Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter six. I've entitled the message for
tonight. The forerunner. The forerunner. Hebrews 6, verse
20, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made
an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The forerunner. The Lord Jesus has many titles,
many names. All of which are very precious
and very instructive. I think of the Christ. What a
name. The Christ. That refers to his
offices as prophet and priest and king, the Messiah. The son
of God. What a name. What a person. The son of man. The Lord. The Master. I Am. The Preacher. The Savior. What a name! The Redeemer. The Lamb of God. The Lion of the tribe of Judah.
The King of Kings. And the Lord of Lords. The Word
of God. And this is just to name a few
of His names, His titles, and His offices. But here is a name
or a title to Christ that is only found this one time in the
Bible. The Forerunner. Our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, is called the Forerunner. Which means, One who proceeds. One who goes before us. Did you notice in that passage
of scripture I read in Matthew chapter 28? He said you go tell
them I go before you. Now I love the way the writer
to the Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 20, whether the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. Made in high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek, even Jesus. That's a name that always troubles
me when people use this name flippantly. Jesus this, Jesus
that, use it as a slang. This is the name that I believe
is most precious to His people. Every time we use His name, it
ought to be with reverence, respect, joy, fear, and trembling. Jesus! Why is this name so precious? Because it answers our greatest
need. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. And my dear
friends, that's what I need. I need to be saved from my sins. So His name is so precious. This is that name at which every
knee shall bow. Listen to this scripture, Philippians
2, Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
is going to bow. The things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue
shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, the preciousness of this
name. This one who is the forerunner
is even Jesus. Turn with me for a moment to
Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, beginning in
verse 7. And when they had sent them in
the midst, they asked, by what power or authority, or by what
name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of
Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the
impotent man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto
you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you
whole. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders,
which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation
in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved." Now, when they saw the
boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned
and ignorant men, they marveled And they took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus. Jesus, what a name. May God give me grace to fear
that name even more, with more reverence and respect and love. Jesus, the forerunner. Now back in our text in Hebrews
chapter 6 verse 20, wherefore the forerunner is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now, something that comes to
my mind and my attention is who is the us? The forerunner is
for us entered. Is that a reference to me? Dare
I take this promise to myself? Who is the us that he has entered
in for? Does that mean all men without
exception? Well. If it does. That means him being
a forerunner for some people doesn't do him any good. This us is not a reference to
all men without exception. It's everybody he's a forerunner
for. It's all who believe. It's all the elect of God. It's
the same us that Paul spoke of when he said, if God be for us,
who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, hastily not with him also freely
give us all things. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that can condemn? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
than it's risen again. Who's even at the right hand
of God, who maketh intercession for us. That's the us he's speaking
of. Every single believer, the elect
of God. And I love the names that God
gives to his elect. There's some very broad names. Here's a good name for God's
elect, Whosoever. You like that name? Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the name
of God's elect. And I like this one, His minias. As many as received
Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on His name. As many as were ordained,
to eternal life, believed. I like this name, All. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. All that believe
are justified from all things which you could not be justified.
from the Law of Moses. These are wonderful names of
God's elect. You know what my favorite name is, though? Sinner. That's my favorite name. I can
get myself in that group a whole lot easier than I can in any
other group. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief. Now, just because this us is
a particular people, this doesn't keep anybody out. This brings
people in. Thank God for the us. He is a
forerunner for us. Now, where is it that this forerunner
enters before us? Notice it says whether the forerunner
is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek. We'll look back in verse 19 and
we'll see where it is he's entered for us. which hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth
into that within the veil." Now, this is where this forerunner,
this one who proceeds beforehand, who goes before and represents
us, he enters within the veil. Within the veil represents the
nearest you can get to God. I love that song, Near, so near
to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the person of His dear
Son, I am as near to God as He. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of His dear
Son, I am as dear to God as He. How near! Every believer is listen
to this scripture from Revelation chapter 3 verse 21. Our Lord
says to him that overcometh Them that overcometh Who overcomes
this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith? everybody
who believes God Everybody who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ?
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even
as I overcame and am set down with my Father on His throne."
How near am I? I'm sitting with Him on His throne. I don't know what to say about
that other than that's mighty close, isn't it? Our Lord said
in John 17, verse 24, Father, I will. Only the Lord can speak
this way. I can't say, Father, I will.
I say, Father, if it be Thy will. But our Lord, as equal to the
Father, can say, Father, I will. There isn't anything more powerful
than the Word of God than that, is there? He says to the Father,
the mighty Creator, Father, I will, that they which thou hast given
me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Where is he? He's within the
veil, dwelling in the light which no man can approach to. dwelling
in the very Shekinah glory, the presence of God, and he enters
as a forerunner for us, every believer. As I'm a member of
his body, if he's there, you know who else is there? Every
body that's a member of his body. Every believer. And this is so
comforting and so glorious to think of right now. If I'm a
member of his body, and this is a great mystery, the church
is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all,
every believer, I'm in the very presence of God right now, I'm
within the veil. You say, how can that be? I'm
looking at you, standing here in Lexington, Kentucky. If he's within the veil, I'm
within the veil. Scripture says, as he is, so
are we. in this world. And that's how
safe and that's how secure every believer is. You know, folks
say, well, I'm as sure for heaven as if I'm already there. Beloved,
I'm already there. In the Lord Jesus Christ, I am
already there. You want to talk about sure. There's nothing to
look for. I'm there. He is a forerunner for us, the
one who goes beforehand, a forerunner entering for us within the veil. Now, the word forerunner speaks
of three things. As a forerunner, he has, for
us, entered the veil with a declaration. He comes into the very presence
of the Father and says, It's finished. They're saved. Everybody that you gave me to
represent, every single one of them, they're saved. Signed,
sealed, and delivered. It is finished. I've saved them. Secondly, as a forerunner, he
has begun before us to prepare a place for us in God's presence. Now, as my forerunner, and he's
the one who's he's before me. Oh, I love the thought of him
being before me. But he went before me in the
incarnation and he became flesh for me. He became a man for me. He lived for me. He kept the law Remember, He
went before me. He died for me. He put my sins away. He was raised
from the dead for me. He ascends back to the Father
for me. And He sits at the right hand
of the Father for me. He's gone into the very presence
of God for us. And as a forerunner, He takes
possession for us. And as He is there, we are too. He actually takes possession
of our place for us. He said, I go and prepare a place
for you. Now, would you turn with me for
a moment to John chapter 10. Here's something about our forerunner,
John chapter 10. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth
up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber, but he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and
he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when
he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, he goeth
before them. And the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will
flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. This
parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what
things they were, which he spake unto them. Then said Jesus unto
them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers." Christ is the forerunner. So anyone who comes before Him
The same is a thief and a robber. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1, verse 16. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth. visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him, and he is before. All things. And by him, all things
consist, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is
the beginning. He's the beginning. Nothing comes
before him. The firstborn from the dead that
in all things He might have the preeminence. Now that word preeminence
means that in all things, he might be first. That's what it
means. In all things, he might be first. He's the first. That's who he
is. Now, you can't take this too
far in too many different directions. First of all, he's the first
in creation. He's faked this world into existence. All things
were created by him. Without him was not anything
made that was made. He's the first in creation. Nothing
comes before him. He's the first in providence.
Everything that happens, you can't take this too far. Everything
that happens ultimately happens because of him. Aren't you thankful
for that? Everything. He's first. He's
the first cause. He's the cause of causes. Everything
that happens, he is in control of. He's first. That's why he
could say, be of good cheer. It's I. Whatever it may be, be
of good cheer. It's I. He's the first in providence. Everything that happens is neither
more nor less than his will being done. He's the first in salvation. You know what that means? Salvation
comes because of him. Salvation is of the Lord. He's first in every aspect of
salvation. He comes first. He's our forerunner in election
that we talked about this morning. The Lord said you didn't choose
me. I chose you. Now, you think of his choice
of his people. He's the forerunner. He's the
one who did the choosing, and we're chosen in Him. God didn't
look at me and say, I'm going to choose Him and then give me
to Christ. Doesn't work that way at all. We were chosen in
Him. And election is not understood. It's just a fatalistic, dry,
dead doctrine apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ be
my first elect, He said, then chose us in Him, our living head. He's the forerunner of election.
It begins with Him. He is the forerunner of our justification. I'm justified by his righteousness. He is the. Forerunner of our
redemption, so much so that he's called the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. You know, before there was ever
a sinner, there was a savior. He's the forerunner of our redemption.
He's the forerunner in our experience of grace. Now, you've heard This
called provenient grace. And this is a wonderful thing
to think about. You know, as soon as I, September 9th, 1959,
is that my, yeah, September 9th, 1959, my birthday. You know,
the Lord's hand was on me. He said, before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. And he says that to every single
believer. And all the stuff that happened
to me, he was in control of. He's the first cause behind every
bit of it. He's certainly the forerunner
of our new birth. We didn't believe and become
born again. No, we're born again and we believe. Now, understand
me, hear me real carefully here. Logically, life has got to come
before faith. Logically, you can't believe
then live. You live and believe. Logically,
life comes before faith. That just makes sense. But chronologically,
as far as the event of time, they happen at the precise same
time. You're not born again until you
believe. And you won't believe until you're
born again. Now, that makes sense to me.
I mean, I believe it. I don't so much understand it,
but I believe it. Logically, you have to live before
you can believe. But chronologically, you don't
live until you do believe. They come at the precise same
time. That gives us the importance
of faith. Faith. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. He's the forerunner of our new
birth. He's the forerunner of our faith.
Do you believe? Where'd that faith come from?
Did it come as an act of your will, or did it come because
He gave it to you? For by grace, you say, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. He's the forerunner of my faith.
He's the forerunner of my repentance. I repent, and if I don't repent,
I won't be saved. There's no salvation apart from
true and genuine repentance. But the scripture says, him hath
God exalted as a prince and savior for to give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sins. He preceded my repentance. The reason I repent is because
he caused me to. He's the forerunner of my love.
We read we love him because he first loved us. He's the forerunner
of everything in Providence. And I like thinking about this.
He's the forerunner in my death. You know, one of these days,
I'm going to close these eyes and die. You are too. But you know, there's
one who's gone before in death. He actually died. And he goes
before us in death. And as we die, he who's dead
and lived again holds our hand as we go through this. He is
the forerunner of all things. And here's what I like to think
about most. He's the forerunner for me in
judgment. He proceeds before me. He goes before me and he
says to the father, he's one of mine. Nothing else needs to
be said. He's the forerunner. Isn't he
precious in this office? The forerunner. He's the forerunner in every
season. He's in all that ever came before
me. are thieves and robbers. Anytime a man says he comes before
Christ, obviously he's a thief and robber. But even in a doctrine,
somebody says, well, it's an act of your will that comes before
faith or it's an act of your will that comes before the new
birth or something like that. That's coming before Christ.
And that's a thief and a robber. He's the forerunner of all things.
You see, it's pleased the Father that in all things he has the
preeminence. that he comes first. And don't you love the Lord being
first in everything? That's what believers love this.
He is the forerunner. Now, turn with me to Luke chapter
23. Here is this spelled out real
clearly, Luke chapter 23. Now, in this scene that I want
us to consider, there are three crosses. On one cross hangs a man dying
in his sin. As he lived, so he died in hatred
of God. in hatred of Christ, cursing
Christ even while he dies, making fun of him. As he lived, so he
died. In the middle cross, we have
one dying for sin. One was dying in his sin, but
in the middle cross, we have one dying for sin. The sins of
God's people actually became His, so that He was guilty. So that he said, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He was dying for sin. My sin,
the sins of everybody who believed, actually, literally became his
so that he bore the guilt, the filth, the sin. Somebody's thinking,
does that mean he sinned? No, he didn't sin, but it was
worse. He was made sin. I don't understand
that. I just believe it. That's what
the Scripture says. He was dying for sin. He put away sin. And on that other cross, that
third cross, there was a man dying to sin. One dying for any
sin, one dying for sin, and another dying unto sin. Sin now has nothing
to say to it. Do you remember who died first? Of the three on the cross, who
died first? Well, do you remember from John's accounts where the
soldier goes up and he was going to break the legs of all of them
because they didn't want anybody to be hanging there alive on
the Passover day? And he came up to the one dying
for sin and he broke his legs. He was still alive. He broke
his legs so he would die. He came up to the one who was
dying to sin and he broke his legs so he would die. But he
came up to the middle cross, and you remember how the Lord
was already dead. You see, he proceeded in death,
didn't he? He proceeded in death. Now, let's
read this passage of Scripture together. We see the setting.
Verse 39. And one of the malfactors which
were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. But the other answering, rebuked
him, saying, Does not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same
condemnation? And I know that when he says,
Does thou not fear God? He knew that one hanging on the
cross was nobody less than God. He knew that. There's never been
anybody who believed on Christ who didn't believe He was God.
He knew that one hanging beside Him. Don't you fear God? Sing,
you're in the same condemnation. Let's go on reading. Verse 41,
And we indeed justly, we're getting exactly what we have coming,
for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath
done nothing amiss. He never sinned. He never sinned. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. I know you're a mighty king and
I know you shall not fail in whatever it is you do. If you're
going to come back as a mighty conquering king, you're going
to be raised from the dead. How do you understand this? I
don't know. How do you understand it? Because God revealed it to
him. That's how he knew all this stuff. I mean, you think he heard
the words of the Lord, all the stuff the Lord said on the cross.
He heard all that and he was given some understanding. He
said, Lord, He knew He was the Lord. Nobody else did. You reckon
anybody made fun of Him? We say, can you believe He's
called that one seemingly so helpless Lord? But He knew He
was the Lord. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Verse 43, And Jesus said unto
him, Verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in
paradise." Now remember who died first? The Lord Jesus. And He was the
forerunner of that thief. And He preceded that thief. And
that thief entered paradise because the forerunner entered for him. What a name of our Redeemer.
The forerunner. The one who proceeds. Now, there is a forerunner right
now within the veil. Let's look at a couple of scriptures
and we'll close. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Verse 12, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy
place. You know those high priests under
the Old Testament economy and the Levitical priesthood, they
would enter within the veil, but they couldn't bring anybody
in with them. They go in and come back out. They go in and
they come back out. They go in and they come back
out every year. But the Lord Jesus, the priest
after the order of Melchizedek, when he came into the presence
of God within the veil, he brought some people in with him. He's
unlike any other priest, he's the only one to do this. Now,
look at verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Look in verse 24 of the same
chapter. For Christ has not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself. now to appear in the presence
of God for us. And in his intercession, this
is so wonderful to think about this. In his intercession, I, I sin. I sin against God. I wish I didn't. I do. And I'm so ashamed of myself
before my heavenly father, I sin against God. But there's one
in the very presence of God, even now. And he doesn't say,
oh, let him by this time or let him by again or forgive him again. No, it's not like that at all. He stands within the veil, in
the very presence of God, as my intercessor. And God looks
at me, and He says, I see no sin in you. He's holy. He's unblameable. And He's unreprovable in my very
sight. And if God sees me that way,
you know what? That's the way I am, holy and
unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. That's the way
his intercession works within the veil. One last scripture,
Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25. Wherefore, he is able. Let's put the emphasis on his
ability. He is able. Let's remember who this one is.
This is God the Son. This is the one who has all power. He is able also to save Them
to the uttermost. I like what one fellow said,
from the gutter most to the uttermost. He's able to save them to the
uttermost. That's just saved. Plum, saved. Can't get any more
saved. Them that come to God by Him. seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for thee. Isn't that a great name for our
Lord? The forerunner. The forerunner. He's got a lot
of precious names, and none are any more precious than this.
Our forerunner. Even Jesus. Let's pray together.