Remember the Road Runner cartoons where Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner cartoons and inevitably end up in a tight situation? The Coyote will chase the bird failing every time. He will explode, have a rock fall on him, have a ACME device malfunction or fall off the edge of a cliff. But, every once in a while, as the Coyote falls, he grabs hold of a twig sticking out of the side of the cliff….but we all know what will happen - He hangs there for a short time, and then of course, the twig snaps and he falls hitting the ground in a big puff of dust.
It doesn’t matter how strong the Coyote’s grip was; It doesn’t matter how determined the Coyote was; It doesn’t even matter how good his ACME equipment was, when the twig breaks, the Coyote falls. Poof.
Many of us have a Christian walk like Wile E. Coyote don’t we? We buy the best available equipment for our walk of faith: A study bible, solid Christian books, maybe a bible computer program – we attend service, take notes, even go to a mid week study of some kind. In fact, there are times where we seem to have caught on….and then we fall off the cliff. Poof, big puff of dust.
For you see, the key to a great faith is not how strong we are, but what the faith holds on to that is strong. If faith holds on to a breakable twig, then no matter how strong the grip is, that faith will fall, just like Wile E. Coyote. Fortunately we have something to hold onto that is strong, in fact stronger than anything we could build ourselves up to, in fact stronger than anything that can come against us – the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is stronger. Stronger than the devil. Stronger. Stronger than any temptation, stronger than any fear, strong than any sin. Jesus is stronger.
Through the strength of Jesus Christ – THAT is how our faith overcomes. Our Scripture today helps us understand how this works – and the result for us is that “we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Verse 16
I could use that, grace and mercy in my time of need, couldn’t you?
Before we jump into our Scripture this morning, let me pose a question for you to ponder in your Christian walk: Do I hold onto Jesus Christ when times get tough, or do I hold onto something else to get me through?…..Other things I might hold onto instead of Christ might include - My intellect; My abilities; My wealth; Relationships, both professional and personal; Keeping busy; My intuition; Being critical and degrading of others…get the picture?
We can fool ourselves. The truth is, even for those of us who have been Christians for a long time, we trust ourselves more than we trust the Lord Jesus, we trust a long list of other things more than the Lord Jesus. Truly, in a practical sense, we trust in Jesus as our strength to get us through, only after all other options are exhausted, but by that time we are hitting the ground - poof of dust.
Please have your bibles open to our Scripture for today, Hebrews chapter 4: 14-16. I know some of you have closed your bibles already since we have already read the Scripture. It will help you understand our God’s Word better this morning if you have your bible open, you can see with your own eye what God has written to you. If you have a hard time finding the book of Hebrews, just use the table of contents in the front of the bible – don’t worry I won’t see you flipping to the index, my eyesight is fairly poor; so your secret is perfectly safe with me…..I think I have spent enough time stalling for you to find the Scripture haven’t I?
Hebrews 4:14. As we look at this first verse we see that we have a high priest, and Jesus is that high priest. What does that mean?
I think this is becoming more difficult for us to understand with more and more religions becoming prominent in the USA now. The pagan notion of priesthood has somewhat colored our thinking in reference to a biblical priest. A pagan priest in effect, bars the approach to God calming the possession of some mystical power essential to bringing a person to God. To get to God a pagan needed the priest. A person has to go through the pagan priest to get to God. He is not able to go to God on his own. There is a wall, a distance placed between the worshipper and God.
But in Christianity a priest is not like that, see we have the priesthood of all believers. We are all a priest and no one lacks access to God, no one is distant from God. 1Pet. 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We all have equal access to God. We do not need to depend upon another human to connect with God, to talk with God, to hold onto God. Me and God. You and God. In fact, in fact…we have the Holy Spirit within us from the moment we give our life over to Jesus Christ. Our worship goes through no one – it is direct from us to God. But if we are all priests, why do we need Jesus to be a priest also?
Looking back at our bibles, you’ll notice that in verse 14, it says that we have a high priest who has gone through the heavens. In the Temple in Jerusalem there were many priest, but only one high priest. This high priest was above all other priests. He had a great responsibility that only he could fulfill. Every year, only once a year, on the day of atonement, the high priest would enter the inner sanctum, the holy of holies, where the ark of the covenant sat (remember, you saw it in the first Indiana Jones movie). He would enter with bells tied to his clothes and a rope tied around his leg – if the bells stopped ringing, the other priests would know the high priest was stuck dead by God and be able to pull out the body without being harmed themselves. This was serious stuff. If the high priest survived entering the holy of holies, the high priest would then offer a sacrifice of atonement for the forgiveness of the sins of all the people of Israel for that year at the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant, symbolized God’s throne in the OT. The cover of the ark had two figures of angels – in the ancient near east, kings were enthroned on winged figures. So the sacrifice of atonement was symbolically made at the throne of God. But the ark was unapproachable and secluded in the most holy part of the temple – visited by the high priest once a year.
But Jesus the high priest. Jesus himself is the sacrifice of atonement. He accomplished this sacrifice through his death on the cross...and then He is raised and ascends to heaven to sit at the right had of God. Remember last week we saw that the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of God gave him full dominion over everything. His ascension also places him at the throne of God. So Jesus is the sacrifice, at the throne of God and He is the high priest at the throne of God. Since Jesus is the Sacrifice, the Priest AND God, the resulting atonement from the sacrifice of Jesus is perpetual. Since we are priests who know the high priest, Jesus, we have perpetual direct access to God.
Notice, verse 14 also says that Jesus has gone through the heavens. The heavens through which Jesus passes are the heavenly regions in general. We should not try to enumerate successive levels of heaven. Three levels or seven levels etc. The plural “heavens” is regularly used in the NT and the Septuagint (remember the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the OT) and reflects the Hebrew word used for heaven, which is always plural. This does not mean many levels of heaven – what the plural use of heaven does is emphasis God’s transcendence, that God is far above us in who He is and does not describe a physical reality. Heavens here in verse 14 implies that Jesus is far greater than any OT priest who only was allowed an annual visit in the Holy of Holies, whereas Jesus is permanently there – at the hand of God.
So, verse 14 tells us that since we have this high priest Jesus, this perpetual access to God, this high priest who is far above any human priest – it tells us, “let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” Profess, is better translated confess, really, our testimony. Some of your bibles say that and are accurate. In other words, we have made to commitment to Jesus Christ and by making that commitment we have made a statement, that we believe He is the real thing and we are sticking to that conviction.
Hold firmly to the faith we confess, means we hold firmly to Jesus, not ourselves. He is asking us NOT to live it on our own, but to live it through Jesus.
The reason we can have confidence in the strength of Jesus as opposed to anything else is this: Jesus knows where we are coming from. Verse 15, Jesus sympathizes with our weakness, He has been there, done that. All the temptations to sin that have ever crossed your path, Jesus has been there. Sexual temptations – He’s been there. Urge to drink too much, check. Anger, check. Wanting to gossip; Feeling the need to lie; Wanting to take revenge; Wanting to avoid responsibility; Wanting to verbally attack others; Check check check check check. Jesus has been there and done that with every issue you could have possibly faced – with one big difference: See verse 15, one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”
Who is stronger? Stronger than you. Stronger than those who threaten you. Stronger than your failure. Stronger than your success. Stronger than any fear. Stronger than death. Who is stronger? Jesus Christ. Why is He stronger? He knows exactly what you are going through. Why? He has been tempted in every way – and has prevailed!
Let He who has prevailed be your strength, not when everything is played out, not when there is nowhere else to turn – but right up front. First thing. Remember last week we saw that Paul prays that we get to know God first and foremost. Remember why? We get to know God first, establish that relationship with him, and other things will fall into place.
And here is the reason – Jesus is strong – stronger – know Him, know strength – be able to make it through, because you are holding on to Jesus, who is strong, not something else……poof, cloud of dust.
See Jesus, He hold three offices, prophet, priest and king. He came to earth as a prophet, ascended to heaven at the right hand of God as a high priest, and He will come again to establish His dominion as a king. With the occupation of these three offices Jesus proves his strength, for through these three offices Jesus is able to hold us up through all things.
When we undergo temptation we are put under pressure, and we can only hold so much pressure. Too much pressure and we fail. Fill your tires with too much air and what happens? The tire fails, the tire explodes. Squeeze a ripe tomato between your hands and it will rupture – it can only hold back so much pressure. We can only take so much pressure, we only have so much strength, and then we fail. Jesus, He has infinite strength. So He can never cave in under pressure.
So we see that Jesus, our high priest, who is so strong, knows exactly what we are facing – right now. Now what is so great about this is that, Jesus is not next to us condemning us, no, He is sympathizing with us.
Stop right there. Did you hear that? Really hear that? Take a look at your open bibles at verse 15…Jesus is not next to us condemning us, no, He is sympathizing with us. Do you see that? How long are you going to live with the lie that God is watching over you to condemn you. That lie….that lie that is back there behind all your dealings with Jesus. And that lie of condemnation has prevented you from a close relationship with Jesus Christ. Hasn’t it? Hear this: Jesus is able to sympathize –He has been there, and He has prevailed! Jesus Christ is not watching over you to point out when you fail, what is He doing? Verse 15. Take that to heart because hear comes the best stuff yet…….
Verse 16 “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,” confidence, literally boldly, this word confidence comes from the Greek word parahesia - parrhsi÷a – it denotes the freedom of speech that the Athenians so highly prized. This is telling us to come before God, to come before Jesus and speak freely, don’t hold back, tell him what is on your mind. We can do so because Jesus throne is a throne of grace. We can go to Jesus without fear, without trepidation. Why? Because Jesus sympathizes with us, He wants us to overcome.
Here we see it all come together, and it is powerfully simple, powerfully clear: Jesus is Stronger. Freely express yourself to Him. Hold firmly onto Jesus and receive what He has promised you, that you may receive mercy and find grace to help you in your time of need.
