Intercession: Principles

The Indisputable Facts of Divine Revelation and Paul's Audacious Question

0:03 According to the 8th chapter of Paul's letter to the church at Rome, Romans chapter 8,

0:11 as we continue our studies in this text that was originally to have been an Easter Sunday text, it has just flowered out in our study and in our preparation,

0:24 and I have been greatly encouraged by the indications that the Lord has been pleased in some measure to make this His word to the hearts of many of you in recent weeks. Our text, Romans 8, in verse 34, The following truths are some of the most fundamental and indisputable facts of divine revelation. Number one, that God is holy. And because He is holy, He hates sin. Number two, God is just. And because He is just, He must and He will punish sin.

1:21 Number three, man as a creature is sinful and worthy of divine judgment. Number four, man is helpless and incapable of rescuing himself from that divine judgment. I say those are four of the most fundamental and indisputable, indisputable truths of divine revelation. If a man takes his Bible seriously, he cannot read long before he is gripped with those basic issues.

1:51 God is holy. He hates sin. God is just. He must punish sin.

1:58 Man as creature is sinful and deserving of wrath. Man as creature is helpless and incapable of rescuing himself. How, then, does a creature, in the presence of a God like that, dare to ask the question that Paul asked? How does any creature who believes those four fundamental facts that I've just enunciated throw out this challenge to the entire universe?

2:28 Who is he that condemneth? What thinking lies behind the audacity of a sinful creature to challenge the entire moral universe from devils and demons, to God himself, with this question, who is there that will justly condemn me? Well, you see, the man who dared to throw out that challenging question, the answer of which, of course, is assumed, no one will condemn me, is a man who understood both the fact and the significance of the four things mentioned following the question, and it was the apostles' believing reception of these four things that gave him a just basis to throw out the challenge of that question, who is he that condemneth? And so, in order that we, as God's people, might be able to have the same confidence that the apostle had, a confidence born not of delusion that God will somehow just wink at sin, or the delusion that man is really not deserving of divine wrath, but a confidence that faces the reality of divine holiness and justice on the one hand, and human sin and helplessness on the other, I say it's only as we understand with Paul the significance of those four events of Christ,

3:57 and with Paul believingly embrace them, that we shall have a just basis of also echoing his question, who is he that condemneth? And so, for the past six Lord's Days, we've been studying, then, this text, having looked at its setting, a setting in which Paul says God's purpose of salvation is nothing less than conforming us to the very likeness of Christ, verse 29, that God, in verse 30, has indicated his irreversible commitment to attain that goal, whom he foreordained, that is, foreordained to be made like his Son, he called, whom he called, he justified, whom he justified, he glorified, it's as good as done, God will realize his ultimate intention, hence the Apostle cries out in exultation, what then shall we say then to these things, if God is for us, committed to this goal of making us like Christ, already indicating that his commitment is irreversible, already proving his willingness to go to any pains to accomplish it, verse 32, he that spared not, his Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things, in that setting, the Apostle says, who is he that condemneth, and so we've been studying then,

Review of Christ's Intercession: Fact and Pattern

5:23 the four pillars of Christian assurances found in this text, and are presently examining the fourth, having looked at what it means that Christ died, and its relationship to the state of no condemnation, having considered the resurrection, in relationship to the state of no condemnation, having considered his ascension, and his being seated at the right hand of God, and its relationship to our salvation, we are presently examining this phrase at the end, who also maketh intercession for us, last week we had the first of our studies, in this matter of Christ intercessory work, and its relationship to our salvation, and all I attempted to do last week, was establish two things, number one, the fact of his intercession, it's stated explicitly here in Romans 8.34, it's stated explicitly in Hebrews 7.25, he ever liveth to make intercession for us, it is implied very strongly in Hebrews 9.24, he appears before the face of God for us, and in fact, in 1 John 2.1,

6:40 if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Having then established the fact that Christ carries on a valid work of intercession in the heavens now on behalf of his own, then we examined in the second place the pattern of his intercession, and we saw that the pattern of Christ's intercessory work is that established by the Old Testament economy, and by economy I don't mean the budget, I mean the arrangement of things. When we use the word economy in biblical truths, we're speaking of the divine arrangement of things. And we see in the light of Hebrews chapters 5 and following particularly, that Jesus Christ was a priest in some senses after the pattern of Aaron, but then in other senses after the pattern of Melchizedek. And the conclusions we came to last week were these, and this will end our review, that in the Old Testament pattern, sacrifice and intercession were inseparably joined in the work of a priest. When a man was ordained to be a priest, and no man took that responsibility upon himself, but God clearly indicated who was to be priest unto him, that man, if he was to do his work biblically, had both to offer a sacrifice and to engage, and to engage in the work of intercession.

8:10 And we looked at Leviticus 16, in which the day of atonement is clearly described in all of its activities, and we saw that Aaron as the high priest was not only to shed the blood of the bullet and catch that blood in a basin, but he was to take another basin full of coals from off the altar and a handful of incense and go within the veil to do the work of intercession based upon the work of oblation or sacrifice. And so the two concepts, oblation, which is another word for sacrifice, and intercession, are inseparably joined in the work of a priest. Hence, if Christ is the priest of his people, not only their prophet and their king, he must do a valid work of intercession based upon the work of his oblation and his sacrifice. In fact, Hugh Martin, in his very penetrating treatment of the subject, of the atonement of Christ, goes so far as to say, and I quote, the essence of the intercession is atonement, and the atonement is essentially an intercession. Then the second thing we saw in this matter of the pattern of Christ's intercession is that the sacrifice and the intercession have the same people in view. The high priest did not make sacrifice for certain people and then make intercession for a different group.

9:38 No. He did not make sacrifice for a different group. He did not make sacrifice for a different group. Sacrifice and intercession had the same group of people in mind.

9:43 He made sacrifice for the sins of the people. He made intercession for the sins of the people. And so Christ, in his work of a high priest, not only makes sacrifice for his own, I lay down my life for my sheep, but he makes intercession for his own. And then we concluded our study with the observation that sacrifice and intercession have the same group of people and the same end in view.

10:10 The end of his sacrifice is to perfect his own. Ephesians 5. Christ loved the church and gave himself for the church. Why?

10:20 That he might cleanse it and perfect it and present it to himself. The end of Christ's oblation was the perfection of his people. The end of his intercession is the perfection of his people. He is able to save to the uttermost that is to the point of perfection.

10:40 Why? Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. That's why Paul can couch this question and buttress it with this answer in the light of what he said in verse 29. Has God foreordained that all of his own should be conformed to the image of his Son?

11:00 Yes. What has he done to secure that? Christ has died. Christ intercedes.

11:07 And his death, death and his intercession not only have the same objects, the same people in view, but the same end in view, their complete conformity to the image of Christ. So much for the review which I hope has been helpful for those just visiting with us and have not been here for the previous expositions. And I hope it has helped to clarify and reinforce what we've covered for those who have been here. Now this morning, in an effort to carry on and further amplify and describe and apply the implications of Christ's intercession, I feel it would be necessary and I am constrained to speak on four further qualifying principles relative to the intercession of Christ. Because this is new ground for many of us and I use the word us not editorially, but very really. I have been sometimes since I've grappled with a facet of biblical truth and felt that there is a need not so utterly unfit to wrestle with it on the basis of previous knowledge as I have with reference to the intercessory work of Christ. And I feel many of you are in that same position.

Principle 1: Intercession Adds Nothing to the Atonement's Worth

12:20 And so lest in our thinking as it fleshes out, we jump beyond the warrant of Scripture, I want to give, having looked at the fact of his intercession, the pattern of his intercession, four qualifying principles relative to his intercession. Then as we move in, to the very nature of his intercession, the qualities of his intercession, the ultimate goal and accomplishment of his intercession, we won't leap beyond the boundaries of these principles of Holy Scripture. The first one is this. The intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ adds nothing to the intrinsic worth and efficacy of his atonement.

13:05 You say, what a mouthful. Yes, but you stay with me and I'll explain what I mean. I've labored at being precise. Handling God's truth is a frightening thing.

13:15 And frankly, I've wished I could run from handling this subject of his intercession because it is such a delicate and yet such a glorious subject. Principle one is this. The intercession of our Lord, that is the work he is doing now in the presence of the Father, Romans 8, 34, who maketh intercession for us, adds nothing to the intrinsic worth. That is, the worth that is bound up in itself.

13:45 Intrinsic, bound up in itself. It adds nothing to the intrinsic worth and efficacy. That is, the success or the synonym for efficacy. It's just the right word.

14:00 It's hard to get a good synonym. The intrinsic worth and worthiness and full accomplishment of his atonement. You know, in other words, whatever is the precise effect of the intercession of Christ, you must never think of it as supplying some defects in his atonement. Now look at several scriptures with me, please.

14:23 Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 26. Speaking of the Lord Jesus and his once-for-all sacrifice, the apostle or whoever wrote the book of Hebrews says, Else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. You see what he's saying? When Jesus Christ, as our priest in the work of oblation, offered himself, that offering put away sin.

15:08 It was efficacious. There was an intrinsic worth in his sin, sacrifice to put away all of the sins of all of his people. Chapter 10 and verse 10. By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

15:29 When he offered up his person in his own body, when he gave himself up as a sacrifice, it was once for all. It procured the sanctification of his people. Verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

15:51 Now why do I emphasize this? For the simple reason that the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ is obviously a necessary work for our salvation or God would not ordain him, a priest, after the order of Melchizedek to make perpetual intercession. If it were not pivotal to our salvation, Paul would not put it as one of the four pillars upon which his assurance rests. Who is he that condemneth?

16:21 Christ maketh intercession. So he is accomplishing something in his intercession. It is a valid and necessary work for our salvation. Just as much as every Christian can say I'm saved by the death of Christ, I'm saved by the resurrection of Christ, he should be able to say I'm saved by the session of Christ, I'm saved by the intercession of Christ.

16:49 So as we see the importance of the intercession, the great blessings it secures, it is essential at the outset to establish firmly in our minds whatever his intercession accomplishes, it adds nothing to the worth and efficacy of his atonement. Rather, his intercession is the character, carrying into each of all the virtue of that sacrifice. It is the bringing into reality all that was purchased by the sacrifice and all that the sacrifice merited. Let me use a silly illustration that even you kids can grasp, all right?

17:32 Because I'm conscious when I have to speak along these lines of how in the world can I get this down where the kids will listen to me. And you know, I feel bad when you kids don't listen to me. You know that? Because I have a response, a responsibility to feed the lambs as well as the sheep.

17:46 And I feel that responsibility. Here's a city that has been taken over by a conqueror. There are a thousand inhabitants. And during the conquest, the mayor of that city has fled.

18:01 And he's entered into negotiations with the conqueror of the city where his subjects are. So here's the mayor over here. There's his city over there with a thousand inhabitants. Or we could say he was a king if we want to go back to feudal days.

18:17 And now he enters into negotiation. He says, what do you demand in order that I may have my people back as my own loyal subjects? And the conquering general or king says, the ransom price to pay back, to buy them back is a million dollars. And so this king and some of his wealthy friends and he scratches and scrapes together and his million dollars are gathered together.

18:46 The fulfillment for their release, is provided. But now the captives aren't loosed yet. The payment is there. It's all gathered and the king has it in a bundle.

18:57 But what has to be done? It has to be actually taken to the conquering general and placed in his hands and then the captives are set free. But now between the time the bundle of money is taken and presented, nothing is added to that million dollars. Nothing's added to it.

19:17 But when it is actually taken and put in his hands, it's secured. What the million dollars has already provided. What? Their release.

19:26 But not a penny is added. Now that's how we must view the intercession of Christ. When he offered himself up to God, the writer to Hebrews says, he has perfected forever and there was in the off necessary for the full from the bondage and the guilt of sin into perfect conformity to the image of Christ. Christ's eyes needs to be applied in ways and it's by his work of intercession that the Lord Jesus applies what he purchased in his oblation.

Principle 2: Intercession is Not Coercion of the Father

20:12 But he didn't to the worth of his blood in all his intercession. I hope that simple illustration will clarify this principle. Now the second principle is this. The intercession of our Lord must not be construed as coercion.

20:31 Coercion? What? To do what otherwise he would not do. Now then, you'll see how necessary it is to think along these lines.

20:44 Intercession, if it doesn't mean request, you might even use the term pleading with one on behalf of another, the word loses all its meaning. If you go to intercede on my behalf to someone else, you are representing me, you are pleading with them, you are making requests of them to do things that otherwise perhaps would not be done.

21:08 So when we come to consider the intercessory work of Christ, we are considering something that cannot be bled of the idea that Christ is making requests of the Father on our behalf and that His requests actually prevail with God to provide things for us. But oh, may we never, never construe that intercession as being Christ prevailing upon the Father to do things He would be reluctant to do unless He prevailed for us. No, no, that is not the concept of His intercession. And one of the greatest heresies that has ever been spawned upon professing Christendom is the idea that the Father is the reluctant party in our salvation. God the Father would damn us, but Christ interposed to turn away His wrath. God the Father would cast us off for our failures, but Jesus Christ intercedes and hence, we are kept. No, no, no, no, what a travesty upon the biblical doctrine.

22:13 There is trinitarian as to the desire of our salvation and the commitment to our salvation and the accomplishment of our salvation. And you cannot understand or appreciate your salvation until you view it as a salvation in which there is intert in the hold of your salvation. From election in eternity, what do you have? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly place, in Christ, in whom, in whom we were chosen, according as He hath chosen us, in Him. Who did the choosing? The Father. The Father, given His love to a multitude whom no man can number.

23:10 And from that point on as He gave those people to His Son, the Son loved us, with an everlasting love, and the Spirit loved us with an everlasting love, so that from eternity there is intertrinitarian harmony in love to the elect of God. And in the sending of the Son, who sends Him? God loved the world and the Son, and yet the Son loved His own. For the Scriptures is having loved His own, He loved them even to the end.

23:45 And Paul speaks of the love of the Spirit, intertrinitarian harmony in the end. In the incarnation and the sending of the Son. And then in the raising up of the people of God at the last day, there is intertrinitarian harmony. This is the will of Him that sent me.

24:03 Jesus said that I should lose nothing but raise it at the last day. Look at the context of Romans 8.34. He that spares not with Him freely give us.

24:15 The creation is the design and the purpose of the Father as well as of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So when we think of the intercession, of Christ, may we never dishonor the Father by thinking of the intercession as God being prevailed in reluctance simply because His Son has a niche on His affections. What an unworthy view of the intercession this would be. Ah, but someone says, well, if the Father purposes everything in our salvation, why have the Son as an interceder?

24:54 Why have Him ask it all? For the simple reason, the profound reason, that in every point of our salvation, the Father has designed to save in a way consistent with all the perfections of all of His attributes. If He's to save in a way that He doesn't, as it were, hold His hand over His own justice, He's got to punish sin. So what does He do?

25:23 He sends the Son to die in the room and the stead of sinners and He punishes His Son for our sins. Why? Because He was reluctant to save? No, He was so determined to save in a way that would do full justice to His own justice.

25:42 And He's so determined to carry on salvation in such a way that none of His attributes is overlooked. And we'll see this in our subsequent studies that the intercession of Christ is a necessary ingredient of a salvation consistent both with mercy and with justice.

26:02 And we'll see that. But never, never construe the intercession of Christ as a willing Savior battering down the reluctance of an unwilling...

Principle 3: Intercession Conforms to the Priestly Directional Structure

26:13 Never. Never. Now, the third principle, guiding principle in our study of the intercession of Christ is this. The intercession of our Lord...

26:26 And again, I'm going to use several big words, but I don't know how else to do it. I'll define them. The intercession of our Lord conforms to the directional structure of the priestly function. Now, what do I mean by the directional structure?

26:43 You should see my notes. I had other words and crossed them out. That's what I'm not satisfied and crossed them out. That's even in my final notes.

26:50 The ones before that are an awful mess.

26:54 This is what I mean.

26:56 The function of a priest in the Old Testament had a specific structure of direction. And I want you to look at it in Ephesians chapter 5. It's laid out very, very clearly. In Ephesians chapter 5, Hebrews, I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 5, verse 1.

27:15 For every high priest being taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Now, notice the key words. Taken from among men.

27:40 Appointed in things pertaining to God that he may offer. Now, reduce it to this. From men, for men,

28:00 and sacrifices. The directional structure of a priest is different from that of a prophet and a king. What is the directional structure of the prophetic office? It is this.

28:14 Sent by God of a prophet.

28:21 Speak to the prophet and the prophet says, Thus saith the Lord, but the prophet's face is where? Always toward men. Seeking the mind of God. What's the directional structure of a king?

28:32 Towards men. Administering the government of God. So that Christ as a prophet, in his direction, if I may visually conceptualize it now, is with his back to the Father under his direction, his face toward men. Speaking the words of God.

28:51 Administering the covenant of God.

28:59 He's not unsympathetic. He's taken from among men. We have not in high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He took not on him the nature of angels, but the nature of the seed of Abraham.

29:10 He is from among men. So though his back is toward us in indifference, his back is toward us having come from among us in gifts and sacrifices. So the directional frame of the priesthood is Godward, not manward. It's essential to understand this at the very outset.

29:37 Why? Well, I'll give you a hint. Look at Hebrews 9 and verse 24. For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands like into pattern to the true, but into heaven itself.

29:52 And the rendering of the American standard is a beautiful literal translation of the Greek. Now, dear, or now,

30:06 two words are the key. For his priesthood.

30:28 And there's a sense in which his whole law, he says, you're sinful, you're guilty, you're unholy. The knowledge feel our need of him as our priest. And his whole law, as they're proud we've been robbed,

31:15 the priestly work of Christ, which is, as it were, the central law, the office that he bears. You cannot say that he can his priestly office of his kingly root, but you can say that his office of his place high priest and intercessor. The third principle that I would underscore as we move further into the apostle's statement who intercedeth for us is that the intercession of our Lord conforms to the directional structure of the priestly function. And isn't it wonderful to think that we have a Lord who can be all these things, things to us?

32:08 You and I get confused at any given point in time just trying to fulfill the two or three roles that we have. Maybe you're a husband and your wife has got a legitimate complaint and you ought to hear her out. But at the same time one of the kids is hollering, Daddy, will you come and help me with this? And at the same time you're turning in your mind the fact that you've got some responsibility to the church that is unfulfilled and you get hopelessly frustrated just trying to fulfill a few roles as husband, father, and church member.

32:37 But the Lord Jesus fills all these roles and He's never wearied, never frustrated, never confused. In our midst is His living presence in His living presence by the Spirit, administrator of the church, great sovereign head of the nations. And yet it's as though He's wholly occupied in all of these works at the same time on behalf of His people. And the intercession of our Lord is that directional structure to God for us.

Principle 4: Intercession Conforms to Christ's Exalted State

33:07 And then the fourth principle I would lay before you this morning is this. The intercession of our Lord conforms to His present state of exaltation. Notice the Apostle Paul does not say He interceded for us until He has first of all stated who is at the right hand of God. You remember when we expounded the phrase at the right hand of God we showed by comparing Scripture with Scripture that that is a description of a position of supreme and unrivaled authority and power.

33:45 Now when Paul goes on to say in the next phrase who also intercedes for us, he never thinks of the intercession in any other context but that of His place of regal authority and power. While He was here in the days of His humiliation, His intercession was marked by such words as Hebrews 5, strong and tear.

34:14 While He was here in the days of His humiliation His intercession was marked by sobs and by brokenness. But He is now in Philippians chapter 2 God is interceding we must never forget that His intercession conforms to His present state of exaltation but does not cancel the reality of His intercession and God fuses the two together in the psalm that was our call to worship this morning. Look at it.

35:02 Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. The Father has set His king upon the holy hill of Zion. And then He says I'll explain the decree that lay behind that activity. The Lord said unto me thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and by cross-referencing this in the New Testament you will find that this phrase is applied both to the resurrection and to the heavenly session of Christ.

35:31 This day have I begotten thee that is I have begotten thee to this place of exaltation and power ask of me and I will give thee. In other words there is no inconsistency in the mind of the Trinity between exaltation and entreaty.

35:52 But it must never be construed as anything other than rustic entreaty or prevailing entreaty. I should like to quote at this time from Professor Murray who commenting on the apparent inconsistency of exaltation and intercession says the following things. We could readily encounter difficulty in entertaining the doctrine of a heavenly intercession on the part of an exalted Lord. There is some plausibility to the argument that petition though appropriate while Jesus was here on earth in a state of humiliation would be neither necessary nor fitting in His state of exaltation.

36:37 And then Professor Murray goes on to bring up what Murray said There might be some apparent objections but then he answers it this way.

36:44 He says if we are disposed to think along these lines of these objections it is because we are ready to indulge in abstract thinking and we betray a pattern of thought that is alien to the concrete witness of the Word of God. The biblical witness is to the effect that there is an arrangement of redemption and we must not discount the relations which the persons of the Godhead sustain one to another in terms of that relationship. What he is saying is this. Salvation from beginning to end involves a trinitarian agreement as to the discharge of duty and responsibility.

37:29 The Father does not die upon the cross. The Son does. The Father does not come and unite us to the body of Christ. It is by the Spirit that we are baptized into one body.

37:42 The Son does not send Him Himself. He is sent by the Father. And so in the whole biblical witness for our salvation there is this inter-trinitarian activity and I don't know a better word to use than agreement as to the responsibilities that will be shared. And since salvation was not completed at the cross or at the resurrection but is being at the right hand of God the Father of intercession on behalf of all who come unto God by Him. And so in our subsequent studies to show the nature of that royal and we must never think of it as and a non-exalted Christ prostrated before the throne of the Father with hands outstretched pleading with no, no. We must see Him in His place of exaltation and power but never see His exaltation to the place where we cancel out the reality of His entreaty and His intercession. Do you see how delicate it is to handle the word of God?

39:04 And to handle it rightly, beloved? And any upsetting of that pattern is not just a theological mishap. It is robbing waste of His glory and loss of some facet of our consolation as believers.

Review of Principles and Application for Believers

39:24 You and I might say with Paul who is He that condemneth and that we may one day stand in the midst of the great assembly of the redeemed bearing the likeness of the Lord Jesus He as the firstborn among many brethren. So then let me briefly review these four principles and then conclude with a practical application. As we consider the statement who intercedeth for us we must not only understand the fact of His intercession the pattern of His intercession after the Old Testament priesthood but these four qualifying principles with reference to that work of intercession. Principle one the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ and His adds nothing to the intrinsic worth of the atonement. Principle two the intercession of our Lord must never be construed as Christ getting things from a reluctant Father which otherwise would not be ours. Thirdly the intercession of our Lord conforms to the directional structure of the priestly function from among men for men to God with gifts and with sacrifices and last of all as we have indicated His intercession partakes of the glory of His exaltation. Now then in a practical way I wish to conclude our study this morning.

40:48 What does this say to us? Well first of all if you are a believer in Jesus Christ it says several things to you. My friend it says if you have lived in ignorance of Christ as your intercessor you have lived a relatively impoverished existence since God has pinned so much of the glory and certainty of your salvation upon the work of intercession. And if that's true then you're not going to be content to think shallowly and indifferently about the intercession of Christ.

41:20 You're going to cry to God for light. You're going to search the scriptures. You're going to be willing to subject yourself to whatever discipline is necessary to lay hold of a biblically intelligent understanding of what it means He interceded for us.

41:39 It means in the second place that if you do not through the instruction of the scriptures consciously honor Christ as your interceding high priest you're not only robbing yourself of comfort and consolation but you're robbing Him of glory. His present glory is the glory of a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He ever liveth to make intercession for us and if that's the glory of His present position shame on us as believers. If our worship terminates upon Christ crucified or risen and does not flow on to Christ interceding we rob Him of glory for Christ's glory as a mediator is seen in the totality of His works. So you see we're right back to worship again aren't we? How can we worship Him in this place in truth if we don't worship Him as our high priest? This is not detached theological argumentation beloved.

Application for Unbelievers: The Desperate Need for a Mediator

42:41 This is as practical as worship and comfort and consolation as a believer. Then I have a word to say to those of you who are strangers to God's salvation. You've probably sat here this morning and said what in the world is all this to do about nothing? Interceding high priest structural pattern what in the world is all this religious gobbledygook about?

43:06 I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if some of you thought that way this morning. Some of you perhaps frequent this place of worship. Some of you may be visiting with us. Friend listen to me and I say this in all love and tenderness.

43:19 You get a sight of what you are in the presence of God and you'll be willing to give your right arm to know what we're talking about this morning. You get a sight of how holy God is and how sinful you are and you'll know that you dare not meet that God without a mediator and fear will be struck to the depths of your being and you'll cry out where? Where? In all the universe of God is there somewhere who'll stand between me and my sin and God and His holiness?

43:53 My friend you'll desperately long to find the answer to that question. If you've been able to sit here this morning and say what in the world is all this about? It's simply because you've never felt with painful and acute awareness the awfulness of your sin and the awfulness of God's holiness and justice in the face of human sin. Once those two things begin to be deep inward realities anything you can find out about this one who is a true priest who appears in the presence of God for needy sinners you'll count him the pearl of great price.

44:36 You'll be like that merchant man who was hunting around all his life for pearls and had quite a goodly collection but one day he found a great pearl and he took his whole collection and he said I'm selling the whole shooting match I've got to get this one and Jesus said so is the kingdom of heaven like unto a man seeking goodly pearls who when he found one pearl of great price sold all to obtain it. My friend when you begin to feel the pangs of an awakened conscience the pangs of the awfulness of judgment in hell that are your certain portion then Jesus Christ will become the pearl of great price to you and you'll want to discover all you can about him in the glory of his death in the power of his resurrection in the might of his ascension and in the wonder of his sympathetic intercession and Christ will become all in all even unto you so if this has all been kind of boring and irrelevant oh dear friend could it be that God brought you here just to show you how far off the beam you are from really knowing where you stand in the presence of the holy God and if the Lord would be pleased to use even these few words of exhortation how blessed it would be for some to mark this day as the day as the day when you began to seek an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ the only Savior of sinners who saves by his death it is Christ Jesus that died Paul says who saves by his resurrection

46:06 yea rather that is risen from the dead who saves by his heavenly session who is at the right hand of God who saves by his intercession who also maketh intercession for us blessed be God for so long as we live for such a wonderful Savior oh shame on us that we don't love him more purely that we don't worship him more fervently may God use even our study today to cause our hearts to run out to him whom we love and who loved us and loosed us from our sins in his own precious blood let us pray