Finished... But Not Over

Hebrews chapter 4 The accounts of Jesus' crucifixion recorded for us in the four Gospels.

That would be Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You're familiar with the story. You've heard them over and over again, I'm sure. Read them yourselves. Studied them. Have heard sermons on them.

And you may also know that two of the Gospel writers were eyewitnesses of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That would be Matthew and John.

And they were there. They were apostles, of course. Chosen apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were there and they gave an account of what they saw directly.

Not just simply giving an account of other witnesses. They were there. And they saw it. And they recorded what they saw and what they heard. And you also remember that according to these accounts, Jesus said a number of things from the cross.

A number of very significant things that He said while He was hanging there on that cross. Hanging there, bleeding, dying for us.

And so they recorded these things. And what was the very last thing Jesus said before He died? Well, Matthew, in his account, He doesn't tell us.

He makes mention of the last thing Jesus cried from the cross. But He doesn't tell us what it was. In Matthew chapter 27 and verse 50, Matthew recorded, And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.

That's what Matthew tells us about it. He doesn't tell us what Jesus said. And perhaps Matthew did not tell us what Jesus said because Matthew was not there. He said, but I thought He was an eyewitness.

Well, He was. He was there for a time. But by the time Jesus said this thing, this last thing from the cross, Matthew had abandoned the cross, as did all of the apostles except for one of them.

The only one left was John of the twelve. Of course, Judas had already gone out and hung himself. So there were just eleven left. And all were gone.

All had scattered except for John. And John, the beloved apostle, recorded this in John 19 and verse 30.

He wrote, So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, Do you know what He said? It is finished.

It is finished. That's what He said. The last thing He said. It is finished. And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. Petalestai.

In the Greek, it is finished. That's what Jesus said. His last words before He dismissed His spirit. And surely you know that this was no cry of defeat.

Jesus did not say, I'm finished. I'm a goner. I'm done for. He didn't mean that at all. This was no cry of defeat. This was a shout of victory from the cross.

His last words. And so these were the words of a victor. Not a victim. Because sin was now atoned for.

Full payment had been made. Satan had been defeated. God's holy wrath on sin was appeased.

It was satisfied. And the work of redemption given to God the Son by God the Father was fully accomplished. Nothing needs to be added to it.

Indeed, nothing can be added to it. Don't try to add anything to it. It's done. It's finished. Because, you see, salvation is not spelled D-O-D-U, is it?

Contrary to what a lot of people evidently believe. Salvation is spelled D-O-N-E, done. It is finished. It is finished. And yet, it is not over.

And that's what I want to talk about this morning. It's not over. In a very real sense, though it is finished, Jesus said so.

But in a very real sense, very significant sense, it is far from over. With the death of Christ, the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed finished, but it is far from over.

And the writer of Hebrews, this passage we're going to be looking at here in just a moment, described for us Jesus' work from the cross forward.

And it is a work that, even though part of it is finished, the major part of it is finished, it is far from over.

And it is a work that we all, as believers, as born-again believers, as followers of Jesus Christ, it is a work that we need Him to do. And continue to need Him to do.

And it's a glorious work. And so with that in mind, I want you to look at Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14, 15, and 16. 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.

And we stop there a minute and say, He didn't say hold fast your salvation, but your confession. 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.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What a tremendous passage of Scripture.

Tremendous passage. And there are three verses here. And with these three verses, there are three truths that we can learn here concerning the work of Christ from the cross on.

And I want to give them to you here on the front end. First, there is His impeccable ministry. That's number one. Second, His touchable ministry.

That's number two. And three, His approachable deity. These three things. These three things. I think identify for us the ongoing, certainly the work of Christ at the cross, but a work that is finished in the sense of redemption.

But it's not finished in the sense of His ministry that is ongoing for us today. Jesus is impeccable in His ministry.

He is touchable in His humanity. And He is approachable in His deity. Let's take the first one first. That's a good place to start. Take number one first.

His impeccable ministry. And what I mean is His perfect ministry. Okay? His perfect ministry. Jesus is perfect in His ministry to us.

Now, according to Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14, that verse I read a moment ago, what is the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ? According to verse 14. Well, it's a priestly ministry.

It's a priestly ministry. Isn't that what He said? The Bible says we have a great high priest. It's a priestly ministry. And also, according to Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14, as our high priest, our great high priest, where is Jesus right now?

Well, He's in heaven. Right? He's in heaven. He's in the abode of God. He's in the residence of God. That's what the writer of Hebrews said here in verse 14.

He has passed through the heavens. By the way, I just remembered that Tom Holland's not here, so I can tell you it was Paul who wrote Hebrews. Okay?

Just a little joke. He'll appreciate that if you pass that on to him. And so Paul said that our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, has passed through the heavens.

And that's where He is right now. Seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And so we have a great high priest. A high priest who ministers to us and for us and represents us before God the Father.

That's our great high priest. That's what a priest does, by the way. Now, you know, let's just admit it. This whole concept of a priest is a little bit foreign to us as Baptists.

We don't have priests. Don't ever call me one, okay? Now, in reality, in our theology, which I believe is correct, we believe in the priesthood of the believer, each individual believer.

But we don't have priests in the Baptist church. And so maybe this whole idea, this whole concept of a, quote, high priest is a little bit foreign to us. And so I think it would be important if we're going to be talking about the impeccability of Christ, the impeccable high priest, His ministry, then maybe we need to learn a little something about the Jewish high priesthood.

And so I want to do that. And then I want to take what we would learn about the high priesthood of Israel and compare it with the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we're going to see, I believe, very clearly that His priesthood was perfect. It was perfect. It was impeccable. The first thing we need to learn is this. In the first place, the high priesthood, the high priest of Israel was one appointed by God.

That's number one. The high priest of Israel was appointed by God. Now, he had to be of the tribe of Levi. And he also had to be of the lineage of Aaron, the brother of Moses, remember?

The very first high priest. These were qualifications that he could not avoid. And so, of the lineage of Levi, of the lineage of Aaron, in order to be the high priest, to be appointed high priest.

And he was appointed by God. But what about Jesus? Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi. He was of the tribe of Judah. And Jesus was not a descendant, a direct descendant of Aaron, the first high priest.

So how could Jesus be our great high priest? Well, because Jesus' priesthood was different. And it's good that it was. His priesthood was better.

In fact, according to the Bible, his priesthood is eternal. In Hebrews chapter 5, and we're not going to turn to it, but I want to read verse 6 to you.

In Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 6, the Bible identifies the priesthood of Jesus this way. He was a priest forever, the Bible says, in the order of Melchizedek.

You remember that in Hebrews chapter 5? You may have heard the name Melchizedek before. You might be a little confused about who he was. But the Bible says that Jesus was a high priest after the order, or in the manner of, or descended from, the order of Melchizedek.

A little bit later in that chapter, in chapter 5, in verse 10, the Bible says that he, that's Jesus, was declared, or literally appointed by God, a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Now, we could spend a lot of time this morning trying to identify Melchizedek and how Jesus was a high priest in that order. We don't have time to do that, but let me just say a few words about that.

According to Genesis chapter 14, and that's where Melchizedek is first identified, we're first introduced to him, and you might remember a little bit about the story, he came out to meet Abram, and he blessed Abram.

This was before Abram became Abraham. And he blessed him, and the Bible says that Abram paid tithes, gave tithes to Melchizedek.

He was the king of Salem. The Bible identifies him as such. Salem, by the way, would later become Jerusalem, so he's kind of king of Jerusalem.

That kind of should give you a tip as to who Melchizedek really was eternally. But he was a priest, the Bible says, of the Most High God.

Now, if we were to look at Hebrews chapter 7, we would find out a little bit more information about Melchizedek. Melchizedek, the Bible says there in Hebrews 7, had no father and no mother, and no lineage.

I mean, if you don't have a father and mother, you have no lineage, okay? Not an earthly lineage anyway. This is a strange person, this Melchizedek. Very shadowy, kind of mysterious kind of person.

And Abraham paid tithes to him. And it's repeated for us again in Hebrews chapter 7 that he was identified as a priest of the Most High God.

Who was this Melchizedek? Well, I believe it was Jesus. Now, those who would debate that, but I think it's pretty clear that we have here in Genesis 14 what's called a Christophany.

It was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And then when you add to that, that Melchizedek, and Jesus was a priest at the order of Melchizedek, Melchizedek existed, or at least he appeared in Scripture before Aaron.

Before Aaron was even born. And therefore, Melchizedek was a high priest, and Jesus, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek, even before the high priesthood was established.

This is something different. A high priesthood involved men who lived, and they died, and God appointed a successor, and they all had to be of the tribe of Levi, and all had to be of the lineage of Aaron.

And so it was imperfect, not a perfect priesthood. And the men who filled the role of priest, the high priest, they were not perfect.

But Jesus, on the other hand, was of the order of Melchizedek. Before Aaron, before the high priest was established, Jesus' priesthood, it being appointed, He was appointed high priest after the order of Melchizedek, was greater and better than Aaron and all those who followed Aaron because His priesthood was eternal.

Eternal for us. You see, then how much better Jesus' priesthood was. He was appointed high priest forever.

Number two, the high priest of Israel was one who approached God for us. That's second we need to see about the high priesthood.

He was not only appointed by God, but He approached God for the people. And He would pass through in His priestly duties when the sacrifice would be made and the blood would be captured from the spotless lamb.

And then in that labor, the high priest would carry the blood of the perfect sacrifice. And He would pass through three areas in the tabernacle later to become the temple.

He would first take that blood, the blood of the sacrifice, and He would pass through the door into what was called the outer court of the temple. And then He would go further.

He would take the blood of the sacrifice, that blood that would make atonement, and He would pass through a door into what was called the holy place. And then third and finally, He would take that blood and pass through the thick veil into the holy of holies.

Only the high priest could enter there. And He would go into that third place, the holy of holies. This is what the high priest would do in His duty on the day of atonement.

What about Jesus? Well, Jesus also passed through three areas. Not into the man-made temple, but into the God-made temple.

He passed, first of all, after His death, He, with the blood of His sacrifice, He passed through the first heaven. That would be our atmosphere. And then He passed through the second heaven.

That would be our universe and the stars. And then third and finally, He passed into the third heaven the Bible identifies as the heaven of heavens.

Into the very abode of God. Into the very presence of God. And so you see, Jesus was a greater high priest than Aaron and all those who followed Aaron because Jesus did not enter into the holy of holies made by man.

But He entered into the holiest of holies. Into the very presence of God. Not just into the visible manifestation of the presence of God, that would be the Shekinah glory.

But into the very presence of God Himself. And He entered there in our behalf, you see. And what a great high priest Jesus is for us. I'm talking about His perfect priesthood.

His perfect ministry. His impeccable ministry. He was appointed by God for us. In our behalf. He approached God for us. In our behalf.

And like the high priest of Israel, Jesus appeared before God for us. He appeared before God for us.

Now, getting back to the high priest of Israel, every year, once a year, like on the Day of Atonement, that would be the specific day, Yom Kippur, the high priest of Israel would take the blood of the sacrifice into the holy of holies, as I've said.

And there he would dip the hyssop, kind of a plant, kind of a weed, really, that grew there in Israel. He would dip that hyssop in the blood and he would sprinkle it on the mercy seat.

And when he was done with that job, that ministry, he would leave. Because he couldn't stay there. His time there in the holy of holies was limited.

He had to get in there and do his function and to do it and hope that God didn't strike him dead. And then he had to get out of there. But what about Jesus? What about Him?

What about our high priest, our great high priest? Well, Jesus entered the holiest of holies, as I've said, and He appeared there in the presence of God the Father for us.

And when His work was done, He sat down. He sat down. He did not leave. He sat down with God the Father.

Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

And so you see, unlike the high priests of Israel, Jesus did not have to leave and then come back the next year, same time, and then to come back year after year after year after year.

No, He sat down. And Hebrews 9 and verse 12 says, He entered the holy of holies once for all. That's our great high priest.

Our impeccable high priest. Our perfect high priest. That's Jesus. Appointed by God. Approached God. Appeared before God.

All of that for us in our stead, in our behalf. And then forth, He applied His own blood there for us.

He applied His own blood. Now again, year after year after year, the high priest of Israel would take the blood of the spotless lamb and take that blood through the veil into the holy of holies.

And there, again, He would take the hyssop and dip it in the blood and apply the blood to the mercy seat. The mercy seat was the lid on top of the Ark of the Covenant.

Inside the Ark of the Covenant, that chest, were the tablets, the Ten Commandments that had been broken. And so the blood applied would cover the law that is cover Israel's infraction of the law.

And so then God the Father would look and see the blood applied and therefore He would turn His holy wrath away from Israel and forgive them of their sin for one year.

Because they would have to repeat this every year. Why? Why not once is enough? Well, because the priest was not perfect.

And also the sacrifice that had been offered that spotless lamb was still not perfect. And therefore the blood was not perfect.

And so it had to be repeated year after year after year. But what about Jesus? What about Him when He appeared before God?

Well, listen to Hebrews 9, 11. But Christ came as high priest for the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation, 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.

This is absolute. This is all inclusive. It's finished. He goes on to say, For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve a living God.

You see, He's a perfect priest. Perfect sacrifice. Perfect blood. What a perfect high priest.

Impeccable in His ministry. Approached God. Excuse me. Appointed by God. Approached God. He appeared before God. He applied His own blood before God for us.

But we're not through. He was approved by God for us. The high priest of Israel, those guys were just men.

Just men. That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less, certainly. And the high priest was a sinner. Just like the people the high priest was representing, serving, and ministering to.

He was a sinner. And so before he could appear before God and the Holy of Holies, and before he could then apply the blood of the sacrifice, the high priest of Israel had to submit himself to quite an elaborate ritual of cleansing.

I mean, there had to be a special bath first. Just exactly the way God prescribed it through Moses. Special garments had to be put on.

Special anointings of oil. A special sacrifice had to be given for the priest, for his own sins, and also for his family.

And all this, the high priest of Israel had to do just to get in the door. But what about Jesus? What about Him? Hebrews chapter 7, verse 26 says, For this is the kind of high priest we need.

I like the way that opens up. He's the one we need. Just like the one we need. Holy. And then He describes, the Bible describes Him holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heaven.

He does not need to offer sacrifices every day as high priests do, first for their own sins and then for those of the people. Jesus did not have to do that. He was perfect.

Jesus, our great high priest, impeccable in His ministry because with His own perfect blood of His own perfect sinless life, He, the Bible says, passed through the heavens for us.

And when He got there, He applied His own blood and He sat down at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high and God the Father said, I approve.

I am satisfied. The proof of that, by the way, is the resurrection. God was satisfied. He approved.

What a Savior. What a great high priest. Impeccable. Perfect. in His ministry. Appointed by God.

Approached God. Appeared before God. Applied His blood, His own blood, before God. And it was approved by God. All of it for us and all of this is done. It's done.

It is finished. But far from over. Far from over because there's one more ongoing ministry of our great high priest and that is He appeals our case before God.

He appeals our case. Not just once, but on and on. Appeals our case before God. Hebrews 7 and verse 24.

But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore, He is able to save to the uttermost.

That doesn't mean He's able to save everybody to the uttermost. He's able to save you and me all the way. Completely. To save us forever. He says, able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.

That's the only way, by the way. Through Christ. But here's the part I want you to get. since He ever lives to make intercession for them. That is, He always lives, always lives, on, living on and on to make intercession for you, for me.

That, and by the way, that is a perfect transition, perfect segue into verse 15. Because you see, verse 14 tells us that Jesus is impeccable in His ministry.

verse 15, on the other hand, tells us that Jesus is touchable in His humanity. Touchable in His humanity.

Look at it again. 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. What a verse. Now, there are two truths to consider in verse 15. One is implied, the other is very explicit.

Two truths. First, in His deity, Jesus sees everything. That's implied in verse 15.

Jesus sees everything that's going on in your life. But second, in His humanity, Jesus feels everything in your life.

Dear people, that's good news. He sees it all. He feels all things. and those two things come together in our great high priest.

First, He sees everything. He sees everything that's going on in your life. We could back up one verse. We didn't look at verse 13, but verse 13 says this, there is no creature hidden from His sight.

That's you. That's me. No creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

He sees it all. Some children were lined up at the cafeteria to Catholic school for lunch one day. And at the head of the lunch counter was a bowl of beautiful red apples.

And the nun had put a sign by the bowl that said, just take one, God is watching. At the other end of the counter was a platter of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

And a little boy had scribbled!!!!! He had scribbled take all you want! God's watching the apples! Well, God is watching the cookies too.

He sees it all. He sees it all. He sees even the things we don't want Him to see. He sees the things in our lives that we don't even see.

But He also sees the things we want Him to see. because we need Him to see them. All the things that we deal with and struggle with and are burdened about, He sees those things.

He sees it all. Nothing is hidden from Him. He sees your troubles. He sees your trials. He sees it all.

One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is when Jesus walked on the water. You remember the story. Jesus sent His disciples out in a boat out into the midst of the Sea of Galilee and a great storm came up, remember, and Jesus eventually walks out to them walking on the water.

It's a tremendous miracle, but it's also a great lesson. But do you remember from that story where Jesus was when the disciples first found themselves in that storm?

The Bible says that after Jesus dismissed them or compelled them to launch out and sail across the sea, the Bible says Jesus went up into the mountain to pray.

And in Mark chapter 6 and verse 48, it says something that we probably would miss normally, but I don't want you to miss it here.

it says, then he saw them straining, toiling, and rowing.

He saw them, for the wind was against them. And where's Jesus? He's up in the mountain. What's he doing? He's praying. Where are the disciples?

Very likely some three miles out from the coast, and shrouded in a terrific storm. and Jesus sees them.

He sees it. He sees it all. Even when you don't think he is looking. Even when you think somehow he's missing it. He sees your troubles, he sees your trials, your temptations, your tears.

One of my favorite verses in the Psalms, Psalm 56 and verse 8, where David asked the Lord, put my tears in your bottle.

And he says, are they not in your records? And the implication, of course, is that yes, they are. Keeps them in a bottle. And listen, our great high priest is more than just a casual observer.

Don't think he's just up there from his vantage point looking down and he just sees everything, but unable to do anything about it. Our great high priest sees and he acts.

He is working things out even when we don't think he is. And by the way, sometimes he takes drastic measures according to what he sees.

He takes measures that we don't really like sometimes. like the little boy who had a sailboat and he loved his little sailboat and he took it out sailing one day at a little lake.

And he was keeping it very near the edge of the water, but then a wind came up and blew his little sailboat out away from his reach and he began to cry. about that time an older boy saw what was going on and he rushed to the side of the lake and he picked up rocks and he was throwing rocks at the little boat and the little boy said, why are you throwing rocks at my boat?

And the older boy said, don't worry about it, I'm throwing the rocks on the other side of the boat to cause ripples to see if we can get that boat to come back to the shoreline. Don't worry, trust me, I know what I'm doing.

And pretty soon the little boat was back to the edge of the water and safe in the arms of the little boy. And sometimes, dear people, it seems that God is throwing rocks at us, causing ripples in our lives.

But God knows what He's doing. See, He sees, He's watching, He sees, He knows what's going on, He's working things out.

in your life. You can't see it while it's happening, but you can trust Him. You can trust Him. Why can you trust Him? Well, because our great high priest not only sees everything that's going on in your life, but He feels everything.

He feels it all. Isn't that what verse 15 is telling us very implicitly, or explicitly rather? Look at it again, verse 15, but we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, or like the King James, who's not touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

We don't have a high priest like that. Implication being, He does feel these things. He does sympathize because He was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin.

And so, you see, when you're persecuted for your faith in Christ, Jesus knows what that feels like. In Acts chapter 9 and verse 4, when Paul, or rather Saul, then, is on his way to Damascus and he's carrying letters with him, giving him the authority to arrest Christians and to have them persecuted and imprisoned and maybe even executed.

And Jesus meets him on that road to Damascus, of course. and he's gloriously saved. But do you remember what Jesus said to Saul? He said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

See, he knows what that feels like. He knew what it felt like when he was experiencing it in his life and he knows what it feels like right now.

And when you are rejected by your friends and the people you love, Jesus knows what that feels like. In John 6 and verse 66, Jesus had come to the very, very pinnacle, the very high point of his ministry and he was really quite popular in the early part of his ministry.

But there came a marked time when the Bible says from that moment on many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

Jesus knows what that feels like. And when you suffer poverty and need and want, Jesus knows what that feels like. He led a humble life, more humble than anyone in this room, I assure you.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 20, foxes have dens and birds of the air of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place, no place to lay his head.

And when you are experiencing grief in your life, the loss of a loved one, Jesus knows exactly what that feels like. Jesus wept at the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus.

And what about loneliness? Well, Jesus knows what that feels like. I tell you, Jesus knew a level of loneliness that you and I have never experienced and never will experience.

He cried from the cross praying to the Father, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You see, Jesus was all alone on that cross.

His friends had abandoned him. His followers had left him and scattered. And even God the Father had abandoned his Son there on that cross.

Jesus feels everything that you and I experience in this life. He was tempted. He was tested in every way, at every point, just as we are. When you're tired, he knows what that feels like.

When you're hungry, he knows what that feels like. When you are hurting physically, Jesus certainly knows what that feels like. And when you are tempted by Satan, attacked by Satan, Jesus knows what that feels like.

And what about temptation? Jesus knows what that feels like. As a matter of fact, I can tell you that the temptations he endured for you were greater than anything you or I will ever experience, ever know.

Because he was without sin. Let me ask you a question. How much temptation does it take for you to find the cave and give in?

How much? Well, maybe for some things, maybe it takes a lot. For most things, probably not much. We fall pretty easily.

Give in pretty easily. And the reason is because we can sin and do sin every single day. But Jesus never sinned. Indeed, he could not sin.

Jesus is God. In flesh, God cannot sin, neither does he tempt anyone to sin. The Bible says very clearly, he had no sin nature. You say, well, that's not fair.

Well, this is the point of it. The force of the temptation that was leveled at the Son of God in his humanity was to the maximum, if there is a maximum.

And he did not sin. You and I would have given in long before, but Jesus could not sin, and so the full force of Satan's temptation was upon him to the very limit in all points tempted as we are yet without sin.

And so our redemption is finished. Oh, yes, it is. But far from over, because Jesus is our impeccable minister. minister. And Jesus is touchable in his ministry to us.

And then one more very quickly. He is approachable in his deity. Verse 16 says, let us therefore.

And what is therefore, therefore? Well, since Jesus, our great high priest, passed through the heavens for us, verse 14, and since Jesus, our great high priest, sympathizes with our weaknesses, verse 15, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Now, what are we to approach? The throne. The throne of God. We're to approach the throne of God.

We do that in prayer, don't we? We're to approach the throne. It's the seat of divine authority and power, all power. And what kind of throne is it?

According to verse 16, it's the throne of grace. grace, that is for those who have been born again.

It's a throne of grace, not judgment, not wrath. And how are we to come to this throne?

Boldly. We're to come boldly. That is, those of us who have been born again through faith in Christ, we are to come to the throne of grace boldly.

By the way, the Greek word bold, that's translated boldly, is used in the secular sense, was used in the secular sense to refer to freedom of speech.

That's interesting. And so the idea here is that we, as His children, blood-bought children, through faith in Christ, we're to come with great freedom to the throne of grace, with confidence, with assurance, not feeling guilty, not feeling afraid, not thinking that we might be turned away.

We're to come with all freedom because we are welcome there. We've been invited there. We are accepted there at the very throne of God.

And what will we find there? Mercy. And grace to help. And that's what we need.

Don't you? I do. And that's what we will get every time. Do you see?

Oh yeah, it's finished. The plan of redemption is accomplished. It's finished. But it's far from over. Praise His name.

Thank you.