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[0:00] Psalm 110. Let's hear the word of God. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

[0:36] The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.

[0:47] He will drink from a brook beside the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head. Amen. Let's hear the word of God preached. Christianity is more than a philosophy.

[1:04] It's more than just a set of ideas that we believe. It is rather rooted and grounded in historical events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:18] Namely, his incarnation. A real fact of history when the eternal Son of God broke into time and visited our planet to work out the plan of God for salvation of his people.

[1:34] And then there was the very life of Christ over those 33 years viewed as an event of his giving full obedience to his Father's laws and never sinning once against him.

[1:47] That he might have a righteousness to give to us poor sinners who have no righteousness of our own. And yet a righteousness we need for heaven. And then there was the event of his death by which he atoned for all the sins of all his people.

[2:05] Stepping in and suffering the punishment, the wages of sin that we deserve under God's wrath. And then there was the event of the resurrection three days later when he physically arose victorious over sin and death and Satan.

[2:23] And for the most part, these events of Christ loom large in the life of the church. We remember them, don't we? We have Christmas for the remembrance of the incarnation.

[2:34] And we remember the Lord's death in the supper. And we remember the resurrection each year with resurrection day and so forth. But there is sadly an omission that is often common throughout the church.

[2:50] A very important event that we must not forget. And that is his ascension into heaven. And not only his ascension as he ascended 50 days after the resurrection.

[3:04] But what happened on the top side of the clouds that day when he did ascend until his disciples could see him no more?

[3:14] I noticed on the way to church this morning, the whole sky was covered with a cloud, like a blanket. But you and I know that there's a lot more going on above those clouds than what's going on down here.

[3:28] In fact, what's going on down here is the effect of what has been decided up there from that throne in heaven. And so we're given to know what happened after Jesus went through the clouds that day in his ascension and went on into heaven.

[3:47] Well, it was his exaltation, his coronation, his being seated by God the Father on the very throne of God and from which he then poured out his Holy Spirit upon his church.

[4:05] He there presently reigns with the Father to bring to pass all the plans and purposes of God for his church, for his kingdom, and indeed for the whole universe.

[4:16] And from which he will physically return one day to judge the living and the dead, to assign them to their eternal destinies, and to bring to completion his kingdom on earth such that his will, the will of God, will be done on earth even as it is being done in heaven.

[4:36] So last week we turned to Psalm 110. Why? Because that tells us what happened there in the heavens when the Lord Jesus returning, having been sent from the Father on this mission of salvation, to accomplish salvation for his people, having accomplished it and is now returning to heaven, we have in Psalm 110 the very words that God the Father spoke to his son as he welcomed him back into heaven.

[5:07] And it's amazing because David wrote these words a thousand years before the event that he is explaining. And what was it that the Father said to his son as he ascended to heaven?

[5:23] Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Now, this psalm is quoted and alluded to in the New Testament more than any Old Testament passage, more than any other psalm.

[5:43] And there's a reason that the apostles and the early church turned to this psalm often for comfort and encouragement. Their Messiah King had been despised and rejected by men, indeed by the very religious leaders of the Jews, their scribes and their chief priests.

[6:03] He had been nailed to a cross of shame. And there he died as they mocked his claim to be a king. But three days later, he did arise and 40 days later ascended.

[6:17] And Psalm 110 taught them that their Messiah had gone from the cross to the crown. He had been raised and is now risen and reigning on the throne that rules the heavens and the earth with all authority given to him.

[6:35] That was a tremendous encouragement to that first century church. And they turned to it for encouragement and comfort as they were being persecuted by the same Jews that crucified their Savior.

[6:49] They turned to it for zeal and energy as they preached and witnessed the gospel to the world. Because it was from that throne that the Holy Spirit attends the word and wins converts and makes them willing in the day of his power.

[7:06] And they turned to this passage for assurance and hope in the midst of their most despairing trials and their darkest hours. And so it's my intention in returning to this psalm, Psalm 110, that we too might draw the same encouragement and zeal and assurance knowing that the Lord Jesus right now is risen and reigning over all things for us, his church.

[7:38] Now we saw last week that this wonderful king of heaven has enemies. That in itself is a sermon. But it does say that he now reigns in the midst of his enemies.

[7:51] But the Father has promised to bring all of his enemies under his feet, to subdue them and to bring them to bow and confess that Jesus Christ really is Lord.

[8:02] He really is God to the glory of God the Father. So some enemies he subdues in grace by converting them. Like the 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, they were all enemies of God.

[8:17] And then they were subdued and brought to bow, pierced by the gospel that convicted them of having killed their Messiah. And they repented and they trusted in him.

[8:30] Like Saul of Tarsus on the road of Damascus, brought to bow before King Jesus, converted, made the best missionary for the gospel he sought to destroy.

[8:41] Like you and me who have been saved by faith and repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ. We too were once enemies, but we have been made friends, made willing troops, now willing to serve this king.

[8:56] Whereas before we said we will not have this king to rule over us, we're now his willing servants and delight to own him as our king. So he subdues some by converting grace, but others he subdues in his wrath and in his judgments.

[9:14] Like King Herod, who opposed the church and killed the Apostle James and would have done the same to Peter. But the Lord intervened in that case for Peter and intervened for his church.

[9:26] And at the end of Acts 12, we find Peter out preaching free. And we find King Herod struck down by an angel sent from the throne of God and eaten of worms such that he died.

[9:43] So he was subdued. He was brought under the feet of Jesus, but it was too late for salvation and mercy. It was now just judgment. So we see today a second quote of what the father said to his son.

[10:01] Verse 1 was a direct quote of what the father said, and then verses 2 and 3 explain more about that. Now we come to verse 4, another direct quote of the father to the son, and then verses that will explain that.

[10:16] So the second quote from the father, David writes, verse 4, Here's the sworn words, father to the son, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

[10:32] So today we're going to see that the Lord Jesus is not only an exalted king, but he is a priest as well upon his throne. A priest.

[10:43] A priest king. Or a king priest, however you want it. These are two of his mediatorial offices. God-given positions by which he acts on behalf of his people in salvation.

[10:59] He does so as a king, ruling over us and defending us. For we are weak and helpless and need a king. But he also does this work of salvation as a priest.

[11:14] By dying for our sins and pleading with God for us. And why? Because we need a priest because we're guilty. We have nothing to do with God, the holy God, being sinners that we are, except in and through and by Jesus Christ.

[11:32] Depart from me. You cannot come to the Father, Jesus said. He is our mediating priest. So that's what we're looking at this morning. Jesus, our high priest.

[11:44] So we're not left to guess. Well, what's the work of a priest? The whole Old Testament is showing us what a priest's job is. And we see in the Old Testament that his work was twofold.

[11:57] It was to make sacrifices and then to make intercession. And in that order, he first made a blood sacrifice upon the altar. He took an innocent lamb, whatever the animal was, and slayed it, killed that animal, and did so in order to atone for sin.

[12:18] God was teaching us by this that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Sin must be punished. God is too righteous to just overlook it.

[12:31] The penalty must be suffered in order to satisfy God's holy wrath for the offense of our sin. But then the priest, once having made the sacrifice for sin on the altar, took the blood of that sacrifice into the temple, into the holy place where God dwelt, and then presented that blood, and on the merits of that blood, pleaded for the forgiveness of the people.

[12:59] So having sacrificed, he now comes to a second part, which is to intercede for the people before the presence of God. Both were done unto God. The sacrifice was unto him, and the prayers are unto him.

[13:13] Now, when kingship was established in Israel, right alongside of the Levitical priesthood, these two offices were never to be held by the same man.

[13:30] They were always to be kept separate. In fact, when King Uzziah ventured into the temple to do the act of a priest, and would do both offices, you remember God struck him with leprosy in judgment.

[13:46] So I say Psalm 110 must have been something of a mystery to these Old Testament readers, because their Messiah is here seen as seated upon the very throne of God, both as king and as priest.

[14:04] And all by God's appointment, because it's God who swore these words to his son, you are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

[14:16] Now, you see, these Old Testament kings and priests then were types and shadows teaching us something about what a king does for his people, what a priest does for his people, that we might understand Christ better.

[14:30] He's the true king. He's the true priest, acting on behalf of all who take refuge in him. So no wonder the first church turned often to Psalm 110 and gloried in its message.

[14:50] Their Jesus is God's anointed priest and king for them. And it's the very same reason why we should turn to this psalm and glory in its teaching, because we no less than they cannot enter heaven unless our sins are atoned for, and unless a mediating high priest pleads with God to forgive us our sins.

[15:20] It's in Jesus that we have such a priest, that we have such a sacrifice on the altar of Calvary, and now have such an intercession. Where? At God's right hand, pleading the merits of his blood.

[15:36] Well, there's another reason why the first century believers turn so often to Psalm 110, and especially the Jewish Christians.

[15:47] And let's just remind ourselves that most of the first Christians were Jewish. The 3,000 that were converted on the day of Pentecost, they were Jews who were coming back to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.

[15:59] So those first converts there were Jews. The apostles were largely Jews. The converts that swelled in Jerusalem, Jews. Jesus had said, begin in Jerusalem.

[16:10] And Judea, the land of the Jews. So, yes, this early church to begin with was made up of mainly Jewish converts. And they especially would turn to Psalm 110.

[16:23] They're unconverted. Oh, because of the persecution.

[16:34] They were not only persecuted by the Romans. They were persecuted more often by their own Jews. Who was killing, who killed Stephen? Who killed Jesus?

[16:45] It was the Jews. Who killed Stephen? Preaching Christ? It was the Jews. Who was Paul and his fellow chief priests and Pharisees? And who were they trying to kill? Christians.

[16:56] So, you see, it was Jewish persecution that was coming down upon them. And it was the whole Jewish society that they lived in and belonged to that was bringing pressure upon the early church, especially the Jewish believers who had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah.

[17:16] You see, their unconverted relatives and the dominant Jewish society around them continued to observe the Old Testament ritual of the temple and all of its sacrifices there in Jerusalem.

[17:31] That's the only place sacrifices are authorized by the God of the Old Testament for them to be made. They must be made in Jerusalem. And only by the ordained Levitical priests in their flowing garments and all according to the commands and specifications of God in their Old Testament scriptures.

[17:52] We have all of this, they boasted to the Christian relatives that they had. They boasted in such. They scoffed at their Christian relatives. Where's your temple?

[18:03] Where's your priests? Where's your sacrifices? What a sad excuse of a religion you've got without a priest to sacrifice, without a priest to intercede with God to gain mercy for you.

[18:19] You're damned in your sins. And so with such pressure being brought upon them, some of these early Hebrew Christians were being tempted to forsake Christ and to go back to a Christless Judaism.

[18:39] Back to the Old Testament ritual with the Levitical priests and animal sacrifices that they might fit in, you see, with the crowd around them.

[18:50] And that's in no small part why we have in our New Testaments the book to the Hebrews. 13 chapters written to who? To Hebrew Christians who were feeling that pressure to abandon Christ and turn back to the outward visible things.

[19:10] Who were living by faith in what is happening above the clouds where Christ is seated at the right hand of God to abandon the way of faith and to live by sight with their unconverted relatives.

[19:26] And so we have the book of Hebrews written for this very reason. What is the book of Hebrews about?

[19:36] Well, it's proving that followers of the way have in Jesus Christ a high priest. And he's far better than the Levitical priests.

[19:49] And he made far better sacrifice than they ever could. And his intercession forever for them at God's right hand secures their everlasting salvation. So in proving that Jesus is our great high priest, Hebrews refers to Psalm 110 more than any other book in the New Testament.

[20:07] The allusions are many. The quotations, many. So please turn to Hebrews as I want to walk us through a few of these passages where we see Psalm 110 looming so large and why that is in the book of Hebrews.

[20:23] Remember what God said in Psalm 110 to his son. Sit at my right hand. That's the throne of God. Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

[20:34] You're a priest forever after the line of Melchizedek. Now we come to Hebrews 1 and verse 3. And speaking of God's own son, verse 3 says, The son is the radiance of God's glory.

[20:49] He is the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Now here it is. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

[21:06] You know, it's a priest who provided purification for sins. How did he do it? By way of blood sacrifice. And this, the son of God, is said to have done while on the earth.

[21:19] It was on the cross that he did that. Notice it's a finished work. It's something he had provided. He had accomplished purification for sins. How pure does Jesus cleanse us of sin?

[21:33] Well, our sins, though they be as scarlet, become as white as snow. And so after having provided purification for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

[21:48] That's a direct allusion to Psalm 110. And later he quotes it outright in verse 13. To which of the angels did God ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

[22:03] There it is. Psalm 110. So Christ's presence at the right hand of God is proof that his work of sacrifice on the cross is completed.

[22:15] That his working out purification for sin is not only completed, but accepted by God. Or God never would have allowed him to sit at his right hand. So his work of sacrifice is complete and accepted and his work of intercession now goes on right there at God's right hand.

[22:36] Chapter 2, verse 17 tells us that this high priestly work is the very reason God ever became man in the first place. It's the reason for the incarnation.

[22:47] For this reason, he, the son, had to be made like his brothers in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

[23:05] We have a merciful and faithful high priest because God, the eternal son, became one of us to give himself as an atonement for our sins. Chapter 3, verse 1, we're called upon to fix our thoughts on Jesus, the apostle, and high priest whom we confess.

[23:24] Chapter 4, verse 14 tells us that since we have a great high priest who's gone through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

[23:37] Don't give in to your unconverted relatives who don't acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. We have a great high priest. Go on confessing him.

[23:47] Amen. Chapter 5, verses 4 to 6 speak of Israel's high priest back in the Old Testament and says that no one takes this honor upon himself. He must be called by God just as Aaron was.

[24:00] So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest, but God said to him, you are my son. Today I have become your father.

[24:12] And in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. And we know where God said that to his son. It's quoted in Psalm 110. And verse 10 goes on to say, so the Lord Jesus was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

[24:34] Hebrews 6 and verse 20 speaks of our hope. We have a hope as a secure anchor that enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf.

[24:50] He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Do you hear the echoes of Psalm 110 in the book of Hebrews? And with that, the writer launches into a lesson on Melchizedek and Jesus.

[25:07] He spends the whole of chapter 7 on it. Three times at least, he quotes Psalm 110. And there's far more in the last half of the book of Hebrews about Jesus as our high priest than there is in the first half.

[25:22] It's a point that he is wanting to make clear. Jesus is not only exalted at God's right hand as our king, he is exalted as our priest. But not after the order of Levi.

[25:35] Not after the Levitical priestly caste that was established for Old Testament Israel. You had to be born of Levi. Levi was one of the sons of Jacob who was a son of Isaac who was a son of Abraham.

[25:50] He had to be born of Levi. But Jesus is not a priest after the line of Levi. But he's rather a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

[26:04] And that fact is repeated six times in the book of Hebrews, three times in this chapter 7, and all lifted right out of Psalm 110.

[26:16] So, who's Melchizedek? Well, he's that strange figure that just pops on the scene out of nowhere in Genesis chapter 14, and then he disappears just as mysteriously as he appeared, and we see him no more.

[26:31] He meets Abraham. When Abraham is returning victorious in battle over four kings who had carried off many people and a great plunder, including his nephew Lot, and Abraham went after them with his some 300 men and rescued them from these four kings, and as he comes back, this fellow Melchizedek meets him and blesses Abraham and receives a tithe, a tenth of the plunder from Abraham, and he blesses God Most High who delivered your enemies into your hands, he says.

[27:10] And all of this happened long before Levi was ever born and long before his descendants were ever established as the proper line for the priests in Israel.

[27:24] Now, there's many reasons then why Melchizedek is held out as a type of Christ and why our Savior's priesthood is to be understood as being like his and not like Levi's.

[27:37] Perhaps the most important is the fact that meets us in chapter 7 and verse 1, and it is the fact that Melchizedek was both a king and a priest.

[27:50] Notice it, verse 1, chapter 7, this Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Let's notice both offices.

[28:02] First, verse 2 tells us that the name Melchizedek means king of righteousness. It's a compound word of king and righteousness. That's what it means.

[28:13] It's telling us the kind of king that he was. He's a king who is righteous in his dealings. Oh, how fitting that he should be a type of Jesus.

[28:25] No king is as righteous as Jesus, the righteous one, the holy one, the sinless one, the foundation of whose throne is justice and righteousness and who rules the world in righteousness.

[28:41] Yes, he is the ultimate king of righteousness. Furthermore, this Melchizedek was king of Salem. This is telling us the place where he reigned.

[28:53] Salem is a shortened version of Jerusalem and it means peace, shalom. And so, he is the king of peace.

[29:05] And yet, who deserves the title of king of peace more than our savior who at his birth we were told that he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.

[29:18] and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. And for us who have fled for refuge to Jesus Christ and have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[29:33] He is this great king of peace that Melchizedek pointed to. So, he's a king and in his kingship, his name, in the kind of ruler he was.

[29:47] He is a type of Jesus, our king. But he's not only a king, he's also a priest. Verse 1 says, this Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God most high.

[29:58] That's our God by the way, God most high. And so, what the book of Hebrews does is to show over and over that Jesus Christ is not only king but he's also a priest.

[30:12] And he is that at God's right hand for his church, his people. And in doing so, the book of Hebrews repeatedly quotes Psalm 110 as proof when God the Father said to his son, you are a priest forever after the line and order of Melchizedek.

[30:31] So, Jesus Christ is like Melchizedek who predated the Levitical priestly system. And so, here are these non-Christian Jews boasting about their Levitical priests.

[30:44] We've got priests. You don't. And they're scoffing at these Christian Jews. And the book of Hebrews says you're wrong.

[30:55] We do have a high priest. And he's far better than any priest that you have or have ever had. And now, we have some of the ways that he is a far better priest.

[31:08] There's many found here in chapter 7 and throughout the rest of Hebrews. Let me give you a few. The Bible would say to the Christ-rejecting Jews carrying on with their Levitical priests and sacrifices, your priests became priests without any oath.

[31:26] But Jesus, our priest, became a priest with an oath according to Psalm 110. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, you are a priest forever.

[31:39] day after day, your priests offer sacrifices of animals. Again and again, they keep offering the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.

[31:52] But our priest, Jesus Christ, sacrificed for sins once for all time when he offered himself as the sacrifice. He was both offerer and offering.

[32:05] He was the great high priest who then crawled onto the altar of Calvary and sacrificed himself as the sacrifice that takes away sin.

[32:16] And so he has done away with sin by the sacrifice of himself and he sat down at the right hand of God. His sacrificial work as priest is over and he's now beginning his eternal work of intercession for us.

[32:35] your priests serve at a man-made temple which is just a shadow and type of the real dwelling place of God. Our priest, he serves at God's right hand in heaven in the real dwelling place of God set up by the Lord and not by man.

[32:53] Your priests are sinners and so they have to make a sacrifice for their own sin. Our priest is holy, blameless, and pure set apart from sinners exalted above the heavens and therefore does not need to make a sacrifice for his own sins for he has none.

[33:10] Your priests have to be replaced with more priests to offer more sacrifices because death prevents them from continuing in office.

[33:21] But our priest lives forever and therefore has a permanent priesthood. He's a priest forever in the line of Melchizedek. therefore he is able to save completely all who come unto God through him because he always lives to make intercession for us.

[33:44] His priestly work and sacrifice, yes, that has ended at Calvary. And the Father showed he was satisfied with that work by raising him from the dead and seating him at his own right hand where he now carries on that work of intercession for us before the Father's throne.

[34:03] A priest forever. Well, we come through chapter 7 then that's dealing so much with this theme and don't you just love it when somebody gives you the cliff notes and they get right to the point.

[34:15] Now, this is the point. That's what chapter 8 and verse 1 says to us. The point of what we are saying is this. Now, here it is. Listen to this. Don't miss it. We do have such a high priest.

[34:28] You see, they're answering the accusations. We do have a high priest and a far better one than yours with better sacrifice who is the guarantee of a better covenant with better promises and introduces a better hope by which we sinners can draw near to the holy God.

[34:48] And so he is able to save us completely because he always lives to make intercession for us. You see why Psalm 110 was so precious to the first church?

[35:00] Why it ought to be so to us? It told them that in all their persecutions, their king was on the throne of God reigning over everything for them. And it also told them that he's there as their priest who can save them completely all the way to heaven by his finished sacrifice on the cross and his ongoing eternal intercession at God's right hand.

[35:22] So, you see the connection between Psalm 110 and you and I. What should this Psalm do for us living today?

[35:36] One application for unbelievers, two applications for believers. First of all, believers, chapter 10 and verse 21 of Hebrews says, since we have a high priest, a great priest, over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.

[35:56] Believers, here is your assurance of salvation. You have a priest, Jesus Christ, who right now is living for you and interceding for you.

[36:09] The sacrifice that atoned for your sins is ever in view of the Father. He's right there at his right hand. He's never out of view. There's your atonement for sin.

[36:20] He always sees it and he always hears from the Lord Jesus interceding for you. Father, I died in her place.

[36:32] Father, you punished her sins when you punished me, her substitute. So look on me, Father, and pardon her. That's what your assurance depends upon.

[36:46] You have a priest who sacrificed for all your sins and now pleads with God for your forgiveness. The blessedness of having this priest king ought to grab us this morning.

[36:59] That he's there. Jesus is there at the right hand of God and he's mentioning our worthless names before the Father's face. We heard it earlier in worship. This great king is a great shepherd and he knows his sheep by name.

[37:13] He's mentioning your name. He's mentioning my name to his Father. Forgive him. Forgive her, he says. He's pleading the new covenant in his own blood.

[37:24] Father, this is the covenant promise that you promised to remember their sins and iniquities no more. I was that sacrifice that provided and merited that promise of forgiveness of sins.

[37:36] sins. And so, as long as Jesus is there, you cannot be lost. Dear believer who's taken refuge in Christ since he ever lives to make intercession for you, your salvation is sure.

[37:54] So who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised is at the right hand of the Father and is making intercession for us. Drink it in for your full assurance of salvation, believer, whenever Satan tempts you to despair.

[38:12] But there's a second application. Not only is this your assurance of salvation, but same verse, Hebrews 10, 21, since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God.

[38:28] Since you have one, make use of him. Are you making constant use of your great high priest at the Father's right hand?

[38:39] You know he's there for you. Are you drawing upon him? Are you drawing near to him? The application is clearest in chapter 4 of Hebrews if you turn over there.

[38:54] And it's a therefore passage. Here's the application. Here's the exhortation growing out of the fact that we have a high priest at God's right hand.

[39:06] Therefore, since we have a great high priest who's gone through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. Don't be talked out of it.

[39:17] For, we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet without sin.

[39:28] We have this great high priest and what a high priest he is. You've never found anyone ever who's more sympathetic with you than this one, Jesus, and who doesn't scoff at you or berate you or pity you, but pities you and sympathizes with you when he sees your weakness, the weakness of your faith, the weakness of your patience, the weakness of your endurance, the weakness of your willpower or your wisdom.

[40:01] He doesn't mock you. He pities you. He sympathizes with you and he's able to deal gently with you who are ignorant and going astray.

[40:12] Chapter 5 says, none more sympathetic and full of pity than this king and this priest and you've never found anyone who's been tempted more than he has and tempted in every category that you have been tempted in and therefore who knows firsthand by experience the exact kind of grace that you need for your time of trouble in your weakness, in your temptations, in your trials.

[40:44] So, since we have such a great high priest, let's draw near to him, let's make use of him. verse 16 says, let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence.

[40:56] Is he there at God's right hand on the throne? Let's approach that throne and with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Don't miss the heart of your great high priest in that verse.

[41:12] He's not there sitting at God's right hand to do nothing. He's there to help you. He's there to assist you and he wants you to come to him.

[41:26] Is that how you view Jesus today at God's right hand? So, there you are with your burden of sin. You've fallen again. Your heart is heavy with grief and guilty feelings.

[41:39] How long are you going to carry that burden around with you before you come to your great high priest at God's right hand? You know, no amount of your sorrow and grief can lessen your debt in heaven by one iota.

[41:54] Nothing that you do, nothing that you suffer, no amount of tears will ever undo your sin. That is a failed plan for dealing with sin to stay away from this great high priest.

[42:07] And it's all so unnecessary and so sinful because we do have this high priest at God's right hand. And he's there for this very reason, for just such weaknesses of our flesh, for just such burdens of sin.

[42:22] Bring your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Notice the throne he sits on. To you, believer, who've taken refuge in Christ, it is a throne of grace.

[42:37] Do you see that? To you who are clinging to Christ and his work alone to save you, he's on that throne that the Father sits on and for you it's a throne of grace.

[42:51] Tell him what you've done then. Confess your sin. Lord, forgive me. And he will. He's promised to. He cannot lie. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[43:06] Believer, this is not a throne where you get justice. It's not a throne where you're treated as your sins deserve or where you're repaid according to your iniquities.

[43:20] Where your great high priest gets ticked off at you for falling yet again or only reluctantly forgives you with a shove, now be gone. No, to you, dear believers in Christ, his is a throne of grace and everything you receive there will be grace and mercy.

[43:40] Yes, your sins are many, but his mercy is more. Yes, your sin has abounded, but his grace abounds all the more. And at the throne of grace, you receive from this great king priest of grace nothing but mercy and grace to help you in your time of need.

[43:58] He smiles when he sees you bringing your burden of sin to him. That's what he's there for. That's why he's a priest.

[44:11] That's why he always lives. That's why he's living today to make intercession for you. That's why I came, dear believer. That's why I sacrificed myself on Calvary.

[44:22] That's why I'm here at the Father's right hand and I'm so glad you brought your sin burden to me. He's more willing to forgive you than you are to ask for forgiveness. That's his heart.

[44:33] So come. Come daily with your failures, your weaknesses, and confess them to your great high priest. None so full of pity and compassion and sympathy.

[44:48] And come humbly, yes, but notice, come with confidence. Come with confidence that he's got mercy for you. He's got grace for you. And the promise is you will receive grace and mercy and grace to help you in your time of need.

[45:02] And so you bring him your burden of sin. You bring him your burden of heavy trials that leave you without strength, weary and weak. You come to him who says, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

[45:16] And you come because he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. So the application is, do we have such a high priest? Make use of him. Draw near to him.

[45:27] Come to him with whatever your burden is. Now let me close with an illustration. When we see here the willingness of Jesus to have us come to him, it reminds me of a true story I heard recently of Charles Hodge, a biblical scholar and a godly man of the 19th century.

[45:46] And when Princeton Theological Seminary hired him as a professor, they were so very happy to get him as their professor that they took him through the home that was being provided for him.

[45:56] And after the tour through each room in the house, they said to him, now if there's anything you want changed, you just tell us and we'll make sure, we'll make the changes for you.

[46:09] And Professor Hodge says, well, there is one matter. I notice that the doorknob on my study door is too high for my youngest son to reach.

[46:23] And I want him to know that I am always available to him at any time. Now is that your view of the one who sits enthroned among the praises of heaven on the throne with the Father, ruling over everything, as your high priest?

[46:41] Do you view him as that willing and desirous of having you come to him at any time and finding immediate access into his presence, immediate access to his mercy and grace?

[46:56] He's not like King Xerxes who said, no one will come before me unless I have beckoned for them. No, Jesus says the invitation is open.

[47:07] Come anytime, come all the time, come often. And you will find that I am never put out. I'm never in convenience.

[47:17] That's why I'm here. I'm here for you. May the Lord lift us up. And if you're here without Christ, well, you need this mediator more than you realize. You might make it through this world.

[47:28] You might just grit your teeth and make it through the troubles and trials that you have. You might try to ignore your sins or come to church or read your Bible or do something to pay for your sins. There's coming a day when you'll stand before this throne.

[47:42] And if Jesus is not your only trust for salvation, it will not be a throne of grace to you. It will be a throne of judgment.

[47:54] And we're going to see next week, Lord willing, that none dare trifle with the invitations of this priest king. Yes, his invitation comes to you this morning. Come to me.

[48:04] And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Come to Jesus. Cast the weight of your whole soul upon him. Not anything that you've done, but what he as the great high priest has done.

[48:18] Sacrificing himself for sin and now pleading at God's right hand the merits of his blood. Get into Christ so that his prayer includes you and he can tell the Father, look on her, Father.

[48:33] Look on me and pardon her. Pardon him. He's willing, an able Savior, more willing to forgive you than you are to confess. But do not trifle with this king's invitation, this great high priest.

[48:49] We have a song that I know we've sung it a lot lately, but we're going to sing it again because it says so much what Psalm 110 says, that we have one who is right now before the throne of God above.

[49:02] And it's number 16 in your grace hymns. Let's stand as we sing it together. And if you're a believer, let's glory in Jesus Christ as our great high priest at the Father's throne.

[49:14] If you don't know this Jesus, come to him right now where you're sitting or standing. Put your trust in him. Can you see why the writer to the Hebrews as he draws near to the end says in chapter 12 and verse 2, so fix your eyes on this Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, that was his sacrificial work as priest, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[49:44] Oh, let's think of him as sacrificing for us in the past but now living for us. Go and keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Amen. Amen. God bless you.