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Andrew Fountain –
In what ways does a kitten depend totally on it’s mother?
In the Old Testament they had priests.
Leviticus 16:2-6, 13-16
continue
The was the “Day of Atonement”, once a year
Atonement means paying the price to take away guilt
Once a year. If he didn’t take all the precautions, he would die
Not because God is vindictive, but because it was so dangerous—like walking through a room of high-voltage electricity
His two sons were careless and the power zapped them and they died instantly
But even all this did not actually cleanse them
It was just a picture of the real sacrifice
If they did it faithfully, God counted it as trust in Jesus
Hebrews 10:1-4
For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.
For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin?
But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.
For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.
But there was another role the priests had:
Two Roles of O.T. Priests:
Animal sacrifices for sin
Incense offered as a symbol of prayer
When we think of Jesus being a priest for us, we usually think of his great work on the cross
But today we are going to talk about his work now
Actually, he provides for all our needs (just like the mother cat and the kittens)
Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.
Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.
Note the phrase: let us confidently approach the throne of grace
=Prayer
What might stop us being confident in our prayers ??
Not confidence because:
Our sin and failure
Feel God does not really care
Feel God is angry
Our prayers sound foolish
Not important enough to bother God with
Three points:
Problem of Sin and Failure
How Jesus helps us to pray
His sympathy with our struggles
1. Sin and Failure
We sin again...
But this is the 100’th time with this sin
and 100 times we have asked forgiveness
Feel too guilty to ask again
How does this teaching help us?
The other day I was out for lunch at a restaurant
I had a black shirt on, and I suddely noticed a problem
I had been cuddling Timothy earlier, and it was covered with cat-hair!
Even worse: buisness meeting / laptop bag / “Do you have a cat?”
But on the other hand, what if it wasn’t a restaurant or business meeting, but the dry-cleaner’s...
Is there anyone here who has ever taken a dirty item of clothing to the dry cleaner’s?
Suppose xxxx showed you a coat with an oil-stain on it, and you said to him “You should take that to the dry-cleaner’s—I’m sure they could clean it”
can you imagine him saying “I’d be too embarrassed to show up at the cleaners with a dirty coat!”
No! This is the place for stained clothes—that is what they are there for!
Leviticus 5:5-9
when an individual becomes guilty with regard to one of these things he must confess how he has sinned,
and he must bring his penalty for guilt to the LORD for his sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, whether a female sheep or a female goat, for a sin offering. So the priest will make atonement on his behalf for his sin.
…
Then he must sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar, and the remainder of the blood must be squeezed out at the base of the altar—it is a sin offering.
I want you to imagine the scene!
There is the priest, standing by the altar
Dressed in white
Lineup of people, all with their sheep or goats
Why are they there? —because they have sinned, and this is excatly the place to come
There is only one qualification for being in that lineup —what is it ??
When we sin, there is one place to go where we should not be fearful
Just like that priest was waiting for the people in line, Jesus is waiting for us
Sin is not good, we are not happy about it, but it should not keep us from God
1 John 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 One,
So: Never let your sin keep you from coming to God in prayer
because that is the very place you should go when you sin.
Part 2: How Jesus helps us pray
Romans 8:34-35, 26
Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
The Spirit helps as well:
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.
What does interceed mean?
I once had a disagreement with someone based on a misunderstanding
I was talking to a mutual friend about it, and he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him about it for you”
With his help, the problem was quickly resolved
Sometimes we feel our prayers are very pathetic
We just don’t know what to say
Jesus (and the Spirit) take our pathetic prayers and make them effective
So never let your lack of ability to pray stop you praying—Jesus sees your heart!
Luke 22:31-32
Jesus prays for Peter:
“Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat,
but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Jesus is praying for us!
Review of three points:
Problem of Sin and Failure
How Jesus helps us to pray
His sympathy with our struggles
3. His Sympathy
I don’t know if any of you suffer from ingrown toenails?
If you do, then let me tell you, I can sympathize with you!
When you pray to God, how do you visualize him?
vaguely friendly old man?
terrifying monster?
This is very important—we have to have some conception of the person we are praying to
Some people pray to a picture of Jesus, which God doesn’t seem to like us doing at all, because it’s not him!
Worse, some people have a model of Jesus hanging on a cross—but he’s not there anymore!
The reason God doesn’t like these is because he has given us a much better way!
Jesus came purposefully to give us a mental picture of God
Stories of his life are the best picture to fill our minds with
What stories can you think of that could help us form a picture?
Pictures of God:
Speaking to the woman at the well
Compassion on the hungry crowds
Weeping over Jerusalem who rejected him
stopping for blind beggars
Weeping a Lazarus’ death as he saw people’s grief
Angry with the hypocrites
Tempted like us
Of course this is mostly just one side
But he really was tempted. He was single. He must have been very lonely at times.
The verses we had earlier:
Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.
Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.
Summary:
He provides a place to go when we sin—a place of forgiveness
He makes our prayers perfect and prays them on our behalf
He is the most sympathetic person we could ever know
“Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”