The Perfect and Permanent Prayer Warrior (Hebrews Sermon 29)

How would you feel, how valuable would it be to you, if the most renowned the most powerful prayer warrior on earth were a personal friend of yours and contacted you in some way, and said, “I want you to know that I’m going to be praying for no one but you, over the next week. I’m just going to be praying for you, I’m going to concentrate on you, I’m going to do nothing, I’m not going to eat, I’m not going to sleep, I’m not going to do anything but pray for you for a week.” You’d probably be worried wouldn’t you probably be anxious to say what is going to happen this week, that I need such prayer coverage. You might be tempted to do that, but at the same time, if you had any sense of the value and worth of spiritual things, you think it was a great blessing. That someone, a man or a woman who is such a renown prayer warrior would devote him or herself, fully to you in prayer.

I think about what I have been like to live back in the days of Martin Luther, during the early part of the 16th century, if he were such a one, if he were a personal friend of yours and said, “I’m going to give my full attention to praying for you this week.” How valuable would that be? Or if you lived in the days of David Brainerd, that great missionary to the Indians who was such a man of God, a man of vision, of scripture. If he were to tell you, “I am going to pray for you at that level. Give myself fully to praying for you on Tuesday I’m going to do nothing but pray for you.”

Or if it were George Muller, the man who saw 50,000 answer specific answers to prayer, to have George Muller be your personal intercessor, how valuable would that be for you? Within the last two years, I had the privilege of doing a funeral for Louise, and she was a woman of God, who gave herself to prayer for those that she knew and loved, people connected with the church. And I had the privilege of looking through her Bible and seeing physical evidence of the faithfulness and the detailed nature of her prayer ministry. I remember her daughter telling me with tears, “I think the thing I’m going to miss the most is just knowing that my mother is praying for us all.” And there’s so much of a value to that, but what I want you to do now is take these thoughts and lift them up to the heavenly realms, and I want you to know that you have a perfect prior warrior interceding continually for you already. You cannot be more prayed for, or more perfectly prayed for, than you already are.

Jesus, your great high priest, is at the right hand of God and is interceding for you And it doesn’t matter what your circumstances are, it doesn’t matter what you’re going through, does not matter how great the grief. You heard me just pray for Larry. Larry is completely covered in prayer, right now, in no way does that lessen our responsibility to pray for him, and minister to him, we should. But just know he’s prayed for, he’s completely covered in prayer, we talk about a prayer covering it’s there. And it does not matter how great the grief, it doesn’t matter what you’re going through, how great or how small it has been thoroughly analyzed, it’s been thoroughly assessed according to the plan of God, and it’s being thoroughly prayed for by Jesus. You may be going through a trial of a small nature maybe concerning your physical health, So small, you probably don’t even want to bother somebody with it, it’s being prayed for. It maybe greater than that, it maybe even life-threatening, it’s being completely prayed for by Jesus. Jesus is at the right hand of God and is praying for you.

You may be struggling, wrestling with sin, there may be a particular lust. Or habit, sin pattern that’s taken root in your habits over the last year or two, and it’s causing you great grief, it’s causing you great trouble, it is completely saturated in prayer if you are a redeemed child of God. If you are a child of God, you are as prayed for, as you could possibly be. You have a perfect prayer warrior, standing at the right hand of God, and it’s right in the text, that we’re looking at today is the focus of our attention. I’m giving myself fully to this one concept, into one verse really. Look at Hebrews 7:24-25, “Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. And therefore he is able to save completely or save to the utter most those who come to God through Him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” And what I’m going to say is this is exactly the kind of high priest that we need. Verse 26, “Such a high priest meets our need.” We have a need for this kind of prayer, and we’re going to talk about that, but I want our minds to be focused, as perhaps never before on the Intercessory Prayer Ministry of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

Now, let’s set this thing in context, the Book of Hebrews a magnificent work. Many Christians tend to underestimate it, until they start to study it, and if you’re spiritually minded and you start to see the glories of Jesus Christ just radiate out of the pages of the epistle it’s just a magnificent work, isn’t it? And the author is writing to people in a particular circumstance, a particular setting, they are Jews who had made some kind of outward profession of faith in Jesus Christ. But they were under pressure from their neighbors and co-workers and relatives, political leaders, religious leaders to forsake that confession of Christ to give up on Jesus, turn their backs on Jesus, trample Him under foot and come back to Old Covenant worship, to come back to the Levitical priesthood, to animal sacrifice, to the temple worship, to the synagogue system, to come back to what they have always known and give up on Jesus. And so the author is writing to them to plead with them, to write a word of exhortation, that they should not do this.

And his strategy is so glorious, it’s to present the glories of Jesus, the supremacy of Christ in every way that Jesus is superior in every way to every element of the old covenant. And now as the argument has moved ahead, we’re in Hebrews seven where he focuses in in a marvelous way on the priestly ministry of Jesus, Jesus as our high priest. The beginning of the chapter in the order of Melchizedek, we’ve understood something about this mysterious historical figure Melchizedek, who gives us a pattern of Jesus’ ministry, not based on a genealogy he is a priest, king, both a king and a priest together. Without beginning of days or end of life, a picture of Jesus. And so we now move on beyond considering Melchizedek, to understand how Jesus was established as great high priest, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever.

And so the author is showing the superiority of Christ priesthood, its superior in every way to that Levitical priesthood. We’ve been analyzing that and I’m not going to go into those details again. But Jesus is a superior high priest for many reasons, and he’s begun to hint and we’re going to get to this in the next chapter that with the change of the priesthood comes a change in the covenant. And we’re going to have a new covenant we’ll talk about that in the next chapter, but now we’re zeroing in on Jesus as a high priest and we’re focusing today on His intercessory work as high priest.

I. The Fact of Christ’s Intercession

And I want to begin by establishing the facts of Christ’s intercession. Look at verse 25. “He always lives to intercede for them.” Text says it very plainly, Jesus intercedes for us. The word intercede, and the Greek means to plead or beg someone’s case before someone in authority, someone who has a power to do something about it.

And so Jesus takes up our cause, he pleads our cause for us, he intercedes for us. Two other key texts in the Bible established this fact, the fact of Christ intercessory ministry we have it in Romans 8:3334 there it says, “Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies, who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died, more than that, was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us.” Now the context there in Romans 8 is of a court room. A sense of the judge, the holy judge and of an accuser. Who is there to accuse us and the sense presumably, Satan, I would think, and the sense is, what success could any of those accusations ever have? The work of redemption is so perfect, it’s so complete. They will have no traction with God, God himself is the one who has justified. How could anyone condemn us? Who would have the courage to stand before almighty God, when it is God who justifies.

“And more than that, Christ Jesus who died more than that was raised to life, he is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us.” So we have the intercessory ministry of Jesus, established there in Romans 8. We have it also in 1 John 2:1-2. Another key passage on this, there John writes, “My dear children. I write these things to you…” the things in the first chapter of First John, “I write these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father. One who speaks in our defense to the Father, Jesus the righteous one, and he is our propitiation and not only ours, but for the sins of the whole world…” Propitiation means one who shed His blood, gave Himself up to avert the wrath of God. And so there again, Jesus is our advocate, the context again, is of a people who are sinful, who could be open to accusation, open to a charge being laid to us, but we have an advocate with the Father, one who is pleading with the Father on our behalf. And so the fact of Jesus’ intercession is established.

II. The Recipient of Christ’s Intercession

Secondly the recipient of Christ’s intercession. Who receives Christ’s prayers? Well, who could it be but Almighty God, God is the right receiver of every prayer, the God of the universe, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every good and perfect gift comes and especially we should understand that the gifts necessary for our salvation, the gifts of grace are given by Almighty God, and so this meditation on the intercessory work of Christ on our behalf, should have the impact of making us radically God-centered. Because Jesus is radically God-centered. Every blessing comes from the Father. Everything that we need comes from God. Jesus is no independent source of blessings, he gets the blessings from the father and mediates them to us. And so God the Father is the recipient of Jesus’ requests on our behalf. Every grace needed to bring us close to God is given by Almighty God. So it has always been. Saving grace comes from God. Doesn’t it?

Regeneration, the taking out of the heart of stone and the giving of the heart of flesh that comes from God, God alone can do it. He’s the one that grants repentance, leading to life. God is the one who can grant repentance, it’s God that gives saving faith and it’s God that nourishes saving faith more on that later. But God is the giver of all of these things, it is God, who adopted us as His sons and daughters, it is God who sent forth the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the father inside us crying out, “Abba Father.” God is the source, the river of all of these things comes from God and Jesus knows it. And so he is intensely God-centered, and he goes to God for every blessing. Everything that we need comes from Almighty God, it says, in Psalm 145:16, “You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” And how much more then for us as believers. God opens his hand, and gives us the graces that we need. And so Jesus is radically God-centered in his intercessions Almighty God.

III. The Position of Christ as Intercessor

Thirdly, let’s look at the position of Christ as intercessor and I want to do this in two senses, first of all, who is he who intercedes for us? And secondly, where is He, as he does this intercession.

First of all, who is He? Well, from the very beginning, we have known that Jesus is God in the flesh, he is God the son, or the son of God, he is the radiance of God’s glory, he is the exact representation of His being, he is the one who sustains all things by His powerful word, this is who he is, he is God. The Son of God. He is perfect in every way, he has all power, it says he is able to save to the uttermost. He has power. He is filled with wisdom, he is omniscient, he knows every aspect of the Father’s plan, the Father and the Son together crafted the plan. The Father made the plan, the Son executes the plan. And so Jesus, our intercessor knows and understands the mind of God completely. He knows the plan, of God completely. He knows everything that God is intending to do, and he is holy. And he is pure, he is set apart from sinners holy and blameless in every way. That’s who is praying for us. The perfection of the person of Christ and the intimacy between the Father and the Son is foundational to our security here. The Father loves the Son, Jesus said and shows Him everything he does.

Think about the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James and John up on the mountain with Jesus, you remember how he went up with them. And suddenly, His clothes were transformed and they radiated with an unearthly light, a supernatural light, he was shining the glory of God, not the full glory, mind you, because God dwells in unapproachable light. And he wasn’t meaning to kill Peter, James and John, but to bless them. And so here is this radiant glory shining. And what an incredible moment that was on the sacred mountain as Peter wrote later, “We ourselves saw His glory on the sacred mountain.” And then a cloud came, a bright cloud it says, and a voice came from the cloud. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.” Oh, how magnificent is that? How magnificent is that? But what’s so amazing as I meditated on this is that the command that he gives to Peter, James, and John, listen to Jesus, he does Himself, he listens to His son all the time. He hears everything that the son says. He delights in every word that comes from the Son’s mouth. And so he is ready to listen to the son and so the position of Jesus in His God head, makes his intercession powerful and effective for us.

But also His position in his locality. Where is he? And again and again in the Book of Hebrews it’s established that Jesus is at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high. Says it right from the beginning in that same verse in Hebrews 1:3, “After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High.” There he is, at the right hand of God. At the end of that same chapter, Hebrews 1:13, God the Father says, “Sit at my right hand until I make all your enemies a footstool for your feet.” So there God the father invites them to sit right there. And three other times in the Book of Hebrews, we have the same teaching. We’re going to unfold it a little bit more in in Hebrews 8:1. But Jesus is there at the right hand of God. And what does that mean? It means he has complete access to omnipotence.

God the Father is ready to listen to Jesus and Jesus is right there. A position of honor and glory and access. He can get right to God. And God welcomes Him there. I think about Revelation 5, you remember when John in the spirit was there, in the heavenly realms, and there in the right hand of God, the one who sat on the throne, was a scroll sealed with seven seals, you remember? And a loud angel is calling out, “‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.” Remember how John said, “I wept and wept, because no one was found who was worthy.” And then the angel said, “Do not weep. Watch, watch what happens.” And then he saw the lion of the tribe of Judah coming who has triumphed and he looked and he saw it, and he looked as if he was a lamb who had been slain. The Lion and the Lamb, comes forward, boldly and takes from the right hand of God that scroll, which I think represents the title deed of the universe, it’s His, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me,” said Jesus in Matthew 28.

And he takes from the right hand, that scroll. And it’s interesting because later in the vision, he looks again and Jesus isn’t at the right hand of the throne he is standing at the center of the throne. So that’s kind of meant to trip the circuit breakers, is he at the right hand or is he at the center? Both. In some mysterious way. He is God, he has all power, but He’s at the right hand of God and he is interceding for us. And so the position of Christ our intercessor.

IV. The People for Whom Christ Intercedes

Fourthly, the people for whom Christ intercedes. Who is he praying for? Well look at the text, it says that he always lives to intercede for those who come to God through Him. So that’s who He’s praying for, He’s praying for those who come to God through Him. Now, what does that mean to come to God through Him? I think first and foremost, it means to believe in Jesus, “All that the Father gives me… “ Will what? “Come to me.” And so to come to Jesus is to come to Him in faith. To come to God is to come to Him in belief and in faith, trusting in Jesus, so He’s praying for them, the Bible, the fuller revelation of Scripture reveals that these are the elect, the chosen ones.

The very ones that we’re in Romans chapter 8, as we talked about, “Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?” These are the ones that Jesus prays for. He prays for the elect, and only the elect. Now, I don’t mean to shock you, by that, but it’s right there in John 17. He is praying for those whom the father had given me out of the world. “They were yours; and you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word…I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they were yours.” Well, there it’s very plain, who He’s praying for, isn’t it? He’s very clear about it.

So he prays for the elect, and I think he specifically prays for the elect who are in danger, who are alive and on Earth. I don’t want to push this too far, I don’t know that he needs to pray for those that are in glory, but I’m going to say at least this much is clear. He’s definitely praying for the elect who’re in danger here, on Earth, and He’s praying for the elect who have not yet come to faith in Christ, that they might come to faith and they will. We’ll get to success at the end. But I just couldn’t help and put that in. I’m just, This is all about success friends. This is all about the prosperity of Jesus’ prayers, he gets everything he asked for not 99% of it, he gets a 100% of what he asks for, but he also prays for the elect, who have come to faith, who are justified, but who are in danger. And I want to talk more about that danger in a minute, but I’m just being very clear about those for whom he is praying, he is praying for those who come to God through him.

And what do we mean by through him? Jesus is the door of the sheep he says in John chapter 10, In John 14:6 he says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is in Hebrews 10, that “new and living way” by which we come into the holy of holies. And so we come to God through him, these are his sheep, he knows them by name, I love that hymn, we sang, earlier, our names are graving on his hands, Written on his heart, he knows them by name, and he prays for them. And how powerfully does he display His love? he cannot forget them.

He will never forget them, And he ever lives to intercede for them. Those are the ones that he’s praying for the people for whom Christ intercedes.

V. The Basis of Christ’s Intercession

Fifth, what is the basis of His intercession for them? Again, I’m going to break this into two parts. His death and His life. This is the basis of Jesus intercession. It’s on this basis, that he stands before God, on our behalf. We are sinners, we are covered in sin. He, God is holy. On what basis then can he bring us near to God? And so, he comes as our high priest, on the basis of His death and His life and then this is the mystery and the beauty of Christ High priestly ministry.

There’s a sense of it that’s complete and perfect. Nothing can be added to it, it’s finished, forever. And there’s an aspect of it that’s ongoing in perpetual continual. And this is the glory of the priestly ministry for Jesus. I’ve thought about this much recently. And how In the words of Isaiah, it is too small a thing for you. There he was applying it to just being the savior of the Jews. That’s too small for you, Jesus. You must also be a light for the Gentiles, it may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. Well, I’m going to take the same mentality and say it’s too small a thing for Jesus to have a once for all finished ministry and that’s the end of his priestly ministry.

It is much to the glory of God that he continues to minister on our behalf, through his prayers and so it is glorious, and marvelous that he has both a completed and perfect aspect and a continual and needed aspect so that he is even more glorified as our high priest.

So it is on the basis of his death, first. And if you look at later in Hebrews 7, it talks about how Christ in verse 27, unlike the other high priest, he does not need to offer sacrifices, day after day, first for His own sins, then for the sins of the people, he sacrificed for their sins. And here’s this incredible phrase, once for all, and here’s what he offered when he offered himself and so there is the finished sacrifice of Jesus, His blood shed on the cross, once for all. God had prophesied, I will remove the sinners land in a single day.

And in that one day, once for all, Jesus shed His blood. Four times in the Book of Hebrews we have that expression. We’re going to unfold it more in the succeeding chapters twice in chapter 9, and then in chapter 12, it’s going to come again. So I don’t want to plunder that now, but just there’s a finished work, a once for all sacrifice. Jesus shed His blood and without the shedding of blood there’s no forgiveness. But Jesus shed His blood and that blood is shed, forever. Once for all, Jesus said, “It is finished.” And one translation could almost be it is perfect, there’s nothing that could be added to it. It’s finished, It’s done. And so he sat down at the right hand of God in that sense, the sense of the finished perfection of the work of Christ. Our sins are totally atoned for he is our propitiation, the wrath of God is averted, we are free, we will never be condemned for our sins. The blood has been shed. And on the basis of that finished work, he appears before God for us, That’s his death but he also appears on the basis of his life. It says in our text, he ever lives to intercede for us.

He cannot die. Death has no mastery over Him. He lives forever. And so, I think the home base of that concept here, in this verse, is, that he’s not going to stop doing this. Death can’t stop him, it can’t interrupt him, he can’t be doing very, very well. And then suddenly, tragically, he died and then the next high priest wasn’t quite as good. That will not happen. You have the best possible high priest, he is perfect and he will handle your case right to the end. So I think that’s right, I think that’s true Because Jesus can’t die, he won’t stop praying for you. And that’s enough, isn’t it? But I actually want to go a little further. I think that his life is also the basis of what he pleads. In effect like this, I live and therefore they must live.”

You see, that’s what I’m thinking. “Because I live, you also will live.” We are bound together with him now by faith. We died with him and now we live with him, and because he is alive and will be alive for ever more, we cannot die. And so therefore there’s just so much power in this meditation. Paul picks up on it in Romans 5:9-10, and there it says, “Since we have been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him. For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of his Son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life?” It’s a powerful argument. In effect an argument from the lesser to the greater, or I think I’m a little more accurately from the more surprising to the less surprising, it is more surprising for a dead Jesus to reconcile wretched sinners like us than it is for a living Jesus to finish our salvation now that we’re adopted children.

a lesser thing, that’s the argument of Romans 5:9-10. The greater work’s been done the lesser work still has to be done but it will be. You will be saved from God’s wrath through the living Savior. And so we had a dead Jesus on the cross sins atoned for. We now have a living Savior at the right hand of God and we will most certainly be saved from God’s wrath through him. How powerful is that? And also notice the link between the death and the life. Those for whom he died and these are those for whom he lives. There was a link between the two. He died for the elect only, he prays for the elect only. Those two go together. His intercessory prayer ministry and His shedding of blood is for the same group of people. He’s not sloppy about this, friends. He doesn’t die, her every single solitary one and pray for only some of them. That makes no sense to me.

And so these two are linked together and they’re linked in all the verses that I’ve quoted. They are linked together in that Romans 8 passage. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen. It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemn? Christ Jesus who died more than that, was raised to life. He’s at the right hand of God and he’s interceding for us.” His death and his life and his intercessory prayer ministry are together in a golden chain that can’t be broken. And I love that more than that. Oh, he died but more than that, he was raised to life. Isn’t it amazing how bold Scripture can be? Oh, more than just Jesus’ death, also he was raised to life. To me I always think of them together. The Cross and the empty tomb, they just go together. Absolutely they go together.

And on the basis of His death and His life, he intercedes for us. Same thing in 1 John 2, his intercessory prayer ministry linked to his propitiation. The two of them go together those for whom he died. He prays and out of that dear friends comes the success. We’ll get to that. I just have to keep mentioning The success, the success of Christ prayer ministry, he gets everything he asks for, and so that is the basis of Christ’s intercession. Are we on schedule? Probably not, doesn’t matter. Let’s just keep going.

VI. The Necessity of Christ’s Intercession

How about the necessity of Christ’s intercession? And here in we come to great mystery. Why is it necessary that Christ should pray for us? First at one level, Why does the father make the son ask? I may understand why he’d make me ask, I’ve got some growing to do. I need to trust God more, I need to be bolder, I need to be stronger, I need to care more. I’ve got lots of needs. And prayer is a powerful tool on me that as I pray I get heated up and care more. Jesus needs no such help, he’s fine, he’s perfect as a matter of fact. He doesn’t need to grow and develop in his prayer life. Why then does the father make the son ask? Is it that the son is a little off-message, he’s not always sure what to pray for? Absolutely not. He’s praying for the exact same thing the father yearns for. Why does the father make the son ask for what the father yearns to give? What a mystery. Moving on to the next part. It’s just a mystery, but perhaps part of it is for us to teach us to Pray, I don’t know. To teach us to be radically God-centered the way he is.

Remember before Lazarus’ tomb? John 11, Prays His prayer, take the stone away. So they take the stone away, and then he prays: “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I know that you always hear Me, but I pray for the benefit of those standing here that they may believe that you sent me.” So he has us in mind. And so that could be part of it. Beyond that you developed the mystery as you see fit. Another aspect of this mystery is in effect isn’t it saying somewhat that Christ’s work on the cross is insufficient? No, it’s not, but think of it. You could imagine someone could say What more could he do for us? Here, he became incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit, he lived a sinless life, he did all of these incredible miracles, he put God on display but more than that.

He went to the cross, on our behalf, and he was our substitute, all of our wickedness and our sin was taken off of us by faith put on Jesus, and he died in our place. But more than that, he was raised to life on the third day. More than that, he ascended to heaven, and the cloud hid Him from their sight. You could say, isn’t that enough that sounds like a perfect ministry to me. Couldn’t he at that point, say “I’ve done all of this, I now turn it over to you, finish your own salvation”? Oh, it’s unthinkable. And he says in John 14:18, concerning his leaving, “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” We are infinitely needy even now, even after all of these things that Jesus has done for us, we continue to be needy, we must have this intercessory prayer ministry, we must have it.

Right within the text. Look at it again, it says “because he lives forever, he is able to save completely…” Another translation gives us, “save to the uttermost.” The idea here is that our salvation is incomplete, we’re not done being saved. If you’ve been here any like the time you’ve heard me say that before, Our salvation comes to us in the stages, we don’t have it all now. If you are listening to me rather than in glory, then you can know your salvation isn’t finished yet. It comes in stages, justification, sanctification, glorification. And we are still here on Earth and we are in grave danger. And we must have an ongoing ministry by Jesus on our behalf, Or we will not finish this salvation race. Later in this book, we’re going to be urged to Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith and to run with endurance the race marked out before us, we’ve not yet entered our Sabbath rest, we are in danger from the world, the flesh, and the devil, we are in grave danger and we must have this prayer ministry, we must be saved, to the uttermost. We’re not done yet.

And to say to God, I’ll take it from here. It means you don’t really know yourself, you will not take it from here, not unaided you won’t. And you have got to have your great high priest, praying for you. You need this to be saved, to the uttermost saved completely to be saved to the end. And so, this must happen. Not all of the elect that are alive today are justified. Some of them are lost. They are the focal point of our evangelism and missions. We’re trying to go find them. Paul said That I suffer everything, I endure everything for the sake of the elect. So that they could obtain their salvation. But we who have already been justified, we are redeemed we have indwelling spirit, we are still in grave danger we have an enemy, the devil, who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. You have a personal enemy.

And even worse than that, you have an enemy within the walls, your own flesh, your restless seething lusts and flesh constantly pushing on you to forsake Christ and go toward wickedness. It’s just relentless, and you know what I’m talking about. Romans 7 describes it very plainly, “in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body…making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That’s your need for the Intercessory Prayer Ministry right there.

Romans 7. And then there’s that world constantly alluring you with it’s temptations? With money and power and privilege and prestige possessions and pleasures, alluring you all the time to turn your back on Jesus and follow the way of sin. You are needy, the necessity of Christ’s intercession.

VII. The Goal of Christ’s Intercession

What then is the goal of Christ intercession? Well, there are many things, there is ultimately the Glory of God, a special kind of glory of God, the glory of God in the salvation, the final salvation of all the elect, that’s the goal of the prayer ministry. Father, I want those whom you have given me, to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you gave me because you love me before the creation of the world.

That’s it. He wants all of the elect to see His glory. Do you want that? Do you want that? Do you want to see Jesus’ glory? Do you want to see him up on His throne in glory? Do you want to see him radiating? Do you want to be there in the new Jerusalem? Do you want to see a city radiating with the glory of God through Jesus? I yearn for that more than ever before. And you should yearn for it too. Jesus yearns for it. That’s why He’s praying for you, at a lesser level, though, but still very significant in order to make it there, you need to keep believing in Jesus. Let me say that again. You have to keep believing, you need to believe in Jesus if you’re alive 10 years from now you need to that day, you need to be believing in Jesus that day. So you have to keep trusting in Jesus, keep believing in Jesus, God set it up that way. And so your faith must not fail. And your faith is the focus of Satan’s attacks. I think he’s a free willer, I think he thinks he can get the elect to fall. So he’s going after them. Alright, he’s going after to see if he can get the elect to fall. And so he’s focus zeros in his attacks on your faith, so that you’ll stop believing in Jesus. What is Jesus’ answer?

Read about it in Luke 22:31-32, “Simon Simon, Satan has asked to sift you…” It’s plural, in the Greek to sift all of you “like wheat.” Friends, that sifting is still going on today, you are being sifted by Satan. Sifting you. Trying to see who is going to fall out, who is wheat and who is chaff. Sifting sifting sifting all the time. “Simon Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon… There he gets very personal. I prayed for you. He didn’t say I prayed for all. “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Oh, That is powerful and if you take nothing away from this sermon, it’s like Jesus is at the right hand of God and is praying for my faith that it won’t fail. That’s the point of the sermon. Well, and to add one more thing, And it won’t. How was that?

That is the whole point. It won’t, but it won’t because he is nourishing it. God the Father is sustaining it. He gave it to you to begin with, he is continually nourishing and supplying it and sustaining it, and that fire will not go out. In 10 years from now, if you’re still alive in this sin cursed world, you’ll still be believing in Jesus, if you genuinely believe in him today. And that’s the power of the intercessory ministry of Jesus, he is praying that your faith will not fail.

VIII. The Manner of Christ’s Intercession

And what is the manner of His intercession? Well, in Hebrews 5:7, it says, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth he offered prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

Well, that I believe, ultimately, at that moment is talking about Gethsemane in Gethsemane, He’s pouring out prayer, blood flowing down and runs face, crying out to the one who could save Him from death okay, he doesn’t pray like that anymore. He’s not praying to the one who could save from death. Death is past now. But I think we can take some elements from it. He is praying with knowledge, he’s praying according to the will of God. It says, in Romans 8:27, “The Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance to the will of God.” So, does the Son. The son Knows how to pray for us, He’s praying according to the plan of God and we know that if we ask anything according to His will, what he hears us and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.

Jesus knows exactly what the father wants to give and he prays with wisdom, with omniscience, with perfect knowledge, he prays for the elect. And he plays with passion. It’s not cold. You See him in Gethsemane to sweat like blood coming down his face and you get a sense of the intensity with what Jesus is praying for you, how much he loves you, how dear you are to Him, how precious you are to Him, there’s an intensity in his prayer life for you, a passion that’s how he prays.

IX. The Outcome of Christ’s Intercession

And what then is the outcome? Well, I already told you three or four times. Success prosperity Wealth and riches simply put every single thing he asked the Father for, he gets 100%. He never ask and miss. Of course, there’s mystery here, of course he lays out good works for you to do and you don’t do them. Of course, he doesn’t want you, to do the sins you’re doing and you do them.

Of course, that goes on. I’m just telling you, everything that the son asked the Father for he gets. And he is able to cause all things to work together for your final good, he knows how to pray for you. And so it could be your patterns of sin right now contrary to his will, bringing him shame and disgrace in some sense because his name is attached to yours, He’s praying for you specifically, about that and everything he asked for concerning that he will get. It might be your discipline. It might be the he’ll discipline you. Lay the rod on you until you give up the sin, whatever it takes, but he is praying wisely for you based on what you need at every moment and it’s just mind-boggling. Think about it.

Think about it. What are the daily needs, Spiritual needs of one Christian in this world? How much is going on in a 24-hour period. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years. Wow, one Christian is, it’s just overwhelming the needs of one Christian. Well, how many-elect people, you think there are on earth today? I have no idea. Tens of millions, Multiply that out, that is the brain of Jesus, that is the mind of the Lord and of the father. They are in perfect sync with each other. The son thinking in detail about you and about all of your brothers and sisters in Christ powerful. And he gets everything and in the end, what’s going to happen?

All of those that the Father gave him will be with him and will see His glory in heaven. They’ll all be there, none of them will be missing, he will not lose one of them, he will pray you up into heaven, having already died for you, he will pray you up into heaven until you’re finally there. “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'” Close with me in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Introduction: The comfort of having a mighty prayer warrior on your side

Few of us have ever been in grave physical danger, trying to escape from an enemy that was hunting you down and seeking to kill you… but if you were trying to escape from a prison camp during the Vietnam War and had the luxury of having an expert jungle warrior to lead you out and keep you safe, how would that give you confidence?

How much more should we Christians yearn to have a PRAYER WARRIOR plead our cause?? And if you thought this would be valuable, who would you choose?

Throughout church history, there have been astonishing men and women of prayer, whose faithfulness and perseverance and faith in prayer have been mightily used by God to bless the people around them

How would you feel if Martin Luther devoted himself to praying for you every day, two hours a day for a full year? This is a man whose faithfulness in prayer was astonishing and whom God used to bring about an awesome Reformation of a whole continent

Or what if John Hyde came forward and volunteered to give himself fully to praying for you three hours every day for a full year? Covering your life… everything you were facing in life… all your weakness, your temptations, your ministry opportunities, your family circumstances, your health, your bible reading, your job situation… etc. Totally saturated in prayer by one of the most amazing prayer warriors in history

Suppose it were George Mueller, who had recorded over 50,000 specific answers to prayer in his life?

Or what if it were [FEMALE EXAMPLE]

Some people would just like to have their godly mother or father alive again and praying faithfully for them… I remember looking with awe at the physical evidence of Louise Ferrell’s incredibly detailed intercessory prayer life… and a relative said to me, “What is irreplaceable is the sense of knowing that she was praying DAILY for us”

BUT dear friends, the amazing truth of Hebrews 7 is that you are COMPLETELY PRAYED FOR by the greatest prayer warrior in the universe… Jesus, your Great High Priest!! Hebrews 7:25 speaks openly and plainly of this intercessory ministry

Context:

·        The superiority of Christ’s priesthood to the Levitical priesthood

·        Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension to heaven has ended forever the Old Covenant

·        First century Jewish Christians have to come to grips with the fact that their religion has been changed forever… that Judaism is OBSOLETE

·        They were being persecuted and were being tempted to go back to their old lives in Judaism

·        The Author establishes in many ways the supremacy of Jesus Christ… because to go back would be to FORSAKE CHRIST

·        In Hebrews 7, the Author is specifically showing that Christ is a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, and that priesthood is SUPERIOR to the Levitical priesthood

■         Melchizedek was a PRIEST-KING… King of righteousness, King of Peace… the Old Covenant had no power to make a sinner righteous or to give his conscience peace in the face of a Holy God

■         Melchizedek was greater than Abraham, because Melchizedek BLESSED Abraham and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything

■         Levi paid the tithe through Abraham

■         The Levitical priesthood had no power to make anything perfect

■         Neither could the Mosaic Covenant… which God established at the same time as the Levitical priesthood… the Mosaic Covenant AND the Levitical priesthood were completely linked together

■         Now that Jesus has come, a priest-king perfectly fulfilling this picture of Psalm 110:4, the OLD MUST PASS AWAY

■         We have now a BETTER HOPE by which we draw near to God

■         Jesus has been established as our High Priest by the command and OATH of God: “The Lord has SWORN and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever…’”

■         Jesus’ ministry as our great High Priest is thus established forever, and it superior in every way

■         There were MANY of those Levitical priests… they were sinners who had to offer sacrifice for their own sins, and they were mortal… they died and could not continue their priestly ministry

Hebrews 7:24-25 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

This is the focus of our study today… the astonishing power of the intercessory ministry of our Great High Priest, Jesus Christ… this is exactly what we need:

Hebrews 7:26 Such a high priest meets our need– one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

It doesn’t matter what you are facing today

You may be discouraged because of some besetting sin… some lust or failing or habit or weakness that is crushing you, oppressing you, weighing your conscience down with pollution: JESUS IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD AND IS PRAYING FOR YOU

You may be anxious about your future… your job may be tenuous or you may be unemployed or you may be graduating from college and uncertain about what is to come: JESUS IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD AND IS PRAYING FOR YOU

You may be afflicted with a chronic illness… agonizing back pain, a cancer diagnosis facing a difficult course of treatment—surgery or radiation or chemo—and you are dreading the pain and suffering; or this may all be true of your spouse or your parents or your children: JESUS IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD AND IS PRAYING FOR YOU

On the other hand, you may be flourishing and successful, thriving in your job or business or academic life… all may be right with the world in your eyes and you’ve never been happier… your only concern is about the future… will it continue? Will you still have all that you cherish a year from now? Will your success corrupt you? What is Satan cooking up against you? No matter what your circumstances, JESUS IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD AND IS PRAYING FOR YOU

My goal is simple: to unfold the intercessory ministry of Jesus with such clarity and power that you will be overwhelmed with joy, peace, security, and confidence… that you may rest completely BY FAITH in the work of Jesus, your Perfect High Priest

I.   The Fact of Christ’s Intercession

A.  Christ is Here Said to Intercede, and to Do It Constantly

Hebrews 7:25 he always lives to intercede for them.

B.  What is “Intercession”?

1.  Greek: to approach, appeal, plead or beg a cause concerning another person

2.  The sense is to take up the cause for someone, to plead for their cause with one in authority

3.  When it comes to God, the word means to PRAY for them… to take their cause before God and plead for it in His presence

4.  Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus constantly lives to INTERCEDE for us, to take our needs, our concerns, our causes, our conditions into the throne room of grace and plead for them

C.  Other Passages Teach the Same

1.  Romans 8:33-34

Romans 8:33-34 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died– more than that, who was raised to life– is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

a.  The context there is of the Judgment Seat of God

b.  The possibility of a CHARGE being brought against God’s elect… those whom God has justified

c.  Christ Jesus is stated to have died, was raised to life, and is now at the right hand of God INTERCEDING for us

d.  So any charge that the accuser—presumably Satan—makes against us concerning our sins, Jesus intercedes for us concerning His atonement

2.  1 John 2:1-2

1 John 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense– Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

a.  Again, the image is one of a sinful people who could be accused before God

b.  Even as justified people, with the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the powerful word of God, we still sin… everything God has done for us was to make us pure from sin; John wrote the Scripture so that we WOULD NOT SIN…

c.  but if we DO SIN, we have an ADVOCATE, parakletos in the Greek

someone summoned, called to one’s side, esp. called to one’s aid 1a) one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate 1b) one who pleads another’s cause with one, an intercessor

d.  He is identified plainly: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One

3.  So, the intercessory work of Jesus Christ is plainly taught in Scripture… it is a significant theme

II.   The Recipient of Christ’s Intercession

Simply put, TO WHOM does Jesus Christ make His intercession?

Hebrews 7:24-25 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

A.  Almighty God is the Right Recipient of All Prayers

1.  God is the all-powerful ruler of the universe

2.  The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the One to whom any prayer must be made

B.  God is the Giver of Every Gift of Grace

1.  Every grace we have ever received in life comes to us from God… nothing is ours except by His grace and mercy

2.  This is especially noted in the Scripture concerning our SALVATION

3.  Every grace that brings us close to God comes from God and from no other source

a.  Repentance is a salvation grace, given only as God grants it

b.  Faith is a salvation grace, given only as God grants it

c.  The indwelling Spirit

d.  Adoption as Sons

e.  Perseverance in the Christian life is a salvation grace

Hebrews 6:1 … let us leave the elementary things… and go on to maturity Hebrews 6:3 … and God permitting, we will do so

f.  God bestows all of these things from His loving hand

Psalm 145:16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

4.  Jesus goes to His heavenly Father on our behalf because He alone can give the salvation graces that we need

C.  God is Ready to Hear Prayer, If…

1.  The person be in right relation to Him

2.  The person prays according to His will

Out God is a PRAYER HEARING God:

Deuteronomy 4:7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

But those prayer must be from a godly heart asking for things according to His will

Isaiah 59:1-2 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us-– whatever we ask– we know that we have what we asked of him.

D.  How True this is of Jesus!!! Perfect holiness combined with perfect conformity to His Father’s will

E.  Application

1.  Right Meditation on This Teaches Us the Centrality and Sovereignty of God

2.  The Essence of Sin is Rebellion and Independence… Jesus Submitted and Expressed Perfect God-centered Dependence

3.  Jesus’ ongoing intercessory prayer ministry for us should teach us how totally dependent on God we are every single moment of our lives

4.  This should also teach us to pray more consistently

III.   The Position of Christ as Intercessor
A.  Who He Is in Himself

1.  God the Son… the creator and sustainer of the universe

Matthew 17:5 a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

2.  Thus He has all POWER to achieve anything He wills

Hebrews 7:25  he is able to save completely those who come to God through him

This verse speaks of Christ’s POWER… His ABILITY

When Saul was first proclaimied King over Israel, some troublemakers asked the sarcastic question,

1 Samuel 10:27 “How can this fellow save us?” And they despised him and brought him no gifts

But Jesus is ABLE to save us… and to save us to the uttermost

3.  Perfect and Holy

Hebrews 7:26… holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

4.  Wise, Knowing the Will of God

Isaiah 53:10 … the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

Before the foundation of the world, God the Father worked out a perfect salvation plan

Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will

God the Son perfectly executes that plan

5.  Zealous for the Glory of His Father

John 12:27-28 “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

6.  Loving, Yearning for the Blessing of God’s People

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

B.  Where He Is in Relation to God

1.  At the right hand of the throne

a.  Four times in Hebrews

Hebrews 1:3 After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Hebrews 1:13 God [said to Him] “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

Hebrews 8:1 We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven

Hebrews 10:12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

b.  When Stephen died

Acts 7:55-56 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

2.  Immediate, constant, and perfect access to God’s face

3.  Amazingly, the Book of Revelation ALSO has Jesus receiving from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne the scroll… but also depicts Jesus STANDING IN THE CENTER of the throne:

Revelation 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne

C.  Applications

1.  Our great High Priest has perfect constant access to the throne of Almighty God

2.  He is deeply beloved of the Father and can speak to Him any time about anything

3.  We should have the highest level of confidence knowing this is the One who is constantly interceding for us

IV.   The People for Whom Christ Intercedes

Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

A.  People Who Come to God Through Him

1.  To come to God means

a.  To believe in Him

b.  To draw near to Him for worship and service

c.  It speaks of our reconciled relationship through Jesus

d.  We were distant… far off… aliens and strangers… rebels under the wrath and curse of God

e.  Now we have COME NEAR TO GOD

2.  “Through Him” = through Jesus

a.  There is no other way to draw near to God except by Jesus

John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

b.  Jesus is the “new and living way” into the presence of God

Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God

3.  Thus Jesus is interceding for HIS OWN, for His flock, His sheep, His people who are drawing near to God through Him

B.  The Elect: Chosen from the Foundation of the World

C.  Sinners: Consistently Transgressing God’s Laws

1.  These are clearly portrayed to be sinners needing to be cleansed of sin

2.  That is why Jesus must constantly be praying for them

3.  Our hearts are divided, wandering after lusts, dissatisfied with the things of God

Romans 7:21-25 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God– through Jesus Christ our Lord!

4.  Jesus wants our final salvation infinitely more than we do!!!

V.   The Basis of Christ’s Intercession
Christ is Pleading for Sinners to Be Saved… on what BASIS can He make the acceptable to a holy God??

A.  Blood: the Perfect Sacrifice of Himself on the Cross

1.  The priestly ministry of Jesus has two distinct parts

2.  One of them is perfected NOW, already complete… nothing can be added to it

3.  Jesus shed His blood “once for all time” on the cross… four times Hebrews uses this phrase “ONCE FOR ALL”

Hebrews 7:27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

Hebrews 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:26 … But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

4.  This sacrifice of Himself, by His own blood, has made PURIFICATION FOR SINS

5.  Thus the intercessory ministry of Jesus is CONSTANTLY LINKED to the blood He shed on the cross

Romans 8:33-34 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died– more than that, who was raised to life– is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

6.  So, one aspect of Jesus’ High Priestly ministry is completed once for all, perfect, nothing to be done, nothing to be added

7.  BUT… the second aspect of Jesus’ priestly ministry is CONTINUAL, ongoing, and that is His intercession for us

8.  The basis of that second is not His death but His LIFE

B.  Life: The Power of an Indestructible Life

Hebrews 7:24-25 because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

1.  Jesus’ eternal priesthood is linked to His resurrection…

2.  Unlike the Levitical priests who die and that ends their ministry, Jesus lives forever and His ministry will never end

3.  Hebrews 7 speaks of the power of an indestructible life as the BASIS of His ministry

Hebrews 7:16 one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.

4.  So also Romans 5 speaks of the ministry of an ever-living Savior as proof of our final salvation

Romans 5:9-10 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Logic: if a dead, blood Jesus justifies us when we were God’s enemies, how much more will a resurrected, glorified, LIVING and INTERCEDING Jesus save us to the uttermost… saved from God’s wrath through Jesus’ life.

5.  The same logic is used in Romans 8…

Romans 8:33-34 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died– more than that, who was raised to life– is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

This is an ASTONISHING STATEMENT!! Jesus who died… MORE THAN THAT… more than that He merely died on the cross… the real power is that He was raised to life and is at the right hand of God interceding for us!!!

Jesus’ LIFE is the basis for His powerful ongoing priestly ministry for us

6.  There is an unspeakable power of a living advocate, who stands in front of you and makes a personal appeal

a.  The persistent widow stood in front of the unjust judge and pled for justice and the Judge heard her

b.  Jairus came and pled to Jesus for his dying daughter

c.  The father of the demon possessed boy in Matthew 17 begged Jesus to heal his son…

d.  How powerful then is it for us to have an eternally LIVING Jesus standing on our behalf before His Father’s face

VI.   The Necessity of Christ’s Intercession

A.  Why Is Christ’s Prayer Even Needed? Isn’t His Blood Sufficient?

1.  Look at all that He had already given us!!

2.  Some could think

a.  Jesus has declared the name of God to us, and revealed the whole counsel of God’s will to us, AND…

b.  Jesus has given us a demonstration of a life of perfect holiness lived under the Law of God, AND…

c.  Jesus has perfectly fulfilled all righteousness by dying on the cross in our place, having completely atoned for all our sins, AND…

d.  Jesus has been resurrected from the dead, demonstrating forever His power over death and powerfully proving His claim to be the Son of God,

AND…

e.  Jesus has ascended to the heavens until a cloud hid Him

f.  NOW He has completely given us everything we need for us to finish the salvation journey ourselves… He can now leave us alone to finish the job

3.  But this was UNTHINKABLE to Jesus!!!

John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

4.  For Jesus to leave His church alone in the world would be to throw us to the most subtle, ferocious wolves to be totally devoured without remedy

5.  Jesus knew that He must continue to exercise an ongoing ministry on our behalf or we would never complete our treacherous salvation journey

B.  Jesus Must “Save to the Uttermost” His Church

ESV Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

1.  This Greek phrase can either mean “save forever” or “save completely”

2.  I think BOTH are viable… but I lean toward “save completely”…

3.  The sense here is that we Christians are still in danger… and that our salvation is not yet perfect and complete

C.  Key Text: Luke 22:31-32

Luke 22:31-32 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

1.  Satan has demanded to sift the entire church like wheat

2.  The goal: to cause the elect to stop believing in Christ, that their faith would fail

3.  Christ’s remedy: prayer to the Father for Simon’s faith

4.  Lessons: the church is in constant need of Christ’s intercession

D.  Fact: Not All the Elect Have Come to Christ

Therefore, the Great High Priest has to pray to the Father to draw them to Himself

Jesus has asked the Father for the nations

Psalm 2:8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.

Jesus tells us to pray for laborers for the harvest field

E.  Fact: Of Those Who Have, Our Salvation is Incomplete

1.  As we’ve just seen, we have to be “saved to the uttermost”

2.  We have to keep running this race with endurance right to the end

F.  Fact: God Alone Can Supply What is Needed

1.  God alone can keep our faith strong through the many dangers, toils and snares that we must endure to make it through this world

2.  God alone GAVE US OUR FAITH to begin with, and He alone can SUSTAIN IT to the end

G.  Fact: Christians on Earth are in Grave Danger

1.  Satan is likened to a prowling, roaring lion seeking someone to devour… He is portrayed as the “god of this age” whose subtle schemes are all designed to destroy the faith of people

2.  Our own lusts wage war against our souls every moment of the day; they threaten to pull us from Christ at every moment

3.  The world’s alluring program of lusts and temptations, of power, pleasure, possessions, pride is overpowering

4.  We need Christ to filter our temptations… to keep Satan on a tight leash, to convict us powerfully of indwelling sin so we stay humble and close to Christ

H.  Fact: We Continue to Sin… by Omission and Commission

1.  Commission: Every single day, we violate our consciences by willfully doing something God has forbidden

Romans 14:23… everything that does not come from faith is sin.

2.  Omission: Every single hour, we fail to do something that God has led us to do… some good work that God orchestrated for us to do… some prayer prayed, some word of encouragement spoken, some evangelistic opportunity capitalized on, some money given to the poor and needy

James 4:17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

3.  ALL OF THIS RIVER OF SINS needs ongoing intercession by our Great High Priest

I.  Fact: All of these Things Can Be Remedied by Prayer… but No One Prays as Needed

1.  Though we Christians are commanded to pray, and though many promises are connected with our prayers, though we have plenty of opportunities to pray, and though we have many incentives to pray and though the Holy Spirit moves us to pray… we are actually MISERABLY WOEFULLY INADEQUATE as a line of prayer defense for the church of Christ

2.  No human being prays as often as he should, as according to the revealed will of God as he should, as passionately as he should…

3.  We NEED A PRAYER WARRIOR who will completely cover the church in prayer… and Jesus is that one!!

J.  Therefore, We Are Constantly “Standing in the Need of Prayer” by our Mediator

VII.   The Goal of Christ’s Intercession

A.  That God May be Glorified AND

B.  That All the Elect be “Saved Completely”

John 17:24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

C.  Focus: Faith in Christ

Luke 22:32 I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.

D.  Protection from Temptation

Hebrews 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted

E.  Help in Times of Weakness

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

VIII.   The Manner of Christ’s Intercession

A.  Piety: Zeal for the Glory of God

John 12: Father, glorify your name! Matthew 6: Father, hallowed be your name!

B.  Holiness: Purity from all evil

Hebrews 7:26 Such a high priest meets our need– one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

C.  Passion: “Loud cries and tears”

Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Now that kind of praying is no longer needed from Jesus now that He is in glory at the right hand of the Father… no need for LOUD CRIES and TEARS… but there is no lessening of passion

D.  Wisdom: According to the Will of God

Romans 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

If the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, so also does the Son

E.  Love: Deep desire for the final salvation of the elect

F.  Perseverance: He ALWAYS lives to intercede for us

1.  Jesus will never grow weary, or be inattentive

2.  Nothing slips through the cracks

3.  Everything that

IX.   The Outcome of Christ’s Intercession

A.  Success! He Gets Everything He Asks for!!

B.  God Completely Glorified

C.  All the Elect “Saved to the Uttermost”

X.   How We Should Respond to Christ’s Intercession

A.  Repentance and Faith: Come to the Father Through Him

B.  Security: Know for Certain That Your Salvation is Secure

C.  Dependence: Grow in a Healthy, Total, God-Centered Dependence

D.  Imitation: Join Christ in His Prayer Ministry

1.  Prayer “in Jesus’ name” = joining Jesus in His prayer ministry

E.  Fruitfulness: Live Up to What Christ is Praying for

1.  Christ is praying for you to be holy… then be holy!!

2.  Christ is praying for your faith not to fail… then FEED your faith by the word of God

3.  Christ is praying for your to produce fruit, fruit that will last… then BE FRUITFUL spiritually… use your spiritual gifts to grow the church, use the gospel message to reach out to a lost world

4.  Christ is praying for the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into His harvest field… then be a laborer in His harvest field