Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Equipped 2026: "From the Beginning" by Dan Winkler

Transcript

Equipped 2026: "From the Beginning" by Dan Winkler · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

0:00
Let me ask you if you've ever been buttoning your shirt or your blouse
0:05
and ended up with an extra button.
0:08
Anybody ever done that?
0:11
Now, you ended up wrongly because you started wrongly.
0:17
If you want it to be right, what are you going to have to do?
0:21
Start all over.
0:23
And that's pretty much what you have with the Bible and the book of Genesis.
0:31
If you mess up at the beginning, you're messed up all the way through.
0:36
And if you want to make corrections, you have to go all the way back to the beginning.
0:43
So I'm very grateful that we have a series of studies on the book of Genesis all through the weekend.
0:52
Our assignment is from the beginning.
0:55
I would like to begin with some introductory matters about the book of Genesis in particular, very briefly,
1:03
and some introductory matters about the phrase from the beginning, very briefly,
1:10
and then we'll dive into our study.
1:12
Let's begin with some introductory matters relative to the book of Genesis itself.
1:18
I want you to remember the numbers 1, 2, and 3.
1:26
First, there's the number 1.
1:28
Basically, the book of Genesis has one major, major emphasis.
1:35
I love the way Wayne Jackson, in his brand new commentaries, the books of Moses,
1:43
the way he kind of puts it.
1:45
He says there's one facet to the book of Genesis, and that's to introduce man to God.
1:57
And so as you're reading through the book of Genesis, you're going to find this phrase,
2:01
the book of the generations, the book of the generations, the book of the productions.
2:08
This is a book about beginnings.
2:11
You will find that phrase no less than 15 times in the 50 chapters of Genesis.
2:19
But then also, it's of interest to me that you will find the words God, or Lord, or Almighty
2:28
more than 400 times combined.
2:32
I would suggest that this is a book where God, in a very emphatic way,
2:39
is set before us as the one responsible for things that came to be.
2:48
1.
2:50
Next, there's the number 2.
2:52
Basically, the book of Genesis falls into two basic sections of history.
3:00
There's what we call primeval history, which sets before us four key incidents.
3:08
You have the creation, the fall, the flood, and the Babel crisis.
3:14
That's chapters 1 to 11.
3:16
Then you have patriarchal history, which sets before us four key individuals.
3:23
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
3:27
And that's chapters 12 through 50.
3:30
1, 2, 3.
3:34
There are basically three sets of time set before us in the 50 chapters of Genesis,
3:41
and each one of them has a very unique emphasis relative to God.
3:47
First of all, you have from the creation to the call of Abraham,
3:52
which sets before us the power of God.
3:57
Not only to speak a universe into existence,
4:00
but to involve himself in the lives of mankind, in one man in particular.
4:07
Then you have from the call of Abraham to the life of Joseph,
4:12
which sets before us the plan of God.
4:16
He made a promise to Abraham, and that promise began to unfold
4:20
in the plan that he had for mankind, of course, the coming of the nation of Israel.
4:26
Then you have from the birth of Joseph all the way to the end of his life,
4:33
and Israel going into Egypt, which sets before us the providence of God.
4:39
And so three sets of time, two sets of time, and three major sections of interest.
4:46
Introductory matters of interest from the book of Genesis.
4:51
Now we think about the phrase, from the beginning,
4:54
because it takes us back to this book, from the beginning.
4:58
I want you to once again remember the numbers 1, 2, and 3.
5:05
First, the number 1.
5:07
When it comes to the phrase, from the beginning,
5:10
you are dealing with one point of interest, something relative to time.
5:20
We're talking about time from the beginning.
5:25
Now the number 2.
5:27
The phrase, from the beginning, can be understood in one of two ways, actually.
5:34
It's found 23 times in our New Testaments.
5:38
It's translated from three different constructs.
5:42
First of all, there's one time it translates something called the ablative,
5:48
and that's where it's talking in a particular place in the book of John,
5:54
in reference to, okay, here you have the framework of Jesus' opening ministry.
6:03
Twice, the phrase translates a preposition called ek, e-k, which means out of.
6:11
Out of the beginning.
6:14
And then 20 times, it translates a preposition called apo, a-p-o, meaning away from.
6:23
Away from the beginning.
6:25
And when you put all of those constructs together,
6:28
and you study those 23 occurrences in the New Testament,
6:32
you find two basic means of interpreting the phrase.
6:37
Sometimes, it's referencing a period of time.
6:43
We've talked that way.
6:45
We might say, from the fifties, we've had rock and roll.
6:53
Now what we're saying is, rock and roll came to be during a period of time known as the fifties.
7:03
But sometimes the phrase is used in reference to a specific point of time.
7:11
And we talk that way as well.
7:15
From the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, America has been changed.
7:24
From that specific point in time, America has lost her innocence and never has regained it.
7:33
And so we use this phrase in these two different ways, even ourselves.
7:39
And so here are two ways we understand the phrase as it's found in the New Testament.
7:45
One, two, three.
7:47
We have three mornings to address this particular subject.
7:53
I have really wrestled with how to deal with these 23 passages of the New Testament.
7:59
Not enough time to deal with all of them.
8:01
And so I decided to kind of step back and capture the nuance of what we find in these 23
8:08
in three different sections of thought.
8:11
I want us to go to passages that employ the phrase and see how that they teach us
8:19
how that we can have, need to have, a relationship with Jesus.
8:26
Or a relationship with each other.
8:32
Or how the phrase is used to teach us we need to work on our relationships at home.
8:40
You see, in reality, the phrase might serve as a grammatical, catch this,
8:46
it might serve as a grammatical exclamation mark used by the Holy Spirit.
8:53
It's as if he's wanting to make this observation.
8:56
He's wanting to really drive this point home.
8:59
And to really drive it home, he employs the phrase,
9:04
from the beginning.
9:06
Let me tell you about Jesus.
9:07
You want something to do with Jesus.
9:09
You want a relationship with Him.
9:10
He's the one from the beginning.
9:14
We need to love each other, have a relationship with each other.
9:18
These are words that we have heard from the beginning.
9:23
Can a man divorce his wife for any cause?
9:26
Have you not read?
9:29
From the beginning.
9:30
And so this is where we're going to go in our three particular lessons
9:36
to unfold the phrase, from the beginning.
9:40
This morning, from the beginning,
9:43
we're going to look particularly at a passage that encourages us
9:47
to work on our relationship with Jesus.
9:54
Turn with me, if you would, to 1 John, chapter 1.
9:58
1 John, chapter 1, let's read together, verses 1 through 4.
10:03
We'll read the passage, watch it unfold as we read,
10:06
and then we'll step back and do two things.
10:09
First of all, we'll observe the passage analyzed.
10:13
We'll spend some time with it.
10:15
We'll see it broken down.
10:17
And then we'll step back and watch the passage applied,
10:21
bringing it into our lives in the 21st century.
10:25
Let's read.
10:27
Reading from the English Standard Version,
10:29
that which, or he who, was our operative phrase from the beginning.
10:38
Which, or who, we have heard.
10:42
It translates a perfect tense verb.
10:45
Say what, Brother Dan?
10:48
The perfect tense verb points to something that happened back there,
10:53
but the consequences remain to the present.
10:57
And it's as if John is saying,
11:01
we heard this, and I can still hear his voice ringing in my ears.
11:10
That which we have heard, and keep hearing,
11:15
which we have seen, it also translates a perfect tense verb.
11:21
Which we have seen, and it's though I can still see those things happening in my mind.
11:31
Which we looked upon, and have touched,
11:35
it translates a different kind of verb there,
11:38
an aorist tense verb, which kind of capsules the thought.
11:44
More on that in a minute.
11:47
He who was from the beginning,
11:51
whom we have heard, whom we have seen with our eyes,
11:56
whom we've looked upon, and have touched with our hands,
11:59
concerning the word of life,
12:01
the life was made manifest.
12:04
And we have seen.
12:05
We have seen, and it's though we can still see.
12:09
We have seen it.
12:10
And testify, we keep on testifying to it.
12:15
And we proclaim, we keep on proclaiming to you,
12:18
the eternal life which was with the Father, and was made manifest to us.
12:23
That which we have seen, and can still see,
12:27
heard, and can still hear,
12:29
we proclaim constantly also to you, so that you too may have so that.
12:37
Don't miss those two words.
12:40
Here's infinitive of purpose, or an idea of purpose.
12:44
So that you may constantly have fellowship with us.
12:53
And indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
12:59
And we're writing these things so that your joy may be complete.
13:05
Looking at that passage in reverse,
13:06
you have one of the three major reasons why John wrote the book of 1 John.
13:12
He wrote it so that Christians can know,
13:15
you are to live, you can live a happy life.
13:21
You read another purpose in chapter 2 verse 1.
13:24
He wrote it so that they might not sin.
13:27
And if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
13:31
And then he wrote it according to chapter 5, 13,
13:34
so that we might know that we have eternal life.
13:37
Put it together.
13:38
We can be happy knowing that even if we mess up, we have Jesus to help us,
13:43
and eternal life is in our current possession.
13:47
It is a hope, yes, but it's something that we can claim and say,
13:51
yes, I am safe.
13:52
That's why 1 John was written.
13:55
But as you follow these four verses in reverse,
13:59
he wrote so that we can know to be happy and why we're happy.
14:04
And directly connected to that is,
14:08
we can be happy Christians because we have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
14:16
with God the Father.
14:18
And if you have a relationship, fellowship with God,
14:22
if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
14:26
and I have a relationship, fellowship with God,
14:29
and I have a relationship, fellowship with Jesus Christ,
14:32
then we better be found having a relationship and fellowship with one another.
14:38
Amen?
14:39
Ladies and gentlemen,
14:41
that is the secret to overcoming church problems and church division.
14:49
That's the secret to maneuvering, navigating through
14:54
all of the parochial and personal preferences and opinions
15:04
that seem to constantly fragment us as a people.
15:10
This book was written so that we can be happy,
15:13
based upon the fellowship we have with God and with Jesus Christ.
15:18
And it's this Jesus Christ that John opens the book with a reference to.
15:28
As we analyze the passage more carefully,
15:31
especially the opening verses,
15:34
we will find John saying three things about Jesus.
15:39
And all three things fleshed out
15:44
should encourage us to exalt Him in our hearts and in our lives,
15:50
and ever, evermore want a relationship with Him.
15:55
To begin, as we watch verses 1 and following unfold,
16:00
first, John bears reference to the message of Jesus Christ.
16:07
That which He who was from the beginning, whom we have heard.
16:18
I heard Him.
16:19
It's like His words are still ringing in my ear.
16:22
And this is the one who was from the beginning.
16:27
He's worth listening to.
16:29
See the grammatical, boom, exclamation mark?
16:35
Now, let's think about this.
16:38
What we have heard, the message of Jesus.
16:44
It had to have been something special.
16:47
Do you remember in Matthew 7, verse 28,
16:51
when Jesus had finished these sayings?
16:55
The multitude were astonished, were translated astonished,
17:00
two words meaning to beat out, to beat out.
17:05
Years ago, a collegiate friend of mine gave me a gesture that says it all.
17:09
We were talking about something and it was kind of heavy,
17:12
and this collegiate did this.
17:18
That blows my mind.
17:20
Well, that more or less illustrates the word translated astonished here.
17:25
Oh, oh, beat out.
17:28
There had to have been something to the message of Jesus.
17:32
In John 4, verse 42,
17:34
remember what the Samaritan said to the Samaritan woman?
17:38
It is no longer because of what you said that we believe,
17:41
for we have heard ourselves,
17:44
and we know that He is indeed the Savior of the world.
17:51
Now, put that in its contextual flow.
17:55
That was not said by individuals raised with Jesus.
18:00
That was not said by individuals who studied with Jesus in the temple.
18:04
That was not said by individuals who followed Jesus as disciples in the making.
18:10
That was said by half-bloods with whom Jesus had no interaction whatsoever,
18:16
but because of what they heard.
18:20
They said, this has to be Savior of the world.
18:25
There had to have been something to the message of Jesus.
18:30
Even the officials of the temple said, in John 7, verse 46,
18:36
never has one spoken like this man.
18:43
The message of Jesus.
18:45
Well, let's look at an example.
18:47
Let's just go to the one that he's perhaps known for the most,
18:52
his renowned Sermon on the Mount.
18:55
Watch it unfold ever so briefly in just the subject matters that he touched on.
19:02
He starts with attitudes, the attitudes were to be, be attitudes.
19:08
From there he goes to the effect that we can have on people with those attitudes,
19:11
the salt of the earth and light of the world.
19:14
Then he talks about the authority to which we should yield,
19:18
not that of the scribes and Pharisees, but you have heard, I say, you have heard, I say,
19:23
you have heard, I say, says it six times.
19:27
And then he goes to the accent mark that we should put into our lives.
19:33
We're not to live here for the attention of man,
19:40
as illustrated by how we give, how we pray, and if and how we fast.
19:46
We're not to live for the possessions of man,
19:50
trying to acquire treasures on earth rather than in heaven,
19:55
as evidenced by whether or not we are people who worry.
19:59
Then you have this idea of the affection that we should have for each other,
20:04
not judging one another and not relegating any others to an arena of the impure when God hasn't.
20:14
And then the idea of asking God and receiving prayer.
20:19
And then, of course, the afterlife, entering by the narrow one.
20:23
Look at the seven different subject matters that Jesus dealt with
20:28
and how profound and how comprehensive.
20:33
That's a great, as a preacher, that's a great seven-month series of studies.
20:41
In Sunday morning, talk about the given section of the Sermon on the Mount.
20:45
On Sunday night, come back and go to the epistles and flesh it out even more for people's lives.
20:52
Peter perhaps said it the best.
20:54
Lord, to whom shall we go?
20:58
Thou hast the words of eternal life.
21:04
Jesus did not give people of that a dump.
21:08
And as a gospel preacher, I shouldn't either.
21:11
Jesus did not just engage in a time filler.
21:15
And as a gospel preacher, I shouldn't either.
21:18
Jesus didn't do what he did simply because it's what you do.
21:24
And I shouldn't either.
21:26
Jesus had a message that challenged minds,
21:31
that changed hearts,
21:34
and altered eternal destinies.
21:37
And before God, that's what you and I should do as gospel preachers,
21:42
as elders, and as brothers and sisters in Christ reaching out to the world.
21:47
His message says,
21:50
the one who was from the beginning is somebody you need to know in an intimate way.
22:00
Not only his message, but in the second place,
22:04
John continues with a reference to his ministry.
22:09
That which was from the beginning, which we've heard,
22:12
and we can still hear his words ringing in our ears,
22:15
which we have seen, the word perceived there,
22:21
is a word to see by virtue of recognition, experience.
22:27
Not to see with the eyes, not to theorize, to see with the mind's eye,
22:33
but to, ah, I get it, see with recognition, experience.
22:43
He said, we walked with him,
22:47
and we saw, and we knew by experience who he was, his ministry.
22:55
Now mark this down.
22:58
What he saw was the miraculous.
23:02
But also, what he saw was the non-miraculous and yet still the marvelous.
23:10
Jesus said in Matthew 20, verse 28,
23:13
the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,
23:17
but to minister, diakoneo, deacon, to wait on tables,
23:24
and to give his life a ransom for many.
23:28
And so when he went to his hometown,
23:32
and stepped into what we would call his home congregation,
23:36
the synagogue of Nazareth,
23:39
when the scroll of Isaiah was placed in his hand,
23:41
he turned to Isaiah chapter 61,
23:44
and he read these words according to Luke 4, verses 18 and following.
23:51
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me.
23:57
Luke 4, verse 18.
23:59
He's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor,
24:06
a message for the beggars.
24:09
The New King James Version adds this phrase,
24:13
to heal the brokenhearted,
24:16
more literally, those crushed together by life.
24:23
The bereaved.
24:25
He has sent me to proclaim liberty, freedom, forgiveness,
24:32
to the captives, those bound within the shackles of their past mistakes,
24:43
and recovery of sight to the blind.
24:48
And to set at liberty, freedom, forgiveness, those who are oppressed,
24:56
cracked and shaken into fragments, broken.
25:00
I have been anointed to reach out by God to the beggars,
25:05
the bereaved, the bound, the blind, and the broken.
25:12
And when he finished reading that passage,
25:15
he handed it over to the president of the synagogue,
25:20
and he says, today, these words are fulfilled in your presence.
25:25
That's our Lord's purpose statement.
25:32
For what do you live as a preacher?
25:35
For what does your congregation exist as a church of our Lord?
25:41
Acts 10, verse 38, you have the epitaph of Jesus,
25:48
where the apostle Peter says that he was anointed by God,
25:54
went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil,
25:57
for God was with him.
25:59
He went about doing good, helping those who were oppressed.
26:05
That was his ministry.
26:09
So let's pause and look at an example.
26:13
We looked at his message, looked at an example.
26:17
Let's pause for a moment, think about his ministry, and look at an example.
26:22
We were in Matthew chapters 5, verse 7.
26:24
How about just picking right up there with Matthew chapter 8
26:27
to see Jesus in action in his ministry
26:31
with a heart of compassion reaching out to others in need.
26:34
In Matthew chapter 8, beginning with verse 1,
26:38
when he came down from the mountain where he had been
26:41
to preach the Sermon on the Mount, great crowds followed him,
26:45
and behold, a leper came to him.
26:48
Take pause.
26:49
This is found in all three of the synoptic Gospels,
26:53
but each of them give us kind of a unique twist or added nugget.
27:02
I'm introduced to the man in Matthew chapter 8,
27:06
and in this passage, I read about his condition.
27:09
He's a leper.
27:10
Isn't it interesting how that an illness can become your identity?
27:19
Now, which son is that?
27:20
Oh, is he the one that had cancer?
27:24
Naaman the leper?
27:28
And so here's a man, we don't even know his name,
27:30
but we know his condition.
27:32
He's a leper.
27:33
Now, if I turn to Mark chapter 1,
27:35
Mark gives me a little insight that you don't find in Matthew or Luke.
27:40
It says that he came and implored Jesus.
27:43
Parakaleo, he came begging Jesus.
27:46
All three of them say he came and knelt before Jesus,
27:49
but it's only Mark that says he came begging Jesus for help.
27:53
And there you have his petition.
27:59
But you come to Luke's account, and Luke gives us his desperation
28:03
because Luke's the one that says he came and he was full of leprosy.
28:10
His disease was in its latter stages.
28:15
And so chapter 8 verse 1 of Matthew,
28:18
he came to Jesus and knelt before Jesus saying,
28:23
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
28:27
And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.
28:35
You ever wonder why he touched him?
28:40
Just of interest.
28:41
Another way to translate the word touch is to ignite.
28:45
It's like you get the picture of he reached out and he touched the man
28:50
and burned the disease away immediately and miraculously.
28:54
But he touched him. Why?
28:58
There were times that Jesus would speak a word and a miracle would take place.
29:03
He could allow for something to happen at a distance miraculously.
29:10
Why would he take the time to touch this man?
29:15
Do you realize that touching this man,
29:17
he gave the man something that the man had not had for who knows how long?
29:24
Being full of leprosy.
29:26
How long, if he was married, how long had it been since he tasted the lips of his wife?
29:32
If he was a daddy, how long had it been since he had felt the embrace of his children?
29:38
How long had it been since he had sat down and enjoyed the fellowship of his friends?
29:43
But Jesus touched him and gave him what he hadn't had in who knows how long.
29:50
See the compassion there in his ministry.
29:57
John 21 tells us that if everything was written about Jesus,
30:03
the world couldn't contain the volumes.
30:05
Did you know there are more than 300 miles of bookshelves
30:11
full of books in the Library of Congress?
30:16
But the Holy Spirit through John tells us,
30:19
if you were to write on all of the good that Jesus accomplished in his ministry,
30:25
the world itself could not contain all of the volumes.
30:31
And he's the one who was from the beginning.
30:37
You want a relationship with this one who was from the beginning.
30:41
Look at his message.
30:43
Look at his ministry.
30:45
And then, John directs our attention to his manhood.
30:54
When he goes on and he says,
30:59
we have looked on him, we saw him with our eyes, we looked on him, we gazed on him,
31:11
and we ourselves touched him.
31:16
Those words placed against the backdrop of 1 John take on added significance
31:21
when you remember that in the book of 1 John,
31:24
you have incipient seed of what's called Gnosticism,
31:28
where you have two schools of thought.
31:30
One school of thought denied the deity of Jesus
31:36
and said that Jesus was a man possessed by God,
31:43
like a man possessed by a demon.
31:47
And then others denied the humanity of Jesus,
31:49
saying that Jesus was never in the flesh.
31:52
He was just a hologram, if you please.
31:55
Didn't even leave footprints on the sands of the seashore.
32:01
And so they denied his deity, his humanity,
32:03
and the seed thoughts of Gnosticism you can see in the backdrop of the book 1 John.
32:10
And so the book even starts by saying,
32:12
we saw the man, we touched the man, the manhood of Jesus.
32:18
I'm reminded of Romans 1 verse 3,
32:21
where it tells us that Jesus descended from David according to the flesh,
32:28
his humanity,
32:30
and was declared, haridzo, declared,
32:35
bring out the surveyor, draw a line in the sand.
32:39
He was declared in power, according to the Spirit of holiness,
32:45
to be the Son of God by the resurrection of the dead.
32:50
So you have his humanity descending from David,
32:53
but draw the line and over here you have his deity as proven by his resurrection.
33:02
But don't miss the fact that being a part of David's progeny,
33:07
he lived in the flesh.
33:10
And thus 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 says,
33:15
he was manifested in the flesh,
33:18
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels.
33:22
Hebrews 10 verse 5 refers to Jesus,
33:25
a body didst thou prepare for me.
33:27
And so 1 Peter chapter 2, 24 says,
33:30
he bare our sins in his body on the tree.
33:34
Jesus' manhood.
33:37
Oh, how it's important to remember that.
33:40
Let's see it in action.
33:43
An example of Jesus' manhood can be found in Hebrews chapter 5,
33:47
where I read,
33:48
in the days of his flesh, verse 7,
33:53
Jesus offered up prayers,
33:57
deesis, beggings, and supplications,
34:02
literally extending an olive branch.
34:05
With loud cries, hear a crow cawing amidst the treetops early in the morning,
34:12
and you'll get the idea behind the word translated, loud cries.
34:17
And tears, silent tears, if you please, torn up on the inside.
34:25
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up beggings,
34:28
he offered up an olive branch,
34:30
with loud cries and inward tears to him who was able to save him from death,
34:35
and he was heard because of his reverence.
34:39
Walk ever so reverently into the shadows of Gethsemane,
34:44
and you see the humanity of Jesus on full display.
34:51
Could we make application before it's time to close?
34:56
Did you know the message of Jesus is still a message that we need to hear?
35:04
A message to which we need to give our attention?
35:09
Hebrews chapter 1,
35:11
long ago and many times and in many ways,
35:13
God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
35:15
but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son,
35:19
do a deep dive,
35:20
and the grammatical construction suggests he spoke to us by the revealed word of his Son.
35:30
The message of Jesus in the New Testament is a message for us today.
35:38
And thus Hebrews chapter 2 says,
35:41
we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it,
35:45
for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable,
35:50
and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
35:54
how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?
35:57
If we neglect salvation,
36:00
if we neglect so great a salvation,
36:03
great salvation,
36:07
it was declared at first by the Lord.
36:14
His message is a message of salvation.
36:18
And it's a message that we have today that applies to our lives
36:24
as it did to those who heard him when he was here.
36:28
Want to go to heaven?
36:30
Listen to Jesus.
36:33
He has a message for you.
36:35
But then, what about his ministry?
36:41
In Hebrews chapter 4,
36:44
we read about his high priesthood.
36:46
Of course, the book of Hebrews is the only book that describes Jesus as a high priest.
36:52
Beginning with verse 11 of Hebrews 4,
36:54
let us therefore strive to enter that rest,
36:58
so that no one may fall short.
37:02
Let's see, do I have that right passage?
37:04
Here we go, verse 14.
37:05
Since then, we have great high priest who has passed through the heavens.
37:13
It happened back there,
37:14
and the consequences of it still remain to this day.
37:19
He went back to heaven, and he's still there.
37:25
He boarded a chariot of clouds,
37:27
levitated from this earthly ball of clay,
37:31
made his way through the home of the stars,
37:34
through the home of the birds,
37:36
through the home of the stars,
37:37
and jettisoned into the very home of God,
37:41
he passed and has remained passed through the heavens.
37:45
Jesus, the Son of God, our high priest.
37:48
Let us hold fast our confession.
37:50
We don't have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
37:57
but one who is in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.
38:02
Let us then, with confidence drawn near to the throne of grace,
38:06
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
38:11
Mercy.
38:13
Help.
38:14
You ever been in time of need?
38:16
I remember teaching Hebrews for years at Freed Hardeman,
38:19
and I'd ask 19-year-olds and 20-year-olds,
38:21
you ever been in a time of need?
38:23
Uh-huh.
38:25
Their time of need?
38:27
You put off.
38:28
You put off writing that term paper,
38:31
and now you're going to put down some kind of a one-night wonder
38:33
and hope that it passes.
38:35
That's your time of need.
38:37
Oh, my boyfriend just broke up with me.
38:39
That's your time of need.
38:40
You don't know time of need
38:43
until you have to adjust to the silence that is caused by someone's passing.
38:49
You don't know your time of need until you receive a message from your physician.
38:56
But in time of need, I have help.
38:58
In time of need, I have someone that feels with me,
39:01
because I have someone who has passed through the heavens
39:06
and is still there, still there, as my high priest,
39:12
speaking to one, asking for my help,
39:16
asking for him to feel with me.
39:19
There's a ministry of Jesus even today.
39:21
And thus Hebrews 9, verse 24 says,
39:26
He passed through the heavens.
39:27
He's entered into heaven itself.
39:32
There to appear, literally, before the face of God, for us.
39:38
Do the word picture.
39:40
He's sitting at God's right hand.
39:41
For that to happen, one of two things must take place.
39:45
Either He leans over, and God leans over, and they connect eyes,
39:49
or He gets up from His throne to David and stands in front of God's almighty throne,
39:53
and eye to eye they look at each other, and they call us by name.
40:00
That's the ministry of Jesus even today.
40:05
And then, of course, the manhood of Jesus.
40:09
Time will not allow us to really emphasize this point,
40:12
but the fact that He lived just like you and I live,
40:16
teaches us He can relate to who we are.
40:20
In closing, I've heard it said, to the architect,
40:25
He's the chief cornerstone.
40:28
To the baker, He's the bread of life.
40:31
To the carpenter, He's the door.
40:33
To the educator, He's teacher come from God.
40:37
To the florist, He's the rose of Sharon.
40:42
But what does Jesus mean to me, to you?
40:49
I'm the bread of life, He said.
40:54
I'm the light of the world.
40:57
I'm the door. I'm the good shepherd.
41:00
I'm the resurrection and the life.
41:01
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
41:03
I am the vine, you're the branches.
41:06
I'm greater than Solomon. I am He.
41:11
But what does He mean to me?
41:16
What does He mean to you?
41:20
The one who was from the beginning.