Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome/Book Recommendation/Prayer

We come this morning to what I consider to be a cornerstone passage in Scripture...

A passage worthy of memorization and worthy of regular meditation...

So, if you would please… open up to Hebrews 4:14-16.

This passage concludes the argument started by the author back in chapter 3 v. 1… Heb 3.1 where he tells us to consider the apostle and high priest of our confession… (Don’t read)

The verses that followed explained how there is a rest for us to enter and how we ought to strive to enter that rest for… as the author tells us in Heb 4.12-13… the Word of God is living and active… knowing the thoughts and intentions of men and women… and as such all of us are exposed… naked… before God… to whom we must give account...

And then the author brings us to our passage that is before us this morning… v. 14-16…

Heb 4.14-16 doesn’t only conclude the author’s of argument started back in chapter 3… it also serves to transition us to the main argument of the epistle found in Heb 5.1-10:18… which is don’t forsake our high priest, Jesus… specifically, don’t forsake the Melchizedikian priesthood for the Levitical priesthood…

One saves and the other doesn’t… the main section of the letter can be broken up into two smaller parts...

In Heb 5.1-7.28 the author will focus on the Son’s appointment as high priest

And then in Heb 8.3-10.18 he will focus on the Son’s offering being superior in heaven

Heb 8:1-2, which sits between the two sections actually give us the main point of the epistle

But we are not there… not yet...

So, without further ado, let us read these three verses at the end of chapter 4...

And then we’ll look at why we ought to hold fast to our confession

Followed by the how of it… which is by drawing near to the throne of grace..

We have two exhortations in this passage… and the first one is found at the end of our first verse, v. 14...

Hold Fast to Our Confession

Before we talk about why we are to hold fast to our confession… let’s identify our confession…

This language hearkens us back to the start of chapter 3 as mentioned before… and the confession there is the same as it is here...

Our confession is our faith… in what we profess in regard to the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross...

So, why is the author calling us to hold fast to our confession here?

Consider the context… consider what the author mentioned right before this in v. 12-13… and even the verses before that which spoke of a rest remaining for those who are faithful...

Since we must strive to enter the promised Sabbath Rest… and since we are all exposed and naked before God in Heaven, to whom we must give account...

Let us hold fast to our confession…

And the author highlights three main reasons why we ought to… two are found in v. 14, and the third is found in v. 15...

We are to hold fast to our confession for we have a great high priest...

Not just any priest… not just a high priest… but a great high priest

One who is merciful and faithful… truly merciful… and truly faithful… Heb 2.17

No other priest is like Him… He is truly great… and He is our high priest… perfectly faithful to us as He is perfectly faithful to God…

And unlike other priests before Him… His work is finished… He has accomplished it… thus why the author back in the prologue was able to write Heb 1.3

Jesus being the “great” high priest will be the author’s main focus point going forward… why He is superior and better than all who came before and all who come after...

Here though in our text, the author does focus on a key aspect of the priesthood of Jesus… the location of it...

We have a high priest who has passed through the heavens

Now, when the author speaks of heavens… he does not mean that there are multiple heavens...

This is an expression to describe the skies… both the blue day time sky and the starry night sky… that is Jesus has passed through to the place where God dwells… beyond this realm...

Now, why is this significant?

It brings to mind two things...

First, that Jesus… and note, that every time the author wants to bring to mind the humanity of the Son… he calls Him by His name, Jesus...

First, the author wants us to understand where Jesus is… and to recall why He is there...

Mentioning His ascension is equivalent to mentioning His exaltation… of which he has mentioned multiple times already...

So, not only do we have a high priest… but we have one who has been exalted… for as Paul says in Eph 4.10

Second, mentioning the ascension of Jesus… reminds us of where He is…

He is the One who is currently living in the flesh… in the very presence of God...

Remember Acts 1:9

That’s a physical ascension into the very presence of God… more specifically the right hand of God, as the author stated in Heb 1.3, and as Luke records Jesus saying during his trial in Luke 22.69

Therefore, since He is there and we are here....

And we must give account to the One whom He sits next to… and He is the appointed priest by God to do so…

Shouldn’t we hold fast to Him?

Shouldn’t it be Him we cling?

We go to in time of need?

Who else can better intercede for us on our behalf?

What other man or woman can do such a thing for us?

There is only one reference check we want when we go before God… and that’s His Son, our apostle and our high priest of our confession… Jesus Christ.

So, let’s make sure we hold to Him… but in order to be sure we do…

We must not add or take away anything from our confession...

For the author and his audience, it was the temptation to trust in the Levitical code… in the old ways… in the old covenant...

For us today it can be that… or it can be other things...

Trusting in the pope, or some other fallible priest to absolve your sin…

Whether by confession to them..

Or by partaking of the sacraments..

Paying penance… or thinking your children will pay their fair amount of indulgences to help you out of purgatory...

Or by saying certain prayers a certain number of times...

Perhaps we trust too much in our baptism...

Or our tithes… or our own pastors… maybe we think as long as they have a good word about us before God… we’ll be alright...

Sorry… I don’t carry that kind of weight… no man, except one does… Jesus...

If we are to give an account to God… wouldn’t we want to be near the One who sits next to Him? Right now… at this very moment?

So, why are we so quick to put so many things between us and Him?

Because we’re selfish… and evil...

We want to have a say… we want some control… some tangible means by which we can take credit...

And we think we do well by wanting to take charge...

But in doing so, we are essentially seeking some of His glory… anytime we attempt to do something that leads us to think we can say, “I did such and such, therefore I know I’m saved”...

Is a selfish and unbelieving act...

For the one who has died to self… the one who believes… has no need to look at anything… nor desires to do so… for the Christ and His work is enough… He gets all the glory…

So, when someone asks how do you know you’re saved… we tell them because of Christ..

We tell them we trust in Him, in His work, in His promises… and that whatever good we do… whatever righteous fruit we produce… it’s His… He’s done it… we’re mere vessels… mere instruments..

We must resist the urge for something tangible… it is through faith by grace we are saved… not by works.

Well intended or otherwise...

Beyond the location of our great high priest… the author gives us another reason why we ought to hold fast to our confession found in v. 15… let’s read it again Heb 4.15

Our high priest sympathizes with us… but before we dive into that truth more… I want to address the end of v. 15 first...

There seems to be a growing chorus within the American church.... that Jesus Himself had to repent of sins… we must refute such blasphemy..

Scripture is clear that Christ was without sin...

The thief on the cross in Lk 23.40-41

Jesus in Jn 7.18

Again Jn 8.46

Paul in 2 Cor 5.21

Peter in 1 Peter 1.19

Again in 1 Peter 2.22

And again 1 Peter 3.18

And of course, John in his epistle 1 Jn 3.5

Now, let us consider what it means that He sympathizes with our weaknesses...

He is not some distant impersonal deity...

Nor is He an unloving uninvolved God

Rather He sympathizes with our weaknesses...

That is, Jesus is intimately familiar with the temptations and sufferings of human experience...

He knows the struggle it is for the people of God to remain faithful and how hard it is for us to not to sin...

He knows what it is like to be hungry, tired, alone, isolated, scorned, rejected.... and yet, in and through all of that… remain faithful…

He knows what it is like to be tempted by the devil himself...

He knows what it is like to suffer injustice… for Jesus, being the Son of God… being without sin, is the only man in all of history who did not deserve death or any form of suffering...

Yet, He did… He willfully chose to… and though in the midst of it all He experienced great anguished… He remained faithful...