Christ is My Advocate

The Ballast of Truth: Introduction to the Series

0:04 Now, the ministry in the Word of God tonight is the third in a series of messages that I began on New Year's Eve. We were snowed out of our Lord's Day morning service on the 31st of January. But when we met in the evening, I used as an introduction an illustration from the old sailing ships and the fact that before they set out to sea, they would fill up oak barrels and put them in the belly of the ship. And those oak barrels would be filled with drinkable water and water suitable for the preparation of meals for a lengthy transatlantic voyage.

0:45 And when the barrel would be emptied of its drinking water, they would fill it with seawater so that the barrels had a twofold function. They sustained life. And they were ballast in the belly of that ship so that when it met turbulent seas, it didn't capsize, it wasn't moved off its course, but was enabled to sail straight on to the appointed and desired destination. And using that analogy, I said that there are certain truths in the Word of God which function like ballast in the souls of God's people.

1:21 If we do not fill up our souls with them, whatever the year to come, we will not be able to sail. And I said that in the New Year's Eve, I said that in the New Year's Eve, I said that in the New Year's Eve, I said that in the New Year's Eve, I said that in the New Year's Eve, I said that in the New Year's Eve. And I said that in the New Year's Eve, I said that in the New Year's Eve, I said that in the New Year's Eve.

1:56 And in that initial message, I sought to address two very basic truths that act like ballast in the soul. I will only state them. I won't even refer to the major text of Scripture. These are on tape, and you can get them from the Trinity Library or from the Trinity Pulpit.

2:19 And here were the two truths that I said are like ballast in the soul of God's people. Truth number one. God is on His throne governing all things in His universe as an absolute sovereign. The second truth.

2:35 The crucified, risen, and exalted Christ shares that throne as the administrator of all things leading to a glorious consummation. Then last Lord's Day in the evening, we took up the third truth, and I stated it this way. The Godhead. The God who is on the throne.

2:57 That God who is an absolute sovereign. That God who is governing everything in His universe. From the microcosm to the macrocosm. From every atom of every cell in your body to every particle of every star in the farthest yet undiscovered galaxy.

3:18 The God who governs all of that according to the Scriptures. That God who is on His throne is my loving...

3:25 all-knowing, kindly-disposed, but principled Father in Heaven. Now, I indicated in opening up that category of truth that this truth of God as Father is counterpart to the truth that God is on His throne. It is a counterpart, not the negation of the first truth, not the absorption of the first truth. And faith must learn.

3:55 And faith must learn. How to focus on that aspect of God, and God's relationship to His world and to His children, which the circumstances most desperately need. When nothing seems to make sense in your life. When nothing seems to make sense in what is happening in the lives of your loved ones.

4:18 Nothing seems to make sense in what is happening in the country, in the world. Well, then you see your greatest comfort will not come. From the realization that as a child of God, your God is your Father. But you need to focus on the reality that our God is in the Heavens.

4:35 He has done whatsoever He has pleased. He knows what He is doing. He is in absolute control. But there are other times when we can derive little comfort from the fixation of faith upon the reality that God is on His throne.

4:53 Governing all things as a God. As an absolute sovereign. We need to know the reality and the preciousness of being able to come to Him as our loving, our all-knowing, kindly disposed, but principled Father in Heaven. Who delights to give good gifts to His children.

5:13 And who even cares for the sparrow as it falls to the ground. Well, as truth number three is the counterpart of truth number one. God upon the throne. That God is our Father.

Christ as Advocate and Intercessor: The Fourth Ballast Truth

5:28 So the second truth has a counterpart. Christ who shares the throne. The counterpart to that truth is the one we begin to open up tonight. And it is this.

5:40 This is the fourth barrel of ballast. God is on His throne. The crucified risen Christ shares the throne. The God upon the throne is our Father.

5:48 The Christ upon the throne is our advocate and intercessor. Our indwelling life and strength. Our guide and our constant companion. And I've sought to capture in those three couplets of Biblical revelation.

6:08 The dominant emphases of the New Testament regarding the relationship of the child of God to Christ. And Christ's relationship to His people. Now I remind you. Truth is the counterpart to that second great truth.

6:26 It is not the negation of it. It is not the absorption of it. Christ is sharing the throne of God. Again and again the Scriptures speak of Him as being at the right hand of God.

6:38 Several times in the book of the Revelation we find this phrase. The throne of God and of the Lamb. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God.

6:52 We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God.

7:00 We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God.

7:08 We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. We are not to think of an enthroned God without thinking of an enthroned God. And the dead in Christ shall be raised, and judgment will be meted out upon the ungodly. There are times when faith needs fixation upon Christ, who shares the throne with His Father.

7:28 Christ, who is carrying forward His work, fulfilling His word, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But there are times when faith needs a fixation upon this counterpart body of biblical truth, that the enthroned Christ, without in any way drawing away any of the glory and majesty of His place as administrator of all things, leading to a glorious consummation, that that enthroned Christ, if I'm a Christian, is my advocate,

8:08 my intercessor, my indwelling life and strength, my guide, and my constant companion. I'm only going to take up one of those couplets tonight, or we'd be here till midnight. And as we take up this couplet of truth, that for us, who are the people of God, our Christ is our advocate and intercessor, let me remind you of a very basic principle. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, in verse 1, The Apostle Paul, in the midst of a marvelous section dealing with the nature of the Christian ministry, says that as he and his companions preach the gospel,

The Devil's Blinding Work and the Believer's Deepest Problem

8:53 they do so in a setting where there is a very horrific work of the devil that goes on in the minds of his hearers. Verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 4, And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in the midst of the devil, it is veiled in them that are perishing. In whom, now notice, in all who are perishing, the God of this world, that's a term for the devil, Satan, in whom, among all of those who are perishing, there is a present, powerful, insidious work of the devil. And what is it?

9:30 In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, and to what does the devil blind the unbelievers? If you're sitting here tonight, and you are an unbeliever, you are blind. And what are you blind to? Well, you're not blind to the basic laws of mathematics.

9:52 You're not blind to the realities of the physical laws that govern how you act and where you go. No, but this is the thing to which the devil will blind you. Look at the text. He blinds the minds of the unbelieving that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.

10:14 The devil is committed to blind you primarily to one thing and one thing only, the glory of God that shines in the face of Christ. For the devil knows the moment Christ becomes something more than a name, a religious symbol, an irritant to your way of life, the moment you behold any beams, any outshining of the very radiance and beauty and perfection of God in Christ, the devil's lost you. You can't behold glory in Christ and not have your heart run out to him in unqualified, irreversible faith and love. And so the devil says, whatever I'm going to do,

10:59 I'm going to blind the unbeliever to the radiance that goes out from Christ, the very radiance of the God-man and the only Savior of sinners. And as the devil focuses his work in the unbeliever to blind them to that glory that is reflected in the face of Christ, so he seeks to blind the believer to all that Christ is to him and all that he is to Christ. For to the degree that the believer is kept from an understanding and a believing apprehension of what Christ is to him and what he is to Christ, to that extent he will be, like the ship, without ballast.

11:42 He may not sink, but he's no pleasure to be around and I don't want to be on board with him. Let the wind of an emotional disruption come and he's blown off course and he's down in the dumps. God is dead and the world is sick and he's a mess. Let some favorable providences come and he's swept off his feet with giddiness.

12:06 Let someone frown at him and he is filled. He's filled with righteous indignation. He's a mess. The child of God who is to some degree partially blinded to the glory of God in the face of Christ and therefore is not presently acting faith in Christ in terms of the realities of his relationship to Christ and Christ's relationship to him.

12:32 He is an unstable Christian. This is one of the reasons why you find the Apostle Paul in his recorded prayers for believers. Praying that God would give them what? The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of himself.

12:46 The eyes of the understanding being enlightened.

12:52 And may we pray as I seek to preach that God the Holy Spirit will give us as the people of God a new, a clearer understanding of what Christ on the throne is to us not only as the sovereign administrator of all things, leading to a glorious consummation, but as our advocate and as our intercessor. Now then, as we come to consider this together,

13:27 let me get inside your head and in your heart as a child of God. You would agree with me, would you not, that none of us knows what this now present year, 2001, will hold for us in the way of what some would call good things and in the way of what others would call bad things. It's a sobering thing to think that some of us sitting here right now may have our names in an obituary somewhere. Some of us may be named as those for whom we pray at prayer meeting who have come down with a serious illness or who have some beat, serious malady

14:10 discovered throughout the coming year. But if you're a true Christian, while you agree with me that we do not know what a day may bring forth, let alone another 300 and what, 60? No, 300 and some odd years. We just, days, we take 14 from 365.

14:29 You kids can do the arithmetic. But you also know with me, child of God, what will be your deepest problems, what will cause your deepest anxieties, and what will be the occasion of your most vexing perplexities. If you're a Christian, though you don't know what a day may bring forth, let alone the remaining days of this year, you do know what will occasion your greatest problems, your deepest anxieties, and cause your most vexing perplexities. And you know with me that they will not come from international geopolitics.

15:10 They will not come from national political decisions. They will not come from the state of the economy. They will not come from the state of the economy. They will not come from the state of the economy.

15:17 They will not come from personal tragedy and sickness. If you're a true child of God, you with me know that your greatest problems, deepest anxieties, and most vexing perplexities will come from none of these things. But they will come from the reality and the outworking of your remaining sin.

The Reality and Odiousness of Remaining Sin

15:47 I can prophesy that for every true Christian, sitting in this room tonight, that will be the occasion of your deepest grief, your most vexatious states of heart. It will be the reality of your indwelling sin and corruption and the outbreaking, the outcropping, the manifestations of the same. Think of the Apostle Paul.

16:17 And in preparation, I let my mind run over. Did Paul ever express anxiety? Yes, he did. He said, I fear, lest I bestowed labor upon you in vain.

16:29 At the end of 2 Corinthians 11, he said, besides all these things, that which comes upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches, the very thing he forbids in Philippians 4, the anxious for nothing, he says, I lived with anxiety over the churches. He was a man who showed anxiety. Did he have fears? Yes, he said, he said, fighting's without, but fears within.

16:54 I was with you in weakness and in fear. He knew anxiety. He knew fear.

17:02 But you know, the closest he comes to expressing deep, vexatious frustration, it's not with anything regarding his ministry. It's not with regard to the lives of others. It's the last half of Romans chapter 7. The last half of Romans chapter 7.

17:20 Where he says, I know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin for the good that I would. I do not, and the evil that I would not. That I do, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? That's the closest to the effusive statement of deep frustration and vexation.

17:45 It was the reality of his own remaining sin. And as you and I have set out on the sea of this new year, if, we are true Christians, that will be the occasion of our greatest vexation and anxiety and inward trauma. It will not be whether or not I wake up Monday morning and got a new zit on my cheek.

18:09 Though the new zit will cause you anxieties, it used to cause me anxieties. I have to cover it sometimes with a little band-aid or a little clearasil or whatever we had when I was in the zit stage. And those anxieties are real. And a lot of these others, but if you're a true Christian, it matters not how old you are.

18:28 This is the touchstone of real vital Christianity. Why? Because if you're a Christian, God has regenerated you. He has taken out your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh.

18:42 He has placed His Holy Spirit within you and He's given you a down payment now of what you're going to be when you're glorified. He has given you not only an earnest, a down payment the scripture calls it, but He's given you internally, internal yearnings to be what one day you shall be. That is, perfectly like Him. And that's what creates this tension.

19:07 I know that He's marked me to be perfectly conformed to His Son, Romans 8, 29. And I have a yearning to be what I shall be. And when I hear the command, 1 Peter 1, 15, Be yourselves holy as He is holy. For He has said, Be holy.

19:27 As I am holy. And your heart responds and says, Oh God, make me as holy in this life as a redeemed sinner can be. You don't want to compromise with any sin of any kind in any circumstance. You want to be holy.

19:45 Your heart responds to that command. And it responds with the consciousness, One day it will be fully true of me. But it is not true of me now. And so your tremendous tension comes from this reality of remaining sin.

20:02 And furthermore, if you're thinking biblically, and here I trust you'll listen carefully, you know that though you are a pardoned sinner and the day of judgment has been brought forward to the point where you repented and believed the gospel, and God as it were brought forward the day of judgment and says, No condemnation to the one who is in my Son by penitent faith. Though you know, that your sin cannot condemn you to hell if you are in Christ. Listen. You know that your sin as a Christian is no less hell deserving.

20:39 You know that your sin is no less odious and offensive to God. No less wrath provoking and wrath deserving. Do you know that? I hope you do.

20:51 If you listen to a lot of this claptrap that goes on in the name of evangelical preaching, you wouldn't know it. Oh, I'm forgiven. Sin. Sin.

20:59 Sin. Sin. No, no, friends. Your sin in mind, even as a believer, is no less odious and wrath provoking to God than your sin was before you were in Christ.

21:13 No less wrath provoking. No less odious. In fact, in many ways, it is more odious. Because now it is not only sin against the law of God and against God as lawgiver and judge, it's a sin against God as Redeemer.

21:29 And loving Father. And a sin against His Son. And against the Holy Spirit. If anything, our sin is more odious and more wrath deserving.

Christ Our Advocate: 1 John 2:1-2 Expounded

21:45 Now that creates a problem. How in the world do I sail straight on to my destination without being buffeted by every conscious outcropping of my indwelling corruption? It's at this point that you better have a well-grounded understanding of and confidence in Jesus on the throne is your advocate and your intercessor. Now have I made the case that whets your appetite to come to three texts of Scripture that I trust you will bury in your heart and tamp them down good and draw them up again and again

22:29 throughout the coming year. The first is found in 1 John 2. 1 John chapter 2.

22:42 John has already in the first chapter exposed the error of people who say, Oh, man, I've trusted Jesus. I have fellowship with God and yet they're walking around in moral darkness. Sin is no burden to them. Sin is their delight.

22:58 When you try to get them to be concerned, they say, Oh, no. Sin, no big deal to me. I've got fellowship with God. I've trusted Jesus.

23:04 What does John say about those people? Verse 6 of chapter 1. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk about in the world, we talk about in the darkness. We're liars and we do not the truth.

23:14 Simple, straightforward. That is religious bunk.

23:18 If you are living in the realm of darkness, framing your life by the standards of the world and the impulses of your own unrenewed heart because you've tipped your hat to Jesus ten, five years ago and you think, Oh, well, John says you're a liar and you are not walking in truth. You don't do the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus, His Son, goes on cleansing us from all sin. And along comes someone and says, John, that's no big deal for me.

23:52 I don't have any sin. He said, Okay. You say you have no sin? Then you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you.

23:59 I mean, John just turns and he shoots them over here and he said, Now we've got some coming from the left flank. We'll shoot them over here. Reality is, verse 9, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and righteous to forgive us, cleanse us from all iniquity, and if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. In other words, if you're a true believer, the issue of sin is a big deal to you.

24:23 You got that? In nice 20th century common parlance, if you're a real Christian, sin is a big deal to you. You face its reality. You don't accept it in a light-handed, cavalier manner.

24:38 It's a matter of concern to you to deal with it. But if you're a real Christian, sin is a big deal to you. Now, I know it's not popular in our day in the church-growth philosophy to talk about sin. That's a negative thing.

24:56 That's an oppressive thing. People come to church and they want to be chucked under the chin and feel good. Well, all the feeling good in the world isn't going to deal with the problem of sin. You're only postponing when you're going to have to deal with it in the day of judgment.

25:07 Better to deal with it now while you can do something about it. So, John says, if sin is not a big deal to you, you don't know the truth, you're not walking in the truth. But now, assuming that he's writing to real Christians for whom sin is a big deal, look at chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. My little children, these things write I unto you, that you may not sin.

25:31 John says, you want the bottom line of what I'm writing? It's that you'll take sin so seriously that you'll set your heart not to sin again. That's what he says. These things I write unto you, that you may not sin.

25:45 And if I could tell you tonight, and have biblical grounds, I have a secret that if you purchase it, you will never sin again in this life. I believe there are Christians here in this place who would empty out every last stock and bond and savings account and get rid of the title to every bit of real estate and property and say, name the price! That's what I want at any cost. That's the heart of a Christian.

26:11 John knows that. So he says, my little children, these things I write unto you. You are the true children of God. You do not walk around in the darkness.

26:20 You do walk in the light. And walking in the light, you are conscious of fellowship with God and with His people. But at the same time, you're conscious that sin still remains. My little children, these things I write unto you, that you may not sin.

26:34 And now here comes the realism. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins. Now, here's the Christian.

26:56 He hears the opening words of this text. John says, I write these things that you may not sin. The child of God says, Oh God, I line up with that. I don't want to sin.

27:08 I'd give anything if I could be free of every last remnant of sin. Here and now, I know I shall be when I see Him face to face and I am made like Him. And John says, I know you'd like to be that way, but that's not what God has purposed in this interim period in which He gives you a principle of holiness, breaks the dominion of sin, marks you for perfect holiness, gives you a yearning for what you one day shall be. In the meantime, this is what you need to know, John says, if any man sin, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.

27:48 At the very point of the consciousness of our sin, the true child of God is to say to himself, I've sinned, but I have advocate with the Father. You say, big deal, what's an advocate? Well, I will try to answer that. John uses the word parakletos, you remember paraclete from the studies in the Upper Room Discourse, and in this setting, and in the context in which John would have used it, the rabbinical literature that John would have been familiar with, this word refers to a friend or relative who would offer legal aid,

28:33 one who would intercede on behalf of another, a counselor for the defense, we would say. John says, if any man sin, we have a counselor for the defense. The sinning Christian knows his sin is wrath deserving, it is wrath provoking, it is inexcusable, it is shameful, he's prepared to own full responsibility, he is culpable, but he knows that he has a counselor for his defense. He has an advocate, one to plead his case in heaven.

29:17 And who is he? He is identified as Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Jesus Christ, and think of all the ways John could have designated him, but he says, righteous one. Doesn't that seem a bit strange?

29:36 Doesn't righteousness demand that sin be punished? Doesn't uprightness before the law demand that the wages of sin is death? How can Jesus be my counselor in my defense and still be righteous? Is he going to tell the Father, Father, I know that looked like sin, and I know his conscience tells him it's sin, because his Bible tells him it's sin, but Father, that's not the reality.

30:09 That's just frailty. That's just human weakness. That's just boyishness. Boys being boys and puppy dogs being puppy dogs.

30:19 No, that would not be righteous. Jesus doesn't try to con the Father that the sin is not sin, that the sin is not wrath-provoking and wrath-deserving. He is there as our advocate while remaining fully righteous. And how in the world does righteousness, uprightness before the law come to our defense in the person of Jesus Christ in the presence of the Father?

30:50 John says, I knew you'd ask the question, so I'm going to tell you. Look at the next verse. And he, Jesus Christ the righteous one, is the propitiation for our sins. Now notice he doesn't say, and he made a propitiation for our sins.

31:11 That's true. Hebrews 2.17 uses that language. Jesus takes the likeness of our human flesh that he might make propitiation for the people.

31:21 He made a propitiation. 1 John 4.10, John speaks of God's love being manifest in that he sent his Son to be the propitiation. You say, well, propitiation, big word, what's it mean?

31:33 It means simply this. It means a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. That's what propitiation is. It is a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God.

31:44 The sacrifice of Jesus turns away the wrath of God because it fully absorbed the wrath of God. Every gram of divine wrath due to every sin of every believer was born by Jesus Christ. When he cried, Keterestai! It is finished!

32:09 It stands accomplished! No little part of that accomplishment was, remember that cup in Gethsemane? Before which he trembled, and before which he pleaded with God, if it be possible, take the cup from me. That was the cup full to the brim of the wrath of God against our sins.

32:28 And that's the cup he drank, particularly in a concentrated way in those three hours when the heavens were shrouded in blackness. At the end of which, Jesus cried, My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me?

32:45 He abandoned him, because God's wrath against sin is real stuff, and because Christ was a real propitiatory sacrifice. He was there in our room instead, and God is dealing with him as the most guilty sinner that ever was found on the face of the earth. He's holy in himself, harmless, separate from sinners, but legally and before the court of God, he was the greatest sinner ever found on God's earth. And God emptied the bowl, the cup of his wrath upon his son.

33:22 So he cried, It's finished! God raised him from the third day, sat him at his own right hand. And what's he doing there? Well, we saw two Lord's days ago, he is there sharing the throne of God as the administrator of all things with peculiar concern for carrying on the work of redemption in and through his church to its glorious consummation.

33:45 But he's doing something else. By simply being there, as the resurrected and glorified Christ, 1 John 2 says, he is himself the sacrifice that turns away wrath. And if we may use anthropomorphic language, that is language that is analogous with respect to God to what we do, the Father looks at his Son and sees in his glorified Son all of the virtue of the work he accomplished on earth. The Father does not forget his cry, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

34:25 And the Father beholding his Son, who is propitiation, not that he is continually offering himself, no, the book of Hebrews says he offered himself once for all, once for all, unrepeatable, non-repeated sacrifice. But he's carried all the virtue of that sacrifice in his person, into the very presence of God, so that he is Jesus Christ, the righteous one who pleads our cause. By his very presence, he is the embodiment of the fact that God's wrath against our sins has been fully vented,

35:08 fully poured out, fully assuaged. And though our sins in themselves are wrath deserving, those sins that we have not yet even committed between here and heaven, they were laid upon Christ, and he bore the wrath of God for them. And that's why, when you set out to sea, and you feel the waves of your own sin, causing your deepest vexations of soul, your greatest perplexities, you need to know that the Christ on the throne is your advocate. There in the presence of God, he is our God.

Christ Our Intercessor: Romans 8:31-34 Expounded

35:49 He is our advocate. Then I want you to turn to a second passage. I said there are three passages. Here's the second.

35:57 Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. In this wonderful chapter, the apostle is setting out the marvelous privileges and saving experience of all the people of God. And after he's laid out this veritable litany of blessings, he stands back and in a sense listens to what he has written, hears the words in his own mind and heart, and he exclaims in verse 31, What then shall we say to these things?

36:32 Now Paul wasn't proud, but he was saying, What I've written has left me breathless. What shall we say to these things? In the light of all God has done and all that God is to us in Christ, what shall we say to these things? Then he says, Well this is what we'll say.

36:47 If God is for us, who is against us? And in this paragraph, God is for us, doesn't mean that God's got a few little wispy passing thoughts of good toward us. God is for us, in terms of all the specific blessings of redemption that he's been opening up, which when he's done opening them up, he stands back and says, What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, not for us with some occasional wispy ephemeral thoughts of well I hope they make out alright, but for us in the commitment from eternity to eternity, to take us from sin and wrath to glorification by his grace, if God is for us, committed in the whole of his being for our complete salvation, who's against us?

37:31 He throws a challenge out into the whole universe. Almighty God is committed to us in saving purpose and power. Who is against us? Verse 32, He that in the accomplishment of that for us disposition and commitment, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?

37:57 If in being for us, God overcame the greatest obstacle to our salvation, he gave his son, gave him up to what? He gave him up to the powers of darkness, gave him up to the hands of cruel men, gave him up to his own wrath. If God has done that, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? That is everything necessary.

38:22 To get us from where we are to where he purposes to take us and what he purposes to make us. That's a little bit of unplanned poetry. Now then, he says, in the light of this, verse 33, hang in there with me, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? He asks another question.

38:41 If God is for us, who is against us? Now he says, who shall lay anything to our charge? And that language, lay to our charge, is legal language. The very verb is used in Acts 19, 38.

38:54 I want you to flip back there just for a moment so you see it with your own eyes in your own Bibles. Acts 19 and verse 38. There's a riot going on there at Ephesus and one of the town's leaders comes out to quiet things down. Verse 37, You have brought hither these men who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

39:14 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have a matter against any man, the courts are open and there are proconsuls, here's our verb, let them accuse one another. That's our verb. Let them come into court and make a formal complaint against them. It's used in a similar way in Acts 23, verses 28 and 29.

39:35 Now come back to the Romans 8 passage. Paul says, Who shall submit a formal charge of guilty, culpable, liable to punishment to those upon whom God has set His love? Who shall do it? It is God that justifies.

39:55 If Almighty God, sitting on the supreme throne of the universe, has said, Prisoner, this guilty sinner, acquitted and accepted on the grounds of the work of my Son, who's going to make an appeal to a higher court? There ain't no higher court. You've gone from lower, inferior and district courts and state courts and beyond the supreme court to the court of heaven. And if the court of heaven has spoken, justified, no complaint, wrath satisfied in my Son, it's God that justifies.

40:31 And in the light of that, verse 34, Who is He that condemns? And the question could mean, Who in the world does anyone think they are to condemn when the highest court has spoken? Shut your mouth. God has spoken about this penitent, believing sinner who is in my Son.

40:46 Or it could be a typical rhetorical question, the answer of which is already clear in everyone's mind. If God has justified, who is He that condemns? There is none who can justly condemn. And then it's as though someone says, Now, Paul, just tell me again why.

41:01 Why can you be so confident in the court of heaven? People like yourself. Remember, Paul described himself there in Romans 7. When I would do good, the evil is present with me.

41:12 When I find myself torn, the good that I would I don't do and the evil that I would not I do. This is the same Paul who's writing. Throwing out the challenge. Who is going to haul me into court and condemn me?

41:26 God has justified me. And this is the ground on which I have confidence that my sins, still active in me, still breaking out to my vexation and frustration, it will never condemn me. Why? Look at verse 34b.

41:42 It is Christ Jesus that died. Yea, rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at, who is at the right hand of God, and notice the capstone, who also makes intercession for us. Now what's the context of Paul saying, my confidence that I and all of my fellow believers can never be brought into just condemnation though our sin is real, though our sin as believers is wrath provoking and wrath deserving. How can I have such confidence?

42:26 He says it rests down upon these saving acts of Christ. His once for all death. His once for all resurrection. He said in chapter 4, the resurrection was God's vindication of His satisfaction with the work of His Son, raised again for our justification.

42:45 His once for all session at the right hand of God. All of the verbs that describe Him being seated, speak of fixed, point, accomplished, done, action. He died once for all. He was raised once for all.

43:01 He was seated. And what gives ongoing validity to all the virtue of the death, the resurrection, and the session? It's the one thing described of Christ that is a present tense activity. Look at your Bible.

43:16 Christ died definitive once for all. Act. Was raised definitive once for all. Who is at the right hand of God.

43:26 He is seated. But who continually is making intercession for us. And here the context of intercession is not those overtones of the sympathetic identification with our struggles that we find in Hebrews chapter 4. It is the legal aspect of sin that otherwise would condemn us.

43:55 Do you see that in the context? The question is who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who is He that condemns? Not the person who tries to come up to God and say, God, that person's your child and they love you and they've been transformed and they have a heart to be holy.

44:15 Surely, God, you won't allow their remaining sin to be an issue with you. God says it has to be an issue. I'm God. I'm of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity.

44:26 So the answer to the ongoing struggle with sin in the believer is not to minimize it. It's to face it in all of its ugly reality. And then say with Paul, I know the significance of Jesus dying, being raised and seated. And He now makes intercession.

The Nature of Christ's Intercession

44:48 His presence at the right hand of God. The right hand of the Father is the answer to the issue of our ongoing sin. Listen to the comments of Leon Morris in his excellent new commentary, relatively new commentary on the book of Romans. We should interpret the intercession passages in the light of the frequent references to Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.

45:16 His presence at God's right hand in His capacity as the one who died for sinners and rose again is in itself an intercession. And then he has a helpful footnote. In some modern writing, great emphasis is placed on Christ's perpetual pleading in heaven. We should bear in mind F.B. Westcott's note

45:40 in which he says, quote, The modern conception of Christ pleading in heaven His passion, offering His blood on behalf of men has no foundation in the epistle to Hebrews. His glorified humanity is the eternal pledge of the absolute efficacy of His accomplished work. Get that. His glorified humanity is the eternal pledge of the absolute efficacy of His accomplished work.

46:09 He pleads, as older writers truly express the thought, by His presence on the Father's throne. You see the counterpart of truth number two. He's on the throne. All power in heaven and earth head over all things to the church.

46:27 Everything put under His feet. Paul says He must reign till He's put the last enemy under His feet. He's there sharing the throne, administering the kingdom to its consummation. But He's there as my advocate and my intercessor.

46:44 His presence as the glorified Christ is the intercession. As long as Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, sharing His throne, He is in the language of the book of the Revelation. He will forever be the Lamb in the midst of the throne. And even in heaven, in that beautiful description, in Revelation chapter 22, John says, I saw a pure river of life flowing out from what?

47:19 The throne of God and of the Lamb. May I dare to say it, even our fellowship with God in the glorified state in the new heavens and the new earth will be mediated through the Lord Jesus Christ. When we think of how can I come to God now? John 14, 6 is the clear answer.

47:44 I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. How, having come, do I live spiritually? Jesus said, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood hath eternal life.

48:00 He who does not eat my flesh and does not drink my blood has no life. What's that mean? We not only come initially to God through Christ, we feed upon the virtue of Christ's death for sinners. And in the new heavens and the new earth, as every thirst of our soul is assuaged from the river of life, it flows out from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

48:31 I said I'd give you three texts, one finally and much more brief. Hebrews chapter 7. You see folks, when you get tired of solid biblical exposition, you're saying one of two things. Either you're not converted or you're not dealing realistically with this most vexatious problem you have as a believer, your sin.

Christ Our High Priest: Hebrews 7:25 Expounded

48:50 If you're really dealing with your sin, anybody that points you to how Jesus deals with it, he's your friend, even if he makes you think a little bit. All right? Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7.

49:01 In this book, the writer to Hebrews is showing how Christ is better than the angels, better than Moses, and his priesthood is better than the Aaronic priesthood. It's the priesthood after the order of that strange Old Testament character called Melchizedek, this man who appears out of nowhere. He's king and he's priest in Salem. And Abraham offers tithes to this strange person.

49:30 And the writer to the Hebrews says that person was a prefiguring of Christ who comes out of eternity, into time, clothed in our humanity, and becomes a priest for his people, not after the Aaronic order, but after the order of Melchizedek. And now he's going to summarize some of that block of teaching in verse 25 of chapter 7. Wherefore, on account of this very reality, that is, that Jesus is a priest in the virtue and power of an endless life, hothen, that is, for which reason, for this cause, now note the text, he,

50:15 wherefore also, he is able to save to the uttermost, or you may have a marginal reading, completely, them that draw near unto God, now notice, through him. Now here's a marvelous statement. In the light of who Christ is as a priest after the order of Melchizedek, you say, Melchizedek, Schmizedek, what's that have to do with me? It has everything to do with you.

50:39 If you want to be saved with a salvation you can never lose, and that will not fail to accomplish one iota of God's purpose in it. You want to be saved to the uttermost? Then you better be concerned about Jesus being high priest after the order of Melchizedek, because this says it's in the light of what he is as such a priest that he is able to save to the uttermost. And that prepositional phrase by the selection of the Holy Spirit is deliberately an ambiguous word.

51:08 It can mean on the one hand save, that is, for all time and in all completeness. It points to both perpetuity and completeness, and so the translators struggle. He is able to save completely in the margin. He is able to save to the uttermost.

51:30 He is able to save for all time. Why? He is no temporary priest who has a birth date and a death date, who has a beginning of his priesthood and an end. That was true of all the Aaronic priests, but he is priest in the power of an everlasting life.

51:52 He comes out of eternity, clothes himself with our humanity to be our priest, to be both offerer and offering. And in the humanity he took, he never will relinquish it. As the old preachers used to say, there's a man in the glory. He's a glorified man, but there's a man in the glory, and he'll be there as the God-man forever.

52:16 And because he is such a priest, he is able to save completely and for all time with perpetuity and with completeness. Now granted, there well may be strands of secondary truth in the intercession of Christ, taking our clue from John 17 that we often call his high priestly prayer. The Lord Jesus may, in some way that we cannot base in clear testimony from Scripture, he may plead similar things for us. There may be an element of his intercession reflected in the words of Luke 22 when he said to Peter, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you.

52:58 But my friends, if we let Scripture bear its own testimony, the primary emphasis of the advocacy and intercession of Christ is not his sympathy with us in our needs. That's another dimension of truth that I hope to open up when I speak of him as our indwelling light, indwelling life and strength, our guide and our companion. He has carried with him into heaven the reservoir of all of the felt experiences of real humanity, disappointment and grief and sorrow and joy. And when we come to him, we know that he is a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

53:42 I'm not denying that truth, but I want to put it in its proper category. I want to put the advocacy and the intercession where they need to be if you're going to make it in the turbulent sea of living with the reality of remaining sin. You better have a well-grounded concept of Christ. If I sin, I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

Correcting Hymnody: The Finished Work of Christ

54:10 He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And because he is, he can save to the uttermost for all time and with all completeness, save with perpetuity and with absolute perfection. Now then, if this is so, then you with me will have a little controversy with a hymn we have often sung. And I don't want to be pedantic and nitpicking, but I want you to turn to hymn number 223 as we draw the message to a close.

54:47 A hymn by Charles Wesley. We have often sung, and I have been troubled, every time I've sung it. But I didn't want to be silent, lest some of you see me not singing and think that gives you a license not to sing. Now look at the language of hymn 223.

55:03 Arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears. The bleeding, present participle, the bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. Is the sacrifice bleeding? No.

55:21 He's not bleeding in heaven. He bled on earth. He hasn't bled a drop in heaven. It's not true.

55:29 He's not bleeding in heaven. And while we give poetic license and an element of liberty to poetic imagery, poetry should never negate sound theology. Stanza one should not be, Arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears.

55:54 It should be, Arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears. The finished sacrifice on my behalf appears. That's the truth of Scripture. Come to stanza three.

56:10 Five bleeding wounds he bears. Received on Calvary. The wounds he received are no longer bleeding. He bled out and cried, It's finished.

56:22 And we are told that our bodies shall be fashioned like unto the body of his glory. Our blood won't be shed in heaven. His is not shed in heaven. How should it be rendered?

56:37 Something like this. Rather than five bleeding wounds he bears, we should read it and sing it. Five precious scars he bears. Received on Calvary.

56:51 Because the Scripture says, When he comes again, they shall look on him whom they pierced. Apparently the only scarred body in heaven will be the body of Jesus. Perpetual, eternal reminders that he received those wounds on earth. And so if we sing, Five not bleeding wounds he bears.

57:15 But if we sing, Five precious scarves he bears. Received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead for me.

57:28 May I read the words of a hymn that I first came across a couple of months ago. And this states it beautifully. Hear the language of this marvelous hymn. Before the throne of God above I have a strong, a perfect plea.

57:45 A great high priest whose name is love Who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven in his hands. My name is written on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands No tongue can bid him stay.

58:03 Let me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within. Upward I look and see him there Who made an end of all my sin. That's 1 John 2.

58:18 If any man sin have an advocate. Satan tempts me to despair And tells me of the guilt within. Upward I look and see him there Who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died.

58:35 My sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied To look on him and pardon me. Behold him there the risen lamb. My perfect spotless righteousness.

58:50 The great unchangeable I am. The king of glory and of grace. One with himself I cannot die. My soul is purchased by his blood.

59:00 My life is hid with Christ on high. With Christ on high. With Christ my Savior and my God. A man there is a real man with wounds.

59:15 Born for us. From which rich streams of blood Once ran in hands and feet and side. Tis no wild fancy of our brains. No metaphor we speak.

59:28 The same dear man in heaven now reigns. That suffered for our sakes. The wondrous man of whom we tell is true. Almighty God.

59:37 He bought our souls from death and hell. The price? His own heart's blood. That human heart he still retains.

59:46 Though throned in highest bliss. And feels each tempted member's pains. For our afflictions his. Come then repenting sinner come.

59:57 Approach with humble faith. Oh what you will. The total sum is cancelled by his death. His blood can cleanse you.

60:07 And cleanse the blackest soul. And wash our guilt away. He will present us sound and whole. In that tremendous day.

The Call to Unbelievers: Come, Take, Learn

60:17 Ah my friend. Have we made you jealous to be a Christian? Or are you trying to minimize that problem of sin? It's losing business.

60:30 A day is coming as sure as you draw your next breath. When the reality of your sin. Will be placarded before the whole gathered humanity. At the throne of God.

60:40 Will Christ in that day own you as his? Or will he say depart from me you cursed. Oh yes you can afford the luxury. Of being indifferent to Christ now.

60:53 But will you count it a luxury in that day? No angel will come forward and plead your cause. No archangel. No mum or dad.

61:06 No friends who wept for you and prayed for you. If Christ does not own you as his in that day. You've had it. And he won't own you then.

61:16 If you don't own him now. He gives himself. To you in the gospel. And says I'm yours.

61:24 If you'll have me. Come. Come unto me all. You that labor and are heavy laden.

61:31 I will give you rest. Take. My yoke upon you. And learn of me.

61:37 Come. Take. And learn. We don't tell you.

61:41 That you can just tip your hat to Jesus. Say Jesus fix me up so I don't go to hell when I die. No no. He says come.

61:47 Take. And learn. You come. And you throw at his feet all your muck and your filth and your sin.

61:55 And your purposelessness and your confusion and your pride. And everything you are is a sinner. Throw it at his feet. Come unto me.

62:03 All you that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. I'll take that burden. Then he says take.

62:10 Take my yoke. You come. And I'll take your burden. But you'll take my yoke.

62:17 Jesus will be the boss. He'll tell you what to do. He'll tell you what CDs you can listen to. He'll tell you what videos you can watch.

62:27 He'll tell you what you do and don't do in the back seat of a car. He'll tell you how you relate to mom and dad. He'll tell you what your favorite stations will be on the radio. He'll tell you everything about every facet of your life through his word and by his spirit.

62:44 And he'll exercise absolute right over you. And right now you think man what could be greater. In the way of torture. There are many of us who'd say we never knew.

62:57 What life was all about till we took his yoke. Because he says my yoke is easy. And my burdens light. And no matter what burden he lays upon us.

63:07 We can carry it in the strength of Christ. In communion with Christ. With no fear of death and judgment and hell. No matter how light your life may seem to be when you carry the burden of an accusing conscience.

63:21 And the thunderings of the day of judgment. Rattling around in the mind and in the heart. What an awesome burden. I carried it for seventeen and a half years.

63:31 But coming. I cook. And I found his yoke easy. He says come.

63:40 Take. Learn. From here on in all your thinking is going to be regulated by Christ through his word. What you think about yourself.

63:48 What you think about life. How you think about others. What you think about truth and error. And good and bad.

63:53 And good and bad. You are ready to say Lord Jesus. I am ready to learn of you. You want Christ?

64:02 He says come. Take. Learn. And those of us who have come.

64:07 And taken. And begun to learn. We say Lord Jesus. Take me closer to yourself.

64:14 Teach me more of yourself. Bring me more under your yoke. For indeed his yoke is easy. And his burden is light.

Pastoral Exhortation: Magnify Christ More Than Sin

64:23 Dear child of God. Don't think that the way. To peace and usefulness as a Christian. Is minimizing your sin.

64:32 You can't make too much of your sin. But you can make too little of Christ as advocate and intercessor. Never forget that. You can't make too much of your sin.

64:45 Your most acute sense of the ugliness of sin. Falls. What that sin looks like in God's sight. You can never make too much of your sin.

64:58 But you can make too little of Christ. As your advocate. And intercessor. Make as much of your sin.

65:03 As God the Holy Spirit enables you to make. But make yet more of Christ. As your advocate. And your high priest.

65:08 And you'll be steady. With that ballast in your soul. These things I write unto you. That you may not sin.

65:12 If any man sin. We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ. The righteous one.

65:17 Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

65:21 Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

65:26 Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

65:30 Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Our Father, we have been privileged to look into things that your word says angels desire to peek into.

65:49 We marvel that you should make such provisions for the likes of us. Oh Lord, help me, help us all. That we may not regard lightly such a plethora of your gracious provisions for us in Christ. Lord Jesus, forgive us.

66:10 when we have made too little of You as our Advocate and our Intercessor. Oh, help us, Holy Spirit, that we may constantly turn to the Scriptures to give You that ongoing opportunity to set Christ and His glory before us, that we may fill our souls with the ballast of a well-grounded, scripturally informed understanding of what our Savior is to us, as well as what He is as the sovereign ruler of the universe. Hear our prayer. Dismiss us with Your blessing.

66:48 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.