Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

[PRAYER] “Christ is All,” a puritan prayer…

O Lover to the uttermost;

May I read the meltings of Thy heart to me

in the manger of Thy birth,

in the garden of Thy agony,

in the cross of Thy suffering,

in the tomb of Thy resurrection,

in the heaven of Thy intercession.

And all God’s people said, “Amen.”

[OPENING] During the Christmas season you are offered two gifts.

One gift is wrapped nicely with Santa and reindeer wrapping paper, and attached to it is a tag that says, “From the World!”

You open it up to find emptiness, burden, disappointment, shallowness, and distraction.

Most people open this facade of a gift every Christmas.

The other gift is wrapped in swaddling cloths, and attached to Him is a tag that says, “From your Father!”

In Him we find real hope, real peace, real life, real joy, real rest, and a thousand other real blessings!

If we open ourselves to Him, we find an eternal gift—the gift God the Father has given us in His Son Jesus.

At Christmas we Christians celebrate Jesus as Savior.

At Christmas we celebrate Jesus as Emmanuel.

We rightly celebrate who Jesus is, and this Christmas we want to celebrate what Jesus has done for us in…

…the manger of His birth (where He took on flesh and tabernacled among us)…

…the garden of His agony (where He obeyed His Father’s will in drinking the cup of wrath that we deserved)…

…the cross of His suffering and in the tomb of His resurrection (where Jesus died as the sacrifice for our sins and was raised to make us right with God).

That’s what Jesus has done for us, and even as we celebrate those things we want to also celebrate what Jesus is doing for us in…

…the heaven of His intercession (where Jesus is praying for us before God the Father).

Just think of this!

The Son of God who was born in a manger, who agonized in the garden, who died on the cross, and who rose from the dead, He is praying for you and me!

I am convinced that if we feel this truth in our hearts as we should, we will have more hope, more peace, more life, more joy, and more rest not just during the Christmas season but during all seasons!

[TS] At Christmas time, we think about gifts, and one of the greatest gifts that God gives to us in Jesus is the gift of His intercession for us.

[INTER] To unwrap this gift this morning we want to answer a few QUESTIONS…

Major Ideas

Question #1: Where does Jesus intercede for me?

[CONTEXT] To answer this question we need to look in Romans 8.

Romans proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Jews and Gentiles.

It diagnoses our problem: our rebellion against God, and the solution: God’s righteousness imputed to us in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected.

This is good news that gives us every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ!

This is good news that makes us dead to sin and alive to God!

This is good news that sets us free from slavery to sin and makes us slaves to God!

This is good news that guarantees there is no condemnation for us if we are in Christ Jesus!

This is good news that promises that God is for us!

He did not spare His Son, but delivered Him over for us all!

No one can charge us because we belong to God and He has justified us in Christ!

No one can condemn us if we are in Christ because—and look at Romans 8:34…

[EXP] Jesus intercedes for us at the right hand of God!

The right hand of God is the place of intimacy with God the Father.

No one could be at the Father’s right hand without having the Father’s heart.

As Jesus intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand, He has His Father’s heart.

The right hand of God is the place of righteousness before God the Father.

No one could be at the Father’s right hand without being perfectly righteous before Him.

James 5:16 says…

Jesus is the perfectly righteous man!

And His righteousness guarantees that He has His Father’s ear as He intercedes for us.

The right hand of God is the place of power and authority.

Anyone who sits at the Father’s right hand has all power and authority.

This is Jesus!

Ephesians 1:20-21 says…

First Peter 3:22 says that Jesus…

Jesus is the One with all power and authority!

And His power and authority guarantee that His requests on our behalf will be granted!

[ILLUS] I sometimes intercede for you in a yellow chair in my bedroom.

Sometimes I intercede for you in a brown recliner in my living room.

Sometimes it’s from ergonomic black office chair behind my desk.

Sometimes it’s from the tattered diver’s seat of my old 4Runner.

I’m not sure what any of those places would communicate about my intercession for you, but none of them communicate anything close to the grandeur of Jesus interceding for us from the right hand of the Father!

When Jesus prays for us from His Father’s right hand, the heart of the Father says, “Yes!”

When Jesus prays for us from His Father’s right hand, the ear of the Father says, “I’m listening!”

When Jesus prays for us from the His Father’s right hand, the will of the Father says, “It shall be done!”

[TS] Jesus intercedes for us the Father’s right hand!

A second QUESTION…

Question #2: When does Jesus intercede for me?

[CONTEXT] To answer this question we need to look in Hebrews 7.

The message of Hebrews is that Jesus is better.

Jesus is a better revelation.

Jesus is better than the angels.

Jesus is a better Mediator.

Jesus is a better covenant.

Jesus is a better tabernacle.

Jesus is a better Sabbath rest.

Jesus is a better King.

Jesus is a better hope.

Jesus is a better sacrifice.

Jesus is a better promised land.

And Jesus is a better High Priest.

Notice one aspect of His better priesthood in Hebrews 7:23-25…

[EXP] Because Jesus has defeated death and always lives, He always lives to make intercession for me and you if we are in Christ Jesus!

Knowing that Jesus is always praying for us ought to give us great encouragement!

In his Systematic Theology, Louis Berkhof writes…

“It is a consoling thought that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life; that He is presenting to the Father those spiritual needs which were not present to our minds and which we often neglect to include in our prayers; and that He prays for our protection against the dangers of which we are not even conscious, and against the enemies which threaten us, though we do not notice it.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “We little know what we owe to our Savior’s prayers.”

[APP] Brothers and sisters, do we understand how wonderful it is that Jesus is always praying for us!?

When we feel like we can’t pray, Jesus is always praying for us!

Even when we are sinful, Jesus is always praying for us!

When we think we are too busy, Jesus is always praying for us!

When we are asleep, Jesus is always praying for us!

This is good news because sometimes we don’t know what to pray.

This is good news because sometimes our prayers are imperfect.

The babe in the manger who grew to agonize in the garden, die on the cross, and rise from the dead—He is always praying for us!

[TS] But the question of when Jesus intercedes for us is directly related to how Jesus intercedes for us.

So that’s our third QUESTION…

Question #3: How does Jesus intercede for me?