A. One afternoon, a man came home from work to find two young girls from the neighborhood on the steps of his building.
1. Both girls were crying very loudly, and were shedding big tears.
2. Thinking they might be hurt, the man put down his briefcase and quickly went over to them, asking, “Are you all right?”.
3. Still sobbing, one girl held up her doll and said, “My babydoll’s arm came off.”
4. The man took the doll and its dismembered arm, and after a little effort had the doll back together again.
5. “Thank you,” came a whisper from the girl.
6. Then turning to the other little girl, the man asked, “And what’s the matter with you, young lady?”
7. The second little girl wiped her cheeks and said to the man, “Oh, nothing is the matter with me, I was just helping her cry!”
B. How’s that for a good friend?
1. Sometimes we need a good friend who will just help us cry.
2. Other times we need a good friend who can help us in many other ways.
3. And the promise that I want to share this us today has to do with the fact that we have a friend in Jesus.
4. God’s promise to us is that you and I have a Savior who understands us and will help us.
5. I wrestled with how to word this promise.
6. Today’s promise is based on a passage from Hebrews 4 where Jesus is called our High Priest, but I fear that High Priest is a too unfamiliar and clinical term.
7. So I toyed with several different descriptors for this promise:
a. “You have a God who understands you and can help you…”
b. “You have a Mediator…You have a Friend…
8. But finally, I decided to go with: “You have a Savior who understands you and can help you.”
a. This goes down as one of the longest sermon titles in the history of sermon titles!
9. Additionally, I want you to know that today’s sermon, along with the next few sermons, will contain promises that assist us in winning the spiritual battle over our enemy, the devil.
C. Max Lucado effectively opens his chapter on this promise with an illustration from college women’s softball. (I trust that Vanessa Fletcher, our resident woman’s softball star and coach will especially like this illustration)
1. On a splendid April afternoon in 2008, two college women’s softball teams – one from Oregon, one from Washington – squared off in a very important game.
2. The winner would advance to the division playoffs and the loser would hang up their gloves and cleats and go home.
3. The Western Oregon Wolves were a sturdy team that fielded several strong batters, but Sara Tucholsky was not one of them.
a. She had a hitting percentage of 153 and was playing in the game only because the first-string right fielder had made a big error earlier in the game.
4. Sara had never hit a home run, but on that day, with two runners on base, she connected with a curveball and sent it sailing over the left-field fence.
a. In her excitement, Sara missed first base, but before she got too far, her coach shouted for her to return and touch it.
b. When she turned and started back to first base, something popped in her knee, and down she went.
c. She dragged herself back to first base, pulled her knee to her chest in pain, and asked the first-base coach what to do.
5. Sara knew that if she tried to stand, she would collapse.
a. She knew she had to get around the bases and to home plate for the run to count and for them to go ahead in the game.
b. She knew that if any of Sara’s teammates assisted her, she would be out.
6. And so the game was on hold as Sara stayed at first-base and the umpires huddled to talk.
D. This story easily illustrates how we have spiritually tripped and fallen, and how we are helpless to get from where we are to where we want to be
1. Max Lucado, the gifted writer and sermonizer, who can spot an illustration from the cheap seats, says: “You and I have a lot in common with Sara Tucholsky. We, too, have stumbled. Not in baseball, but in life. In morality, honesty, integrity. We have done our best, only to trip and fall. Our finest efforts have left us flat on our backs. Like Sara, we are weakened, not with torn ligaments, but with broken hearts, weary spirits, and fading vision. The distance between where we are and where we want to be is impassable. What do we do? Where do we turn?”
2. I want to point our attention to one of the sweetest of promises and it is found in Hebrews 4: 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.
3. Brothers and sisters, we need to realize that we have a high priest who is able to understand.
4. Since he understands, we find mercy and grace when we need it.
5. When we fall, we aren’t left to languish.
6. When we stumble, we aren’t abandoned.
E. A truly mind-blowing thought is this one: our Savior understands us, He gets us.
1. Theologians discuss this truth and promise employing the term “Incarnation.”
2. The “Incarnation” is the spectacular truth that God, for a time, became one of us.
3. The apostle John, in his Gospel, describes it this way: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).
4. God became flesh in the form and person of Jesus of Nazareth.
5. Jesus was miraculously conceived, and yet was naturally delivered.
6. His natural birth was just like yours and mine, but He was born of a virgin.
7. Had Jesus simply descended to earth in the form of a mighty being, we would respect Him, but never feel that we could draw near to Him.
a. After all, how then could we trust that God understood what it means to be human?
8. Had Jesus been biologically conceived with two earthly parents, we could draw near to Him, but we would not feel the need to worship Him.
a. After all, He would be no different than you and me.
9. But if Jesus was both – God and man at the same time – then we have the best of both worlds.
a. Neither His humanity nor His deity would be compromised.
b. And so Jesus was fully human and fully divine.
c. Because of the first, we can draw near, and because of the second, we worship Him.
F. Paul gives us insight into the incarnation in Colossians 1:15-16: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him.
1. And so, we understand that not a drop of divinity was lost in Jesus’ transition to humanity.
2. Though Jesus appeared human (and he was), He was also actually God; divine.
3. The fullness of God (every bit of God) took up residence in the body of Christ.
4. Colossians 1:19 includes: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him…”
G. Jesus may have looked human, but those nearest Him knew He was more than human because He was prone to divine exclamations and actions.
1. Every so often, Jesus allowed His divinity to take over and manifest itself.
2. Like the time in Matthew 8, when Jesus and His disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee.
3. As they were crossing the lake, Jesus fell asleep, and while He was sleeping a violent storm suddenly arose and the waves were swamping the boat.
4. His disciples were afraid the boat would sink, so they woke Jesus up, and Jesus rebuked the winds and the waves, and the waters immediately became calm.
5. His disciples had no option but to step back and ask, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” (Mt. 8:27).
H. To illustrate this glimpse of glory that would often come out of Jesus, Max Lucado tells an interesting story about an experience with David Robinson.
1. David Robinson is an NBA All-Star, Two-time NBA Champion, NBA M.V.P., Two-time Olympian gold medal winner, and a College All-American – quite a resume!
2. David Robinson is 7 foot 1 inch tall, with a chiseled frame, with legendary basketball skills and IQ.
3. As a quick aside, many years ago, Diana and I, along with our girls, visited my brother Steve while he lived in San Antonio, Texas.
a. We went to worship with Steve at the church where Max Lucado continues to minister.
b. We were sitting in the second or third row of chairs, and a few minutes after the service began, a huge man and his family came in and was ushered to chairs right in front of us.
c. Immediately, I recognized it was David Robinson and his family.
d. When he sat on the chair in front of me, he was as tall as I am when I am standing up!
4. Back to Max’s story about David Robinson…Max was at a retreat and Robinson was present.
a. The guys asked Max if he thought David Robinson might play basketball with them.
b. The them was a group of pudgy, middle-aged, well-meaning but out-of-shape men.
c. Max included himself as he described his group, “bodies plump; skills pathetic, basketball IQ slightly less than that of a squirrel.
d. David Robinson, in an utter display of indulgence agreed to play bball with the group.
5. When the game began, it was David Robinson, the huge man and superstar that he is, playing with what seemed like a group of children.
a. It was obvious that Robinson was holding back and playing along.
6. But then, at one point, just for the fun of it, Robinson let loose.
a. David Robinson, the guy who had slam-dunked basketballs over Michael Jordon and Charles Barclay, just let it go.
b. With three strides he roared from half court to the rim.
c. Max says that the pudgy, middle-aged opposition cleared a path as Robinson sailed, head level with the basket, and slammed the ball with a force that left the backboard shaking.
d. The group of men gulped, and David Robinson smiled.
7. In that moment Max and the group of men knew that they may have shared the same court with David Robinson, but they didn’t have the same power as David Robinson.
I. That must have been how obvious the difference was between Jesus and everyone else.
1. In those moments when Jesus displayed His divinity, He commanded demons to leave a possessed person and they did.
2. Jesus told the storm to be quiet and it was.
3. Jesus told the dead man to rise up, the dead daughter to sit up, and the entombed Lazarus to come out, and they did.
4. No wonder no one argued with Jesus when He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt. 28:18).
J. Yet, in spite of Jesus’ lofty position and unlimited power, He was willing for a time to forgo the privileges of divinity and enter humanity.
1. Jesus was born as all babies are born.
2. His childhood was a common one, as far as we know.
3. Jesus’ body developed, His muscles strengthened, and His bones matured in normal fashion.
4. There is no evidence or suggestion that He was spared the inconveniences and awkwardness of adolescence – he may have been gangly and homely.
5. Jesus experienced the normal pains of having an earthly body, like the pain of muscle soreness and the sting of salt in an open wound.
6. As an adult, He was weary enough to sit down at the well in John 4, and sleepy enough to doze off in a rocking boat in Matthew 8.
7. He became hungry in the wilderness and was thirsty on the cross.
8. When He was crucified, the nails brought excruciating pain, and His lungs begged for oxygen.
K. And so the Word became flesh and why does that truth matter so much to us?
1. Because we know that because Jesus became like us, He understands us and can help us.
2. When we wonder if God understands us, we can know that He does.
3. When we wonder if God listens to us, we can know that He does.
4. When we wonder if God can comprehend the challenges we face, we can know that He does.
L. The promise of Hebrews 4:15 is that Jesus, our high priest, is able to understand our weaknesses.
1. Jesus understands our physical pains and our spiritual struggles, because He had a human body and He did spiritual battle with the evil one while living in this world.
2. Just think about your struggles and how He faced the same.
3. Are you troubled in spirit? He was too (Jn. 12:27).
4. Are you so anxious you could die? He was too (Mt. 26:38).
5. Are you overwhelmed with grief? He was too (John 11:35).
6. Have you ever prayed with loud cries and tears? He did too (Heb. 5:7).
M. Jesus was so human and yet He was also so divine.
1. Jesus was so human He could touch His people, but was so mighty He could heal them.
2. Jesus was so human He could use earthly words, but was so heavenly He spoke with authority.
3. Jesus was so human He could blend in unnoticed for 30 years, but was so divine that He could change history and be unforgotten for 2000 years.
N. Look again at the promise in Hebrews 4: 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.
1. Some have pointed to the sinlessness of Jesus and have questioned His ability to fully understand us.
2. They reason, “If He never sinned, then how could He understand the full force of sin?”
3. But before we jump to that conclusion, let’s consider how that Jesus may have felt the force of sin even more than we do.
a. We give in to sin, He never did.
b. It is much harder and more painful to resist temptation than it is to give in to it.
c. Max said it this way: “He stood before the tsunami of temptation and never wavered.”
4. When we think about it like that, then we can conclude that He understands it more than anyone who ever lived.
5. And then, on top of that, think about the fact that He volunteered to experience the total consequences of sin.
6. Paul wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21 NIV)
a. Jesus didn’t deserve to feel the shame of sin, but He felt it.
b. Jesus didn’t deserve the humiliation, but He experienced it.
c. Jesus had never sinned, yet He was treated like a sinner and punished like a sinner.
d. Jesus became sin for us, and all the guilt and remorse, shame and embarrassment was laid on Him.
O. So, does Jesus understand us and our struggle with sin? Yes He does!
1. And why does it matter? Because as sinners we need to know that we are welcome to approach our Savior and High Priest when we are in need.
2. The promise of Hebrews 4:16 says that because Jesus has been tempted in every way, we can approach the throne of grace with boldness, knowing that we will receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.
3. Because Jesus was human, He understands us. Because Jesus is divine, He can help us.
4. Jesus is uniquely positioned to help us in our time of need and to carry us home.
P. Jesus does for us what Mallory Holtman did for Sara Tucholsky in the softball story we talked about earlier in this sermon.
1. You will remember, Sara is the girl who tore an ACL during her home-run trot.
2. When we left her, she was lying on the ground, clutching her knee with one hand and touching first base with the other.
3. The umpires were huddled together while the players stood and watched.
4. The fans shouted for someone to take Sara off the field, but she didn’t want to leave – she wanted to cross home plate.
5. It was Mallory Holtman who came up with a solution.
a. She played first base for the opposing team, and she was a senior who wanted a victory.
b. A loss would end her season, and so you would think that Mallory would be happy to see the home run nullified, but she wasn’t.
6. “Excuse me,” she said to the umpires, “Can I help her around the bases?”
a. “Why would you want to do that?” asked one of the umpires.
b. But before she could answer, another umpire shrugged and said, “Sure, do it.”
7. So Mallory did.
a. She called to her shortstop to help her, and she said to Sara, “We’re going to pick you up and carry you around the bases.”
b. By this time, tears streaked Sara’s cheeks and she said, “Thank you.”
8. Mallory and her teammate picked up Sara and began the mission of mercy.
a. They paused long enough at second and third base to lower Sara’s foot to touch the bases.
b. By the time they headed for home plate, the spectators had risen to their feet.
c. Sara’s teammates gathered at home plate, and Sara was smiling like a homecoming queen.
d. And well she should, because the only one who could help did help, and because she did, Sara made it home.
e. Sara’s home run provided the winning runs and so her team won and advanced.
Q. And here’s the powerful point for me and for you: God promises to do the same for you and for me.
1. God wants to pick us up and carry us home, will we let Him?
2. We cannot make it on our own, but Jesus has the strength we do not have.
3. He is our Savior and High Priest and He not only understands us, He knows how to help us.
4. Let’s let Him do what He reigns in heaven to do – get us through the game and carry us home.
R. Here’s our assignment, please write this promise where you will see it every day: I have a Savior who understands me and will help me!
1. Let’s go ahead and approach God’s throne with boldness, because we know that we will find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.
Resources:
Unshakable Hope, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson, 2018
