Don't Give Up - Press On!

[0:00] Thank you.

[0:30] It's fading away When life is a mountain That I cannot climb You carry me Jesus, carry me You are strength in my weakness And you are refuge I see You are everything I tell you You are everything You are the thing I need You are everything I need

[1:38] You are everything I need Amen. Amen.

[2:39] Amen. Amen.

[3:39] Amen. Amen.

[4:39] Amen. Amen.

[5:39] Amen. Amen.

[6:39] Amen. Amen.

[7:39] Amen. Amen.

[8:39] Amen. Amen.

[9:39] Amen. Amen.

[10:39] Amen. Amen.

[11:39] Amen. Amen.

[12:39] Amen. Amen.

[13:39] Amen. Amen.

[14:39] Amen. Amen.

[15:39] Amen. Amen.

[16:39] Amen. Amen.

[17:39] Amen. Amen.

[18:39] Amen. Amen.

[19:11] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Jesus Christ.

[19:22] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[19:33] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, good morning. Wow, I think that was like the best I've had in a long time.

[19:46] Well, welcome to Cottonwood Bible Church. We're glad to have you with us this morning. If you're visiting with us for the first time, if you wouldn't mind filling out the white card in the seat back in front of you, put that in the offering plate as it goes by later.

[19:57] That way we have a record of your visit. We would appreciate that. Some announcements this morning. Wow, they're starting to get a lot more spots now. See that? Yeah.

[20:07] Church Gathering Times, 915 Bible Study and Sunday School Class. So if you weren't able to get here at 915 this morning and you want to be a part of that, come at 915. We'll make sure you get into the right Sunday School Class.

[20:19] Not that there's a lot of choices, but we'll make sure you get into the right one in the right location. Depends on what size you are. And then Snack Fellowship at 10 a.m. And then 1030 morning service where you're at now.

[20:32] And then the Ladies' Bible Study tonight. They're going to cancel the Ladies' Bible Study tonight. No Ladies' Bible Study tonight. And we'll tell you why in a minute. Wednesday Gospel Care Community Group here at the church building.

[20:44] This Wednesday we bring our favorite dish. We share a meal together. And then Jim's been teaching through a lesson. You just started that last week again, right? So, and...

[20:55] Generous Church in a Stingy World. I like that. Okay? Generous Church in a Stingy World. So that's part of the study that we're doing at around 7-ish.

[21:05] So if you come at 6, bring a favorite dish we eat, and then start that study a little after 7. And then Jim's going to come up and talk about the solemn assembly. And this is why the ladies aren't meeting tonight.

[21:16] Yes. So we're going to have the solemn assembly, which we've been doing that. I think they did that one earlier this year over at... I want to say it was...

[21:27] It was over at the Ridge. I think it was over at the Ridge. Southern Baptist Church there in Prescott Valley. Yeah. They have at the Ridge. And then they're having one tonight here at 6. I'll probably go about an hour-ish or so.

[21:39] A little bit past that. So plan on that for tonight. And we'll be doing some songs. Mike will do a few songs. I'm going to do a couple of them as well on the guitar. So it's good.

[21:50] Because we're praying for God to bring reformation and revival. For God to reform His church. Bring us back to the centrality of the gospel. And then also to bring about revival. Where nominal Christians come to Christ.

[22:02] Sleepy Christians wake up. And then non-Christians respond to the gospel. So that's what we're praying for. Not just in reference to our town. But throughout. So that's what we're praying for. So come to our solemn assembly at 6 o'clock tonight.

[22:13] And Byron Bantra is going to be leading it. He's kind of the interim for the Arizona Southern Baptist. So he'll be here tonight. So yeah, it'll be good. Cool. Thank you. And then no fellowship meal next Sunday.

[22:27] Oh yeah, next Sunday, May 8th for Mother's Day. So we're not going to have our fellowship meal like we usually have next Saturday. So take your moms out, right? Take your moms out. Take your wife.

[22:38] Whoever. I mean, take somebody out. But especially your moms. Take Travis out. Yeah, take me out. So no fellowship meal next Sunday. And I think that's just of the announcements.

[22:50] I do want to make mention, it's not in your bulletin, nor is it up on the screen. I'll bring it up before you, specifically for you members of Cottonwood Bible Church. Joel Tetreault, he's coming to preach for me in a few weeks when we leave, when we're gone.

[23:05] He's going on a missions trip, and he's going to bring me for the congregation next Sunday, and also the 15th. We'll do a special called Members Meeting on the 15th. But I just want to prepare you.

[23:16] He's doing a missions trip. Joel is a dear brother at Southeast Valley Bible Church, committed to the gospel, a guy who's just committed to Reformed theology, and just a solid man.

[23:30] And so he's training some pastors in South America, amongst other places too. But we'll bring him before you as a congregation next Sunday and the Sunday after that, so we as a church will decide how we want to be able to support him as a church on this missions trip he's going on.

[23:45] But I just want to prepare you for that. Most of you, I think, have met him, and we got to spend some time with him at the Shepherds Conference. Yeah, we saw him at the Shepherds Conference last night. He's just such a character. Yeah, he's neat. Love Joel. Just a neat guy. Loves Christ.

[23:55] Loves the church. So other things I want to make mention. I'd like to make mention of the ABCs of CBC, the basics of Cottonwood Bible Church. For those of you interested about the basics of Cottonwood Bible Church, speak with me about that.

[24:09] Or interested in baptism, you can talk with me about that as well. But also what's most important is we want to be a church that's committed to the gospel. We want to be a church that's influenced and shaped by the gospel, the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[24:23] Praise his name. Repent and trust in him alone. That is the gospel. And if you're here, you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. You're here. You don't know what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. What does it mean to be a Christian?

[24:34] You can talk to any member here, but you can feel free after the service to speak with me there in the lobby. I'll be more than happy to talk with you about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

[24:45] So I think those are the announcements that we have. I think those are the announcements. Everything should be in the bulletin, except for the thing about the special call, supporting Joel. So everything else is in there.

[24:56] So if you have any questions, you can pick up one of these bulletins in the back. All right. Pray. Let's start off with prayer. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, you are merciful, kind, awesome, loving, just, and a jealous God.

[25:14] You give us mercy and grace every second of every day. Even when we feel that we are going through tough times or when we don't deserve the trials that you placed in our lives, you are giving us mercy and grace.

[25:25] You show us all grace by letting us live another day, having oxygen to breathe, having loved ones surround us. And we often take this for granted. Lord, your mercies do not stop there.

[25:40] You reach out even further to love those who do not love you, to those who will not love you unless you love them first. Without you, God, we will reject you. We will despise your leadership and we will blaspheme your great name.

[25:53] But, Lord God, you send to your Son, Jesus Christ, who lived the perfect life that we could never live, who died the death we deserve to die, and rose from the grave to show that you have power over Satan and death itself.

[26:06] You call to your elect. You call us to repentance and belief in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he laid down. Lord God, let us accept this gospel message.

[26:18] Let us take this message of great news and proclaim it to all peoples, that your elect may find you and that your name may be glorified. Thank you for letting us be involved in the process, God, that you would allow us to, through it, grow to love you more.

[26:35] Protect us as a church to be strong in faith and to protect this message with our very lives. It is by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I do pray this. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[27:01] Amen. Amen. Father Jesus Christ I do pray this. Amen. Amen.

[27:14] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[27:25] Amen. God wanders beyond our galaxy. You are holy, holy.

[27:38] Your universe declares your majesty. You are holy, holy.

[27:50] Lord of heaven and earth. Lord of heaven and earth.

[28:09] Early in the morning, I will celebrate the light.

[28:19] When I stumble into darkness, I will call your name by night.

[28:32] God wanders beyond our galaxy. You are holy, holy.

[28:44] Your universe declares your majesty. You are holy, holy.

[28:55] The Lord of heaven and earth. The Lord of heaven and earth.

[29:06] Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth. Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth.

[29:21] Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth. You are holy, holy.

[29:37] Please stand. God of wonders beyond our galaxy. You are holy, holy.

[29:51] The universe declares your majesty. You are holy, holy.

[30:01] The Lord of heaven and earth. The Lord of heaven and earth.

[30:12] The Lord of heaven and earth. The world of heaven and earth. Let's read together Hebrews chapter 10 of verses 18 through 23.

[30:26] now where there is forgiveness there is no longer an offering for sin therefore brothers since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus by a new and living way he has opened for us through the curtain that is his flesh and since we have a great high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful amen bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul worship his holy name soon like never before oh my soul

[32:02] I'll worship your holy name the sun comes up it's a new day dawn it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me let me be singing when the evening comes let me be singing when the evening comes so bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul worship his holy name sing like never before oh my soul oh my soul

[33:03] I'll worship your holy name you will rich in love and you'll slow to rain your name is great and your heart is kind for all your goodness I will keep on singing ten thousand reasons for my heart to find ten thousand reasons for my heart so bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul I'll worship his holy name sing like never before oh my soul

[34:03] I'll worship your holy nametown éch поэтому i will let you være in your kingdom to warm you sing like calming all ی i dont so spice the Lord And on that day when my strength is failing The end draws near and my time has come Still my soul will sing your praise unending Ten thousand years and then forever

[35:04] So bless the Lord oh my soul Oh my soul Worship his holy name Seemed like never before Oh my soul I worship your holy name Seemed like never before Oh my soul I worship your holy name Yes I worship your holy name Lord I worship your holy name You shall love the Lord your God

[36:12] With all of your heart With all of your soul With all of your heart With all of your soul With all of your heart With all of your soul With all of your soul With all of your mind He's done so much for you What more could you do Than to love the Lord Than to love him with the light My sins are many more

[37:14] Let you forgive your holy name With all of your heart With all of your heart With all of your heart I choose to love the Lord I will love the Lord my God With all of my heart With all of my heart With all of my soul With all of my soul With all of my soul With all of my mind He's done so much for me From sin I've been set free I'll love him with my life I'll love him with my life I'll love him with my life Let's pray together

[38:20] Let's pray together Compassionate Father We are so overwhelmed by your grace Your great Steadfast Unbelievable love for us In the Lord Jesus Christ Astounded Astounded to the point Where we Will love you with our lives We'll love you with lives That please and worship you And our thoughts Our words And our actions Whether it's in public Or in private Up on a mountain

[39:21] With a big group of people There in our closet Or there in the grocery store That we will worship you With every aspect of our lives You've transformed us By your love And you continue to transform us By your loving grace We love you Lord God Hear us As we pray together Pray for Matthias And Janet And Janet Sandoval Increase in them Their good deeds Love Faith Service And perseverance Make known to them The idols of their hearts Direct them towards

[40:22] A heart that worships you May they hold fast To the gospel Overcoming By their faith Don't let them forget What they've heard What they've received In the Lord Jesus May they keep it Not sleep Not grow weary May they praise your name And the roles That you have them in Being faithful Matthias is a faithful husband With gracious leadership And Janet With joyful submission To Matthias In all things Protect their marriage For the glory Of your name We pray for another church At this time We pray for Miller Valley Baptist Church Give them a greater desire

[41:25] For you To be with you To desire your beauty To meditate upon your word May they bring to you Thankful hearts With shouts of joy Over your great grace To them May there be a church That seeks your face Teach them your way Lead them in the straight path May they wait for you Let their hearts be strong Courageous in the gospel We pray for Chris Marley Jr.

[42:02] Pray for your provision For them Pray that he would love His wife Leah His kids Pray he would shepherd Your people in grace And compassion With joy Thank you for Chris' faithfulness And thank you for his friendship We thank you that By your grace You've given us A heart for the world You give us a heart For people To see people Respond to the gospel We have a heart For missions We have a heart For the people Of Botswana We're praising you That Botswana Has religious liberty We're praising you For the openness Towards missions Agencies to work there We're praising you For things going well In the economy But our hearts are heavy Over the massive amounts

[43:05] Of nominalism People are Christian In name only Not by their lives There's immorality A commitment to alcohol To drugs Bring out The light Of the gospel Which transforms lives From darkness From darkness to light We pray that our brethren Those who are faithful To the gospel That they will live out The gospel The gospel will be central In these churches Of Botswana We pray for them To have Godly Holy Pure Lives May they be attentive To the word Attentive to the scripture May they reach out In grace Towards those With HIV And AIDS May they care for them Minister to them In ways that just Dumbfounds the world We pray for solid doctrine For these churches

[44:06] To be bold For the gospel We specifically pray For the young people Soften their hearts To your gospel truth We pray for these Bantu people That they would believe And for the other people Groups Kalanga Yeyi Nambya The San people Bring the light Of the gospel Because the evil one Has blinded their eyes Send some of us To go Bring about Reformation And revival Amongst us So we will be sent out To be a part of them And minister Alongside of them To their own people For us who are here This morning Encourage us With the truth Of your word Encourage us With the reality Of the person

[45:07] And work Of your son Jesus Christ We pray this together In his name Amen Would you be seated Please Take out your Bibles Please And go to the book Of Hebrews Chapter 4 If you're visiting With us You can pull out That black Bible In the chair In front of you I believe you go to Towards the back Page 171 171 You'll find Hebrews chapter 4 I'm going to do Verses 14 15 and 16 I don't know What to do It's only three

[46:08] Verses I'm used to Like 500 Nobody got that Okay Right over everyone's head Sure Alright It's a joke Friends joke Okay Anyways Hebrews 4 14 through 16 I've told you That I wanted to Periodically Just Take a break From A particular book That we're going through And zero in On a passage To prepare our hearts For the Lord's Supper So that's what we're Going to do This message is Specifically geared To direct us To the Lord's Supper To prepare us For the Lord's Supper I think that's Vital and important For us to do So In the next week We'll And the week after that We'll finish up The book of Acts So Hebrews 4 14 through 16 Since then

[47:10] We have a great High Priest Who's passed Through the heavens Jesus the Son of God Let us hold fast Our confession We don't have A high Priest Who cannot sympathize With our weaknesses But one who's been Tempted in all things As we are yet Without sin Therefore Let us draw near With confidence To the throne of grace That we may Receive mercy And may find grace To help in time Of need I put the title There Don't give up Press on Because the temptation Is to give up Have you ever felt That way before Where you say I can't Keep going on Like this I need to stop I can't keep Doing this anymore It's like

[48:11] When you're on a run If you're familiar With running There's a point Where your body Is screaming At you What are you doing You idiot Stop And to tell you And to force you To do that It begins to send Signals to your knees And into your shins And into your feet That tells you Ow that hurts Ow that hurts Ow that hurts Stop Stop running now And that's how We can feel In a temptation You feel that way In your struggle Against sin Do you feel that way In the midst Of a trial Or a tribulation Where you feel like You feel like You're at the end Of your rope And there's no point And going on

[49:11] I can't do this anymore Well before you give up Before you throw in the towel Don't give up Press on Don't give up Press on May I share with you today Two ways God encourages us Not to give up But to press on Two ways God will encourage us Today To prepare our hearts For the Lord's Supper Not to give up But to press on Hold fast to the truth And draw near With confidence Or Grasp Tenaciously And approach Confidently Grasp Tenaciously Your confession Approach Confidently The throne Of grace Or hold fast

[50:13] To the truth Draw near With confidence To the throne Of grace That's how God Is calling us To Don't give up Press on Let me give you A little bit of Context To this passage The writer Moves from Jesus being Superior to the angels To being Superior to Moses And then to Being superior Over the high Priest Which he will Expand He kind of Begins That process In chapter 2 And a little bit In chapter 3 And then here in 4 And then he Launches into that In chapter 5 And elsewhere In 2.17 The writer of Hebrews says Therefore he had To be made Like his brother In all things That he might Become a merciful And faithful High priest In things Pertaining to God To make Propitiation For the sins Of the people

[51:13] And so here He will get The significance Of his title Being high priest Jesus being The high priest That doesn't Make him Great What makes him Great is his Deity His deity In being God the son That's what Makes Jesus Great He's the eternal Son of God The second person Of the trinity And since He is deity And has gone Through the heavens His priesthood Is far superior To Aaron Far superior Jesus became One with his people Made like us Human Offering the perfect Sacrifice Himself And he was Exalted Entered into heaven Which completed The father's will And is upon This That's the basis For the exhortation

[52:14] Hold fast Draw near We can hold fast Because he knows Our weaknesses His human Experience Has certified Him to be Sympathetic Merciful A gracious Faithful High priest In other words He knows What it's like He's gone Through that He's been Certified He's gone Through the process He's gone Through the training He knows What it's like He knows What it's like To struggle He knows What it's like To be like us To be a kid To be a teen To be in your 20's To be in your 30's He knows His high priesthood Is designed To foster Endurance in us As we struggle Against sin As we struggle In our unbelief

[53:14] He is Our great Spiritual Resource He's your Great Spiritual Resource Christian Don't give up Press on Press on Grasp Tenaciously The truth Or hold fast The truth Hold fast Our confession Verses 14 Through 15 Let us hold Fast Our confession It means Holding on To someone Or something So as to Remain closely To that Or closely To that person Or closely To that thing To grasp Taking hold Of it And notice He calls himself To do that Not just let you But let us Together Let us hold fast What confession The confession That we profess The truth Of the gospel

[54:15] Hold fast To the gospel Hold fast The gospel Word Grasp Tenaciously The truth Of the gospel The fact That Jesus Christ Took on flesh God Man Lived Perfectly Died As a substitute Resurrected From the dead And the call Is to repent And trust In Jesus Alone This is the gospel Word we confess This is the gospel Word we profess And if you're here Today And you're not A follower Of Jesus You're not A Christian You don't know What it means To be a Christian I just told you God should condemn you God should judge you But he shows Grace in Jesus Who took On humanity Perfectly lived Died as a substitute God unleashed His anger On sin Upon Jesus

[55:16] And to show That he was pleased With that He brought him Back to life And now he calls You to respond Repent And trust In Jesus Alone You'll be saved That's the gospel That's the confession And we hold To that So don't think We should not Think that The gospel Is just merely For a non-Christian The gospel Is not merely For a non-Christian The gospel Is merely For us It's not merely For us It's merely For the non-Christian It's merely For all of us Because we will In just a few moments Partake of the Lord's Supper Where You will taste The gospel You will tangibly Hold the gospel Because these are Physical reminders Tangible things To remind you His body For us We share it His blood Shed For me My sin For me For me The gospel We hold fast To this confession That's why

[56:17] We must be a church That presses on And we hold So tightly To this gospel truth Why?

[56:30] Why do we do that? We'll look at that In a moment True faith Is professing With the heart And the mouth Joyfully And openly That's true faith Why do we do this?

[56:41] Why can we hold Fast this confession? The incentive To hold fast Is knowing that Jesus is the Son of God And a great High priest Who has passed Through the heavens And that we have A high priest Who identifies With us in weakness Blah blah blah blah blah In short Because of his deity And because of his humanity Why can we hold fast To this confession?

[57:08] Why do we hold fast To this gospel truth? Because Jesus is God And Jesus Will forever Be human Jesus Is the God man And he forever Will be God man Forever Connecting himself To human flesh Forever On behalf of sinners Where we will be In glory Think of it We will be in glory And we will Sing to To the Lord Jesus Christ And we will See the resurrected body And the scars Still on his hands And the scars Still on his feet And the scars Still on his side Will be reminded Of the confession Will be reminded Of his substitutionary death Will be reminded That in Jesus Christ In him alone We have forgiveness Will be reminded Forever

[58:09] So the writer of Hebrews And all the Hebrews He says Oh it's fast to this Notice how he unpacks this Verse 14 Since then We have a great high priest A priesthood That we see in the book of Reviticus Which started with Aaron Aaron was set apart by God From Aaron will come the high priesthood We have this great high priest Superior to the earthly high priest Why is he greater?

[58:46] Who's passed through the heavens What in the world does that mean? Does that mean he was like a A 747 jet? Oh look I see the stream of Jesus Flying by Oh I didn't know that's what that meant No that's not what that means I mean like If you're a little kid You're like Oh pass through the heavens Kind of like a jet plane No no no Not like that What does it mean?

[59:13] The Hebrew high priest Aaron and his sons They would enter The inner sanctuary Of the tabernacle Or of the temple The inner sanctuary Was called the most holy place Or the holy of holies Right?

[59:31] And he could walk in there Anytime He wanted No he couldn't He only did it once a year And once a year He would go really fast He would move He would go Okay And then he'd get out As fast as he could To the point where What they would actually do What they did So rumor has it Tying a rope around his ankle Because if he didn't move fast And he didn't move quick And he started to kind of Mess around And just say Hey what's going on He dropped dead And he wasn't moving You don't want a dead body In there the whole time Do you?

[60:13] Ew So they just Pull him out Because you didn't mess around In there You didn't go in there And just say hi And converse And talk No the Hebrew high priest Entered the inner sanctuary This was the place Of God's presence This is where he dwelt With his people Right there in the Ark of the Covenant There were the angels And the cherubim Looking down upon the mercy seat That's where he was That's glory He only went there once a year Any more than that He would die So what does this mean Jesus passed through the heavens?

[60:55] Jesus has entered the heavens And is always In the presence of God Why? Because he Is God That's what it means Passed through the heavens He's always in the presence of God He's always in his presence He went through the supreme place Where God dwells Because he's the eternal son He's the eternal God man Chapter 1 Verse 1 through 3 Of Hebrews God After he spoke long ago To the fathers And the prophets In many portions And in many ways In these last days He's spoken to us In son Who is the son?

[61:39] Whom he appointed Heir of all things Through him also He made the world Verse 3 Being the radiance Of his glory And the exact representation Of his nature He upholds all things By the word of his power When he made purification Of sins He sat down At the right hand Of the majesty On high Jesus Is always In the presence Of the father His sacrifice Was sufficient His priesthood Is always In the presence Of God That's why The writer of Hebrews Says this Jesus The son of God There in verse 14 He's majestic In power And glory No he's not One of many gods Like the church Of latter day Saints teaches No he's not One of thousands Of gods By which The heavenly father With the heavenly mother They had Jesus No that's not

[62:39] How it goes You've had One god In his essence Three distinct persons Jesus is God The father is God The holy spirit is God One god Three distinct persons He is the eternal son And being very God He took on flesh As son He's the ultimate revelation The full expresser Of God As high priest He's faithful to God He faced temptation Suffered and died He completed the work That the father Had given to him I mean With this kind of high priest We can have confidence To hold fast Our confession With this kind of high priest We can hold fast Because the ministry Suffering, death, resurrection Ascension of Jesus Christ This gospel word We profess And it is true And it is sufficient

[63:40] We hold fast Not only do we hold fast Because Jesus is Deity The eternal son of God But plus Jesus Sympathizes with us In our weaknesses Notice what he says In verse 15 For Connecting back to verse 14 Hold fast to confession For We do not have a high priest Who cannot Excuse me Sympathize with our weaknesses This is a double negative Double negative You don't not Not do that That's a triple negative In other words We do Have a high priest Who understands Our weaknesses And our temptations Because he experienced weakness And he experienced temptation Chapter 2 Verse 18 For since he himself

[64:43] Was tempted And that which he has suffered He is able to come to the aid Of those who are tempted Jesus is a merciful And faithful high priest He is An exalted high priest Who has descended To our level And if we confess his name And we end up suffering for it He suffers with us When we're reproached He knows What it's like To be human That's why he says here But one who has been tempted In all things As we are He was tempted by Satan Coping with Thirst Fatigue Loneliness Disappointments He dealt with the same things Nothing In our human experiences

[65:44] Was foreign to him Because he had endured it He knows what it's like Like what he faced Like what?

[65:56] In the desert When was the last time You did 40 days And 40 nights Of fasting It was kind of hard You might feel like that When you're on a diet Oh my goodness This is terrible It's only been 40 minutes Is it ready to eat now?

[66:15] In the desert 40 days And 40 nights He was tempted By the devil On the cross Having been up All night Betrayed by his disciples Left by himself Ripped so that the skin Was ripped off his back Hanging on a cross And he's ridiculed And he's mocked Well Come down from that cross And then I believe in you If you say You're the son of God None have faced this We can never Fathom How vast Jesus' temptations were Or how he endured them Especially Since he resisted Temptation to the end Knowing the full weight Of a particular temptation You might say What are we talking about?

[67:14] What would it be like To experience Every temptation To its maximum level? What would it be like? We don't know Because we succumb to it We give up, right?

[67:29] Oh, I got me Not so with Jesus He Felt The maximum level Of a temptation Every temptation And endured it And did not succumb We don't know What it's like Jesus knows What it's like And due to his Humanness He anticipated The temptations We face He sympathizes With us In the temptations We face today And that's why What we'll see in a moment He helps us In those temptations He helps us In our struggles He helps us In our unbelief He helps us When we struggle Against sin This is the glory Of the incarnation This is the glory Of The eternal Son of God Taking on flesh

[68:30] Jesus Entered our world In alienation Loneliness Pain How about if I Use clinical words For you Depression PTSD Anxiety Worry He was hated Rejected Scorned Ridiculed Betrayed And he was alone Can you relate?

[69:09] Jesus relates to you Jesus Relates to you And you notice The last part Of verse 15 Without sin He endured A whole Gamut Of things He faced The The maximum Level Of the temptation And he did it Without sin Without succumbing To it He did not Want sin He Stayed True Now was he Able to sin?

[69:52] No Because he was God He was not able To sin It's called Him being Impeccable But he still Experienced a full Weight of temptations And sufferings How amazing What a great Savior So you have All of this As you're backing Hold Fast The confession Grasp Tenaciously The truth Of the gospel And that leads Us to number Two Approach Confidently The throne Of grace Or draw Near Because he Passes Through the heavens Because he Sympathizes With our Weaknesses We hold Fast To the Confession And we Approach Confidently Therefore Says the Writer of Hebrews Let us Draw near With confidence To the throne Of grace Approach Come Boldly Believers Have confidence To approach God boldly

[70:53] And notice He includes Himself Once again Let us Do this Together And our Approach To him Is our Sacrifice To him He wants A broken And contrite Heart To come To him Psalm 51 Verse 17 David Says this The sacrifices Of God Are a Broken Spirit A broken And a Contrite Heart Oh God You will Not Despise We Approach Him With Brokenness We Approach Him Boldly Saying I Need You With Confidence We come Saying I Come And I Implore You I Need You I Can't Do This And when We Approach Boldly When we Draw Near What Does God Give To us His

[71:54] Mercy And Grace Notice Draw Near Therefore With Confidence To the Throne Of Grace That We May Receive Mercy And May Find Grace To Help In Time Of Need We Come To The Throne Of Grace We Find Mercy For Past Failure And Grace For Present And Future Work At The Perfect Time Of Need God Will Give It To Us Come Near With A Broken And Contrite Heart Come Weak One Come To The Throne Of Grace Notice What He Throne There's The Kingship Of Jesus Right You Think Of Throne Like Power Right Dominion Think Of Greatness Majesty Strong He

[72:54] Sits At The Father's Right Hand We Read That Chapter One With Full Authority Over Heaven And Earth It's The Throne Of Glory It's The Glorious Throne Yes But It's The Gracious Throne It's A Gracious Throne A Sinner Who Comes With A Repentant Broken Heart Will Find Forgiving Grace From The King Sinner Come Come He Says Come Come Sinner And You Will Find Forgiveness You Will Find Forgiving Grace From The Glorious Throne Of The King Because His Throne Is A Throne Of Grace This Will Be Odd For

[73:54] A Jew This Will Be Odd For A Hebrew What Are You Talking About They Wouldn't Get This Why Because Under The Old Covenant Direct Access To God Was Limited It Was Regulated Only For The High Priests Remember The Most Holy Place The Holy Of Holy Of Holies The Priests Would Only Go There Once A Year Just Once He Couldn't Go There Any Time Once A Year You Get In You Get Out But Now The Writer Of Hebrews Says Christians Followers Of Jesus Can Not Just Once Let Us Continue To Draw Near Approach Boldly Come In And Out And Stay In And Come Out And Stay In And Come Out And Stay In You Can Come Anytime It's Open To

[74:54] Us It's Open To Us Christians Can Continually Draw Near Directly And Confidently So Don't Just Come In You Come In With Confidence Or Boldly Not In Fear That He Will Condem You Should You Be Oh Yes You Should Be He Should Strike You Down I Probably Be The First One Yes But The King Is Full Of Grace Isn't He Can You Feel From The Passage God's Tender Compassion Can You Feel His Goodness And His Love For You Christian Can You Feel That This Is The Only Way Jesus Christ Is The Only Way You Can Make Sense Of The Fact That God Says The Lord The Lord The Compassion And Gracious God Slow To Anger And Abounding And Steadfast Love Forgiving

[75:54] Thousands How Does That Make Sense How Does He Do That How Can He Do That He Does It Through The Eternal Son Fully God Fully Man Who Came In Before The Presence Of God All The Time Laid Himself Down On Behalf Of Sinners Towards The Father The Father Was So Satisfied So Now The Father Opens It Up To Anyone My Son Has Taken Care Of The Work All The Conditions Were Met Now You Just Come Come Come With Confidence Come Boldly When We Come We Will Receive God's Mercy Because We Fail So Often And We Need God's Grace Because We're So Weak Right We Need God's Mercy For Past Failures I Said That Soon Earlier We

[76:55] Need God's Grace For Present And Future Work And His Mercy Is Unending It Continues It Pours Out Upon You That's Why He Says You May We May Receive Mercy And May Find Grace To Help To Help To Help Help At The Right Time Perfect Timing God's Grace Is Given At The Right Moment Excuse Me At The Right Hour For The Right Moment In The Right Amount When Trials Overwhelm Us When The Struggle Against Sin Seems To Be Bearing Down Upon You And You Are In Despair Our Help Comes From The Lord Himself As We Struggle Against Sin And Unbelief God Encourages

[77:55] Us To Hold Fast To Our Confession And Approach Boldly His Throne There You Find Mercy He Will Generously Give His Mercy And Have Grace Give You Grace To Help You So You Will Be Sustained Today And You Will Be Sustained In The Future John Piper's Book Future Grace That's What He's Talking About God's Grace Is For Us So We Can Continue On In The Future He Gives Us Mercy Because Of Those Past Failures And His Grace Comes For Us To Sustain Us In The Present And To Continue We Continue To Do His Work In The

[79:04] May Still Be Before You So What Do You Continue To Trust God And You Press On Hold Fast And Draw Near A few Moments We're Going To Take The Time To Think Tangibly In Tangible Ways About How We Can Put This Into Practice You Have A Specific Opportunity To Put This Into Practice To Remind Yourself And To Approach Boldly The Throne And To Receive His Mercy And To Be Reminded Of His Grace To Sustain You Now And For Future Service The Tangible Way Will Be In The Elements Partaking Of The Bread And Partaking Of The Juice Let Give You Some Instructions For This And

[80:05] We'll Do Some Other Things I'll Explain It To You In Just A Moment Instructions For The Lord's Supper This is For Believers If you're Not a Christian It's Not for You If you're Not a follower of Jesus You should Not be Partaking In In In And To To Also Fence To Table In Other Ways If You've Been You Might Not be A Member Of This Church But If You Come From A Church Of Light Faith And Practice And Been Baptized By Immersion You Can Partake Of The Elements As Well Something Else So Too You Might Be A Believer You Might Be A Christian Come From Church Light Faith And Practice What Have You But You Have A Conflict With Someone Another Believer Or Even A Non Christian And You Have Not Gone To Reconcile With Them Another Way That Offense The Table Is Don't Partake Of The Lord Supper Wait Go And Try To Reconcile With That Person If

[81:05] You Tried And It Didn't You Done What You Can Nothing Happened You Can't Force It But If You Haven't Tried If You Haven't Gone To Reconcile Then You Need To Go Reconcile First And Then The Next Time We Have The Lord's Supper Partaking With Us So What We're Going to Do Is Let You Have Some Time We Want To Think About The Passage We'll Do That We'll Have Our Time Of Giving Because Another Aspect Of Us Worshiping Is When We Give And I'll Give You Some More Time To Think And To Ponder To Proclaim The Gospel To Yourself And Then We'll Pass The Bread To Each Other At Some Point I Think There's A Song Somewhere In There But At This Point At This Time Ponder Think What we've Seen Here In God's Word In Hebrews 4 14 16 Take A Few Moments And Do That Vision

[82:27] Better Make Up In Thank you.

[83:24] Thank you.

[83:54] Thank you.

[84:24] Thank you.

[84:54] Thank you. Let's sing Jesus. Thank you.

[85:07] Stay seated for this. The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend.

[85:31] The agonies of Calvary. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, the perfect holy one who crushed your Son who drank the bitter cup reserved for me.

[85:53] Because your blood has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you I want your enemy Now seated at your table Jesus, thank you By your perfect sacrifice I've been brought here Your enemy, you've made your friend Pouring out the riches of your glorious grace

[87:00] Your mercy and your kindness will no end Because your blood has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you I want your enemy Now seated at your table Jesus, thank you Lover of my soul I want to live for you Oh lover of my soul

[88:02] I want to live for you By your perfect sacrifice I've been brought here Your enemy, you've made your friend Pouring out the riches of your glorious grace Your mercy and your kindness Your mercy and your kindness will no end Oh lover of my soul I want to live for you Oh lover of my soul

[89:02] I want to live for you For you For you Because your blood Has washed away my sin Has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you I want your enemy I want your enemy I want your enemy I want your enemy Now seated at your table Jesus, thank you Because your blood Has washed away my sin Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you The Father's wrath completely satisfied Jesus, thank you I want your enemy I want your enemy Now seated at your table Jesus, thank you

[90:02] Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Lord Jesus Lord Jesus Lord Jesus We at this time proclaim the gospel Preach the gospel Maybe for even some of us We're going to shout the gospel to ourselves to ourselves that we are unworthy your failures and sinners losers and yet we are praising you because you have called us to come and we hold fast this truth we hold fast this confession Jesus thank you the father's wrath satisfied Jesus thank you we once were your enemy but now we're your friend now seated at your table why oh why would you do this we're speechless and all we can say is Jesus thank you we hold fast this confession

[91:53] Jesus you are the Christ the God man you know exactly what it's like to be human and all the weaknesses that we face thank you for being faithful thank you for being merciful and so as we partake of this elements it will tangibly remind us of the gospel word the gospel truth that we as a church will hold central we will lay down our lives for this gospel word unite us in this gospel truth amen if you would come pass on the bread to us and as they are coming and pass on the bread continue to recite to yourself this confession of faith

[93:02] Jesus thank you for providing the perfect sacrifice for our sins let us yeah let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us let us Thank you.

[94:08] Thank you.

[94:38] Thank you.

[95:08] Thank you.

[95:38] Father, we come to you only through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

[95:55] This body which was given for us. We share this together. So people of God, let's eat together.

[96:08] You guys should pass out the juice to us too.

[96:31] That would be great. Just continue to take the time and recite the gospel to yourself.

[96:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[96:56] Thank you.

[97:26] Thank you.

[97:56] Thank you.

[98:26] Thank you.

[98:56] Thank you. By this, the love of God was manifested among us. That God has sent His one and only Son into the world so we might live through Him.

[99:09] And this is love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us. Sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We thank you, Father, for your love for us in Jesus Christ.

[99:28] And because of His shed blood, the life that He gave His sacrifice, you were pleased.

[99:38] The satisfying sacrifice, satisfying your wrath that should come against sin was poured upon your Son.

[99:50] And so we will take this juice to remind us that where we should be condemned, where we should be away from your presence, where we should be tossed aside, where we are rebellious sinners who should be sent to burning hell forever.

[100:20] Instead, you've given us grace, love. Your presence, love. Your presence, always with us.

[100:31] Because of Jesus, who He is and what He has done. Changing us, transforming us.

[100:42] Your grace. Thank you for your grace. Let's take the juice together.

[100:58] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And Father, it's our prayer as well. That this grace will transform us, that we will be a people who love you, and who show that love for you in the way that we respond and care and minister and serve one another.

[101:22] Continue to transform us. As you saved us by your grace, transform us by your grace. Amen. If you would, pass your cups to the middle aisles.

[101:36] Stack them, pass them. Stack them and pass them. Then, this good-looking guy will pick them up for you. The guy in the blue shirt.

[101:51] And, uh, last song, is it before the throne of God? Oh, yeah, there it is. So we'll stand and we'll sing this perfect song for, to end our time.

[102:04] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, let's stand.

[102:16] Let's sing. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[102:33] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.

[103:08] Thank you.

[103:38] Thank you.

[104:08] Thank you.

[104:38] Thank you.

[105:08] And we will draw near. We'll draw near today, tomorrow, this week. Over the coming weeks and months, we will continue to draw near, approach confidently to the throne of grace.

[105:20] You give us mercy. You give us grace. Timely help. Thank you for that. Thank you for the encouragement of the gospel we had together this morning. Amen.

[105:31] Change us and transform us by this gospel truth. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Bless you, Tim. Amen. Amen.

[105:53] Amen. Thank you.

[106:23] Thank you.