Boldly I Approach

Something to Say Full of Eyes

READ TEXT—PRAYER

These are some of the greatest verses in Scripture. But I don’t think we’ll really feel them as we ought unless we feel the weight of NOT having access to God. Unless you’ve really truly felt something like that we saw in that video—or you’ve really done business with your depravity before a holy God then you aren’t going to be able to be excited about boldly approaching the throne of God.

There is no indication from this text of Scripture that is on the forefront of the mind of the author of Hebrews. However, it certainly is part of what would be in the mind of anyone steeped in the Old Testament when thinking about the High Priest.

In we are given a picture of the high priest standing before God in filthy garments. The word there is one you would use to speak of a garment stained with excrement. Now there is much that could be said here but what I want you to focus on for this morning is that the high priest was THE guy who would stand between God and man. He was supposed to be the cleanest and most holiest guy in the land.

Here is what you are supposed to feel from . If Joshua the high priest is dirty and stained before God—and if Satan can accuse him—then I don’t stand a chance at all.

His clothes are in sharp contrast to what the High Priest is supposed to be. In we read that the High Priest on the Day of Atonement is to “put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments”. In other words, he is to be like the kid who gets a new set of clothes for his first day of school. He is not supposed to even have a smudge—pure linen, holy garments. So to say that the high priest has clothes that are filthy with excrement is to display that utter sinfulness and depravity of not only Joshua the High Priest but also the land.

You ever feel like Joshua?

The text doesn’t say specifically

How in the world could I possibly approach the throne of a holy God? Satan’s accusing you and you know that he’s right. He tends to preach grace before we fall and law after, doesn’t he? To add to this you hear the voice of Satan actively accusing you. You’re not good enough! You’re not clean! How can you ever expect be used by God, look at how filthy you are? What right do you have to tell someone else about Jesus—look at your life? You are sinful! You’re dirty, and here you are standing before God. What do you think he is going to do with you?

We’ve got to hand one thing to Joshua, he doesn’t hide. He doesn’t deny his sinfulness or his stained clothes. He’s not going to hide that mustard stain behind a fancy tie. His silence is deafening. He’s guilty and he knows it.

Have you ever felt like Joshua? I know I have. You are standing before the Lord, you are filthy and you know it. To add to this you hear the voice of Satan actively accusing you. You’re not good enough! You’re not clean! How can you ever expect be used by God, look at how filthy you are? What right do you have to tell someone else about Jesus—look at your life? You are sinful! You remember what you said the other day when you lost your temper. You know how you sometimes lose it with your spouse. You know the secret thoughts in your head. You’re dirty, and here you are standing before God. What do you think he is going to do with you?

I want you to notice something about this proclamation of Joshua’s sin. Neither he nor the Lord denies it. Joshua certainly knows that he is covered in sin. He is not surprised by the proclamation, nor does he try to hide it. I would probably try to hide it. Have you ever been wearing nice clothes on your way to an important meeting and make the ignorant mistake of getting a messy fast food burger? Certainly a pickle or ketchup or mustard or something is going to drop on your clothes. So what do you do? I know I try to clean up really fast, but whenever I notice that it’s not going away easily I try to figure out how to at least cover it up so as to not make it look as bad. And this is exactly what we do with sin. We try to paint a rosy picture of ourselves and make ourselves not look as bad as we really are. We will make excuses. We will even go so far as to tear down others to make ourselves look like gleaming little angels. But Joshua has none of it. The silence of Joshua is deafening compared to my constant excuse making and attempts to make myself better than I actually am. We should be just like Joshua here, own up to what we are and be silent.

You see Joshua is a picture of why we do not have unfettered access to a holy God. It’s a picture of the problem of the Bible. How can sinful man have access to a glaringly holy God. We can’t be in his presence with sin. He cannot look upon sin. He cannot tolerate sin because that would be telling a lie about it’s seriousness.

I want you to notice something about this proclamation of Joshua’s sin. Neither he nor the Lord denies it. Joshua certainly knows that he is covered in sin. He is not surprised by the proclamation, nor does he try to hide it. I would probably try to hide it. Have you ever been wearing nice clothes on your way to an important meeting and make the ignorant mistake of getting a messy fast food burger? Certainly a pickle or ketchup or mustard or something is going to drop on your clothes. So what do you do? I know I try to clean up really fast, but whenever I notice that it’s not going away easily I try to figure out how to at least cover it up so as to not make it look as bad. And this is exactly what we do with sin. We try to paint a rosy picture of ourselves and make ourselves not look as bad as we really are. We will make excuses. We will even go so far as to tear down others to make ourselves look like gleaming little angels. But Joshua has none of it. The silence of Joshua is deafening compared to my constant excuse making and attempts to make myself better than I actually am. We should be just like Joshua here, own up to what we are and be silent.

Think of it this way. What is sin? I think Augustine had a pretty fair definition when he said "a word, deed, or desire in opposition to the eternal law of God. Sin at it’s core is saying, this particular thing at this particular moment is more important to me than the desires of God Almighty.

So let’s say that we’ve become guilty of something. We’ve taken a fruit that God said not to eat. Now let’s say for a moment that God says, “ah, well, it’s okay I’m going to turn the other way because my love for you is so great.” So what has God done in this moment?

He’s put something else above his eternal law. He’s put something above himself. Which is what? It’s the essence of sin. And so if God puts something else above his own glory, his own law, that’s not stooping and loving and such…that’s really bad news and supremely unloving for us because God becomes an abomination to Himself.

So why is it that God boots Adam and Eve out of the Garden? Because God’s good presence cannot ultimately dwell with sin. You can’t have the Garden while you’ve got rebellion in your heart. It just cannot happen. Now God graciously provides ways all throughout the Old Testament to where sinful people can interact with him. We will learn so much more about this in the weeks to come but for now note that the high priest is kind of like a door into the presence of God. You can’t come into his presence apart from the high priest.

We will learn so much more about this in the weeks to come but for now

Now God graciously provides ways all throughout the Old Testament to where sinful people can interact with him.

And so what does it mean that “we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens”?

It means you don’t have a high priest who is filthy. You have one who is clean. Notice what happens with Joshua the high priest…new clothes. But what we are going to learn in Hebrews is that this is radically better. It’s not like Jesus is the best of the high priest…it’s even more that he kind of blows that whole system up:

The NIV Application Commentary: Hebrews Bridging Contexts

Rather than one who stands between God and humanity, Jesus takes us to God, ripping away the moral and ritualistic obstacles that prevented our free entrance to his presence. He not only has passed through the heavens, but he also has paved the way for us to join him in that adventure (e.g., 2:10; 6:20; 10:19–20). Thus, when we communicate the high-priest concept, we must emphasize its signification of a “means of free access to God.”

You have access to God. But let’s really feast on something here. “We have...” I like what Spurgeon says here:

It would be a small matter to us to know that such-and-such blessings existed; the great point is to know by faith that we personally possess them! What is the great High Priest to me unless He is mine? What is a Savior but a word to tantalize my despairing spirit, until I can say that this Savior is mine? Every blessing of the covenant is prized in proportion as it is had: “We have a High Priest.” I pray you, never talk of the blessings and doctrines of grace as matters apart from personal possessions, but seek habitually to enjoy and experience them!

I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine. He is our great high priest. Who has passed through the heavens. What does that mean? It means he is in the very presence of God. Where all of history is moving…and it’s where Christ is taking us.

Jesus, the Son of God. Fully God. Fully man. Fully able to relate to humanity and be our representative. Fully able to be eternal and pay an eternal price.

Therefore, let us hold fast our confession. What does that mean? The word there is the one used of the woman who grabbed hold of Jesus’ garments. Because Christ alone can save let us grab hold and never let go.

What does that mean? The word there is the one used of the woman who grabbed hold of Jesus’ garments.

For we don’t have a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses…but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

“Son of God”. How in the world can you understand? Was it even really possible for Jesus to have sinned? I mean he’s God—he cannot be tempted to evil—it doesn’t hold the same lure, does it? I mean is this verse saying that Jesus understands what it’s like to deal with an addiction to meth? That Jesus has been tempted with homosexual thoughts? That Jesus knows what it’s like to battle pornography? That Jesus knows the depth of darkness?

“Tempted as we are”…but without sin. How in the world is that possible? If he doesn’t go down that spiral then how can he really know the full force of temptation.

ROPE ANALOGY

No, you don't need to experiment with particular sins in order to know the power of sin in your life. Think of it this way. Someone says: How can you really know the power of the temptation to lust – say to look at Internet nudity – if you've never given in and experienced it? Let me give an answer in a parable. There are three men – women, you supply the necessary changes to make the parable fit your situation – and each of the three stands beside a pit of lewdness and sin. Three ropes extend out of the pit, one bound around each man's waist. The strength of this narrow cord is one-hundred-pound test.

The first man begins to be pulled into the pit that looks exciting, but that he knows is deadly. Five pounds of pressure, ten pounds, fifteen pounds. He resists and fights back. Twenty pounds, twenty-five. He digs in his heels with all his might. Thirty pounds, thirty-five pounds, and the rope starts to squeeze and he stops resisting and jumps in. Click goes the mouse button.

The second man begins to be pulled into the pit. Five pounds of pressure, ten pounds, fifteen pounds. He resists and fights back. Twenty pounds, twenty-five pounds. He digs in his heels. Thirty pounds, thirty-five pounds, and the rope starts to squeeze. He says, No! and fights back. Forty pounds, forty-five pounds, fifty pounds, fifty-five pounds. It's harder to breathe as the rope tightens around his stomach and it begins to hurt. Sixty pounds, and he stops resisting and jumps into the pit. Click.

The third man begins to be pulled into the pit. Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five pounds of pressure. He resists and fights back. Thirty, thirty-five, forty, and the rope starts to squeeze. He says, No! and fights back. Fifty pounds, sixty. It's harder to breathe as the rope tightens around his stomach and begins to hurt. Seventy pounds and his feet start to slip toward the pit. He cries out for help, and reaches out to grab a branch – shaped like a cross. In the distance he sees his wife going about her business, trusting him; he sees his children playing, and in their hearts admiring him. And beyond them all, he sees Jesus Christ with a gash in his side standing, with both hands lifted and fists clenched and smiling. And filled with passion, the third man holds fast. Seventy-five, eighty, eighty-five pounds, and the rope cuts into his sides and the pain stabs. Ninety, ninety-five and the tears flow unbidden down his cheeks. One hundred and the rope snaps. No click.

Question: which of these men knows the full power of temptation?

If this were a message on lust I would look around this room and say, "Are there any soldiers here? Does anyone in this room have blood on his shirt and scars on his side? Do you know the power of temptation? Or do you just jump in before its power is spent?"

Or…what if Jesus actually knows MORE what it means to be fully human. Human as we are supposed to be. It’s not Jesus that is less than human—it’s us.

But Jesus has faced temptation. All of it, in it’s type. He passed. That’s great news because his record is our record.

A couple weeks ago I shaved about 5 pages off of my sermon—and it related to this very point. Israel failed in the wilderness test. But Jesus was tempted in exactly the same way.

Israel’s test.

Jesus’ test.

He passed. That’s great news because his record is our record.

This is why we can approach the throne of grace with confidence. He understands. He knows what it’s like. He’s hit the depth of despair.

Jesus in the Garden.

But we can also approach the throne of grace because He’s our righteouness. His record is our record. We HAVE a great high priest.

He can sympathize because he

We must boldly approach because

Thy righteousness is in heaven…Bunyan.

We have

Before the throne.

passed through the heavens

Jesus, the Son of God,

let us hold fast our confession

Jesus who sympathizes

Jesus who has been tempted

Let us draw near the throne of grace

to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need