Latest / Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons / The Radiance of the Glory of God in Our Prophet, Priest, and King (Hebrews 1:1-3)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

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The Radiance of the Glory of God in Our Prophet, Priest, and King (Hebrews 1:1-3)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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We now turn to God's word, specifically. The
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New Testament Book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter
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one. We began our sermon series in this book
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last Sunday and we just looked at the first verse
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and a half or so. Today we're going to recover
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that verse and a half, but also take it through
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the end of verse. three and I would ask you to
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give careful and close attention then for this
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is God's word Hebrews one one through three long
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ago at many times and in many ways God spoke
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to our fathers by the prophets but in these last
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days he has spoken to us by his son Whom he appointed
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the heir of all things Through whom also he created
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the world He is the radiance of the glory of
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God and the exact imprint of his nature and He
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upholds the universe by the word of his power
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After making purification for sins he sat down
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at the right hand of the majesty on high This
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is God's word. Let's pray. Father, we bless you
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and we thank you for this word that sets the
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foundation for all that is to come in Hebrews.
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As we desire to understand this book, help us
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to understand this marvelous introduction. Would
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you guide us through it by your spirit? We pray
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in Christ's name, amen. How many of you have
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bucket list items that you long to see in this
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life? Maybe you long to see the Grand Canyon
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in all of its grandness. Maybe you long to see
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the Northern Lights to watch those lights dance
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across the sky. Maybe you long to see some special
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kind of animal in its own habitat, like a safari
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in Africa or something. Maybe you long to see
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maybe your favorite band play in some famous
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venue. Maybe you long to see your favorite baseball
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team play in Wrigley Stadium. Been there, done
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that. What is it that you just long to see that
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would really be something special for you. One
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of you even mentioned the pyramids of Egypt to
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me last week. And so what is it? Well, friends,
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as great as those things may be, there is one
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thing that we should all long to see. And it's
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not a thing. It's our God. We should all long
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to see God Matthew 5 8 says blessed are the pure
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in heart For they shall see God But at the same
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time as we hear that we also may be thinking
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of scripture like Exodus 33 where God says to
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Moses no one can see me and live or Paul writing
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to Timothy who said he who is the blessed and
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only Sovereign the King of Kings and the Lord
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of Lords who alone has immortality who dwells
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in unapproachable light whom no one has ever
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seen or can see to him be honor and eternal dominion.
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And so what gives? Can we see God or not? Well,
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aside from the discussion on how God does not
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have a body like men, let's really think about
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this. And let's think about this from the top
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of a mountain. You'll remember that in Matthew
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17 and in Mark chapter nine and Luke chapter
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nine, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John
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up on a mountain. And as Jesus began to pray,
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his face began to change, shining like the sun,
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and his clothes became dazzling white, and suddenly
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there was Moses, and there was Elijah, and then
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this voice came from heaven, this is my beloved
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son. with whom I am well pleased, listen to him."
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Those three disciples saw, even if just for a
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few moments, the glory of Christ. Or from our
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text here, we might say the radiance of the glory
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of God. John Calvin said, the radiance in the
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substance of God is so mighty that it hurts our
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eyes until it shines on us in Christ. You see
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the only way to understand, to experience, to
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see the glory of God is to know Christ Jesus,
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to look on him in faith and know that one day
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your faith will be turned to sight. Jesus said
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it best for us. If you have seen me, you have
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seen the father. And so here's what I want us
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to see today. This passage shows us the relationship
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of the father to the son and that the son is
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our prophet, our priest and our king. Let's start
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with prophet. What comes to mind when I say the
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word prophet? And no, I'm not talking about money.
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I'm talking about prophets as people who speak
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what God would have them to speak and so who
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comes to mind when I say the word prophet is
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It Isaiah Is it Daniel? Is it Obadiah is it Zephaniah?
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Is it Alexander Payton the prophet? You can read
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about him in the historical building. Side note,
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one time some teaching and ruling elders from
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the presbytery were here and they wanted to go
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into the historical building so I took them and
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they were quite amazed to see that Fairview has
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its very own prophet. That's a story for another
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day though. You can come back on September 26th
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and maybe hear a little more about it. But what
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this text shows us is that Christ is our better
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prophet. What a prophet does is to reveal God
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through a message delivered. What a prophet does
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is to act as God's mouthpiece. But friends, whoever
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you're thinking about, be it Jeremiah or Ezekiel
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or Elijah, Elisha, whoever it is, Christ does
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it better. Christ reveals God. Shorter catechism
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says Christ executes the office of a prophet
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in revealing to us by His word and spirit the
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will of God for our salvation. Jesus is able
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to do this because of what verse three says.
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Look there, the beginning of verse three. He
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is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the
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exact imprint of his nature. You see, Jesus is
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not merely a likeness of God. Jesus is not a
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caricature of God. Colossians 1 .15 says he is
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the image of the invisible God. He is one with
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the Father. He is of the same substance or the
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same essence, or we might say Jesus is of the
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same stuff as God. We've kind of already seen
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this in the Nicene Creed that we read as our
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affirmation of faith part of it reads again begotten
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of his father before all worlds God of God light
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of light very God of very God Begotten not made
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being of one substance with the father by whom
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all things were made Yes, Jesus is one with the
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Father. And the Father instructed those disciples
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on the Mount of Transfiguration. He said, this
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is my son. Listen to him. And that's exactly
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what the people were to do with the prophets.
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To ignore a God -appointed prophet was to ignore
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God Himself. Be it Ezekiel or be it Joel. And
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if these prophets were to be listened to, how
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much more should we listen to the one who is
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the exact imprint of God's nature? God spoke
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through those prophets as their words were his
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words, but the final word is Christ. And therefore
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we do not expect ongoing prophecy. For the scriptures
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are sufficient to do what they were intended
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to do, which is to point us to Christ, to speak
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of Christ. Or as Christ speaks through them,
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we must recognize, friends, that what we have
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in Jesus Christ as the one who is called the
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word, that he is sufficient for us. I wonder
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if I can illustrate this for you. Do you remember?
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Do you remember Jesus on the road to Emmaus after
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His crucifixion, after His resurrection? He joins
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these two disciples on the road and they are
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prevented from recognizing Him. And they begin
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to tell Him all the events that have happened
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over the last few days. It's actually pretty
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funny when you think about it because it's all
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about Christ. He knows. And then Luke 24 says
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this. That Jesus beginning with Moses and all
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the prophets Interpreted to them in all the scriptures
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the things concerning himself The scriptures
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all the way from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 are
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speaking of Christ Yes, it's true then friends
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Christ is our better prophet But Christ is also
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our priest This is a big theme a prevalent theme
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in the book of Hebrews with within the Protestant
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tradition and the reformed Protestant tradition.
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We don't have priests and Actually, I think our
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knowledge of the priesthood is pretty limited
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Old Testament priesthood Because I've had very
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few of you actually only two that I can think
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of ever say to me You know what? I really want
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to study Leviticus But we should because in order
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to understand Christ as our priest we should
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understand what the priest did and so I'm gonna
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take you to Leviticus just for a minute Leviticus
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chapter 1 verses 3 & 5 as we see the primary
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responsibility of the priests Leviticus 1, 3
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to 5. If his offering is a burnt offering from
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the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish.
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He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent
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of meeting that he may be accepted before the
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Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the
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burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him
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to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill
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the bull before the Lord and Aaron's sons the
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priests shall bring the blood and Throw the blood
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against the sides of the altar that is at the
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entrance of the tent of meeting and on and on
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we could go through Leviticus to see this but
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I want you to understand the primary responsibility
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of these Old Testament priests Was to make sacrifices
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on behalf of the people God. Now, why don't we
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have these sacrifices anymore? Why don't we do
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these things now? Go back to Hebrews 1 and look
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at verse 3. We don't do these things now because
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we don't have to. About the middle of verse 3,
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after making purification for sin, There is no
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need for these ongoing sacrifices because Jesus
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has done it. He has made purification or your
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text, your translation may say that he has purged
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us of our sin. It's all communicating the idea
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of how we were terribly unclean in our sin, that
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we are polluted, that we were dirty in our hearts,
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in our minds, in our bodies. We are in the most
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desperate need of cleansing. But Christ is pure.
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Christ is spotless. And in this way, he is our
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priest. However, he is also the sacrifice. Jesus
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is our priest, but he's also the sacrificial
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lamb. Larger Catechism 44 says Christ executes
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the office of a priest. and is once offering
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himself a sacrifice without spot to God to be
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a reconciliation for the sins of his people and
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in making continual intercession for us. Friends,
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this is why we don't have priests. We've got
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pastors who are to shepherd people towards the
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good shepherd, but we don't have priests. We
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don't need them. Because Jesus is our great high
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priest and he has made purification once and
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for all on the cross This is why if you happen
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to read the confession or the catechisms of Westminster
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Regarding the Lord's Supper, you'll see that
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these documents go out of their way to explain
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that when we come for the Lord's Supper We do
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not come to repeat the sacrifice of Christ. That's
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what the Catholics teach. We don't do that. Why?
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Again, because we don't have to. Jesus has done
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it once and for all who would trust in him. And
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yet if you can remember the people when Jesus
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was crucified, what do they say? Oh, he can save
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others, but he can't save himself. And so why
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didn't Jesus just call upon the angels to swoop
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down and take him off of that cross? He did it
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for you. He did it to reconcile you to holy God.
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And in that way, we must recognize this, then
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they, the people, did not take his life from
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him. He laid it down. He laid it down voluntarily
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for all of you. What that should do in our hearts,
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right? How that should manifest itself in our
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lives that we ought to be just forever grateful
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and thankful. We ought to be here. We ought to
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be worshiping because we realize what Jesus went
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through for us. that Jesus was the sacrifice.
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Not to get ahead of ourselves, but I do this
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a lot with Hebrews. You can almost illustrate
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the entirety of Hebrews as you just go through
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the first few verses. But Hebrews 9 22 says this.
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Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified
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with blood. And without the shedding of blood,
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there is no forgiveness. of sins. So those Old
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Testament sacrifices that involve the blood,
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they're pointing ahead to the true sacrifice,
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to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It's through
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His stripes, His wounds that you are healed.
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Real atonement was made there. Not temporary
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atonement, not like those Old Testament priests
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who had to keep sacrificing again. and again,
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but forever atonement. And you can see this forever
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idea in verse three, because what does he do
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after he makes purification for sin? He sat down
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at the right hand of the majesty on high. Did
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you know that there were no seats in the temple?
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Why not? Rick Phillips at Second Pres explains,
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His atoning sacrifice was the one to which all
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the others had merely pointed. He sat down because
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there was no more sacrifice to be made. In other
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words, Jesus did something that no other priest
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had ever done. Jesus finished his work and then
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he sat down. For the work of the sacrifice was
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complete. Can you imagine being one of these
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Old Testament priests continually offering sacrifices
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day in and day out, night in and night out? As
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long as there was sin, these Old Testament priests
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had job security. Because they were going to
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have to keep doing it on and on until Christ
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came. This work. must have been incredibly taxing.
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But you don't really have to wonder about how
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taxing it is, because if you have not come to
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Christ, you're kind of doing the same thing.
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By your own efforts, you are saying to God, look
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at me, look what I'm doing. This is enough, isn't
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it? Friends, if you have not come to Christ,
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you are trying to save yourself. You're trying
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to make atonement based upon your own works,
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and it'll never be enough. Those works are not
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sufficient. It's like you are being your own
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personal priest. To use the words of Ecclesiastes,
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you are striving after wind. You are doing something
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that you ought not do. You're doing something
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you cannot do. So instead, if you have not placed
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your faith in Jesus Christ, consider his words
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on this. come to me all who labor and are heavy
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laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
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upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and
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lowly in heart and you will find rest for your
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souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
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And so yes, Christ is our better priest. But
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finally, thirdly, Christ is also our King. Look
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at verse two. He is the appointed heir of all
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things. Perhaps the author of Hebrews has Psalm
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2 -8 in mind that says, ask of me and I will
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make your nations your heritage and the ends
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of the earth your possession. We should remember
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that Adam and Eve were essentially these heirs.
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The Adam and Eve were appointed to rule on the
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earth. Genesis 128 says to them, be fruitful
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and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it
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and have dominion over the fish of the sea and
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over the birds of the heavens and over every
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living thing that moves on the earth. Adam and
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Eve should have been thought of as the king and
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the queen of the earth, but through their sin,
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they lost that authority and they were kicked
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out of the garden. But Christ comes and the authority
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is now his one commentator says the dominion
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Originally promised to Adam was gained by Christ
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because Christ is now the king of all and not
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only is he the king but this text also says That
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he's the one who created all of it, isn't he?
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How often do you think of God the Father is the
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creator? We should right And how often do we
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think of the Holy Spirit being involved in creation?
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He was, right? But do we really think that much
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about the Son and His creative efforts? Where
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does the Son fit in? He's right there. This text
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very literally says the Son is the one. through
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whom God made the ages. Combine this with John
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chapter one, which makes the point that all things
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were made through him and without him, not a
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thing was made that was made. So you see this
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King that we have, this Jesus is also our maker.
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God made all things through him. But we're not
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done, for look at the middle to about the end
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of verse three. After he makes this purification
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for sins, he sits down at the right hand of the
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majesty on high. What does he sit down to do?
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Does Jesus now say, I get to relax here? Does
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Jesus sit at the right hand of the father to
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watch Netflix? Of course not. What does Jesus
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sit down to do? He sits down according to verse
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3 to uphold the universe by the word of his power.
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Jesus sits down to uphold and he continues to
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uphold. Shorter catechism again. Christ executes
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the office of a king in subduing us to himself.
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in ruling and defending us and in restraining
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and conquering all his and our enemies. What
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other king could ever rule like that? The answer
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is obvious. There is no other king who could
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rule like that. 1 Corinthians 15, 25 says, God
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has put all things in subjection under his feet.
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Do you remember how last Sunday I said that the
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book of Hebrews kind of acts like a commentary
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on Psalm 110 that begins like this? The Lord
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says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I
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make your enemies a footstool for your feet.
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That's a Psalm that's written by David. And so
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what's he saying there? The Lord, Yahweh, says
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to my Lord, the Christ, sit at my right hand.
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all things are going underneath your feet. And
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yet people, especially in his incarnation, have
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doubted. They doubted, and they still do today,
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his rule and his reign. He just, to some, just
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doesn't look like a king, does he? He certainly
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didn't meet the expectations of the people of
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his time, what they thought a king should be.
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He came riding in on a donkey and it didn't take
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long for their praises to turn into curses and
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then Pontius Pilate is there and he asks Jesus
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Are you the king of the Jews and he's looking
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at Jesus with skepticism saying you're not a
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king But Jesus stuns him when he says my kingdom
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is not of this world. And then he elaborates
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to show Pilate that he's a different kind of
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king, the sort of king who would allow himself
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to be handed over in order to be crucified. Yes,
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it's true. Jesus is a different kind of King
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than the world has ever known He is the sort
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of King who doesn't take his kingdom by force
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but takes it by laying down his life You see
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friends the way to the throne for Jesus is through
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the cross But thanks be to God He was raised
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and so Jesus is on the throne now But lastly
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as we conclude here, let's look at how he upholds
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How he upholds all things the text says by the
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word of his power. It's it is a truly remarkable
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thing That our God speaks Just let that sink
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in our God speaks He speaks in his son and the
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very same way that he spoke the world into existence.
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Now Christ upholds the world by speaking. I started
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thinking, what would encourage our hearts today
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when it comes to Christ speaking? Well, along
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with ruling and defending us and protecting us
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by the word of his power, There is another way
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in which Christ speaks today. He speaks prayer
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to the Father. Hebrews 725. Consequently, he
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is able to save to the utmost those who draw
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near to God through him, since he always lives
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to make intercession for them. Does it then encourage
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your hearts to know that the one who upholds
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the universe, he prays for you. That's another
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function of his priesthood. And so knowing that
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you belong to the triune God who through his
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son, the radiance of his glory, he has defeated
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sin and death on the cross, he has made purification
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for your sins, knowing that he is powerful enough
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to keep it all going by the word of his power.
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Would you Christian take comfort that God has
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you in his grasp that you are prayed for And
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he will not let you go No matter what you go
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through