Our Great High Priest

Psalm 110:4 “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’”

Hebrews 10:19-23 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

“Once for all” [Hebrews 9:12]…what does this mean? When you find yourself committing that sin that you swore yesterday you would stay away from, that sin has already been paid for. You don’t have to go pay some sort of penance because Christ paid that for you. “It is finished” [John 19:30]. We’re always tempted to think “now I’ve really done it. That was the last straw” and Satan wants you to think that, but you have a Great High Priest who has paid for your sins past, present, and future. “You are perfect forever” [Hebrews 10:14] …you can’t screw up your perfection because Jesus already saved you. As our Great High Priest, Christ is seated at the right hand of God interceding and offering perfect prayer for us. Why does Jesus still intercede for us if His work on the cross is already finished? Christ lives to plead the settled-ness of His finished work on the cross. It’s not as if God forgets about that sacrifice and needs His Son to constantly remind him, no, He preserves us in the faith. Think of when Jesus spoke to Peter and told him “Satan has asked for you, but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail…” [Luke 22:32] Our Great High Priest will preserve us and keep us until the end.

-Based on a Sermon by David Balzer

It's All About Love...No, It's All About Christ

Since the inception of our church I have tried to impress upon my brothers and sisters that all of Scripture is about Christ. To hear a sermon from the Old Testament or New Testament and to not have Christ as the aim or focal point is to have a Christless sermon—a non-Christian sermon really. The substance and essence of all Scripture is Jesus Christ Himself. He said so and taught accordingly.

John 5:39-40 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

And so in some way, we must always head to Christ from whatever passage we preach from. It was Charles Spurgeon who said, “I take my text and make a bee-line to the cross.” So whether the passage shows us our sin and utter depravity and need for the Savior like in Genesis 3…or whether the passage shows God’s faithfulness in presevering the people through whom Christ would be born like in Genesis 50…or whether the passage gives a prophecy of the work and person of Christ like in Isaiah 55…or whether the passage shows us a type of Christ like Jonah…or whether the passage gives us the wisdom of Christ as in Proverbs…or whether the passage points to the judgment of Christ as in Joel…IT’S ALL ABOUT CHRIST.

My aim in the past three and a half years has been to build this truth into my family and into our church. Naturally, you can understand my joy when my daughter and I had this conversation last night after she read her Bible.

“Macy, what did you read in your Bible?”

She replied, “Dad, I’m a little nervous to tell you.”

“Why? It’s ok if you forget a little. Just pick up your Bible and show me some of the things you learned. Was it about soccer? What is about food? Was it about Jesus?”

”Dad! All Bible stories are about Jesus,” she replied as if I didn’t know and that it should have been obvious to me.

She went on, “Dad. It was hard to understand. I’m not sure if I got it.”

I replied, “Well, it looks like God gave something to Moses. Did he give him some fish? Did he give him a high-five? What did He give him?”

“Commandments,” she said.

The Bible she reads from has some lessons that are designed to teach her essential truths of the faith. This lesson focused on the fact that we can’t know God unless He reveals Himself to us. Thus we see God speaking His Word. Scripture, which is God-breathed, shows us what God is like and what He expects of us.

Our conversation then went on to explaining the point of why God gave us His Law: to show His perfection and our sin, thus our need for Christ’s perfect obedience and His salvation. We had a good chat as she snuggled up into my arms and I told her the gospel story once again from Exodus.

Calvin's Commentary Set

They're coming in the mail. I thought I'd just let somebody know.

I'm a little giddy. My bookshelf is getting a makeover. And my heart and brain will be getting some tutelage.

Gospel Realities in the Barnyard

I love how in just a few short words, Christ can teach us of mercy and judgment. On one hand, if we come to Christ, we receive mercy. On the other hand, if we reject Him via rejecting His messengers, we are damned.

Matthew 23:37-38 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate.

In this passage, Christ uses a tender metaphor to teach Jerusalem, the Scribes and the Pharisees what He intends to accomplish for repentant sinners. Christ explains that the gospel work He came to accomplish is like that of a hen tucking her chicks under her wings. A hen will do this to provide protection for her little precious ones. Protection from what? From foxes, from hawks or from whatever dangerous predators may lurk out there. In the event that an animal comes to attack the chicks, the hens wings will be the first line of defense. Whatever wounds are meant to come upon the chicks will indeed be inflicted upon the hen. In may even be that the hen gives her life for her chicks in order for them to live.

Thus it is with Christ, as He says. "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" Sinners need protection under the wings of Christ. Protection from what? From foxes? From hawks? From what? From God. God and sinners are opposed to each other. As a just God, God will punish and inflict judgment and eternal death upon sinners. Violating God's holy nature is that serious, that offensive, that ugly. Yet our God is a merciful God. The Father, Son and Spirit had an eternally existing plan that was meant to provide protection for sinners. This plan entailed our coming under the wings of Christ so that when God comes to strike us down for our sin, our Christ edures the pain, the stripes, the punishment, the death blow.

We are safe from eternal danger because Christ is to us what a mother hen is to her chicks. Those outside the wings are Christ will be stricken, smitten and afflicted by God. They will be left desolate just as Jerusalem was.

Isaiah 53:4-12 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Christ alone

Let me put it plainly, I will not make my boast, I will not glory, even in my orthodoxy, for even that can be a snare if I make a god of it. I will glory only in that Blessed Person Himself by whom this great thing has been done, with whom I died, with whom I have been buried, with whom i am dead to sin and alive unto God, with whom I have risen, with whom I am seated in the heavenly places, by whom and by whom alone the world is crucified unto me and I am crucified unto the world. Anything that wants to come into the centre instead of Him, anything that wants to add itself on to Him, I shall reject. Knowing the apostolic message concerning Jesus Christ in all it's directness, its simplicity and it's glory, God forbid that any one of us should add anything to it. Let us rejoice in him in all His fullness and in Him alone.

_d.m.lloyd-jones, "Spiritual Depression"

The Blog Every Christian Should Read

I recently read someone's post / blog who wrote about a sermon that was available for free download. They said, "This is a sermon every Christian needs to hear." I forget who said it really, but I might as well post my name to that.... mostly because I've said that before. C.J. Mahaney's message at the Resolved Conference in 2008 from Galatians 4, "God as Father: Understanding the Doctrine of Adoption", is a sermon I've heart about 4 or 5 times; and I've said more times than that, "Dude, you have to listen to this." What can I say... it was a great message.

When I see or hear something great, I usually want to share that with people I know. Sometimes I get really excited about it...
"You have to watch this movie!"
"You need to buy this CD."
"You've gotta listen to this sermon!"
"Dude! You need this thing that adds to the Bible! You just have to!"

My dad is someone who I look up to a lot (not literally though). I remember a time not too long ago where he was talking about a word I use pretty much every day... "awesome!". He was talking to a mutual friend about how he chooses to reserve that word for God alone, just as a personal choice of reverence to the Lord (because ultimately, only God is awesome... not God and my burrito). It's not something that he expects to be a governing point in everyone else's life, but he wanted to shepherd his heart to love God as being a holy (uniquely set apart) God. It's nice to set apart certain things to only certain people. I've never told a girl "I love you", which will be nice someday when I can say that to my future fiancée / wife (and yes, I have told my mom, grandmothers, and aunts... doesn't count).

There's something about our hearts, though, that wants to go beyond straightforward communication with each other, and it's called pride. When I experience something you haven't, like say.... the newest Pixar short, I want to share that with you so that you watch it too. For me, what usually happens is I let my pride get in the mix, and I go from "Pixar has a new short, you need to see it!" to "I've seen something you haven't and I'm now going to be the one to share it with you because I'm privileged in my experience and knowledge in a way that you can enjoy what I'm already ahead of you in." Did you catch that? It was kinda subtle... which is the point really. What we say may or may not divulge our pride. Sometimes it's noticeable; sometimes it's hidden. Sometimes it's not even there... we just genuinely want someone else to be blessed too. But pride is kinda tricky, so best to watch for it.

Circling back around, there's nothing wrong with saying "You need to listen to this message!", but there is something wrong when I say that out of a foundation of pride. Let me tell you, it's hard... because Pride is one of my 'closest' friends. I hate Pride, but he's with me almost all the time. One of the clearest miscalculations we make in our speech is when we qualify exponentially or universally. "Everyone", "must", "need", etc. Let's go back to what I've probably said a few times before: "Every Christian needs to hear this sermon." Um... really? So... the new born believer in Argentina needs to hear this? Obviously, the statement doesn't intend to qualify in this way... we're just trying to strongly encourage others to experience what we've experienced. But are those cases really "needs"?

I need Jesus Christ and I need His spoken Word. Jesus is my chief need and His Word is how He teaches me about Himself. A sermon is just a way to point to Him and His Word. Sometimes we get overly excited about a specific, available tool that God can use and forget about the tool's craftsman. I don't need to listen to every ground breaking sermon that Piper, MacArthur, Mahaney, or... Joe Smith has preached... I need the One who breaks the hard soil. I don't need to go to every great conference or hear every amazing song or read every articulate book. God is great, amazing, and articulate.

Again, there isn't anything wrong with getting excited about a conference, message, book, or Christ exalting song... those are great! I tell people all the time that they "need to listen to this"! I just need to check my heart more often than I do. Because my pride often underlies the root of those qualifiers in a way that might try to steal glory from my God. It might make me think that I'm privileged in experience or information. Or it might make my brother or sister feel "left out" on God's grace because they haven't read a certain book, or even just very many books at all. Grace flows onto the one who dwells on the love of Jesus Christ and His glory... not me with my stack of books, iPod full of Piper, four sermons a week, Mr. I-Can-Find-Galatians-Faster-Than-You-Can "accomplishments". Be encouraged by the brother who spends a quarter of the sermon flipping through the Bible as he tries to find the text... he's thirsty for the Word. Pray for him; don't do what I do and think, "Just go to the index already, bro! It's right there!".

If a book, sermon, song, or conference was something that "every Christian" should read / hear / listen to / attend, God would have put it in His Word.

Watch out for our pride when we seek to share or encourage, and love Jesus Christ instead.

Abide With Me

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

- Henry F. Lyte