Address—R. Thonney
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79 in the appendix.
Number 79 in the appendix.
Our great High Priest is sitting at God's right hand above for us, his hands uplifting in sympathy and love.
Notice verse #2 Through manifold temptations.
My soul holds on our course.
Christ's mighty intercession alone is her resource. My gracious High Priest pleadings, who on the cross did bleed, bring down God's grace and blessing help in each hour of need.
Number 79 in the appendix.
Our great I praise to this.
And quality and love.
My soul.
Is my fingers.
Touch.
All the sun resource.
On our gracious my grace.
Grady.
Wouldn't know why my prostitute.
Breaking down God's grace and.
What I was saying?
Let's pray.
Romans.
Romans, chapter 8.
Verse 34. Second line.
It is Christ that died.
Yeah, rather that is risen again.
Who is even at the right hand of God?
Who also maketh intercession for us like to speak this afternoon on.
Christ intercession for us at God's right hand.
You know when I was a boy.
Remember I used to when I was sick I lay in bed, my parents bedroom sometimes they had little tests. It wasn't a scripture text, it was a little 6 liner on the wall in front of me and I memorized it. It says this.
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May my last not thought at night and 1St in the morning be of a dying savior's love, of a risen savior's power.
Of an ascended Savior's grace and a coming Savior's glory.
And it's that next to the last phrase I'd like to focus on this afternoon.
An ascended Savior's grace.
You know what comes before me, brethren? Because as we've been talking, we're living in difficult days, perilous times. It's been mentioned a number of times. Life isn't easy anyway.
And I don't think we have any reason in Scripture to believe that's going to get any easier.
Oh, we may win some battles. Might lose them too.
But there is one thing for sure, there is a man in the glory of God, and he is interceding our costs. And that brings to me tremendous comfort in the midst of trials that may be extremely difficult.
The Lord Jesus here says is interceding. He's at the right hand of God, interceding for us. And I like to think of his intercession in two different phases. He intercedes for us, first of all as our great high Priest.
And he also intercedes for us as our advocate. He intercedes for us as our great high priest to help us.
In our weaknesses and infirmities so that we will not fall into sin.
He intercedes for us as our advocate when we have fallen into sin. In either case, we need help.
I can give the illustration to the Latin believers supposing.
There's a big muddy St. out there and there's this old man with that cane he's picking his way across. It just rained and there's big mud puddles there and he's just teetering, tottering, getting across, weaving through those mud puddles.
Just before he falls, this young man comes up and takes his arm and helps him across. That's the Lord Jesus as our great high priest. We all have weaknesses, every one of us.
And he's there in God's right hand. He knows what it means to pass through this world.
Because He went through it too, and He's there to intercede for us because of those weaknesses and infirmities. Weaknesses and infirmities in themselves are not sin. It becomes sin when we give place to that. Then it can get to the point of sin. But He is there for us as our great High Priest to intercede for us so that we might not sin.
But supposing before that old man gets across the street and before that young man gets to his side to help him into the mud, he goes, you need some help now he needs even more help. Now that young man gets there and helps pick him up out of that mud hole, mud hole, and he helps him across the street. He helps him get cleaned off. That's Christ in his work for us as our advocate.
And oh, we do need both, brethren. He saved us from the penalty of sins by his work on the on Calvary. But he is an all the way home Savior and he's saving us every single day. He's saving us from the power of sin in this world. No, it's wonderful to realize his power, his grace, his glory that are occupied.
In this work of interceding for us, I'd like to go to the book of Hebrews, because there we have the Lord Jesus presented as our great High Priest.
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And I'm going to read a few verses and a few chapters that relate to this, first in the second chapter.
Let's read from verse 14 for as much then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood.
He also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to *******.
For verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Now verse 17. Notice this. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like, and to his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted.
He is able to succor them that are tempted. So here's the Lord Jesus as our merciful and faithful High Priest. He was made like unto His brethren in all points. He was tempted without sin. There was no sin nature in him to respond to the temptations.
That's the only difference between.
Human as well, I should say. The only difference. We could make a lot of other points of difference, but that was the difference that we're talking about here. You and I have a nature that responds to temptation. He was tempted, he felt it, but there is nothing in him to respond. He was completely holy when he was born.
The Angel announced to Mary, That holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God is holy at his birth. We are born sinners, and that's a big difference. But he went through those things so that he would know. We can't look up and say you just don't understand. Nobody understands my case. We can't say that there is somebody that understands what it means to go through the trials and temptations that we go through.
You'll never be able to say nobody understands. There is somebody that knows first hand experience is what he has when it comes to passing through temptation. But I just like for us to stop and and think of that. Verse 18 to me it is extremely beautiful.
For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted.
He is able. Just those 3 words, let them sink into your heart and your soul. You've gone through some tough times.
It's interesting when you go around and hear the problems that God's people are in.
Most of the time I have to just shake my head and I say, man, I just don't know what even to say to you.
The Lord understands, the Lord knows, and He will bring you through, but just those 3 words He is able. I love the Spanish translation here.
Is pull the Rosso?
Para so Correa Los queson tentados it's he has powerful to.
Save those that are tempted.
So that word he is able is really, he is powerful. Is there a situation that he's not up to helping you in? I don't think you can say that. Think of the power that is in his hands. The whole universe he controls by the word of his power. He spoke it into existence in the beginning.
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In my little puny problems down here in this world baffle him? Absolutely not.
But he wants you and us, you and I, to prove.
This in our daily lives, when we feel we don't have the answers, when we feel we can't go on another step.
He is able, He is powerful to help them that are tempted. I find great comfort in that. And I just ask you to let those words sink into your soul. Meditate on them if you're tempted to give up, if you think, if you're all discouraged.
Think of those words.
He is able. Let's go over to the 4th chapter. Now the 4th chapter, you have three things that are of God. First of all, you have the rest of God. Then you have the Word of God. Then you have the Son of God. And how has He presented here? Let's read from verse 14. Let's read from verse 13 because it helps to get the context a bit.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest in this beautiful we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens.
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Picture is the great high priest in the Old Testament going into the Tabernacle, and he went in on that great day of Atonement only once a year.
He went in with blood to make atonement for Israel. We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. He's gone into that holy place.
He has obtained eternal redemption for us. That is our great High Priest. Now verse 15.
We have not in High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. You notice it's using a double negative there, in other words.
He can feel with us in our infirmities was an all points tempted.
Like as we are, yet without sin.
He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. You know, sometimes I hear about people's problems and I guess I'm callous.
I just don't relate to it.
But that's not the case with our Lord Jesus Christ. He is touched.
The feeling of our infirmities, and when He sees you struggling like you do in the particular set of circumstances the Lord has seen fit to place you in. And let me say this, sometimes there's a tendency for us to want to get out of the problem.
That's not always the Lord's way, you know. He didn't deliver Daniels, three friends out of the fiery furnace. He delivered him through the fiery furnace.
Because it was.
There they got to walk in company with the Son of God.
I don't think they would have missed that for anything, but it meant that they had to be thrown into the fiery furnace, and that was a fiery trial. Often think of that verse in Isaiah.
They might have had that verse, When Nile passes through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the fire it shall not burn.
What a tremendous promise that would have been if they had that in their hands. And perhaps they did.
But.
That's what happens sometimes. We want to get out of trials. Don't necessarily try to get out of your trials. Look to the Lord. If He has placed you in a particular set of circumstances that is difficult, look to Him to carry you through. There's lessons to be learned in those trials that you will not learn.
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Any other way, and I see people sometimes that like to run from their problems. At least they think they're running from their problems, but you'll find that they get settled in some other place and the problem happens all over again because the problems inside here, it's not what they think, their circumstances, but inside them.
So don't run from your problems, take them to the Lord. He's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. Now let us consider this.
Exhortation of verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
That's a strong word, isn't it? Boldly. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Where's that throne? It's in heaven.
It's the throne of God. It's the mercy seat, it's the throne of grace.
I often like to try to think about it, my mind's eye, you know, Our thoughts are so limited, really, when it comes to thinking of the things of God.
But we do meditate scriptures and so often think of that place in heaven where we go in prayer, and when we go, we go there too in praise. We go into the very presence of God in heaven.
Who else is there? There's the throne of God, and the Lord Jesus is there at the right hand of God, our intercessor. Who else is there?
Well, there's millions and millions of angels there, those creatures that are maintained by the power of God and unfallen.
Purity, they're called in First Timothy 5 Elect angels.
Who else is there? According to Job, even Satan appears there.
And there's another place where we find that there are lying spirits there for the throne of God.
Here I come. What right do I have to come there?
Brethren, this to me just touches my heart to realize that I'm one of God's children.
I might think I'm insignificant, but those angels, they're not redeemed like I am, and I have special privileges. We are told to come with boldness. You can't be too bold in coming to that throne of grace because Jesus is there and we are accepted in the Beloved.
Come boldly. You know, sometimes I think we are afraid to ask very much.
Because we think maybe we're asking something that is maybe not right or something, but we need to ask, it says.
By prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God.
He doesn't say He's going to give us everything we asked for. He knows what's best, but we need to tell Him everything. We need to discharge those things that are on our hearts because it's then that the peace of God will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So we need to come with boldness.
I remember when John F Kennedy was in the White House.
His two children were pretty young. Remember them telling one time when he was in the Oval Office doing business with heads of state? One day the office door opens and in runs some little feet and run right up to the desk of the President of the United States.
Who was that? Who was his little boy? He had boldness. It didn't matter who else was there, he knew he would get immediate attention because that was his daddy.
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And he was going to get his needs attended to, brethren.
That's our place before God. We're told to come bold.
And I just want to encourage you to practice that, you know?
I sometimes think we limit ourselves in our requests, and I think of that story that the Lord Jesus told to encourage asking. Remember that one where a man had a friend come at night and he goes and asks his neighbor for three loaves of bread because he doesn't have anything to set before him?
And the word in the King James Version says because of his importunity. And that's a word we might not use very much in our English language, but Mr. Darby's translation uses the word because of his shamelessness. And I've enjoyed that. He will give him all that he wants.
In other words, you can't be too shameless in presenting.
Your request to God. Be encouraged to ask. We are told to ask. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. What a privilege. We can come with boldness. There's our great high priest.
At God's right hand. Now let's go over to the 7th chapter and verse.
23 forward.
And they truly were many priests. He's talking about the judicial priesthood, or the.
Not the judicial, the Levitical priesthood, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death, but this man because he continued with ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able notice those words again, same words, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.
Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
For such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.
He is able and He is going to intercede our cause all the way home to glory to the uttermost.
You will never get yourself into a situation. Sometimes we get ourselves into situations by our own willfulness, but you will never get yourself into a situation where you will be able to say he's not able here.
Maybe we need to judge ourselves, but he is able to save them to the uttermost. Might have bad problems, maybe nobody else can help you. But just remember, let this sink into your soul, young brother and sister.
And older brother and sister too, He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. So that's the intercession of the Lord Jesus as our great High Priest. I'd like to go over to 1St John chapter 2 now for the intercession of the Lord Jesus as our Advocate.
The last verses of chapter one, first John.
It tells us in verse eight we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US.
That's the root of sin.
Verse 10 If we say that we have not sinned, that's the act of sin.
Now verse one of chapter 2 Says, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
There's really no excuse for sin in the life of a believer. He writes these things so that we will not sin, but then he immediately comes in to say, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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So the Lord Jesus here now is interceding in a different way than as great high priest here. It is as advocate. And perhaps many of you know that this word is really the same word as lawyer, his one who represents us before the presence of God. It's the same word that is used in John's Gospel as comforter. The Holy Spirit is our comforter, is our lawyer down here in this world.
That represents us. The Lord Jesus is our advocate, our comforter. There in the presence of God. He represents our cause. You know we have an enemy. And when I hear what Jim told us last night in the Gospel.
And rather than there are real spirit powers.
At play in today's world.
We look at the visible things and we try to reason from what we see there, but we don't see the spiritual dimension that there is real spirit warfare taking place.
And that's why we need to walk independence on God. You remember in the book of Daniel, Daniel prayed for three weeks one time, and he didn't get an answer.
And after three weeks?
Came the answer.
And an Angel came.
And told him your prayer was heard the first day you asked, but there was a conflict going on. And because of that conflict, it was three weeks before your answer came. And rather than I'm, I'm impressed with the fact that we look on things in a materialistic way, but there are there is a spiritual dimension that we do not understand very much about.
But to realize because of that the Lord Jesus is our advocate. Even when I sin, can I count on him to help me? Yes, that's when he acts as our advocate. You know it says in Ephesians chapter 4.
To be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. How do we give place to the devil? We give place to the devil when we sin. What does the devil do when we sin? He's called the accuser of the brethren, and he flies into the presence of God.
This person that says he's a Christian, look what he's doing. God, where's your righteousness? Judge him.
You know, there wouldn't be much chance for me except.
There's a man cuts right hand.
And he's sitting there and he lifts up hands that were nails to a cross.
He says that's right, he sinned.
Satan, you can't do anything here. I'll take his situation in hand and notice it says.
His Jesus Christ the righteous doesn't say Jesus Christ the merciful, because if we're going to maintain fellowship with God while going through this world, brethren, we cannot compromise His Holiness, not for one minute. It can't be done.
He's Jesus Christ the righteous, and then it says He is the propitiation for our sins.
And that brings us to what he did on the cross. He paid the price in full.
So that's God's glory would not be compromised.
When he forgave sin, that's what propitiation is is is to.
To.
Justify God in His holy demands against sin and to satisfy those demands.
So that God is not compromised in his character by forgiving the Sinner.
So let's never think of sin as something light.
It cost him terribly on that cross. We go to the cross.
You know, we can only understand so far. May we understand better his physical sufferings.
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But when we look at that cross during those three hours.
When darkness covered the face.
Of the Earth.
Will never, never understand it. Brethren, we have to stand at a distance.
God took our sins, laid them on the head of that holy sin bearer.
And then he let fall in all its fury the storm of judgment.
And for three hours, there's no cry while he's hanging there.
In abject misery, going down to the very bottom.
At the end of those three hours, there's a cry. My God, my God, why?
Hast thou forsaken me? We need to stand long.
That cross.
That's what it cost him so that apology could be maintained with God. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins.
Let's be careful as we walk through this world. It's place full of traps, full of pitfalls, but we have a great high priest that's able to keep us from falling.
And when we do fall, he's there as our advocate to lift us up so that we can continue to walk in fellowship with him.
I'd like to go back to the Old Testament for a brief story that illustrates these two things.
Book of Exodus, chapter 17.
You know they had come out of Egypt.
In the previous chapters.
Chapter 15 they sing the song of redemption. Chapter 16, there in the desert and in the desert you need two things majorly, food and water. So you have food in chapter 16 and you have water in chapter 17. The food is the manna which speaks of Christ in his humiliation here in this world.
What we have in the Gospels we have the manna, and chapter 17 we have the water.
Somebody has said that water itself speaks of the word of God, but.
Flowing water, living water is the Holy Spirit of God. And so in the 17th chapter you have in the first part of the chapter water.
Moses struck the rock in Horeb and out flowed water for the people to drink. Now come down to verse 8. As soon as you get the Holy Spirit, that which is a figure of the Holy Spirit you have.
Then a conflict that takes place.
Why? Because when the Holy Spirit dwells in me.
There's the flesh as well, and the spirit lusts against the flesh and or the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these things are contrary to one another. So there's a conflict. Let's read from verse 8. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel and freedom. And Moses said unto Joshua chooses out men and go out fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill, came to pass. When Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on, and Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one-on-one side and the other on the other side.
And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people at the edge of the sword. The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in the book. Rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Moses built an altar and called it the name of it, Jehovah, Jehovah Nissi. For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek.
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From generation to generation, Amalek is the efforts of the enemy on the flesh in US. And there's going to be conflict as soon as the Spirit of God takes up his residence in the body of a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately there's conflict and there's the conflict that we are in. But as Joshua goes down into the valley, maybe he thinks.
That is because of his military tactics.
That he wins or loses, but really it isn't the matter of his military tactics down there in the valley.
It really depends on something else. Over here is the mouth a hill, and on top of that hill are three men. One is Moses.
And Moses holds up his hands, and as he holds up his hands, Joshua starts winning the battle down there in the valley.
But you know, it's kind of hard to keep your hands up for quite a while. And Moses got tired and he let his hands down as soon as let his hands down.
Amalek starts winning the battle against Joshua.
And so they did something. They put a stone there, and they let Moses sit down on that stone, and Aaron on one side and her on the other.
Held his hands up so that Joshua down there in the valley could win that battle completely. What a picture this is of what we've been talking about. Aaron's picture of the great high priest. The Lord Jesus is our great high priest. Her came from a different tribe. He came from the tribe of Judah.
Here's a picture of the Lord Jesus as our Advocate and those hands of our Lord Jesus, brethren.
Are extended for us in intercession today.
And he doesn't get weary like Moses did.
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Brethren, these meetings are over.
But we're going to go home and we're going to face issues there that are unavoidable problems.
But remember.
We have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. He is able. And when we do fail, and we all do, brethren, none of us can say we haven't.
Then He is there as our Advocate to restore us, to bring us back into fellowship with the Father. May the Lord encourage us, brethren, we have.
So much to thank God for.
We have.
A lots of problems too, and as I said before, I don't think we have any assurance in the Word of God that things are going to get easier.
They're going to get harder, but as somebody has said, let them get 10,000 times harder than what they are right now. Still, we will never be able, never come to the place where we will be able to say he is not able for this.
He is able to sucker them that are tempted. He is able to save to the uttermost.
Then that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Let those words sink into your soul, dear brother and sister, in the Lord Jesus, be encouraged. In spite of all that we have a great High Priest. I really believe He allows trial and trouble so that we come to grips and prove that He is.
Abel, let's pray. Father, bless.