[0:00] Let's turn back for a short time to the chapter we had, Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews 4, I'm reading this evening again from verses 14 down to verse 16.
[0:14] Hebrews 4, verses 14 down to verse 16. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
[0:30] We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence throw near to the throne of grace.
[0:43] We may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We read the whole chapter, of course, and there's not a time this evening to delve into the full context of chapter 4.
[1:00] But just to bring it back before that, I know you've looked before in Hebrews, of course, as a congregation, but just as a very brief recap in case perhaps those listening online, the book of Hebrews was written to a group of, we assume, young Christians, young in our faith at least, who had been saved out from a Jewish context, who were Jews who then, of course, met the Messiah, who came to know the Messiah, who were saved by Jesus.
[1:32] But these Jews, these Jewish believers, they were, of course, slowly but surely being tempted back into the old ways of things. Quite literally back to the smells and bells, as it were, of the temple.
[1:45] Back to the robes and back to the physical things, the sacrifices, the things they could see and touch. And it makes sense, we understand. They were facing persecution. They were facing pretty dark days around them.
[1:59] So the writer of this letter, of this epistle, he writes to them and he assures them, he's trying to comfort them, he's trying to remind them again and again that, yes, they came from something great.
[2:12] But in Jesus, there is someone and something even greater. For a short time this evening, as we look at verses 14 down to verse 16, that's what we have in our mind.
[2:23] Why is Jesus greater? Why is Jesus better? Why are we here this evening gathered together to worship him? Why do we say we love him? Why do we want to serve him and love him better?
[2:37] For those of us here this evening who are Christians, that is what I want us to think about. As we're reminded of verses 14 to verse 16, and as we're reminded about the reality of our great high priest, about who he is and what he's done for us, I want us to rethink and to ask ourselves the question, to be reminded that we have a great high priest who has done all for us.
[2:58] What does that mean for us? What access does that give us as believers? And for any of those here this evening, and indeed perhaps online, who as of yet do not know Jesus, who as of yet don't know him as your high priest, as we take time in these verses, I want to ask you, how many reasons, how many excuses do you have left?
[3:21] You've heard again and again, and I know you have from this pulpit, but in Jesus you have one who is willing to come alongside you. One who tells us in his word that he is the one who bears the burdens of his people.
[3:35] For this evening, as we look at these verses, hear more about the one who is telling you that he has done all. He's willing to bear your burdens. I'm sure, dear friends, you have many burdens. We all do.
[3:45] Come, and our prayer is that by the end of this evening, indeed by the end of our time together in God's word, you would come to have known and come to have called out, even for the first time perhaps, that this high priest, he would come and he would be your high priest, that he would be your saviour, your Lord.
[4:03] So we said in the context of chapter 4, the writer is taking them back, as it were, through the years and reminding them that their forefathers, that they, out of their disobedience, we saw and we read, that they failed and they failed and they failed again.
[4:20] Under the old covenant, as it were, that they could not achieve, they could not match, they could not get to the extent of holiness required for them. They did not enter their rest.
[4:30] And the writer is telling these Christians, he's reminding them that in Jesus, they have one who offers true, eternal rest for his people.
[4:44] That's where he leads us on as we get to verse 14. He reminds them that in Jesus, in the great high priest, they have one who has truly purchased, as it were, rest for them. If they come to him, if they know him, if they rely on him truly, they will have real rest.
[5:02] He's reminding them that in Jesus, they already have what we're looking for, back in the old way of things. Now verse 14, of course, verse 14 to verse 16 is the end of our chapter, but as we get there, we begin reading in verse 11.
[5:19] We read what people use to verse 11 and verse 12. Let us therefore strive to enter at rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharp of any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
[5:39] And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. If we want to do things our way, if we say, I want to try and impress God as best I can, I want to try and do things under my strength, under my efforts, if we ignore the great high priest given to us, we find ourselves squarely in the middle of verses 12 down to verse 13.
[6:06] We are before the one who is the living and true God, whose words are sharp, whose word is sharper than any two-edged sword, the God who sees exactly who and who, what we are.
[6:21] Verse 13, that terrifying verse, that simple verse, no creature is hidden from his sight, all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
[6:36] Not one person here, myself included, not one person across creation, not one person will not one day face, come before the living God. We must one day give, as it were, account to him.
[6:50] He sees us, he knows us. In his holiness and his perfection, we must come up to that and we see that we have nothing to give. That before his holiness, his perfection, that we have nothing to offer.
[7:04] In the context of that reality, we then find our verses here, in verses 14 down to verse 16. As we look at these verses, I want us to do so into three very brief headings, looking at each verse as we go on.
[7:22] First of all, looking in verse 14, we see the access we have through Jesus. Access. Then in verse 15, we see the awareness of our high priest.
[7:33] Access, awareness. And then finally, in verse 16, we see the approach we must have to him. To the access we have through our high priest, the awareness of our high priest for his people, and furtherly, the approach we must have because of his finished work.
[7:52] First of all, looking at verse 14, we see the access we have through our high priest. So in the reminder, in the reminder we have of verses 12 to verse 13, that reminder we saw of God's holiness, the reminder of the power of his word, of the fact that no one and nothing can escape his sight.
[8:16] Where does that leave us this evening? If we're reading, if a chapter stopped at the end of verse 13, we would leave this building this evening, I'm sure, leaving and feeling ourselves and finding ourselves, if not distressed, then at least without any sort of hope.
[8:33] Yes, we leave here reminded that we are before the God of all glory, who has full control over his creation. We be left in no doubt as to our position before him as unclean and as exposed.
[8:49] Left in no doubt as to his position over us as judge. Of course, not one of these statements would be untrue. But they leave us asking, where's the hope? How do we begin to cope as we deal with the reality of verses 12 and verse 13?
[9:06] What do we do in the light of such unapproachable holiness this evening? Even as believers, I'm sure there's times where we're so aware, so we're just glimpses perhaps behind a curtain.
[9:18] We're so aware as to the holiness of the God we serve. We just feel his presence. And we find ourselves wanting to look away as it were, to hide our faces from that holiness.
[9:31] We're left in no doubt as to the holiness and the power and the sovereignty of our God in verses 12 and verse 13. We give praise to God the writer as God inspired us not leave us at the end of verse 13.
[9:47] We then have our text this evening. He brings us then in verse 14 back to the only one, of course, who is blameless before God. The only one who is blameless in the sight of the Father who sang together in Psalm 24.
[10:02] The only one who truly has clean hands and a clean heart. We see that the wording we have at the start of verse 14, that simple phrase, since then, that word that gives us the sense that this is connecting to what's been said.
[10:17] In the light of verses 12 and verse 13, since then, because all that's true, verse 14 then kicks in. Who is our only hope before the holy God of verse 12 and verse 13?
[10:32] Who alone enables us this evening to approach God, to worship God? To whose finished work do we cling this very moment as believers? To whom can we cry out to be our shield this evening, our protection this evening?
[10:46] Of course, it's to Jesus, the Son of God, our eternal High Priest. Brothers and sisters, as we look again at these verses this evening, to remind ourselves, as to the wonder, that our High Priest, our beloved Saviour, that He gives us access before the throne of grace this very moment, this very evening.
[11:12] Of course, before Jesus, there were many, many faithful High Priests. Many faithful High Priests before the final great High Priest we have in this verse.
[11:24] And these men, they, I'm sure, faithfully served. But their service, of course, was always tainted by sin. And ultimately, their service was always, of course, cut short, as it were, by the final outworking of sin in this world, which is death.
[11:42] We're reminded of that in Hebrews 7 and verse 23. He tells us, the former priests were many in number because we're prevented by death from continuing in office. Speaking of Jesus, but He holds His priesthood permanently because He continues forever.
[12:02] As we see, verse 14, we see at least three distinctive features about our High Priest, three realities about our High Priest that assure us of our access through Him to the Father.
[12:20] Girls, perhaps, and mums and dads, this might help us in answering our first question. First, in verse 14, we can see the name given to our High Priest.
[12:35] Not just our High Priest. Verse 14, Since then we have a great High Priest. This separates Him out from even the best, even the most faithful of the previous High Priests.
[12:50] He alone is superior to all that came before. He alone is called the Great High Priest. He alone is highly exalted. And because He is greater, because He is the top of all the High Priests, He has done what they could never do.
[13:11] In His finished work, He has granted us access to the Father. This evening, brothers and sisters, we gather together and we have a sure hope that we have access to the throne of grace, that you have access to the Father because we love and trust in the One who is our great High Priest, the only One who is highly exalted.
[13:33] And that's proven to us even more by our second evidence, if you like, of Jesus securing for us access to the Father.
[13:45] We see that in the phrase being used here, perhaps a strange phrase, we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens. Passed through the heavens.
[13:57] Of course, as we said, this is a letter written to Christians of a Jewish background and, as we said, we are being tempted back to the old ways of things.
[14:08] And the use of the plural here for heavens, it's interesting, who has passed through the heavens. As far as we understand, as far as the commentators understand, this is just the writer using the cultural wording of the day.
[14:26] We know for a fact that at this time it was not biblical, but they believed culturally that there were, as it were, levels to heaven. And we see that, we know, when Paul talks about being caught up into the third heaven.
[14:41] The writer using the words, using the culture of the day is clear, that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens. He is fully exalted.
[14:54] As it were, he passed through all the layers. Nothing and no one stopped him. He completed his work and he has now ascended through the heavens.
[15:08] We'll sing, God willing, at the end in Psalm 110. In fact, it was last year, if not two years ago now, we looked together at that psalm on a Sunday evening. That psalm which reminds us that we worship one who is at the right hand of the Father, highly exalted.
[15:25] And we see that same language being used here, one who has passed through the heavens. The right hand of the Father, that place of completion, that place of power.
[15:37] He is there reigning and ruling with the Father for all time. We have a High Priest who has the right hand of the Father, who has passed through the heavens.
[15:49] We worship an ascended High Priest who completed fully all that had been done for the salvation of His people. For us to have access.
[16:01] He's completed all that needed to be done. We have these wonderful words. Philippians 2, verses 1 to 11. Philippians 2, verses 9 to 11.
[16:13] God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that's above every name. So that of the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[16:33] Brothers and sisters, we have a High Priest who is highly exalted. We have assurance that this very evening that you have access to the Father because you have one who is at His right hand this very moment.
[16:47] Thirdly, in verse 14, we see the third evidence. We're reminded that our High Priest has access to the Father because of who He is.
[17:00] The end of verse 14. Jesus, the Son of God. His very name here, His very title is very descriptive here. It gives us that reminder that through Him we have access to the Father.
[17:14] Jesus, Mary's boy, a trained carpenter, as it were, who lived and who experienced life and we'll see more of that later on as we go through the next verse.
[17:27] Jesus, who lived a real life, who in His full humanity experienced His own creation, who lived the perfect life we could never live.
[17:40] who represents us as our eternal High Priest before the Father. Verse 14 reminds us we have a High Priest who is fully man. But also we see Jesus, the Son of God, fully man, but also, of course, fully divine.
[17:59] Now, dear brothers and sisters, the mechanics of that is far beyond me. and I would, don't think it's too far, to say it's far beyond anyone here this evening. The mechanics, as a word, don't matter to us.
[18:13] We believe and we know our Savior, fully man, fully God. We give praise to God that He has given us men before us who have worked through these things and our confession helps us here.
[18:26] Confession, chapter 8 and section 2, speaking about this, speaking about Jesus. So that two whole, perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion.
[18:49] Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man? Dear friends, verse 14 reminds us that for Him to be our High Priest, He had to be like us in every way.
[19:07] But also, for Him to be High Priest, the perfect High Priest, He also had to be God. The title here of verse 14, the very title of our Savior, reminds us, assures us this evening, gives us hope this evening that we have access before God.
[19:27] Who took on flesh, a High Priest, who took on flesh, but at the same time remained fully God. Dear reverend sisters, you, this evening, who know Jesus, this evening, because of verse 14, because we have the assurance that our High Priest has done all this for us, we have every reason to hold fast our confessions, we see here at the end of verse 14, every reason to hold tight to what it is we cling to, to the reality of that we worship our risen Savior.
[20:01] Because we trust this very evening, this very moment, we have the full assurance that we have access because of His finished work. Because verse 14 is true, we can have full assurance.
[20:14] You can know that this very moment you have full access to the throne of grace because of His finished work. If we're honest, how often we all lack spiritual confidence.
[20:27] But this is not just some useful theological knowledge for us to get through on a Sunday evening, no, this is real for us. As we begin this new week, this is an important reminder for us, because of the work of our Savior, because of verse 14, we now have access to the throne of grace.
[20:44] Because of His finished work, you can, this very moment, draw near to Him. Through Christ, we have access.
[20:55] In verse 15, we also see that through His finished work, we have a Savior who has full awareness of His people. Now we know, as we said before in verse 14, we know that the full wrath of the Father was poured out onto Jesus.
[21:15] Our Savior, who was the only high priest who was also the sacrifice. We know from verse 14 that we have access to the Father. We know from verse 14 that because of the finished work, we can hold with confidence to our confession.
[21:32] We can stop here at verse 14 and be satisfied. We can go home this evening with that knowledge and be assured that we have access to the Father and be happy with that. Be happy that salvation is ours.
[21:46] Be assured of His finished work. But again, if we're being honest, dear brothers and sisters, as much as we affirm verse 14, as much as we affirm all we've just said, as much as we affirm our Savior's finished work and the access we have to the throne of grace and all of that which things which we love and we hold to, it's not a wild guess to say that there's not one believer here this evening.
[22:16] Not one of us who at times feel that hold far more loose and far more unsteady than we want it to be. Life is hard.
[22:28] At times, life can be very hard. At times, our journey is difficult and it's so easy for us and especially as Christians to our shame it's so easy for us to put a thin veneer over our situation.
[22:44] We all like to look the part, to talk the part, to act the part, act and speak and look as if everything's okay in life or spiritually whatever the case may be.
[22:56] But when I'm sure most if not many of us are going through something or perhaps attempting to support someone's going through something and we find it so hard to be honest about our weaknesses, so hard to be honest about our own frailty, we hate to appear weak, we hate to appear as if we need help, but we praise God this evening in verse 15, we praise God for the one who sees all things and who knows all things.
[23:23] He also sees, of course, our weaknesses. The high priest as he described in verse 14, yes, he is exalted, yes, he's glorious, yes, the high priest of verse 14 is exalted at the right hand of the father.
[23:38] We might be forgiven for thinking of the high priest of verse 14, he's done all things for his people, yes, but he is, perhaps, does sound distant and far off, he's up there, far away, as it were.
[23:54] But then verse 15 reminds us that's not the case, that the reality is quite the opposite. See, for all our bluff and all our bluster and all our pretending everything is okay, our saviour, he knew the people he was coming to save.
[24:13] He knows what it is to experience human emotion, to feel tired, to feel hungry, to feel pain, and so on. As we approach verse 15, we begin to see the wonderful assurance it gives us as we journey on.
[24:31] Brothers and sisters, we have a saviour who is fully able to come alongside us in all our pain, in all our sufferings, to fully sympathize with us.
[24:43] We see that in verse 15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. And that word, sympathize there, if we break down the Greek words used for it, it means quite literally one who suffers along with.
[25:01] We have a high priest who is willing and who does suffer along with his people. With respect, he doesn't stand at a distance and look on us and shake his head and go, well, that's a shame.
[25:15] These poor souls living a hard life, how hard it is for them. No, our eternal high priest, he knows exactly the suffering that you are going through, my dear brother, dear sister.
[25:26] He is close to his beloved people in all their pain and all their agony. And again, I know some faces, but I don't know your situation.
[25:38] But he does. Now, brother and sister, if you're here this evening and you're going through darkness, even now, you know this is not just some interesting theological point that I'm making just now.
[25:51] It is in fact the source, I'm sure, of your strength as you rely on the one who is close and who sympathizes, who comes alongside you in your weakness and in your pain. See, our confidence to hold fast to the confession of verse 14, it's not based on our ability.
[26:09] It's not based even on our situation. It's based on his faithfulness. And he is a faithful high priest to his people. Weak Christian. Suffering Christian.
[26:23] Pained, anxious, tired Christian. Your high priest this evening, he is for you. They're all near to him in your time of need.
[26:36] Verse 14 tells us, verse 15 tells us, he knows you. He knows your situation like no one else does. In verse 15, we find hope for the suffering Christian.
[26:49] There's even more hope offered in verse 15. we also see hope for the tempted Christian. I'm going to pause for a second and say just very briefly that in general, we're quite happy to confess and quite happy to lay hold onto the divine nature of our high priest, the divine nature of Jesus.
[27:11] To proclaim, yes, he is fully God. And we, of course, also believe he is fully man. When it comes to confessing his full humanity, yes, we confess it, yes, we believe it, but if we're honest, we tend to be a bit more reserved when we approach it.
[27:27] Our eternal high priest, we know he did not sin. We see that in our verse here, the end of verse 15. He is the perfect, he is the spotless lamb, the only truly undefiled sacrifice there ever was.
[27:43] We proclaim that, we hold that to be true. But as we see in verse 15, we also declare we have a high priest who was tempted in every respect, in every way as we are.
[27:56] We cannot lose sight of reality of that. One who in every respect has been tempted as we are. Brothers and sisters, there is no wasted words in Scripture, as it were.
[28:10] We are told here, our glorious high priest was tempted in every respect. respect. And the word being used here is a broad word. Same word used again and again throughout Scripture. It's a broad word.
[28:21] It's a big word. It encapsulates everything. In all ways, he faced temptation, as it were. Jesus, our Savior, in his time on earth, he was tempted.
[28:35] Dear Christian, your Savior was willing, was willing to leave his place of eternal glory, to step down into his own creation, to be tempted to sin, to be tempted to commit acts against his own eternally glorious nature.
[28:52] Such is the love of the high priest for his precious people. Just as he's able to come alongside his people in all our weakness, he's also able to come alongside his people in all our temptation.
[29:11] In our temptations towards sin, of course, we fight and we rail against it. We fail. We find ourselves in that sin. Our Savior, for his whole life on earth, he resisted that temptation to sin.
[29:26] Richard Lawrence helpfully gives a brief illustration to help us perhaps grasp that a bit more. Richard Lawrence says, who understands suffering better?
[29:37] The person who when tortured gives in and tells his captors everything? Or the person who resists despite the fact that his torture continues? We who give in to temptation so easily cannot even guess how strong temptation can be.
[29:54] Jesus, who never gave in, knows. Beloved sons and daughters of the Lord, you have a Savior in your temptations and your continued fight against sin and in your shame and in your misery for again sinning against your holy God.
[30:17] You can take that to your Savior. Dear brother, dear sister, the truth is you must take that to your Savior. He alone knows the full extent of your weakness.
[30:31] and he alone knows the full extent of what it is to be tempted. And he has through his completed work, he has shown his beloved people, he has shown you his precious one, but he has made provision for you.
[30:47] In him alone we find one who is tempted yet did not sin. In him alone we find forgiveness for our sins. Our sinless high priest who is a friend of sinners.
[31:01] Brings us very briefly onto our third verse here in verse 16 and we see the approach we must take. We've been reminded about the divinity, the glory, the power of our high priest.
[31:14] We've been reminded in verse 15 as to the reality that he is close to all who are weak. He has suffered weakness, he has suffered pain, suffered temptation so that you need not hide your face from him.
[31:27] Very briefly we see the reality of that here in our final verse. Because verse 14 is true, because verse 15 is true, what then is our reaction to that?
[31:40] What then does that lead us to this evening? It leads us to verse 16. It leads us to the wonderful reality of our approach to the throne of grace. Verse 16, let us then.
[31:52] all we've just heard, all we've just said about the priesthood, the person of Jesus, because all that is the case, we come to this final verse and we can know but we can trust what's being said to us.
[32:09] Dear friends, let us then with confidence, with confidence, throw near to the throne of grace. Of course, the wording here, the throne of grace is being used at least in part to just convey the place of God's presence.
[32:25] Of course, it has imagery going back to the temple but that's a sermon from every day and perhaps from your minister rather than from me but the imagery is the mercy seat, the place where God's presence is. The throne of grace, we can go to where God is.
[32:40] Because of verse 14, verse 15, because we have a great high priest, we can go to where God is. We have access to the Father, to the finished work of His Son.
[32:50] We know this but how liable and how often we forget that wonderful reality. The question is, Christian, do you at this very moment, do you feel in yourself, do you feel that you can approach God's presence with confidence just now?
[33:09] You might be thinking, well, you have no idea of a week I have had. You have no idea of a day I have had perhaps, a month, a year I have had. I've not served Him well.
[33:22] I feel myself so weak and so dependent. I feel myself so useless. I don't feel worthy. I don't even feel close to worthy to come before the presence of God.
[33:37] Of course, all these statements might well be true. And perhaps you aren't wrong in anything you're saying. Brothers and sisters, you nor I, we don't deserve to come before the full of grace.
[33:49] We know that. But this day, we need to come before the full of grace. We must do in confidence. We're told, commanded as a word to tell us, here we have in verse 16, we must draw before the full of grace in confidence.
[34:04] Confidence not based on us, not based on our deserving of it, but based on the realities we saw in verse 14 and verse 15, based on His finished work.
[34:16] Perhaps we might think it's somehow more respectful, more honouring to God to hang back, more respectful to wait and to wait to a point where we're serving better or feeling better.
[34:34] Perhaps when I'm praying more regularly, when I'm reading Scripture better, then I'll go to the throne, then I'll go back to God, as it were, when I'm more holy before Him. Dear Christian, the reality, and you know it as much as I do, the reality is quite the opposite.
[34:52] At your lowest, at your weakest, it is then you must, trusting in His finished work, you must come with confidence to the throne.
[35:04] The confidence of trusting in a triumphant Savior, who's done all for the salvation of His people. See, a slowness to come to pray to God, a slowness to come to the throne of grace, it doesn't reflect a greater sense of holiness.
[35:21] Quite the opposite. It reflects a lack of understanding as to what your Savior has done for you. Come with confidence. You're told to do so. Why?
[35:34] Because only when you come with confidence to the throne of grace do we find mercy and grace to help in time of need. There is no other source. There is no other way.
[35:46] We must pray. We must be willing to come to that throne, to come and to come before one who is holy, yes, who is perfect, yes, the one who's provided for us a Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[36:00] Don't try going it alone. the mercy and the grace is there for you, dear Christians. Your access to it has been purchased at a precious, precious price.
[36:12] The blood of your Savior. We must not delay in coming to the throne of grace, even this evening, because there you will find mercy.
[36:23] You will find grace from the God of all grace. Dear friends, of course, the last few verses or the last short time together, looking and really applying this to those of us here who know Jesus and it's encouraging for us to be reminded us to our access through Jesus.
[36:42] with a question that must be asked with no joy whatsoever. To those here who as of yet do not know Jesus, who do not know Jesus as your high priest, where do you go?
[36:59] To whom do you go? Where's your help? Where's your hope? And I ask that question not flippantly. We ask that question with all the love and care and the pain of reality of the answer we know it.
[37:15] Because the answer is you have nothing and no one. Nothing lasting. No one who can actually help. And we know that because we have also been there.
[37:27] Come and know the high priest. Come and know the high priest of verse 14. The one who has done all that needs to be done for your salvation.
[37:39] The one who is the son of God. Come and know the high priest of verse 15. The one who knows and who loves his people. Who cares for his people so carefully.
[37:54] Come and know the one who has given us access to the throne of grace. Our prayer. Our prayer this week. Our prayer even this evening.
[38:05] You come and know the reality of verse 16 and for your life. To no longer have God over you as one who has got nothing but judgment for you. To remove yourself from verse 12 and verse 13 and to find yourself instead in verse 16.
[38:22] To be able to come to him and to know him as the one who gives love and who gives grace and who gives mercy to his beloved people. That's our prayer.
[38:33] That's our hope. Come and know of a great high priest who knows and who loves his people. Let's bow our heads now in a word of prayer. Lord of God we again thank you for the gift of your word.
[38:51] We're reminded we have this evening that we have a great high priest the Lord Jesus Christ who's ascended through the heavens the one who's at your right hand this very moment intercessing on behalf of his people carrying the names and the prayers of your people to you.
[39:11] We give you praise for that confidence we have that we can this very moment this very evening as individuals as a people here gathered together we can come before the throne of grace knowing that you hear our prayer.
[39:26] Your word tells us that you long and you desire to hear our voice and to see our face while we come before you this evening we do say Lord you see us and we confess that you know us and you hear our voices.
[39:37] We do pray for any Christians here this evening any of your people who are feeling far away from you we ask that you would again come to the throne of grace that we would come and see their need to come once more to a place the only place they can find hope and help and mercy and grace in their time of need.
[39:55] We ask you to forgive anything that was said not in accordance to your word we give you praise that the power is not in the jars of clay we stand here but the power is in your living word. we ask that that living word would transform even one soul this evening that goes out in power as we read from you that word which pierces the very soul the very marrow the very joints as it were of our souls there is nothing hidden from you you see us and you know us Lord in that reality we find ourselves exposed to you we ask we would turn to Christ turn to the one you provided the only one the only eternal son the only high priest the only saviour of his people help us this evening to turn to him to find our only hope placed on him and him alone let's go these things then and through and for his precious name's sake Amen well let's again sing to God's praise this time singing from Psalm 110
[40:58] Psalm 110 10 I can sing the whole Psalm to God's praise the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord the Lord of Zion the Lord the Lord of thy great power in midst of all enemies be thou the governor this Psalm of course talking as we said about our great high priest the one who's at the right hand of the Father verse 4 especially in verse 5 we see the one who's exalted the one who's eternally the high priest let's sing these verses to God's praise together Can I� the Lord it saeing hu plus in� the thy hand, until I make thy post a stool whereon thy feet may stand.
[42:26] The Lord shall not die on sand, the rod of thy faith burn.
[42:44] In this call of thine enemies, we are the governor.
[42:59] A brilliant people in thy day, a fire shall come to thee.
[43:17] In holy duties from the morn's womb, thy truth, thy truth shall be.
[43:34] The Lord himself hath made an oath, and will repent in heaven.
[43:51] O the order of death is a day, the Lord hath made forever.
[44:07] The glorious and mighty Lord, the saints of thy right hand.
[44:25] Shall in his day, the Lord hath made an oath, and will repent in heaven.
[44:42] He shall among the heathen judge, he shall report his death.
[44:59] The grace of the Lord hath made an oath, and will repent in heaven.
[45:16] The pure glad one hath made an oath, and will repent in heaven. The pure glad one hath made an oath, and will repent in heaven. With grace shall in supply, and for his cause in time, he shall lift it.
[45:41] The pure glad one hath made an oath, and will repent in heaven. We can close the prayer, and after the prayer, we have time for our questions.
[45:57] Lord, go before us this evening, we ask. Help us this new week to honour you and to praise you. All our words and our actions, all our thoughts, to hold you as holy.
[46:07] To humble ourselves before you. To rely on the risen Saviour. The finished work of our glorious High Priest. To find no hope.
[46:20] To find no strength in ourselves at all. To find all our strength. All our hope. All our confidence in him. And doing so, help us this week.
[46:31] To draw near and to draw close with confidence. The throne of grace. Your word just tells us we will find mercy. Find grace.
[46:42] In time of need. Let's call these things in and through and for Christ's precious name's sake. Amen.