, consciously. I come to God by Jesus Christ
Understanding that the only way God will have anything to do
with me is through the Lord Jesus Christ. I understand that. I
come to God knowing that He's the way to God. There is no other
way. He is the way. He's the only
way. There are no other ways. If I'm
in Him, I'm there because He's the way. I come understanding
that. I come understanding that He's the truth. He's the truth
as to how I can get to God. He's the truth concerning who
God is. He's the truth concerning how
God saves sinners. I understand that Christ is the
truth. I come to God by Him. I come
to God with some understanding that Jesus Christ is the life. I understand that His life, His
perfect law keeping, His life is my life before God. I understand
that. I come only by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And even now, we're conscious
of the fact that the only reason God will have anything to do
with me, and this is a good reason, but the only reason God has anything
to do with me is for a son's sake. It's for Christ's sake. I understand. I understand that
the reason God loves me is for Christ's sake. I understand that.
I understand that the reason my sins are forgiven are for
Christ's sake. I understand the reason I'm preserved.
It's for Christ's sake. I understand that everything
God does, He does for Christ's sake. And I come to God only
by Him. I don't come pleading anything
else. I don't come saying I'm a preacher. I don't come saying
I'm doing my best. I don't come saying I'm sincere.
I don't come pleading anything but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Nothing else. I come consciously
by Him. You know, when we pray, How do
we pray? In His name. Knowing that the
way my prayer is heard is through the Lord Jesus presenting that
prayer to the Father. I come consciously understanding
that He is the way to the Father. And I don't dare try coming any
other way. So we come by Him consciously.
But secondly, we also come by him representatively, and to
be honest with you, I think this is primarily what this passage
of scripture is talking about. It's at least as much the meaning
as coming consciously, coming representatively. Now, what do
I mean by that? When Christ comes to the Father,
he comes in his own person, yes, but he comes as a representative.
When He comes to the Father, everybody who is united to Him
comes also. He comes into the presence of
the Father, and there's some people in Him that also come
to the Father. So when He comes to the Father,
I come literally, actually by Him. I don't even come pleading
Him. I come to the Father because
He comes to the Father. If I'm in Him, if He gets there,
I get there because I'm in Him. I come by the Lord Jesus Christ. This doesn't even have anything
to do with my consciousness of it. When he comes to the Father,
I come to the Father. And we're given a beautiful illustration
of this, right in this passage of Scripture. Look in Hebrews
chapter 7. I love this. Verse 9. And as I may so say,
Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes of Abraham, for he
was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now,
that passage of Scripture tells us that Levi literally It doesn't
say he represented. It says he paid tithe when Abraham
paid it. And I love to think of Abraham
coming up to Melchizedek. I don't have any doubt that Melchizedek
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And Abraham knew that. And Abraham
comes to the great Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ, the priest
of the Most High God, the King of Salem, which is the King of
Peace, the King of Righteousness. He knew who he was. And he comes
to him and he pays tithe to him. He knows this is the Lord of
Glory. And he worshipped him. I can see him bowing down before
him. And Melchizedek giving him bread and wine. And you know
what? When Abraham was worshipping
him like that, you know who else was? Levi was. Everybody in Abraham
did. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes into the presence of God the Father, so do I. I come by
Him. You see, He's got a people in
Him. His elect. those who believe. Everybody
he died for. He came as a representative for
a select, elect number of people. A vast number. Ten thousand times
ten thousand. Thousands and thousands. There's
a whole lot of them. But he came for a specific people, and they
were in him. Ephesians 1, verse 4 says, according
as he had chosen us, in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame before him. When he comes into
the presence of the Father, all of his elect. come into the presence
of the Father. So truly, literally, I come by
Him. When a mother has a child in
her, when she comes into the room, so does that child. That child's in her. And wherever
she goes, that child goes. Truly, we come to God by Him.
And we acknowledge that this is the way we come, only by Him. Now, we read of those people
who come to God by Jesus Christ. Now, what do they come for? Why
do they come to Jesus Christ? What's this all about? Therefore,
He is able to save them to the uttermost. that come to God by
Him. These people are coming for salvation. That's why they come by Jesus
Christ. They're coming to be saved. They're
coming to be saved from their sins. When I come to God by the
Lord Jesus Christ, you know what I'm coming for? I'm coming for
mercy. Lord, have mercy on me. Don't
give me what I deserve. I'm coming for grace. Lord, give
me what I don't deserve. Give me your favor. I want the
favor of God, don't you? I want God to look down in favor
upon me. I come for the forgiveness of
sins. I come for Him to preserve me
and keep me from falling away. I come to Him for everything.
I come to Him for salvation. Now, the only way you can come
to Him for salvation is if you come to Him as a sinner. Now,
this is the only way I know to come to God. I come as a sinner
needing salvation. And that's the way I'm coming
to Him right now. I come to Him as a sinner. Now, what's the Bible mean by
sinner? I said this recently, and I think this is a good definition.
You listen real carefully. What is a sinner according to
the Scripture? First of all, the sinner is somebody who all
they do is sin. That's it. When they pray, they
sin. When they sing hymns of praise,
they sin. When they breathe, they sin. When they think about it, they
sin. When they don't think about it, they sin. When they're having
their best thoughts, they sin. When they're having their worst
thoughts, they sin. All they do is sin. And there's a reason
behind that. It's because of who's doing it.
It's not so much because of what they do. It's because of who's
doing it. As long as I have this sinful
nature, this human nature that I still have right now and I'm
painfully aware of, everything I do will be sin. The Scripture
says the plowing of the wicked is sin. Plowing is a good thing
in and of itself. But if a wicked man does it,
that makes it sin. A sinner is somebody who all
they do is sin. Would that be you? Secondly,
a sinner is what the Bible means by sin. Remember that scripture
in Genesis 6, 5, and the Lord looked down from heaven and he
saw that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. That sounds like all he did was
sin. Secondly, a sinner. according to the scripture, is
somebody who cannot not sin. I think I'm not going to sin
for the next five seconds. Give it a shot. It can't be done. A sinner, according to the scripture,
is someone who cannot not sin. And thirdly, a real sinner in
the scriptural meaning of the word. A real sinner is someone
who cannot look down his nose in judgment and moral superiority
toward anybody. Not at all. You really know whatever
that person did, apart from the grace of God, you'd be worse.
You really believe that. You really believe that. That's what
the Bible means by a sinner. A sinner is somebody who has
no claims on God. And I want to ask you, I want
you to deal with this. I want you to think about this. If God
saved everybody in this room but you, If God elected everybody
here but you and let you go to hell, would he be unjust? Would you have any claims on
him at all? Would you say that's not fair? Not if you're a sinner.
If you're a sinner, you believe that you have absolutely no claims
on God. Now, that's that is how someone
comes to God. The reason they come by Jesus
Christ is they come as a sinner, needing his mercy, needing his
grace, needing his favor. And I need his favor right now
so desperately. And I'm coming to God by Jesus
Christ for salvation, salvation from my sin. Now, here are these
glorious words in our text. Hebrews 7.25 says, Wherefore,
he is able. There's no three better words
in language. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him. Now, uttermost Uttermost
is a word that means to all completion, to all perfection, to the farthest
extent, he is able to save them to the uttermost of their guilt. It does not matter if you're
the most evil creature to walk the face of the earth. He's able
to put away all sin and make you stand guiltless. He's able. It doesn't matter how much light
you send against. It doesn't matter how much you've
rejected the gospel. He is able to save you to the
uttermost and make you stand guiltless. It matters not how
stuck you are in despair, and if you can see no light at the
end of the tunnel, you can't see a thing. And he is able to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him. He is able. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is it too hard for the Lord to
take you as sinful and as helpless and as weak and as far off as
you are? Is it too hard for the Lord to
make you perfect in his sight through the Lord Jesus Christ?
Now, the answer to that question is no. Is anything too hard for
the Lord? No, he's God. He is able. Now, this is the foundation of
our faith. He is able. Nobody said anything
about your ability. I don't believe in human ability. I believe in human inability.
But I believe in His ability. And that is the very foundation
of our faith. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. He is able. Oh, may these words sink in our
hearts. Everybody in here ought to be
So optimistic, jumping for joy for this. He is able. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
9. Matthew chapter 9, verse 27. And when Jesus departed this,
two blind men followed Him. You know, I love to think about
that. These guys groping around, blind as bats, but they followed
him. I guess all they could hear was his voice. There they go.
Two blind men followed him. I reckon anybody who ever follows
him follows him as a blind man. Two blind men followed him. These fellas couldn't see. And
Jesus saith unto them, Verse 27, And when Jesus departed,
two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David,
have mercy on us. And when He was come into the
house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus saith unto them,
Believe ye that I am able to do this. They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying,
According to your faith, be it unto you. Do you believe that
he is able to present you, thoughtless before his throne, with exceeding
joy? That's faith. It's believing
His ability. Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy
1.12. He said, I know whom I have believed. I believe in His ability. I know
whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I have committed to Him against that
day. Now, what is this thing of commitment?
When you commit to something, that means your hands are off.
I'm trusting Him to save me. I don't have anything to do with
this. Now, as long as I keep my hand in the cookie jar and
think I have something to do with it, I fail to commit. Only when
I let go of everything else and trust Him only as being able
to make me stand before God perfect. Now unto Him that's able to keep
you from falling and to present you faultless before His throne
with exceeding joy. to him be glory, both now and
forever. I believe he's able to present me perfect before
God. And my friends, that's faith.
That's what faith is. It's believing he is able. And there's a concrete reason
given to us as to why he's able to save them to the uttermost.
Look back at our text in Hebrews chapter 7. Verse 25, Wherefore, he is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Now here's why he's
able to save somebody like me to the uttermost, because he
ever lives to make intercession. Now, what is this thing of intercession?
What's it mean? That's a biblical word. What does the word mean?
Intercession means to plead for you or to plead against you. Remember how it said of Elijah,
he made intercession to God against Israel. It's to plead for you
or to plead against you. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the great high priest. He either pleads for you or against
you. If he pleads against you, it's
because of your sin. But if he pleads for you, it's
because of his grace. It's because of his free favor. Are you interested in him having
grace toward you? Free favor. This is the way that he'll plead
for you. Because of his grace. Anybody
who truly wants to be saved by his free grace will be saved
by his free grace and is saved by his free grace. Anybody who
really desires this, desire to be saved by his grace, my friend,
he pleads for you. That's what intercession means.
And if he pleads for you, if he's representing you before
the Father, is there any way you can be anything but saved?
Now, the fact that he ever liveth to make intercession for us tells
us that he died. That's implied in that. But now
he lives forever. He died, and now he lives forever. The fact that he died tells us
that he accomplished something by his death. Now turn to Romans
chapter 8. What did he accomplish by his
death? Now look at the beginning of verse 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Now, when he died, condemnation. became an impossibility for everybody
he died for. Isn't that wonderful? He that spared not his own son,
he spared not Christ but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not? Freedom with him give us all things. Who is he that
can condemn? It's Christ that died. My condemnation,
the condemnation of everybody he died for is an absolute impossibility. That's what he accomplished by
his death. the complete justification of
his people. The fact that he lives speaks
of the full satisfaction of his death. So completely was this
debt paid that he was raised from the dead and he now intercedes
for me. Now, let me say this about the
intercession of Christ. First, with him as my intercessor,
It's not like the father is reluctant to save me, and Christ changes
that. It's not like he doesn't, he
delights in mercy. And God sent his son not to make
a way for him to love, but because he did love. Now the intercession
of Christ, and this is This is our salvation. He's able to save
them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. In the intercession of
Christ, it's important for me to understand this, it's not
like he's up there and I sin, and he says, Lord, forgive him
for that sin. Let that go by. I paid for that
sin and then I commit another sin and he prays for me again.
Don't let that one go by because I died for it. No, it's not like
that at all. The intercession of Christ is
like this. He's at the Father's right hand. Perfect. Holy. And I'm there too. And that is how he sees me. If he sees me that way, there
is a reason he sees me that way. It's because that's the way I
am. Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. Oh, what about your sin? What
sin? It's been washed away. I don't have any sin. I'm justified. Really? Really. Really. That's the gospel. He is able. to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. Would you turn over to 1 John chapter 2? My little children, verse 1.
These things write I unto you, that you sin not. What's that mean? Exactly what
it says. And may God give us the grace
to make it our aim right now to never sin again. These things write unto you that
you sin not. If or when, that word is translated
sometimes, when, when you do. If you're really sorry, we have
an advocate with the Father. If you promise to never do it
again, we have an advocate with the Father. If you do something
to make up for it, we have an advocate with the Father. You
know better than that. When you sin, we already have
this Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He is our Advocate with the Father,
making intercession for us. And that never changes, because
He ever lives to make intercession for us. Now, I've got one question.
Here's my question, and I'm asking myself this. Am I somebody who
comes to God by Him? Would that describe me? Well,
here's about the only way I know how to answer that question in
my own experience. I come to the Lord. The Lord said, Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. I come to the Lord and I
say, Lord, be pleased. to bring me to the Father. I'm not going to come to the
Father even pleading your name. I want you to bring me to the
Father. And that's what it is to come
to the Father by him. I come saying, Lord, bring me
to the Father. I don't want to say anything.
I don't want to have anything to do with it. Bring me to the Father. And you know what he does? He
brings me to the Father, and I am his own dear, blessed, holy,
perfect, beautiful child in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yep, I'm somebody who comes to
the Father by him. Now this is a verse of scripture
I would challenge us all to memorize. It's a very important scripture.
Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost, that
come to God by him, seek he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. We're going to have a baptism
now. And Luke and Tracy Coffey are
going to confess Christ in Believer's Baptism, and I just rejoice in
that.