Rev. David Holwick K Palm Sunday
First Baptist Church Baptism
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 31, 1996
Hebrews 4:14-16
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I. Whom do you go to when you are hurting?
A. Think of the greatest crisis you ever faced.
1) Where did you turn?
2) Spouse, parents, a friend, professional help?
B. Do you gain anything by going to Jesus?
1) Christians often relate to him on a first-name basis.
2) Is this valid? Does it matter?
II. Jesus is great. 4:14
A. He is our Great High Priest.
1) Jesus represents us before God.
2) He has "access" you cannot buy here on earth.
At the very end of the Civil War, a dejected confederate soldier was
sitting outside the grounds of the White House.
A young boy approached him and asked him why he was so sad.
The soldier told how he had repeatedly tried to see President Lincoln.
He wanted to tell the President that his farm in the South was
unfairly taken away by the Federal soldiers.
But each time he tried to enter the White House, the guards crossed
their bayoneted guns in front of the door and turned him away.
The boy motioned to the soldier to follow him.
When they approached the guarded entrance, the soldiers came to
attention, stepped back, and opened the door for the boy.
He proceeded to the library where the President was resting and
introduced the soldier to his father.
The boy was Tad Lincoln.
The soldier had gained access to the President through the President's
son.
How much more should we rejoice in our access to the grace of the
King of kings.
#750
B. Jesus has gone through the heavens to the supreme place.
1) He is present with us through the Spirit.
2) He is preparing a place for us.
3) He is preparing us for that place.
4) He is interceding for us.
C. Therefore hold firmly to your faith we profess.
1) "Profess" means what we claim to believe.
a) Many Christians claim very little.
b) Louis Palau and Muslim taxi driver - no Christians
ever talk to him about Jesus.
This is why taxi driver is convinced Christianity is
dying and Muslims will take over.
[Charles Colson used instead, memory error]
#3670
2) Don't just "claim" it, live it.
a) Have convictions about what you believe.
b) Hold to them, through thick and thin.
III. Jesus knows the human condition. 4:15
A. Is Jesus so great he doesn't care?
1) (Lamar Alexander asked about cost of milk and bread.
He didn't have a clue.) [pick out a member in church...]
2) We often view Jesus this way - he's God, so he can't
relate to our petty problems.
3) Popular song by Joan Osborne: "What if God was one of us,
just a slob like one of us..."
B. Jesus doesn't just know about being human, he experienced it.
1) Jesus was fully human.
a) "Little Lord Jesus no crying he makes..." -Baloney!
b) Jesus had to grow and develop just like us. Lk 2:52
c) He was not a fake person with God underneath, but both
human and God simultaneously.
2) Only one hitch - he was sinless.
a) Literally - "apart from sin."
b) Two possible meanings:
1> We sin and he doesn't.
2> He had a knowledge of every kind of temptation
except that which comes from actually having sinned.
C. We can approach Jesus confidently because he knows our weaknesses.
1) Although Jesus could not sin, life was not easy for him.
a) He knew the force of temptation in a way we cannot.
2) We give in before the temptation is fully spent.
a) Only he who does not yield knows its full force.
IV. Approach God boldly. 4:16
A. We can go to Jesus.
1) Let "us" go to him. Any Christian.
2) We don't need intermediaries who "understand better."
a) No priests or saints are necessary.
B. Throne of grace.
1) Only here in NT.
2) Points to God's sovereignty, and his love for us.
3) The Old Testament ties special attributes to God's throne:
Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your
throne; love and faithfulness go before you.
Psalm 123:1-2
I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as
the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so
our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us
his MERCY.
4) We need mercy because we fail so often.
C. We can have confidence.
1) How bold are you in your relationship with God?
a) We cannot make demands upon him, manipulate him.
b) Yet we can live confidently because God is on our side.
It is said that Napoleon, while looking at some papers, let slip
the bridle of his horse, which reared so that the Emperor was
in danger.
A corporal of the grenadiers leaped forward and caught the bridle,
bringing the horse under control.
Napoleon saluted the corporal and said, "Thank you, CAPTAIN."
"Of what company, Sire?" asked the corporal.
"Of my guards," replied Napoleon.
The young corporal picked up his musket, hurled it aside, and
walked across the field toward the Emperor's staff, tearing
off his corporal's stripes as he went.
When he took his place among the officers, they asked him what
he was doing there.
He replied that he was a captain of the guards.
"By whose order?" asked one of them.
"The Emperor's order," he replied.
A man of less faith might have picked up his musket, stepped
back into the ranks, and boasted for the rest of his life
that Napoleon had called him captain.
This describes the difference between mental assent and true
faith, which takes God at His word and acts upon it.
#2663
V. Our time of need.
A. Jesus can help us when no one can.
1) Often overheard by me in emergency rooms, "I don't know how
non-believers can survive in a time like this."
2) Many ease their struggles by turning to drugs, alcohol,
or throwing off restraint.
3) We can ease them by going to our King.
B. Do you turn to Jesus in a crisis only?
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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