Romans 8:34
Intercession: Ingredients Part 2
Pastor Martin concludes his study on Christ's intercession from Romans 8:34, focusing on its nature as a work of presentation, vindication, and petition. He expounds on John 17 to detail Christ's specific prayers for the preservation, protection, sanctification, and glorification of His people. Martin emphasizes that Christ's intercession is sympathetic, constant, and efficacious, rooted in the covenant of grace and His atoning sacrifice, providing profound assurance for believers and a stark warning for the unconverted.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 8 sections · 52 min
- Introduction: The Indispensable Intercession of Christ 0:02
- Review: Fact, Pattern, and Qualifying Principles of Intercession 3:27
- Christ's Work of Presentation and Vindication 5:01
- Christ's Work of Petition: General Scope 12:42
- Christ's Specific Petitions from John 17 16:30
- Further Hints of Christ's Petitions 24:28
- The Manner of Christ's Intercession: Sympathetic, Constant, Efficacious 28:30
- The Efficacy of Christ's Intercession: Basis and Assurance 41:10
Key Quotes
“And I'm sure many of you would confess with me that your ignorance of the significance of his intercessory work has been far beneath what Scripture would warrant it to be.”
“Sin, wherever it rises its ugly head, demands condemnation. Whatever features of the law are made, the just dessert is, and this is no less true of sin in the life of a believer after he is saved than before.”
“You notice the total absence of anything that is mundane as far as temporal issues are concerned. He's not praying that you'll have it easy. He's praying that you'll be holy.”
“And so it would seem from the Scriptures that it is accurate to say that our Lord's work of petition brings into its scope something that is necessary for life and godliness here and everything that is necessary to land us in the glory of the world to be on.”
“In other words, the writer to the Hebrews wants us to understand that Christ is not doing this work of intercession simply as a matter of his responsibility in the economy of redemption.”
“Think of something omnipotent and it makes you omnipotent join the two and you have our high priest.”
“He died to save to the uttermost hence his intercession into effect to the intent of his death that's why it's efficacious his intercession must prevail why because his sacrifice has infinite worth to our joy and together we can rest assured this morning that everything he died to have namely his bride presented to him without spot or wrinkle the glorification of all of his people he secures it by his intercession”
Applications
The unconverted
- Recognize the miserable state of being unconverted, without a sympathizer in temptation and need, and the terror of trying to maintain respectability without Christ.
- Flee to Christ and be found in Him alone, recognizing that without Him, He will come off the throne of intercession and assume a throne of judgment.
All listeners
- Confess your ignorance of the significance of Christ's intercessory work and seek to understand it more deeply from Scripture.
- Be sanctified in the truth, rooted and established in Christ, not tossed to and fro.
- Know what Christ is pleading for you, and let that knowledge guide what you pursue as a Christian (e.g., preservation from evil, being more like the Savior).
- Be arrested in a sinful course and checked in pursuing lecherous designs, remembering that Christ is pleading for your sanctification.
- Examine the basis of your confidence that your sins will never rise up in condemnation against you; it must be solely Christ's death, resurrection, session, and intercession.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 82 paragraphs, roughly 52 minutes.
Introduction: The Indispensable Intercession of Christ
Now let us turn again to Romans chapter 8, and I believe we shall conclude our studies in this text next Lord's Day morning when I speak to you on the subject of some of the tremendous practical and doctrinal implications of the intercessory work of Christ. I feel this would be an opportune time to speak on the subject since our minds have been directed in that general field of concern for the past few Lord's Day mornings. I believe it is a statement which no one would contest who has any acquaintance with the message of Scripture that the heart of the gospel of Christ is addressed to this great and crucial issue, how can guilty sinners find acceptance with a holy God?
And it is just such a question that we must ask ourselves, a question which is answered in a most succinct and yet comprehensive way in the text that we have been studying for the past eight Lord's Day mornings, Romans 8 and verse 34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea, rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. As we have pointed out week by week in our study of this text, as the Apostle Paul contemplates that great and crucial question, how shall I as a guilty sinner find acceptance before God? How shall I come to the place where my sins do not condemn me? He finds his answer resting down firmly upon these four distinct saving acts of Jesus Christ the Lord. It is Christ Jesus that died.
And so we have considered the relationship of the death of Christ to the issue of the condemnation of God against human sin. We've considered the relationship of the resurrection of Christ to that same question, who is he that condemneth? We have contemplated the ascension and heavenly session of Christ in relationship to that question and we are presently examining the relationship of the intercession of Christ to this whole matter of the state of no condemnation. For the Apostle Paul has his confidence of his no condemnation resting not only upon Christ crucified, Christ risen, Christ sitting, but Christ interceding. And so it is accurate to say that the intercession of Christ is an integral and an indispensable function, factor in the salvation of the people of God. We must never look upon it as a peripheral issue, as a secondary issue, but it goes to the very heart of the biblical gospel. And I'm sure many of you would confess with me that your ignorance of the significance of his intercessory work has been far beneath what Scripture would warrant it to be.
Review: Fact, Pattern, and Qualifying Principles of Intercession
The materials in Scripture are replete, are full, are quite expensive, but it's an aspect which we have allowed to lie in the rubble of oversight and ignorance and hence we have spent some weeks in seeking to bring it out and set it before you to your own edification. Thus far in contemplating the intercession of Christ and its relationship to our salvation, we have covered the fact of his intercession, the pattern of his intercession, which of course is the Old Testament type of intercession, in which oblation, sacrifice and intercession were joined together to the same end for the same objects. We've looked at four qualifying principles of his intercession, so essential to any biblical understanding of it. The intercession adds nothing to the sacrifice, but is based upon it. The intercession does not coerce God to give us what he is reluctant to give. The intercession must never be construed in any other way than the, the structure of the priesthood.
It is a ministry directed to God on behalf of the people of God and it partakes of the quality of his state of exaltation. Now we are presently studying the specific elements of his intercession. And this just about ends our review. And I suggested last week that the intercession of Christ when we contemplate what precisely it is could be broken down into three categories.
Christ's Work of Presentation and Vindication
It's a work of presentation, a work of vindication, and a work of petition. After wrestling some time trying to flesh out this second area, his work of vindication, I've come to the conclusion that it should have been concluded under the first. That it's a work of presentation and vindication and a work of petition. Hence, last week we looked at his work of presentation.
He appears in the presence, in the presence of God for us. And he presents himself in the perfection of his own righteousness on our behalf. He presents the perfection of his sacrifice on our behalf. And then he presents our service so that that service in all of its imperfection is made fragrant with his own mediation and acceptable unto God.
I'll touch just briefly then on how his work, his work of intercession is a work of vindication. And it's under that general category of the presentation of his person, of his sacrifice, and of our service. And this thought is the one that is focused on in the text familiar to many of us, 1 John chapter 2. Now I want you to look at that text for a moment.
I will not give any kind of a detailed exegesis. The more I got into it, the more I realized that in itself would demand a little bit of attention. But I will not give any kind of a detailed exegesis. I will demand three or four sermons.
And I didn't want to go on ad infinitum in this area.
But you'll notice that the subject of 1 John 2, 1 is the sin of a believer subsequent to his being in a state of grace. My little children, those who have been born of the Spirit, these things write I unto you that you may not sin. He has been writing of the gracious provisions for a sinning man. believer in the first chapter. He's been writing of the fact that anyone who claims not to need that provision is a liar and the truth is not in him. But lest people construe the provision as being an excuse for sin, he says, my little children, these things I write unto you that you may not sin. Glorious and adequate provisions for sin are never to be made the occasion of carelessness in sinning. Rather, they are to be made the occasion of such wonderment and such a sense of devotion that sinlessness is our goal. But, he says, if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And so this concept of advocacy is John's way of describing the intercessory work of Christ. And what he's driving at is simply this. Sin, wherever it rises its ugly head, demands condemnation.
Whatever features of the law are made, the just dessert is, and this is no less true of sin in the life of a believer after he is saved than before. Sin viewed as sin in relationship to the law demands punishment. And so here's the picture of the Lord Jesus taking the place of an advocate is a legal concept here. It is not a legal concept when used concerning the Holy Spirit in John 14 through 16 where Jesus speaks of another comforter. It is the same word in the original, but it's a different concept.
The Holy Spirit's ministry as comforter is not legal. or forensic. But the ministry of Christ as an advocate is that of a lawyer pleading. And it would seem that the accuser in this case is Satan, who pointing to the law of God, says as it were to God the Father, look at the sin that that certain person has committed. Does not your law demand that the wages of sin is death? Are you righteous and a holy God? Sin that that man's committed. How can you look upon him with favor? How can you look upon him with graciousness and
with kindness and with fatherly affection? At which point the Lord Jesus assumes the role of the advocate who says, yes, Father, all the accuser says is true, but I have shed my blood to satisfy the demands of your law. That sinner having believed on me is now in the bite and in the bond of the Holy Spirit. Father, I do not ask you to blink at your justice. I do not ask you to blink at the demands of your law. I ask you to look upon me as the one who has completely fulfilled all the demands of that law. I am not this sinner. Though your time, though joy, the sin is real. Notice it says he is the
propitiation. Not he made a propitiation. But he by his very presence is that propitatory sacrifice. And the father looking upon his son is then well pleased to silence the accusations of the enemy of our souls. For he is called in Revelation 12, 10, the accuser of the brethren, which accuseth them day and night before God. And in the book of Zechariah chapter 3, you have an object lesson of this very thing where Joshua, the high priest, stands. In the presence of God in his defiled garments, and Satan, the accuser, cast accusation upon him. But then there is the intercessory work of that one who commands that he be clothed in clean garments. This is what we sang about this morning. My advocate appears for my what? Tense on high.
The father and lays his thunder by. Not all can say. Turn his heart, his love away. And so the ministry of Christ in intercession is a work of presentation and vindication where he acts as our advocate to silence all accusations of the devil and of a broken law on behalf of all who come unto God. So much then for that first aspect of his intercessory work. It is a work of presentation. And vindication. And though I had oodles of material, as I say, to flesh this out, the more I got into it, the more I realized this text just cannot be treated any other way than exhaustively, except you're going to do what I've done this morning. So many things and even now I'm just tempted, but I'll resist the temptation.
Christ's Work of Petition: General Scope
Now, the second aspect then of his work of intercession, joined to his work of presentation and vindication, is his work of intercession. Now, the second aspect then of his work of intercession, joined to his work of presentation and vindication, is his work of petition. And in those two things, presentation and vindication, and the work of petition, you have the substance of his intercessory work. What does he do in his work of petition? For what does our Lord Jesus Christ pray as our intercessor?
Well, we may say in general, and then we'll break it down into some specifics, it is a work of petition directed to the Father, for every need arising from the circumstances of imperfect saints. for every need arising from the circumstances of imperfect saints, shall being supplied with every necessary grace for every single need. Professor Murray, in his excellent treatment of this subject, the heavenly priesthood of Christ means, Christ appears in the presence of God, in the conce vernacular, and that particular relevance, God's presence in the presence of Christ, lies within the work of this labor of God. пока of God and His chastity and righteousness, jaki in the heavens, to present himself as the perfected priest, to please us of what he has accomplished, the fulfillment of all, the bestowment of all the benefits, and in due by his own high priestly offering.
Now just think of that statement for a moment. It's loaded. And it's biblical. What is he doing?
He is petitioning the Father for the fulfillment of every promise sealed by his blood when he died. Promises were sealed by his blood. The scripture tells us all needs the fulfillment of every promise that he sealed because his Father fulfilled the promises because they are blood-sealed promises. Not only does he plead the fulfillment of all the promises, but the bestowment of all the benefits.
Now what benefits did he purchase with his? Blood. Why, that would take weeks just to name them, let alone expound them. The sense in which eternity alone will answer that question.
For secured by his blood, at least he now petitions the Father that every one of those benefits may be real lives of his people. So he not only petitions the Father that there be the fulfillment of all the promises, bestowment of all the benefits, but in due this is secured of his own precious blood. And in summary, that's the...
The focus of his work of petition. He intercedes, remember now, in the context of his royal enrages at the right hand of the Father, but it is pleading and it is petition nonetheless. That's the general answer. But now in a specific way, he indexes in scripture as to the exact things for which he prays, some specific things, at the right hand of the Father.
Christ's Specific Petitions from John 17
And I would suggest that John chapter 17... At least points the direction of the content of his present work of petition.
There are two texts in John 17 which indicate that when our Lord made this prayer, he had something more in... Than what had transpired up to that moment, but that he was giving it with a view to the comfort of the people of God in the future.
Since they could not hear him in his work of intercession at the right hand... Since they could not hear him in his work of intercession at the right hand of the Father, it's as though he brought that work of intercession out of the future and out of heaven and gave them a specimen example of it here on earth.
Now I say this is indicated by his very words. Notice carefully verse 13. But now I...
And these... In the word...
What things? The things he's already been speaking in his prayer, that they may have my joy in themselves. You see what he's saying? He's saying, I'm going to you, Father.
But for God's sakes, I'm going to speak these things now for their joy. And then the second indication that this prayer anticipates a circumstance beyond the immediate is in verse 3. I'm sorry, in verse 4. I glorify the work which thou hast given me to do.
Well he hasn't yet accomplished it. He hasn't yet poured out his life's blood. He hasn't been raised from the dead. It's as though he's speaking from heaven.
I've glorified thee on the earth. Having finished the work thou gave me. Thou gavest me to do. So verse 4 and verse 13 are strong indications that when we project the petitions of John 17 upwards to his present work of intercession, we are not butchering the word of God.
We are taking a warranted step in moving from the realm of earth to the realm of heaven. What then are the specific things for which he petitions the Father? Well notice verses 11 and 12 and verses 20 and 21.
I am not yet in the world nor am I in the world. And yet he was in the world. You see again this concept of projection. He is yet in the world.
But he speaks as though he's not in the world. I am no more in the world and these are in the world and I come to thee. Holy thou hast given me that they may be one even as we are. While I was with them I kept them in thy name.
Thou hast given me and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition that the scriptures proclaim. might be fulfilled. Now, verses 20 and 21. Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word, that they may all be in us, that the world may believe that thou didst send me.
What is he praying for in these four verses? Well, when you boil it down, it's basically this. He is petitioning the Father for the preservation of his people in the totality of their corporate union. His people as a club, they shall be kept and preserved in union.
Not one of them lost, that they all,
that there be this indissolubility of the whole family of God that is something like the indissolubility of the relationship of the Father and the Son in the mystery of the Trinity. And so he prays in the first place for the preservation, for the preservation of his people in the totality of their union. Secondly, he prays for their protection from the evil one. Verse 15.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. The devil is a roaring man, walketh seeking whom he may devour. And my friend, he's been deceiving and devouring for thousands of years. You're no match for him.
Left to your repetition. I hostile world.
And thirdly, he prays, verses 17 and 19, for their sanctification in the realm of truth. Sanctify them in the truth is truth. Verse 19. For their sakes I sanctify myself that they may be sanctified in truth.
He's praying that the truth which he has left as a deposit may be effectual unto our sanctification. He has given to his church pastors and teachers to open up the truth, to apply the truth to what ends. Be sanctified in the truth. No children tossed to and fro, but rooted and established in him.
Christ in all things who is the head. This is his prayer. You notice the total absence of anything that is mundane as far as temporal issues are concerned. He's not praying that you'll have it easy.
He's praying that you'll be holy. He's praying that you'll be holy. He's praying that you'll be holy. He's praying that you'll be protected from hardship, but from the devil.
He's not praying that you'll be preserved in financial security, but that you'll be preserved in the total union of the body of Christ. This is the focus of his prayer. And then the fourth thing for which he prays. Verse 24.
He prays for the ultimate glorification of all of his people. Father, and here you notice the petition partakes of that regal clashing of his own sovereign desire. I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold what it is thought to know, that though there's that would stand upon the face of Jesus with joy unspeakable, he is the Father, that nothing less than that will be the portion of all of his elect. He knows the weakest of us, the most perverse of us, and to him is the Father, and his petition, has as its focus not only our preservation in the union of his people, not only protection from the devil, our sanctification in truth, but ultimately our glorification with him, that we may look upon his face with joy. And so John 17 gives us perhaps the richest explanation,
Further Hints of Christ's Petitions
description of the specific ingredients of his intercession. Then we have a couple, a couple of other hints in the Gospels as to what those things may involve in their detail. Of course, you have the classic example in Luke 22, 31 and 32. Simon, Satan hath desired thee to sift thee as wheat, but that thy...
Of what the petitioning work of Christ is is our intercessor. He prays for the preservation of that spring and root of all graces, namely, faith. Faith is kept alive in the heart. A man...
Fall from a state of grace, it's impossible.
Satan desired him to sift him as wheat. The Lord did not prevent that attack of the enemy. And the leader in terms...
And the indication was that that faith worked by... ...to repent...
Faith did not fail. ...accessory work of Christ then in praying for our sanctification, praying that we should be kept from evil is a prayer in a positive sense that... ...that every grace which the Spirit has imparted may be strengthened and may... ...be operative in us to the accomplishment of His purpose. You have a similar hint in John 14, 16 where Jesus says again, And I will pray to the Comforter that He may be with you forever. Here is His petition that the Spirit may be given to the church as the Spirit of the glorified Christ which was fulfilled in the day at Pentecost, Acts chapter 2. He hath shed forth this which ye see and hear.
The increasing measure of the Spirit's grace, every fresh influx of divine life is the fruit of the petitioning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it would seem from the Scriptures that it is accurate to say that our Lord's work of petition brings into its scope something that is necessary for life and godliness here and everything that is necessary to land us in the glory of the world to be on. Based upon His sacrifice,
His Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him give us, to use the words of Paul in Romans 5, if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more now being reconciled we are saved by His life, His life of life, His life, His life of intercession in which He pleads for the fulfillment of all that He purchased in His death. And this again is only a very cursory view of the subject of His work of petition, but I hope it will whet your appetite to feed often and long upon these passages to know what Christ is pleading for you is to know what you should pursue as a Christian. Preservation from the evil one? Then I will seek to keep myself from the evil one. Is He praying for me to be more like the Savior?
The Manner of Christ's Intercession: Sympathetic, Constant, Efficacious
Now, this work, we've looked at the substance of it, a work of presentation and vindication, a work of petition. Consider with me what is really the fifth area of our whole general study together, the fact of His intercession, the pattern of it. Then we looked at those qualifying principles, the substance of it. Now consider with me the manner in which He carries out this work of intercession.
This applies both to His presentation and His petition. Put them together and call it His work of intercession. As He carries out that work, how does He do it? We've seen what He's doing in presenting Himself in the virtue of His person and His blood and our cause.
We've seen Him petitioning the Father for these various things. Now, in what way does He carry on that work? Let me suggest three lines of thought. that are pressed upon us from the Scriptures.
He carries on that work sympathetically. He carries on that work constantly. And He carries on that work efficaciously. Sympathetically.
How does He pray? How does He present Himself and His sacrifice and our cause in all of its imperfection? Turn to the book of Hebrews, chapters 2 and 4. In Hebrews chapter 2, I read 17.
Wherefore it behooved him, an old English word that means it was necessary for him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. And then over to chapter 4 and verse 14. Having been a great high priest to have passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession for we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness. In other words, the writer to the Hebrews wants us to understand that Christ is not doing this work of intercession simply as a matter of his responsibility in the economy of redemption. As we saw last week, the Son agreed to do certain things, that there might be a just basis of forgiveness and acceptance.
He is not just carrying out a legal task of a sense of duty. For you must bring into the whole doctrine of his intercession the doctrine of union with Christ. All soul suffers, all suffer with it.
Empathy that could only that went through every that humanity.
When we come to the Lord's table, and it's right that we should, that the Son of God should empty himself, take upon himself the form of a servant, being found in fashion as a man, humble himself, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And we look, look upon his assuming of a true humanity, a true body, look upon that with reference to the cross, and we say, Lord, what a marvelous thing that you should take a true humanity in order to accomplish the work of sacrifice. But I remind you that sacrifice was only one half of the priest's work. The other half was intercession.
Intercession? Much as he took it on to mission and sacrifice.
True humanity? No!
Not been a true man. And so the writer, the writer to Hebrews says, we have a great high heavens, and in that place, he has not forgotten to be a man of the Father, and there are infirmities. And so he carries on that work of intercession. He carries on sacrifice, all of the promises, all of the graces, all of the blessings of the new covenant, in a funtary way, but he carries on with the deep sympathy and compassion for each of his own, dear. Children, listen again as I quote from Professor Murray who speaks to this issue so beautifully, to view the heavenly sympathy of our Lord from the aspect of our own dispensable to comfort and to perseverance in faith, to know that in all of this life we have a sympathizer and a comforter in the person of him from whom we must seal the thing in every weakness and temptation and knows the situation
and knows the situation is physically, psychologically, morally, is what it is. Just because he is God takes of omniscience through humanity.
And this he knows tempted like as we are without sin, that he who is healing with us in temptation appears in the presence of God for us and is our advocate with the Father, invests his sympathy and help with an efficacy that is nothing less than omnipotent in that beautiful connection of words. Omnipotent!
Think of something omnipotent and it makes you omnipotent join the two and you have our high priest. He carries the work of intercession sympathetically and all do so the theological intercession of Christ one who face temptation and who comes and who is pleading that I be sanctified and oh have we been arrested in a sinful course have we been checked in following the pursuit of some lecherous design and some kind of because one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities was pleading that we be kept and that we be sanctified and just as this rises in the mind of a Christian to a pinnacle of glory it says to every unconverted person
what a miserable state you're in what a terror to have to try to keep up some semblance of respectability and to not sympathize in temptation and in need but not only is intercession sympathetic it is constant look at the apostles words in Romans 8 it is Christ Jesus that died yea rather that is risen from the dead who is at the right hand of God and then notice he uses a present tense who all maketh who also is session for us in the previous there is a once for all is dying he is rising at the right hand of God a once for all three redemptive acts crucifixion resurrection session but not his intercession it is the continuum Christian grace he made intercession for us the writer to Hebrews states it explicitly
wherefore he is able to save to the those them that come unto God by him as long as he and so some theologians and I think with some biblical wives have sought to save him have sought to save him have sought to save him have sought to demonstrate that even on into he will in that one sense of being in the midst of the throne but be that as it may for we have the confidence that his intercession is constant will condemn presenting and petitioning on my behalf not need to gloss over my sins I do not need to call them mistakes and shortcomings the Armenian evasion sight of God because I'm a believer
man I am able to perform my duty I've left and yet I dare to say that condemneth it is Christ Jesus that intercedeth constantly I've not resigned to it and though it isn't by the advocacy of the Lord Jesus he intercedeth and so the manner of his intercession is not only sympathetic it is also constant and then I must close this morning on this note though I only gotten about half way through what I'd hoped to it is efficacious I've used some big words this morning kids but I hope you haven't gone to sleep on me some of you have not because I used big words
The Efficacy of Christ's Intercession: Basis and Assurance
you're just too tired but the word efficacious basically means something that effects it brings to pass what you want to accomplish here's a young man that starts courting a young woman and the night has come he's going to pop the question and so he asks sir now Janine and she says well Henry I think you're nice and I've enjoyed going out with you and she gives all these things but no well what's happened well you see his courting and his proposing has not been efficacious it has not effected what he hoped it would effect namely a ring on his finger and a marriage ceremony in a church before too long so it has not effected it has not brought to pass what he hoped it would so when something is efficacious it accomplishes what it is intended to accomplish and so I say the intercession of Christ is not only sympathetic not only constant but all that would bring no to the child of confidence it was efficacious it effects it brings to pass to fruition everything that it envisions everything he designed is what he requests and what he requests
will be granted why number one because of the origin and the context of his work of intercession and secondly because of the basis of the work of intercession why is the origin and the context of his work of intercession that makes it efficacious well the origin and the context is the covenant of grace of a people undertook to fulfill certain responsibilities and the father pledged to the son certain fruition certain accomplishments in the fulfillment of those responsibilities and the spirit of the origins calls sometimes the covenant of peace the covenant of redemption the term therefore it's the thing he's concerned about and the lord jesus in the work of intercession is conscious that the origin and the context of his intercession is that covenant arrangement what did the father say ask of me for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession hence he prays I ask not only for those who are already in but I pray for them who shall leave on me through their word well how do you know anymore we're going to believe
the father had agreed you be willing to humble yourself and I will exalt you and you will I will forgive there had been that wonderful promise in the 53rd of Isaiah I'll see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear iniquities I was that understanding who says endure the cross everything for which he died his work of intercession is one in which he is confident that he shall see of the travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied and in that relationship of the father and the son in the covenant of grace the son asks for nothing but what the will of the father delights to give that's why you could say I came down from heaven not the to do my own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me that have all given me I should lose but raise it up at the last day he was conscious of that so when he prays father keep them praying for that which he knows the father is committed to do I know that thou hearest me always
he said in John chapter 11 and so there is one will concerning why there is never an asking of the son for that which the father is not purposing to give oh child of God once you paid out of this biblical dark blessings think of it right this morning if you're in he's pleading that the father is purposed to give he's not coercing God to give things he may or may not be for the fulfillment that merit fulfillment now because they've been ratified in his own precious blood and so his pleading is efficacious why the context and origin of it is the covenant of grace and secondly because the basis of it is his own work of sacrifice remember in the beginning of our study we sacrifice oblation and intercession joined together to accomplish the same thing the same bible that says by one offering
acted forever them that are sanctified the offer intent the perfection of the people the same bible that says in Ephesians 5 25 he gave himself for the church that he presented to himself without spot or wrinkle is the same bible that says he ever lives to do what to save to the uttermost he died to save to the uttermost hence his intercession into effect to the intent of his death that's why it's efficacious his intercession must prevail why because his sacrifice has infinite worth to our joy and together we can rest assured this morning that everything he died to have namely his bride presented to him without spot or wrinkle the glorification of all of his people he secures it by his intercession well we'll have to tack on to next week what I'd hope to cover this morning on the fruit or the results of his intercession and some of the implications but we'll leave that let me ask you this morning then as we close can you say with the apostle Paul fully conscious of your sins of the past your native corruption your involvement in the sin of our first father the multitude
of your own sins and rebellion against God can you say with who is he that condemneth do you have the confidence that your sins will never rise up in condemnation against you if you answer in your mind to me yes pastor Martin I do let me ask a second question what is the basis of that confidence well I made a decision well chuck it once you better throw that out the window too my friend if the basis of your confidence is anything other or anything more than this it is Christ that died yea rather that was raised from the dead who is at the right hand of God who walked with intercession in judgment if not before may God bring us all to that place where these four pillars alone are the ground of our sins will never and when that
becomes so we won't need the intercession of priest we won't need the intercession of Mary we won't need even the intercession of our fellow men though we count it a privilege when they pray for us we know that when they forget there's one who never does thank God for him intercedes that we might be confident that our sins oh you say but that must be the privilege of just a special few no no it says of all who come unto God and it includes the weakest the most feeble the most stumbling my friend it excludes but the people if you're not in Christ by a living faith having cast yourself upon him as he's offered in the gospel may God grant that you will see the heart of having no one to plead your cause in the presence of God in fact that very Christ will come off the throne of intercession and assume a throne of judgment and God will be magnified in your damnation unless you're in Christ oh may you
flee to him and be found in him and in him alone let us pray
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
The foundational text for the entire sermon series, establishing Christ's intercession as integral to the believer's state of no condemnation.
Expounded to explain Christ's role as an advocate and His work of vindication against accusations of sin.
Presented as the richest explanation of the specific content of Christ's petitionary work, detailing His prayers for His people.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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