The Offices of Christ

Introduction: From Mystery of Person to Majesty of Offices

0:00 We resume this morning our series of studies entitled Here We Stand, a series which is intended to be, on the one hand, a confessional declaration, what do we believe as the people of God in this place, as well as a summary, a digest of fundamental and essential doctrinal teaching. Our attention for many weeks has been focused upon the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, simply because in the opening up of this general theme, here we stand, we came to the subject of

0:46 the salvation which we receive and proclaim, and after several weeks of consideration of the objects of this salvation, we then began to consider the central figure of this salvation, which brought us into this area of concern with reference to the mystery of Christ's person. Week after week you have been told that the Christ of Scripture is the Christ who is truly God, who is truly man, who is wonder of wonders, one person in two distinct natures forever. Now today we begin our contemplation of the same Lord in the second broad category of concern, namely the majesty of his offices.

1:35 Having considered him in the mystery of his person, we now move to contemplate him in the majesty of his offices. Now what do I mean by using the words majesty of office? Well, the word majesty speaks of that which has grandeur, stateliness, great dignity. And there is no other word that I know of which more closely describes what we ought to sense and see when we contemplate the Lord Jesus in His offices of prophet, priest, and king.

2:15 we ought reflexively, instinctively to find in our minds words at least similar to the words of the hymnist who said, Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the Savior's brow. The word majesty to us is generally connected with royalty. They speak of the king as her majesty, the queen as her majesty, the queen of England, or the king as his majesty. Everything that bespeaks grandeur and stateliness and dignity.

2:49 Therefore, to contemplate the Lord Jesus in his offices is to contemplate that which is full of spiritual and biblical majesty. What then do we mean by the word offices? Well, simply the use of the word that is common to us. Office describing or denoting a position of authority.

3:13 Governor Carter is preparing himself to assume the office of the presidency.

3:22 On January, I forgot the precise date, he will be officially installed in the office of the presidency of the United States. And so when we consider the majesty of the offices of Christ, we are thinking of those positions of authority from which the Lord Jesus exercises His work as a Redeemer. And so for a number of weeks we will be riveting our attention upon the peculiar positions of authority and influence from which the Lord accomplishes His work of redemption. As we do, we shall encounter that which is majestic, intrinsically grand and glorious,

4:08 and I trust that which will lead us to cry out in the language of the book of the Revelation, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor and riches and power. Now, our study this morning is an introductory study in which we shall consider, first of all, the number and the name of his offices, and then secondly, the inseparable relationship between his person and his offices, thirdly, the indivisibility of his offices, and thirdly, the necessity of his offices. And for those who are visiting with us, let me say that I generally do not stick as closely to my notes as I shall do this morning, but the six-hour time change,

4:54 and we're only two days away from it has left me terribly disoriented. I feel that my head is about six inches away from my neck and my mind is influenced by that sense of detachment. And some of you who know what it is to travel frequently know the problem of what's called jet lag. Well, I'm very acutely conscious of it this morning.

5:16 And if I do not stick closely to my notes and actually read certain statements, I am liable to be looking at you with a blank and dull look upon my face and no words in my mouth and that would not be to your edification. So though I delight to preach to people's eyeballs not to my notes or to their foreheads you must bear with me this morning in the light of these circumstances. First of all then, the number and the name of the offices of Christ. Frequently in the course of these studies we have had occasion to look to the shorter catechism as a guideline in assisting our study.

The Number and Names of Christ's Offices

5:54 Well, we're going to do that again this morning. Question number 23 of the Shorter Catechism asks, What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer? In the carrying out of the work of redemption, what offices does Christ execute? That is, in what offices is He the executor of redemptive power and purpose?

6:20 And the answer is, Christ as our Redeemer executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation. So then, the number of his official offices is three. The name of those offices are prophet, priest, and king. Now if you have any acquaintance with your Old Testament, you will know immediately that these three offices, that of prophet, of priest, and king, were offices to which God gave peculiar dignity and upon which rested unusual responsibility in the ordering of the entire life of the nation of Israel.

7:09 Upon entrance into these three offices there was a special ceremony of anointing. It was prophets who received an anointing to signify their being set apart for the office of a prophet. It was priests who received special anointings which set them apart for the functions of that office and likewise with kings. So then the offices of prophet, priest and king more and more in the Old Testament not only met immediate needs for the national life of Israel but around those three offices gathered more and more intimations that the great seed of Israel, the promised Messiah would in a way transcending all other prophets, priests and kings

8:03 fill those offices and function within them to the spiritual redemption of the spiritual seed of Israel. Let me give you but three Old Testament prophecies. There could be many, but to set before you the fact that this concept of thinking of Christ the Redeemer, accomplishing the work of redemption in the three offices of prophet, priest, and king, is not an imposition of men's thinking upon the Word, but it is the extraction from the Word of its own emphasis. In Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 18 and 19, God speaks through Moses who is the great prophet of the Old Testament and says, Deuteronomy 18, 18 and 19,

8:57 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee. That is, God is going to institute a prophet who in many ways will be like unto Moses. I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my word which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. Now who was this great prophet whom God would raise up like unto Moses? Well, in the third chapter of Acts, we have the inspired interpretation of that prophecy in which Peter, preaching to his fellow Jews, commands them to

9:50 repent in verse 19 of Acts 3. Then he speaks of the Christ who was sent to them. And now verse 22, Moses indeed said, A prophet shall the Lord God raise up unto you from among your brethren like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things whatsoever he shall speak unto you. And it shall be that every soul that shall not hearken to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people, yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days. Peter has proclaimed in the preceding part of his discourse

10:36 that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, and he becomes the promised Messiah in direct fulfillment of the prophecy of Deuteronomy. He is that great prophet, the great and final prophet of God. So then, when we think of the number and names of the offices of Christ, and we say that in the work of redemption Jesus Christ functions as a prophet, we are not imposing a man-made concept upon the Word, we are extracting the very teaching of God from the Word. Well then, what about his designation as a priest. Turn please to Psalm 110. Psalm 110. That this psalm refers

11:25 to our Lord is evident from our Lord's very use of it. It was Christ who used this very psalm in debating with the religious leaders of his day and applied it directly to himself. Psalm 110 the Lord said unto my Lord that is Jehovah speaks to Messiah sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool The Lord will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies Here, of course, is a reference to his kingly reign. But notice now in verse 4, The Lord hath sworn and will not repent,

12:11 Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And here is an announcement that the Lord who sits at the right hand of Jehovah is a priest forever, not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. And then the writer to the Hebrews picks up that very theme and in two chapters, Hebrews chapter 7 and chapter 8, expounds the whole concept of the Melchizedek priesthood as it applies to and finds fulfillment in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. so that Messiah will accomplish his reign, functioning as a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

13:02 And then he is called King. He is set before us as the one who fills the office of the king, both in prophecy and in fulfillment. We could use this very passage or the psalm that we sang together before we began to study the Scriptures, the second psalm, the psalm in which we have, as it were, a tape recording of an inter-Trinitarian conversation in which God the Father pledges a kingdom to His Son. There is in the opening verses the picture of men's rebellion against the authority of God.

13:40 Yet in the midst of this, verse 6, Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will tell of the decree the Lord said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, that is, I have formally installed thee in the posture and office of king, and from that posture ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Now, with these three verses from the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the New, I trust you are convinced, though there are many others that could be brought forward, that when we consider the work of Christ as Redeemer,

14:26 in terms of the three offices of prophet, priest, and king, we are thinking in essentially biblical categories. All right? Having considered the number and the name of his offices, now secondly, consider with me the inseparable relationship between his person and his offices. Why did the framers of the catechism move from their statement of Christ's person, who is the Redeemer of God's elect, to the next question, what offices doth Christ execute as the Redeemer of God's elect?

15:05 Why did they bring into the closest possible proximity a statement on his person and a statement on his offices? Why do most theologians treating of the person and work of Christ bring these things into the same close proximity? Well, the answer to that is not difficult to come by. And the answer is this.

15:36 The foundation for Christ's success in His offices lies in the constitution of His person. You say, run that by again. Alright, I will.

15:52 The foundation for his success in his offices lies in the constitution of his person. To state it a bit more differently, Christ is able to do what he does in his office because of what he is in himself, in his person. He functions with such power and success as a prophet, priest, and king because of what He is as the God-man, one person in two natures forever. And Scripture again and again brings these two things together.

16:36 statements in which the efficacy of his work as Redeemer is rooted in the worth of what he is as to his person. I give you but two examples quickly. Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1.

16:55 in the midst of his prayer or a record of what he prays on behalf of the Colossians Paul says in verse 14 in whom that is in Christ we have redemption the forgiveness of our sins now that's a reference not to his person but to his work he is the redeemer In union with Him, we have redemption. But now notice verse 15, who is.

Old Testament Prophecies of Prophet, Priest, and King

17:32 He does the work of redemption, verse 14, but He is, and then He goes on to describe what He is in His person. You see how He brings the two together? His success in the work of redemption is rooted in what He is in His person. You have a similar emphasis in Hebrews chapter 1.

17:57 Hebrews chapter 1, where Christ is set before us as God's final prophet.

18:06 Notice the same strand or strands of emphases.

18:12 God having of all times spoken unto the fathers and the prophets by diverse portions and diverse manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. Now notice, who being. Now we're not contemplating him as creator, but what he is in himself. Who being.

18:38 Who being. The effulgence of his glory and the very image of his substance and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins. What he does in making purification, his function as priest, is rooted in what he is in himself, who being made. You see, bringing together what he is in his person, what he does in his work.

19:08 Let me try to illustrate. Suppose one of the very large corporations that had oodles of stockholders and millions of dollars in funds should meet Monday morning in a large, posh office somewhere in the Wall Street district, and they were to elect as president of their corporation a man who had absolutely no administrative ability, no financial knowledge, no ambition, no sense as to how to surround himself with people who did know something, would the putting of him in the office of president of the corporation make up for all his deficiencies to run the corporation? Would his being officially installed in the office of president of the corporation

19:59 suddenly endow him with all the financial knowledge he needed to run the corporation? Would it suddenly endow him with all of the administrative know-how needed? You say, of course not. No, and what would happen under his leadership if other people didn't cover up his mistakes in a few short weeks or months, that corporation would go bankrupt.

20:20 Why? Because the man in his person was not adequate for the demands of his office.

The Inseparable Relationship Between Christ's Person and Offices

20:30 And so it is with our blessed Lord, but thank God by way of contrast, not comparison. it would never have done for the father to say I will anoint my son to be the prophet, priest and king of his church and give him all the authority and power and right to administer those offices if there was any deficiency in his person he could not be efficient in his functions of office. We need to see then as we move from the mystery of his person to a contemplation of the majesty of his offices, this wonderful relationship that Jesus Christ is able to do what he does

21:16 as our great prophet, priest, and king, because he is what he is, as true God, true man, one person in the two natures forever. And it's because the old theologians understood that, that they put those two things back, and they said, don't you separate them. Don't you separate them. The demands of the office were such that the prophet we need could not exist apart from the God-man Christ Jesus.

21:49 The priest we need would not exist apart from the God-man Christ Jesus. The king we desperately need could not be found except in the God-man, Christ Jesus. So, the inseparable relationship between his person and offices is on the one hand to be found in this simple statement. The foundation for success in the office lies in the constitution of the person.

22:19 And furthermore, the end for which he was constituted, the God-man, was that he might fulfill those offices as our Redeemer. He was not made the God-man to elicit the wonder and praise of angels and unfallen spirits. No, it was the redemption of the seed of God, the elect of God, which demanded the functions of a prophet, priest, and king. By way of application, let me say then that we must never tamper with the doctrine of His person.

22:58 All the consolations of our salvation will be eroded if we tamper with the doctrine of His person. It's because of what He is in His person that we may have confidence in what He does as our prophet, priest, and king. Hebrews 7 and 8 is a whole long argument explaining and amplifying that very principle. The writer takes that one little phrase, He is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

23:29 He has neither beginning of days nor end of life. What does that mean to us? Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. You see what he does?

23:44 He draws out a wonderful consolation with reference to the people of God based upon the constitution of his person as perfectly suited to the function of his office

23:58 So when we are very, very adamant, when we are very, very stubborn in refusing to budge one iota with reference to the biblical doctrine of his person, we do so not in the interest of being theologically fastidious for its own sake, but we do so in the interest of the consolation of our hearts as needy sinners, who if robbed of a prophet, priest, and king who is truly God, are robbed of the grounds of our consolation. Who if robbed of a prophet, priest, and king who is truly man, are robbed of the grounds of our consolation. who, if he is anything less than one person in the two natures,

24:47 ceases to be the object of our loving and adoring trust and confidence. Well, having addressed ourselves briefly to the name and number of the offices, the inseparable relationship between his person and his offices, now thirdly, just a word about the indivisibility of his offices. Now we must separate the offices for the sake of analysis and exposition. It would not do to try to preach on Christ as prophet, priest and king in a cyclical manner, at least for me.

25:19 The way my mind works, I couldn't do that. If I had the mind that John had, John and Paul think in different ways. And John's epistles are such that they go around spiraling, laying principles upon one another. Paul's are structured in a more logical way for the most part.

25:37 Well, I have more of the Pauline mentality than the Joannine mentality. And so for the sake of analysis and exposition, we must separate what he is as prophet and what he is and does as priest and king. However, however, we must never think that he is divided in these offices either in his function or in his application of the benefits of those offices to his people. Faith will sometimes focus on one office more than another for consolation.

26:11 For instance, when you are smitten with a sense of your own uncleanness, what office of Christ brings the greatest consolation? Is it that He's a prophet? Is it that He's a king? Or is it that He is a priest who makes intercession?

26:27 Who pleads the merits of His own blood before the Father? You see, when the soul is oppressed with guilt, faith focuses more particularly upon the office of Christ as king. I mean, as priest, I'm sorry. Now you see why I said I need to stick to my notes.

26:48 But now if the soul is filled with a sense of darkness, and it desperately needs light with reference to some point of truth or to some point of duty, upon what does it focus itself then? That Jesus Christ is our great prophet, willing and able to teach us all the will of God. And so faith is exercised more peculiarly upon Christ as our prophet. And when we look out and we see a world in which his reign is despised, and the great ones still say in the language of Psalm 2, Let us break their bands asunder, and we bleed inwardly at lawlessness and anarchy, and faith is groping for some ray of hope.

27:36 Upon what does faith terminate in that state of the soul? Upon the fact that he is king. And he must reign and shall reign until all his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. You see?

27:51 So then in the growth and in the experience of the Christian life, faith will often focus upon one office for consolation and direction. Prayer may sometimes be directed to Christ in one particular office more than another. And that is perfectly proper. And I've said all of that to say this.

28:12 Allowing that that is proper both in our thinking and in the exercises of the soul. We must never allow any thought that Jesus Christ is at any point anything less than prophet, priest and king in the accomplishment of the work of redemption. Everything he is doing as a priest, he does as the prophetic and royal priest. All that he is doing as king, he does as the prophetic and priestly king.

28:45 All that he does as prophet, he does with reference to his priestly and kingly position. One passage among several which sets this forth so clearly. Zechariah chapter 6. Again we could turn to Psalm 110, but I deliberately turn to another passage hoping that you will become acquainted with some of these pivotal texts of Scripture.

29:09 In Zechariah chapter 6, one of the great prophecies concerning our Lord. Zechariah 6 and verse 12. Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah. And that's not talking about something in some literal earthly, physical millennium down the road when Christ will begin to build the temple of God.

29:46 Thank God we being here today are monuments of his handiwork. We are built together to be a sanctuary of God. I will build my church, is the prophecy of our Lord. Now notice, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah, even he shall build the temple of Jehovah, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne.

30:16 There is the king. Yet, and he shall be a priest upon his throne And the council of peace shall be between them both Well, is he king or is he priest? Thank God he is the priest-king Who executes this royal prerogative With a view to bringing redemptive blessings Within the orbit of his priestly work but who is a priest with royal power as well as a king with gracious designs for all who come within the orbit of his reign of grace. Now by application let me say this.

The Indivisibility of Christ's Offices

31:02 Many heresies and crippling deficiencies in life have come when men have fragmented our Lord's three offices. Have you ever heard the term Socinian? That's an old-fashioned term for an old-fashioned liberal. Well, they love to acknowledge Christ as a prophet.

31:22 Oh, he's the great prophet. Let's follow the teachings of Jesus. But they want nothing to do with Christ as a priest who offers up a bloody sacrifice to appease divine wrath and anger. They say that's ridiculous.

31:41 You see, we must not separate the offices. The only saving relationship to Christ as prophet is one in which he has also embraced as priest and as king. Now in our day, in evangelical circles, you know what the great heresy is? That you can have him as a priest while rejecting him as prophet and king.

32:04 And we've got so-called evangelicals, the visible churches full of them, who are questioning the authority of Scripture, which is questioning the authority of Christ as a prophet,

32:17 and who make no bones about the fact that they haven't surrendered to Christ as their king. That's optional.

32:23 You can have no saving dealings with Christ as a priest unless He's a priest upon His throne. And a priest upon a throne who speaks with prophetic authority because God has made Him the final prophet. Think of the heresies in our own day. Then we have another group.

32:43 Oh, they talk about the kingship of Christ. Oh, they talk about sphere sovereignty. And they want to see the lordship of Christ in government and the lordship of Christ in education and the lordship.

32:56 But they forget one simple fact that men's fundamental need is that they are out of fellowship with God. And you come into communion with God, not primarily by embracing the throne rights of Messiah, but the primary focus and actings of saving faith have reference to Jesus as the bearer of sin, the Lamb of God, who bears away the sin of the world.

33:24 And so, dear people, this is not just an exercise in abstract theology. when I insist and then urge you to insist in your own thinking of the indivisibility of the offices of Christ. In some cases, it's a matter of life and death. And in most cases, at least a matter of health or ill health in the spiritual life.

33:46 As surely as all His official functions involve His activity as prophet, priest, and king, So all of our dealings with him will involve faith embracing the whole Christ in all of his glorious offices. And then finally for our introductory study this morning, having considered the number and name of his offices, three, prophet, priest, and king, the inseparability of the person and the office, the indivisibility of the offices, now briefly the necessity of his offices. Why did God constitute the Redeemer, a prophet, a priest, and a king? Or to ask the question in a little different manner, Why did God structure the whole national life of Israel and its subsequent history

34:36 so that prominence was given to these three offices above all other offices and functions? Why did God do that? Was that arbitrary? No. As a southern theologian of another generation said so simply and yet succinctly, and I quote him now, mankind lay under three evils, ignorance, guilt, and rebellion.

35:07 Still quoting. And redemption consists of three parts. Announcing, purchasing, and applying salvation.

35:21 Now don't let the simplicity of that make you despise it. What is our problem as sinners? Now the scripture says and affirms again and again the universality of sin. As in Adam, all die.

35:34 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And many other texts which teach that. Now when we analyze it and say boil down everything that sin has done to us what is the problem of a sinful fallen son or daughter of Adam Mr Dabney says his problems can be reduced under three heads Sin has darkened his mind so that he does not know God.

36:01 Sin has brought him into a posture of guilt so that he is liable to the wrath of God. And sin has so influenced his disposition and will that he is in rebellion against God and needs to be subdued. Now, what answers to those three great categories of need? For our native ignorance and darkness of mind, God has anointed His dear Son to be our prophet, to teach us the will of God for our salvation.

Heresies That Fragment Christ's Offices

36:34 Hence He could say, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and learn of Me. I will teach you. I am the truth was his claim. He said, the words that I speak unto you, they are life.

36:52 God, having spoken in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in the end of these days spoken in his Son. You see, the necessity of his office is a prophet. It answers specifically to our need, a need arising from our native ignorance and darkness. Why is he a priest?

37:14 Because God is holy and cannot look upon sin. Because God is just and must punish sin.

37:23 And God has said, without the shedding of blood is no remission. There must be the pouring out of the life of the innocent victim. There must be the presentation of that blood in the presence of God. Why is Christ a priest?

37:39 Because you and I are guilty. And we need a sacrifice to be made and a sacrifice to be presented. And so Jesus Christ is a priest, as we shall see in subsequent studies. Both offers Himself, that's His work of oblation.

37:55 And then presents Himself in the virtue of His blood in the true sanctuary of heaven. That's intercession. Why? Because that perfectly answers to our need as guilty sinners.

38:09 But then we're also rebels. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can it be.

38:17 Well, what then must happen? There must be someone who can subdue the rebel. And so God made him a king. A king to whom the promise was made.

The Necessity of Christ's Offices: Answering Ignorance, Guilt, and Rebellion

38:28 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. In the language of the psalmist, Gird thy sword upon thy thigh and ride on in triumph and in majesty on behalf of truth. When you read the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, there you see the triumphs of King Jesus, who takes the rebel and subdues him, not to do him harm, but to do him good. Why is Jesus Christ constituted prophet, priest, and king?

38:59 because these offices answer specifically to our need as sinners. Oh, follow this morning. Listen, listen, this is the wonder of it. God is of necessity, immutable, that is unchangeable.

39:15 God is of necessity in Himself being God, omniscient, He knows all. Omnipresent, He is present in all places. But listen carefully. Though those attributes of God are essential to His nature, being God, He can be nothing other than those things.

39:32 There was no necessity laid upon the second person of the Godhead to become a prophet, priest, and king. Those are offices voluntarily assumed for what purpose? One end alone, to be the efficient Redeemer of His people. And he takes upon him the office of a prophet The office of a priest And the office of a king May I say it reverently Because he was consumed with insatiable thirst For the salvation of the people whom the Father had given to him And it was our Lord's thirst for my salvation

40:18 that led him to be constituted a prophet to teach me, a priest to forgive me and to keep me, and a king to rule over and to subdue all mine and his enemies. Oh, as we close our study this morning, may I press the question upon the conscience of every listener. Do you have any felt need for this glorious, majestic prophet? What is it to you that Christ has been constituted a prophet?

40:53 What is it to you that the Father has put Him in the office of a prophet? Do you feel anything of your native ignorance and the darkness of sin upon your mind? Do you feel anything of the hopelessness and despair of answering the simplest questions of life? Unless God gives you life, who am I?

41:15 Where did I come from? What am I here for? What happens to me when I die? Questions that little four-year-old children ask.

41:29 Questions that drive 90-year-old philosophers to their grave with furrowed brows and with the lisping, whispering, despairing confession, I don't know who I am. I don't know what lies beyond death. Do you feel any need of Christ as a prophet? If you don't, it's only because you have no understanding of what you are as a darkened, ignorant, blind sinner.

42:02 If you begin to have any felt awareness of how blind and dark you are, Oh, what wonderful news it will be that God has anointed His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the final prophet. That all truth is in Him and all knowledge is in Him, for He has made unto us wisdom. Do you have any felt need of Christ as a priest? Sitting in this place this morning, oh, let the question burn into your conscience.

42:33 Listen, sitting there this morning, do you have any felt need of a priest to deal with the problem of your sin? Do you have any felt awareness of guilt? I didn't say guilt feelings. I mean real guilt that you, the creature, have sinned against God, the Creator, and that the wrath and anger of heaven burns against you.

42:56 Why are some of you so indifferent to Christ? It's because you have no felt need of Him as your priest. But you begin to take seriously who God is and what you are and what sin is. And you will long to know that there's someone to come between the wrath of the holy God and you, the guilty sinner.

43:17 Someone who can intervene with an almighty intervention. Someone who can put something more than just a little band-aid, a little bit of a salve upon the conscience. someone who can in the language of Hebrews purge the conscience from guilt and cause you to look up into the God of heaven and say, I know my sins are pardoned for the sake of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.

Pressing the Question: Do You Feel Your Need of Him?

43:51 Do you have any felt need for a king? Do you have any felt need, rising out of an awareness to some degree, of the viciousness of the rebellion of your heart? Do you long for a king who can subdue that with almighty power?

44:10 What is it to you that Christ is such a king? If you despise him, it's because you've never seen your desperate need of him. Oh, dear people, the necessity of his being a prophet, priest, and king is not a necessity imposed upon the structure of biblical truth by theologians. It's a necessity arising out of the state of the sinner and the almighty grace of a loving God who has sent a Redeemer perfectly suited to the needs of those whom He would redeem.

44:42 Do you love Him as prophet, priest, and king? Oh, may God give us to see something in these days of the majesty, of the grandeur, the loftiness, the glory of the offices of our Redeemer. God willing, next week we shall begin to consider Him in some detail as our glorious prophet. Subsequently, our glorious and gracious priest and our almighty King.

45:16 Perhaps we would do well to pray, O Lord, give me more of a felt awareness of how much I need Him to be my prophet, priest, and king. For they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick and the physician for needy sinners is this blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

45:45 O our Father, how we bless you that in grace and in mercy,

45:56 in infinite wisdom as well as in condescending grace, you've constituted your Son, a prophet, a priest, and a king in order to effect the redemption of your people. Oh, how we plead that there would come to our hearts by the Word and the Spirit a new understanding of the glory of Christ in His threefold offices, the prophet, priest, and king as the Redeemer of His people. For those to whom these moments have been more words, empty words, hollow words, meaningless words, O God, have mercy upon them

Closing Prayer

46:41 until they see that their need is such that only this glorious Redeemer can meet it. Work in their hearts that faith and repentance that they may embrace Him as He is set before them in the Gospel.

46:58 Receive our thanks as we attempt to express our gratitude for so glorious a Redeemer. Receive our praise. and may the benediction and blessing of the presence of this very Redeemer through the Spirit rest and abide upon each one who is in union with Him. Amen.

47:37 Thank you.