How is Jesus Still Helping Us today? 3-28-2021
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
1. Jesus finished His earthly ministry when He died on the cross.
30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
A. But this does not mean that He is not at work in heaven for us.
23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
1. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father far above all principality and power and might and dominion for a reason.
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
A. One of the reasons that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father is so that He can help us.
18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
Body:
1. Jesus serves as our High Priest.
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
A. A high priest of Isreal offers sacrifices for the sins of both himself and all of Isreal.
1 For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. 3 Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.
1. Jesus is the minister of the true tabernacle.
1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
2. We have a better High Priest because He entered a better holy place with a better sacrifice.
23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
A. The tabernacle Jesus entered was batter because it was not made by human hands.
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
B. Jesus sacrifice was better because it was His blood.
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
2. Jesus is our Advocate with the Father.
1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
A. Because Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses He is able to argue our case before the Father.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
1. He intercedes for us when the Father’s justice would destroy us.
A. We have an example of how important this type of intercession is in Deuteronomy 9:13-19
13 “Furthermore the Lord spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. 14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ 15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God—had made for yourselves a molded calf! You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. 17 Then I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was angry with you, to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also.
3. Jesus is our Mediator.
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
A. It is because of Jesus that we have access to the Father.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
1. We must go through Jesus to have access to the Father.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
A. In order to have this access to the Father we must put on Christ.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
B. When we put on Christ in obedience and keep His commandments then we have access to the Father through Jesus in prayer.
22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
B. This is vital to us because we do not have access to the Father without Christ.
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Conclusion:
1. Jesus is our...
A. High Priest
B. Advocate with the Father
C. Mediator with the Father
2. Even though Jesus is in heaven with the Father He is still our everything.