Hot Topics Week 7 | Mental Health

Mental Health And The Christian

This morning we are going to tackle the number 1 requested topic in our Hot Topics Sermon Series Poll - Mental Health.

It’s difficult these days to listen to any news reports without hearing the phrases ‘mental illness’ or ‘suicide’.

But given the rates of depression — 80% of all Americans will at one time or another take an antidepressant, because they will have been clinically depressed – it shouldn’t be surprising.

I hope to give you some hope today.

And I want to start be letting you know that if you are experiencing mental health issues, you aren’t alone. And I’m not talking about current statistics regarding the mental health crisis, I’m talking about the heroes of the faith in scripture.

I want you to understand that feelings and emotions – the way God made your brain – has to do with chemicals and with the brain functioning a certain way.

Just like other parts of our bodies work in specific ways, like our hearts, muscles, tendons, and joints.

I don’t believe we think about the brain working the same way, but it does.

So I want to say to you, as the psalmist said, “You have been fearfully and wonderfully made.”

You have been made with gifts and abilities and a uniqueness that is unique to you and you alone.

You are as unique as your DNA. And when God made you, He did not make a mistake.

The reality is, I think many of us live our lives struggling to get past that we aren’t a big pile of brokenness.

And that’s all part of the ploy of the enemy, but it’s also a part of a sickness of our brain. It’s a part of the sickness that has come about as a result of sin.

Science is understanding more and more about how our brain works.

Sometimes sin affects the brain. Sometimes it’s the heart. Our living causes dying, because of sin. We weren’t made for that.

The good news is that all of us are totally healed right now. By His stripes, whether you live or whether you die, you are healed. You are healed by His stripes. Choose to live in that healing. Choose to live with that hope.

There’s a lot of bad misunderstanding of many things. One example is bipolar disorder.

Often people use the term as if the person has become that condition. You don’t say, “I am bipolar”, any more than you say, “I am cancer”. Rather, “I have bipolar disorder”.

So you’re fearfully and wonderfully made, and that would include your brain.

Your brain is affected by sin, by the consequences of sin, just as every other part of your body is affected by it.

So we’re not surprised when people get cancer. We’re not surprised when people have heart issues or knee problems or kidney failure.

So why don’t we get it when the problem is in the brain? I think because we’ve over-spiritualized the brain.

But the brain is no more spiritual than any other part of your body. It’s physiological. It was created out of dust. And to dust your brain will return.

Scientists estimate that the brain receives 100 million bits of information per second and contains 100 billion cells, many of which are neurons.

These cells have a thin, complicated shape like the branch of a tree. They can be as short as a millimeter or as long as a meter.

One end is the axon, and the other end are the dendrites — the twigs on the branch.

The neurons communicate with each other by sending chemical and electrical signals racing down the branch at 200 mph.

So, when the charge reaches the end of the cell, it leaps across a synapse, and the space between these two twiggy-type branches is triggered.

Doctors can actually see this on brain scans. It’s amazing, again an example of how we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

But like everything else, sin has messed up the brain, too.

The chemicals misfire.

This organ, just like your heart, doesn’t always function the way it was properly intended.

I’m telling you, the brain is affected by the fall of mankind into sin.

It will decay with the rest of your body, if in fact you’re buried.

So this morning I just want to give you the assurance that, yes, our bodies are broken. Our bodies don’t always function as they should.

Certain things don’t work right.

But in Christ, you are who He made you to be.

You are so special to Him.

But the enemy wants you to believe exactly the opposite.

You know, what if physical illnesses were treated like many of us treat emotional illness?

What if we say to someone after a heart attack, “Well, you just need to trust God more. This will heal you. It will go away. You just, you know, you need to pray more. You need to be stronger in your faith.” We’ve got it quite mixed up.

Does God heal? Of course. I’m a witness of healing in my body and I’ve seen God heal supernaturally.

But sometimes God heals thru medicine.

And sometimes God at the resurrection.

God heals.

We trust Him.

And we use the wisdom He has given us to seek treatment.

All illnesses are rooted in demonic things because of sin.

The brain is no more special in regards to the body than anything else.

Sometimes, as Christians, we don’t know what to do about it.

Every church has an average of 1 out of every 4 individuals who are struggling with a diagnosable mental illness in any given year.

And the Christian Church, as a whole, really doesn’t know what to do about it.

Shockingly, some 30% of all pastors believe that mental illness is only demonic, or that it is always and only a spiritual issue.

That is bad theology and bad science.

And when it comes to our brains, we need to remember it is an organ.

You have a brain, and your mind is what your brain does.

Paul says in the Bible that we are to renew our minds, right? Scripture also says that we’re to have the mind of Christ.

So, if your brain functions properly — or for the most part, properly, you are considered to be in your right mind. When your brain does not function properly, if it misfires and the chemicals don’t work just right for whatever reason — you might have depression, anxiety, or bipolar.

Those are just those times when our brains misfire.

Those of you who worry or ruminate a lot, where you think about the same thing over and over and over, that’s a spiritual gift gone bad.

That’s the gift of prayer, of intercession, that you would even think about those things. Some of us don’t. We can see horrific things on the news before we go to bed and we sleep just fine.

And, so, for those of you who have that gift, why not? Why wouldn’t the enemy mess with your brain and get you to just keep looping that thought around, over and over and over again. Negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative – and pretty soon that’s all you are able to think about.

So, Paul says what? “Take captive your thinking.” Paul says, “Think on these things.”

You can look at secular articles online about how to stop ruminating, and they say exactly what Paul says in the Bible. It’s fascinating.

And it’s all about taking control of what you think about.

I may have bipolar disorder — but I am not bipolar.

None of us define ourselves by our illness.

And yet, with mental illness, so many people become their diagnoses.

And the lie of the enemy is that he can get you to believe that if you have a mental health diagnosis, your life is over, that this is as good as it’s going to get.

People overthink these things all the time.

Do you know that when we sleep, our brain resets?

It turns off in a sense and files things where they need to go. If you want to make somebody crazy, keep them up for days. They will act like a mentally ill person.

So here you have all those things going on, and you are also emotionally broken.

Everybody’s got emotional issues and emotional baggage — everybody.

We’re complex. We’re fearfully, and wonderfully made.

He knit you together in the innermost being. All those things are that innermost being.

TPaul says, take control of your thinking, that your mind might be renewed.

That you and I might more fully function in the mind of Christ. Bottom line: Jesus has dealt with the virus

It’s not that we’re not going to have illnesses — it’s not that we’re not going to have struggles.

Like Paul says, put your mind on this. Think about these things. When you find yourself obsessing about something, turn it into a Godly lament.

Do what’s Scriptural.

Tell God, “I need you to intervene in this. I can’t do anything about it. All I’m doing is worrying and it’s going over and over. So this is what I’m going to do: I’m going to trust You. I’m going to believe that You’re going to get me through this — I believe that You have an answer.”

You do this every time you find yourself in a similar thought process, and it actually will change your brain.

The really interesting part is, until we die, our brains continue to grow and change.

They don’t stay the same, unless you isolate.

The more you isolate in your life, the more unlikely you are going to be able to adapt and make changes and think differently, and the more rigid you’ll become.

You lose the plasticity of the brain.

Here’s the interesting thing: what does Scripture say?

Does Scripture say go off and be alone? No.

It says don’t give up, don’t forsake meeting together.

It’s so important to continue to have relationships because it’s good for your brain, and it’s also good for the soul.

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

A lot of people don't realize this, but 80% of the American population will, at one point or another, experience clinical depression in their lives.

Depression is probably the one illness of the brain that a lot of people understand, because so many of us have experienced it.

Depression is one of those things that I think the human brain is most prone to, because so much of it is rooted in our fears, and our anxieties, and all those kinds of things.

And when people have trauma or drama in their lives, what happens is your brain chemistry has to shoot out so much serotonin and norepinephrine and all those kinds of things, but it can’t make enough.

As fearfully and wonderfully as we're made, the brokenness of mankind into sin has, in fact, affected our brain chemistry.

Hope is ultimately what the church has to offer to everybody, but especially to those who are hurting and hopeless who might be depressed or have clinical issues with their mental health.

But the problem in the Church is twofold.

First, in our culture we have an idea that we are not supposed to be unhappy.

But the Bible doesn't say that we are supposed to have happy lives.

In fact, Jesus tells us there will be a lot of suffering and difficulties in this world.

But He also promises that God will be with us.

That He won't leave us.

That He won't forsake us.

And that in spite of whatever we're going through, we can have faith.

We can have love.

We can have hope.

And we can know that our God is with us.

Suffering is very real, and it is part of life here on this earth.

The second thing we have to understand is that when it comes to depression, a lot of people who have never had it are inclined to encourage people - wrongly.

They kind of spiritualize it, and it ends up that the person who is depressed hears that if they would ‘just read the Bible more’, ‘trust God more’, and ‘walk closer with Him, you know, just immerse yourself in Him’, and that somehow fixes it.

We should do those things.

God can and does heal supernaturally.

Again God has healed me and people close to me supernaturally.

And God has used medicine and medical treatment to bring healing.

But if you use medicine for other things in your life, there is no shame in using it for your brain.

The other thing that happens many times in Christianity is that we make people feel as though if they are going through depression, it may be because of undealt-with sin.

What sin have you not dealt with? Who in the Old Testament can you think of had this problem? Who really was going through terrible times had friends constantly telling him that these bad things are happening because there must be something?

Job. Job, Job, Job, Job, Job.

There are times when the choices we make in life can lead to the consequences of having a physiological problem.

There are also times where our physiological problems are simply the result of living in a broken fallen world.

I want to highlight a couple folks in the Bible, then look at Paul’s instruction, and then we will spend some time looking at the brain from a biblical framework.

Lets start with David in Psalm 88

Psalm 88 CSB

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. 1 Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out before you day and night. 2 May my prayer reach your presence; listen to my cry. 3 For I have had enough troubles, and my life is near Sheol. 4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit. I am like a man without strength, 5 abandoned among the dead. I am like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, and who are cut off from your care. 6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit, in the darkest places, in the depths. 7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah 8 You have distanced my friends from me; you have made me repulsive to them. I am shut in and cannot go out. 9 My eyes are worn out from crying. Lord, I cry out to you all day long; I spread out my hands to you. 10 Do you work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah 11 Will your faithful love be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon? 12 Will your wonders be known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of oblivion? 13 But I call to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer meets you. 14 Lord, why do you reject me? Why do you hide your face from me? 15 From my youth, I have been suffering and near death. I suffer your horrors; I am desperate. 16 Your wrath sweeps over me; your terrors destroy me. 17 They surround me like water all day long; they close in on me from every side. 18 You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me; darkness is my only friend.

David sounds like he is facing a mental health crisis, amirite?

Maybe you wonder why this would be included in the Bible.

First, let me say, if you are experiencing a mental health illness, look to the Psalms. Pray the Psalms. There is the full human experience in the Psalms, and there is hope and there is God.

Maybe you wondered what it is doing in the Bible. Where’s the good news? Where is the assurance and re-assurance. Where is the hope? Where is God?

Those are the questions the writer of Psalm 88 asks.

Those are the questions someone who is experiencing depression asks.

Those are the questions many have asked when they have struggles with anxiety and depression.

Thank God Psalm 88 is in the Bible! It acknowledges that being a believer is not all happiness and “yay God!”. Bad stuff happens in our lives just like it does in the lives of unbelievers. There are times when God feels very far away, very hard to see through the haze of my own weaknesses and limitations, through the sometimes dim realities of life in an imperfect, fallen world.

If the writer of Psalm 88 was not suffering from depression, that person knew what depression feels like. Even God may feel like darkness.

But depression is a liar. It tells you that you are worthless, that you have no friends, that you are beyond hope, that you have no future, that you are only a burden to others.

Psalm 88 reassures us that struggles with depression and other forms of mental illness are not due to a lack of faith. In fact, the writer shows great faith by continuing to cry out to God even when God seems distant or absent or cruel.

Psalm 88 declares that doubt and difficulty are not signs of a lack of faith. “I’ve been there,” the psalmist assures us. “The dark times are part of the journey.”

One of the most harmful misconceptions about depression and other mental illness is that they are a sign of weak faith or of a weak person. Believing they are helpful, Christians will tell someone dealing with depression that they can get better if they pray more or read the Bible more or be more thankful, or just be more positive and optimistic.

Those are not bad things – certainly praying, reading scripture, gratitude, and optimism are good practices, especially during times of struggle.

But depression is an illness. Would you tell someone with the flu – or cancer – to just pray more or think good thoughts?

I hope not.

I understand that it is more difficult to help someone with depression or another mental illness than someone who is suffering physically. You can see a cut and cover it with a bandage. An x-ray can reveal a broken bone that can be healed with the aid of a cast. You can look at someone’s throat and have a doctor do a culture to determine they have strep throat, then treat it with an antibiotic.

Mental illness is not as visible, often especially to the one experiencing it. But mental illness can be just as debilitating or even deadly.

How can we, the people of God, the Body of Christ, the Church – how can we help?

First, we must purge the stigma of depression and other mental illnesses.Instead of saying or implying that mental illness is always and only a faith issue, we must acknowledge it as medical issue.

Also, following the example of the writer of Psalm 88, it will help others if we find the courage to admit our own struggles with mental illness.

In the same way God has gifted doctors and nurses and other medical professionals with the skills and talents to deal with our physical ailments, God has gifted doctors and therapists and counselors to treat our mental health struggles. To seek the help of professionals does not deny God’s power or ability to heal us – God works THROUGH those God has called and equipped to heal. God works through therapy they provide and medications they prescribe.

God can also work through the people of God – the same way God works through us when we help those who are physically ill or injured.

As the church, we can be a source of strength and support for those dealing with depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges. One of the lies depression tells, as we heard at the end of the psalm is that you have no friends, that no one cares about you, and that you’re not worth caring about anyway. As a community of faith, we can disprove those lies not just by reminding each other of God’s unconditional love and presence, but by BEING that love and presence incarnate – God’s love and presence in the flesh.

Rather than telling someone to “cheer up,” we can listen to and acknowledge their pain. We can encourage others to get help and point them to that help, and even accompany them as they seek that help.

How do you know if you need to get help?

If your depression or anxiety is keeping you from doing the things you need and want to do, if it is keeping you from being the person you want to be, if it is separating you from the ones you love – then I hope you’ll consider getting help.

If you are having trouble finding hope and believing that things can be better, then I hope you’ll consider getting help.

If anxiety is causing you to be constantly worried, to believe bad things are going to happen if you don’t do things a certain way, if anxiety won’t go away, then I hope you’ll consider getting help.

If you feel you’re not WORTH getting help, then I hope you’ll consider getting help. You ARE worth it!

If you feel like hurting yourself or that the world would be a better place if you weren’t in it, then it is time to get help right away. Call one of the hotlines. You might need someone to help you get that help, or even to the emergency room. That’s okay. We are here for each other.

No matter who you are, no matter what you have done or what you haven’t done, you are a beloved child of God, fearfully and wonderfully made, God’s masterpiece recreated in Christ Jesus to do the good stuff that God has planned for you.

No matter who you are, not matter what you have done or haven’t done, even when you can’t see that because your illness is lying to you. you are AWESOME and you are loved.

God does not desire you to suffer physically or emotionally.

There is help. There is hope.

We are here for each other. You have friends, even in the darkness.

I Just Want To Die

I just want to die.

Maybe some of you have had thoughts of self harm or suicidal ideation.

First, rebuke the enemy of you soul.

You are a beloved image bearer of God created with purpose and pleasure and the Satan would like nothing more than for you to give up and give in to the negative thoughts.

So rebuke the enemy.

But also, seek help.

Get a therapist.

Talk to a friend.

Go to a counselor.

See a doctor.

Spend time with Jesus.

And hear this, you aren’t alone.

1 Kings 19:1–18 CSB

1 Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!” 3 Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, 4 but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” 6 Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 He entered a cave there and spent the night. Suddenly, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking for me to take my life.” 11 Then he said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.” At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Armies,” he replied, “but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they’re looking for me to take my life.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Go and return by the way you came to the Wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16 You are to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu. 18 But I will leave seven thousand in Israel—every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Listen, Elijah had experienced a great victory but now he is afraid and tired.

“I’ve had enough” - Elijah.

Maybe that’s you.

Maybe you’ve even prayed that you would die.

But notice some things that happen to Elijah.

1 - Rest

He fell asleep under the broom tree.

You have to have rest.

You have to sleep.

Your brain needs to reset.

If you aren’t sleeping, get help sleeping.

Pray, read, see a doctor.

Sleep.

2 - He Ate Food and Drank Water and Rested Some More

Take care of yourself.

Eat better.

Drink more water.

Your brain needs it.

And get some more rest.

If you overdo it physically you will eventually overdo it mentally and emotionally.

We are going to talk about this more in a bit.

3 - He Had An Encounter With God

We need to meet with God in the cave of our mental anguish.

We need to move our focus from the fire and wind - from the things that tend to grab our attention - and listen to the still small voice of God

4 - Remind Yourself That You Belong

When Elijah thought we was alone, that no one cared, that nothing he did mattered, that he had no purpose, he became ready to die.

But God reminded Him that he Belonged to the people of God, he wasn’t alone even when he felt alone, and that he needed to get back with the people of God and remind himself that there was purpose.

You belong.

You have purpose.

Don’t give up.

Pressed But Not Crushed

Paul, too at times despaired even of life.

2 Corinthians 1:8–11 CSB

8 We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and he will deliver us. We have put our hope in him that he will deliver us again 11 while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many.

Completely overwhelmed.

Why?

2 Corinthians 6:4–10 CSB

4 Instead, as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardships, by difficulties, 5 by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger, 6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, 7 by the word of truth, by the power of God; through weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, 8 through glory and dishonor, through slander and good report; regarded as deceivers, yet true; 9 as unknown, yet recognized; as dying, yet see—we live; as being disciplined, yet not killed; 10 as grieving, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet enriching many; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

This is ministry - having nothing yet possessing everything.

It was overwhelming.

It made Paul despair of even life.

But he also knew that the same God that had delivered him before would delver him no and will deliver him in the future.

2 Corinthians 4:7–9 CSB

7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 CSB

16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Yes we are fragile jars of clay, but we have a power in us that doesn’t come from us.

We may be overwhelmed but we aren’t overcome.

We must set our eyes on what we don’t see right now.

We set our eyes on hope, on healing, on life, on love, on purpose, on promise, on Christ Jesus.

We may need someone to help get our eyes on Jesus.

We may need friends to lower us through the roof of the house because we can’t walk on our own.

We may need to doctor to give us medicine because we can’t get our brain to slow down long enough for our eyes to focus.

But we must keep reminding ourself of the goodness and faithfulness of God to deliver us again and again and again and again.

Mind Body & Soul Under Control

You all know John Reuben right?

Early 2000’s Christian Rap

Trained to fail before I could walk Now I'm undoing 20 years of lies I've been taught Not always easy let the past be forgot When memories keep you caught Let's travel back, now hold up stop, why Cuz if I dwell on the past I get focused to who I'm not I strive to stay away but that ain't easy When who I was wants to control my destiny, testing me Man, it's got me tripping It's in these moments of despair I feel my foundation's slipping Its starts ripping leaving me broken Now I'm completely confused and I'm vulnerable and open I try to run, but who am I running from? See, what within myself this battle has come So basically, You say it's up to me Cuz I'm my greatest ally or my worst enemy

Get your mind body and soul under control Who am I? Identify Get your mind body and soul under control Who are You? All is new

I'm not that person anymore That's what blood was shed for No longer a failure Living life more abundantly Therefore you'll never see me living less than victory I'm not that person anymore That's what blood was shed for No longer a failure Living life more abundantly Therefore you'll never see me living less than victory

So, yes, John Reuben is quoting from the Apostle Paul,

1 Thessalonians 5:23 CSB

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Spirit Soul Body

Mind Body Soul

These are interchangeable ways to speak of our tripartite nature.

WE have a body.

WE have a mind/consciousness.

WE have a spirit/soul.

And Paul prays that all three would be sanctified completely.

Made perfect.

Kept sound and blameless.

These three are interconnected.

When our body is tired, our mind gets tired, our spirit gets tired.

We we are energized spiritually it strengthens our mind and our body.

We our mind is overstimulated it wears us our emotionally and physically.

Remember Elijah?

He needed rest, food, rest, and God.

You may need rest, a better diet and exercise, a therapist, a counselor, or a prescription.

But no matter what you need for you body and mind, you cannot forget the spiritual need.

Each part influences the other.

And our fallen nature, the clay pots that is our humanity cries out for a God who understands and heals and keeps us.

Hebrews 4:14–16 CSB

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

This is Jesus.