Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20021027.htm

JESUS CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY
Part XIII: Using Christ's Priesthood To Handle life's Imperfections
(Psalm 110:4 with Hebrews 5:5-6 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Believers like myself who tend to be "perfectionists" can easily become distraught over the huge amount of evil that exists in the world around us, let alone even in ourselves, not to mention the debilitating weaknesses the effects of evil can produce!

(1) Several parents have shared with me how their children have been affected at negative news reports about the Washington, D. C. sniper or kidnappers who had grabbed children out of their beds at night. Fears such things might happen to them has created anxiety in children about being left alone at night. The evil in our world and its debilitating effects can cause one to become frustrated and anxious.

(2) While driving to and from Long Island last Thursday, I was able to glance across the Whitestone Bridge connecting the Bronx and Queens boroughs of New York City and see the Manhattan skyline off to the west. Though like so many others, I had seen numerous pictures of that skyline since the "9-11" attacks, it was still numbing to spot the Empire State Building standing alone without the two world trade center buildings further south in their usual place! It left me realizing the awfulness of sin, the infection that plagues us all and complicates and hinders so much happiness in our world!

(3) Then, while stopping at the bridge's toll booth on one of the trips and giving a ten dollar bill to the attendant, I heard her say, "Thank you!" and not move. I didn't know if she felt the $6.50 I was expecting in change was some sort of tip or not, and wondered what would happen next! When she saw me stall with my hand out, she slowly took out the change from the register drawer I was expecting and place it in my hand! It made me realize I was in a typical large city where you have to watch out for all sorts of efforts by people to take financial advantage of unwary tourists. It made me to vow always have the exact change for the toll just in case I ran into an attendant who might not give me my money! The sin and distrust that results from such sin in man makes life complicated and frustrating!

In view of the EVIL in the world around us, or even in OURSELVES, not to mention the WEAKNESS it produces to rob us of happiness, HOW do we live ABOVE the DEPRESSING tendencies of it all? CAN we do so?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "When I see the STAGGERING amount of EVIL and its WEAKENING EFFECTS in the world around me, let alone in MY OWN SELF, it's easy to think my experience is an exercise in total futility! How do I live above depression in view of these facts?"
  1. The RISEN Jesus told the disciples on the road to Emmaus how He fulfilled Old Testament Messianic prophecies, Luke 24:25-27.
  2. As these men were edified by Christ's teaching of those passages (Luke 24:32), we also view them, following the list of prophecies named in the Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, s. v. "Messianic Prophecies."
  3. Psalm 110:4 with Hebrews 5:5-6 informs us Jesus Christ has been established by God the Father as an eternal priest in the order of the Old Testament godly priest, Melchizedek.
  4. Viewing Hebrews 3:1-10:22, we see that PRIESTHOOD is PREPARED to offset ALL of life's IMPERFECTIONS, whether they be EVILS or WEAKNESSES around OR within us:
    1. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, is faithful as was Moses. We can ALWAYS PRAY as Jesus is ALWAYS ready to represent us before the Father! (Heb. 3:1-2).
    2. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, is more highly regarded than was Moses as Moses was God's servant where Jesus, as God's Son, actually builds God's household, Heb. 3:3-6. We can expect the Father to HEED His intercession for us!
    3. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, is intimately familiar with all of the evils and weaknesses these evils cause in our experience; He was tempted in all points like as we are, He offered up prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears in His earthly life and He had to learn obedience through the things He suffered as do we, Hebrews 4:15; 5:7 and 5:8. We can expect Jesus FULLY to be WILLING and ABLE to SYMPATHIZE with the evils and weaknesses from the evil around or in us that makes life miserable, and to do so WHENEVER we PRAY, Hebrews 4:16.
    4. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, is a SURE insurance the believer's destiny will be heaven; as the believer's Forerunner, He has entered within heaven's Holiest of Holies in heaven's temple, so every believer is guaranteed he will ALSO gain total, eternal access to God's presence, Hebrews 6:19-20. We can be SURE no matter how EVIL or WEAK we or things AROUND us become, our ETERNAL DESTINY stands SECURE!
    5. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, has been appointed High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, a man who was so superior to the Old Testament Hebrew priests that even Abraham, the father of these priests, paid tithes to him, Heb. 6:20 with 7:4-16. We can be SURE Christ's intercession for us is FAR more ACCEPTABLE to the Father than any intercession built on the Old Testament that is STILL in use by (errant) groups today!
    6. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, is an everlasting priest who will never die opposite the experience of all other priests, Hebrews 7:23-25. We can be CONFIDENT Christ's intercession saves us ETERNALLY unlike any other priesthood where the priest has to offer a sacrifice for his OWN sins and then DIE because he HIMSELF is a sinner, Heb. 7:23-25.
    7. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, needs not to repeat His sacrifice often as do other priests past or present; instead, Jesus offered His own precious blood once for all in full satisfaction of the righteous demands of the heavely Father, Heb. 9:24-28a. We can be SURE our RELATIONSHIP with the FATHER to get our prayers acceptable needs NO MORE IMPROVEMENT by any EFFORT on OUR part, Hebrews 9:28b!
    8. Jesus, our Great High Priest Who represents our needs to the Father, offered Himself as the PERFECT sacrifice for sin unlike any other priest, Hebrews 10:10-13. We can be CONFIDENT we will one day be ABSOLUTELY SINLESS and ABSENT of this life's sinful WEAKNESSES no matter WHAT happens NOW, 10:14.
  5. In VIEW of our spiritual WEALTH in our union with Jesus and our heavenly Father, LET US PRAY in Christ's name in our time of NEED, Heb. 10:19-22; 5:16 with 1 Thess. 5:17; John 14:13-14.
Application: If we struggle with depressing thoughts due to the evil and weakness that evil causes both in our world around us, let alone in OURSELVES, we must (1) believe on Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin to be forgiven and placed into relationship with Jesus as our High Priest. (2) Then, in view of His All-Sufficient intercessory ministry, let us PRAY for God's help!

Lesson: We believers in Christ have an All-Sufficient High Priest to offset the evil and weakness evil causes BOTH AROUND OR IN us. Let us then PRAY that we might live victorious over evil and its weakness.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 While composing this sermon's first draft in the computer last Monday, the day before our daughter's major brain surgical procedure, I received a call from my wife, Nadine. She was in her motel room in Long Island preparing to drive up to the North Shore University Hospital to be with our daughter, Connie.

Nadine had a problem -- her car key wouldn't unlock the car's ignition so she could star the engine! I felt badly when she shared she had already called our daughter, Connie to ask what to do, for the last thing Connie needed the day before her big surgery was another care to add to her mind! So, I gave Nadine an idea to try, and she said she would leave the room go out and try my suggestion.

Feeling overwhelmed by what we already had on our plate, and anxious for both Nadine and Connie in "far-off" Long Island, I applied this sermon by asking the Lord to help Nadine start the car!

A few minutes later, Nadine called me on the cell phone from the car. She still couldn't get the ignition to unlock! I asked her to try pushing the key deeper into the ignition as sometimes her duplicate key doesn't engage the lock properly, and just as suddenly, Nadine interrupted me, saying, "There! It just unlocked!"

I quickly asked if she could turn the motor "on" while I still had her on the phone, and she did, and replied, "Thank you -- talk to you later!" and hung up as she went on her way to the hospital!



I was impressed with the how that event and this sermon's preparation COINCIDED so DIRECTLY! As has happened so MANY times in these past twenty years at Nepaug, God had given me an illustration on applying the message I was preparing RIGHT while I was PREPARING it! I KNEW He wanted me to include this event in these sermon notes for YOUR benefit!