If today were Christmas Eve there
would be a certain something in the air, a bit of anticipation. The same would
be true if today were Easter, though maybe not quite as strong. But that's
about all the notice that many Christians these days give to the church
calendar. But what is the birth of Jesus and His resurrection without what
happened on Good Friday, at Jesus' ascension into heaven and on Pentecost?
Leave out any of these other events and you're ignoring something that the
Father sent Jesus to accomplish. You’re leaving out a key part of the Gospel. There
is no coming of the Spirit without Jesus ascending to the right hand of the
Father. And there would be no ascension without a resurrection. But there would
be no resurrection without an atoning death. And there would be no death if
there had never been a birth. The work of Jesus is all of these things. So,
while it is obvious to celebrate Christmas and Easter, it should also be
obvious to celebrate Good Friday, Ascension Sunday and Pentecost. We need to
celebrate all of what Jesus has come to do as our Savior.
Now, I said all of that because today
is Ascension Sunday. So, we're going to take a break from our journey through
Romans to spend a little time considering something that we confess quite
regularly: 'He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the
Father Almighty…' We’re going to look at the ascension of Jesus to heaven.
And how shall we consider this? What
if I ask this question? Now that Jesus has ascended to the right hand of the Father,
what is He doing? If His ascension is such a big deal, He must be doing
something important. What is it? I'm going to answer that question, partially
answer that question, using something from Hebrews. The author of this letter
has been reflecting on Jesus' ministry as our high priest in heaven. Listen to
one conclusion that he makes.
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. Hebrews 7.25
This morning we're going to meditate
on this sentence, and we'll do that by looking at three phrases that make it
up.
Here's the first phrase: 'he is able
to save to the uttermost'. Now, just to be clear, 'to the uttermost' means
'completely'. So, according to this phrase, Jesus is able to save you completely.
There are quite a few implications
from this that someone could pursue. Here's one. You're not yet completely
saved.
Here, let me remind you of the tenses
of 'saved'.
You were saved, past tense. Something
happened in your past. The Spirit did His mysterious work in you so that you
were born again. At that point, you became God's child and were given new life.
You were saved.
You will be saved, future tense. When
Jesus returns everything gets fixed. There will be a new heavens and a new
earth. And everyone will be resurrected, that is, everyone will be given a
renewed body, one that works perfectly. You will enjoy the presence of God in
that new heavens and new earth with those wonderful bodies. It will be like the
Garden of Eden, except better. You will be saved.
Now, back to my point. You're not yet
completely saved. So, what remains? Well, for one thing, your sin remains. You
still sin. And remember, that's not just about your actions. Sin is also
expressed in your thoughts and in your desires. You sin, and you do that a lot.
But this is where you return to that
sentence in Hebrews.
…he
is able to save to the uttermost…
Jesus is quite busy, even now, saving
you. Let that percolate a bit. Jesus is, right now, saving you. That should
make you very happy. Think about how you sin. Doesn't that just frustrate you?
And so often, it's the same old sin. But little by little, Jesus is dealing
with it. He is in the process of removing every last bit of sin from your life
until He saves you from it, to the uttermost. And thanks be to God for that!
So, hold on to that note of hope. Jesus is still saving you, especially the
next time it feels like your sin is winning.
However, I need to remind you that
while Jesus is the one who does the actual saving, there is something that you
need to do. You need to believe the Gospel. Behind all of our sin, whether
we're talking about sinful acts or sinful thoughts or sinful desires - behind
it all is the sin of unbelief. All too often, in some particular moment, we
choose to believe the gospel of some false god. What is that, in that moment,
but unbelief in the Gospel of Jesus.
We all have much sin in us, most of
which is hidden from us. We need the Spirit to do His work of pointing it out
to us so that we can repent of it and believe the Gospel instead. That is how
Jesus will save us to the uttermost.
So, let me suggest again a prayer that
fits here.
Search
me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be
any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalms 139.23-24
I would encourage you to pray that, or
something like that, quite regularly. It's part of my daily prayers. Ask God to
reveal to you your sin so that you can repent of it and believe the Gospel.
That is how Jesus will save you to the uttermost.
On to the next phrase.
…he
always lives to make intercession…
First, a definition of 'intercession'.
It refers to a situation where someone is acting as a go-between, a mediator,
for two others. In our sentence, it's about Jesus as our mediator, the one who
stands between us and the Father.
Now, what is He doing in this role?
Something John wrote fits here.
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. He is the propitiation for our sins… 1 John 2.1-2
Notice the pastoral balance in John's
words. He calls the saints to holiness. 'Don't sin!' Pursuing holiness lies at
the heart of being one of God's children. But John doesn't want to overwhelm
any of those saints. So, he reminds them of Jesus, their advocate with the
Father. And that is what Hebrews is talking about when it uses the word
'intercession'. Jesus is our mediator, our advocate, interceding for us with
the Father. And we really need Jesus to do this interceding because we still
sin.
So, how does this intercession work?
This is where John's word 'propitiation' comes in. This is an important word.
It's a response to the Father's call for justice. Your sin is a great offense
against God. He has made it so very clear that a just consequence is required.
Remember the words of the prophet.
…the
soul that sins, it shall die. Ezekiel 18.4
Think about some sin of yours from the
last week. It doesn't matter what it was. A just consequence is required. You
should die for what you did, what you thought or even just what you desired.
You sinned. You should die. And remember we're talking about hell, eternal
dying.
But Jesus intercedes for us. You can
picture it like this. You sin. Justice sees that sin and speaks. It calls for
your death as punishment for what you just did. This is when Jesus points to
His scars, tokens of the Cross, and says, 'Father, I paid for that sin'.
Hearing this, justice ceases its demand. Punishment for sin has occurred.
Justice is satisfied. Propitiation. That gives you a sense of what Jesus'
intercession is about.
However, let me remind you again that
this work of Jesus is yours only by faith. And just as there is an ongoing work
of saving because of your ongoing sinning, there needs to be an ongoing
believing. There is to be none of the sadly common presumption that says, 'I
professed my faith in Jesus when I said the sinner's prayer. That means I'm in.
It's all good'. What is required is not some one-time expression of faith. It
needs to be an ongoing faith, a daily faith, a moment-by-moment faith.
Let’s pause here. Take a minute and consider.
Do you see the beauty of what is going on here, the realism of the Scriptures
and the glory of the Gospel? Here we are, saints by faith. And yet, we still
sin. A lot. The Bible doesn't just sweep that under the rug. No, it
acknowledges the truth of that. It acknowledges reality. But the Gospel has
that covered also. Jesus, who has ascended to the right hand of the Father,
intercedes for us there, continuing to apply His saving work to cover, to atone
for, our continuing sin. Jesus is in the process of saving us, present tense.
And because of what He is doing, we can be assured of that future tense. One
day the process will be completed. One day we will be saved to the uttermost.
And God be praised for that.
Now for our last phrase of that
sentence.
…those
who draw near to God through him…
This is the point of what the rest of
the sentence is about. This is the goal of Jesus' saving to the uttermost, the
goal of His intercession: that we would be able to draw near to God. This is why there is salvation.
So, what does 'drawing near to God'
mean? I think that it's fair to say that for way too many Christians this is
just a phrase describing one's status. 'Though I was lost and running from God,
I heard the Gospel, believed it and drew near to God. That is, I became a
Christian.' Drawing near to God is merely a matter of a change of status.
But is that what the words actually
mean?
Let's use the word 'near' in a
different context. What does it mean to be near someone? That has to do with
distance. It's being near, instead of being far. Now, you might be able to
substitute the word 'close' for the word 'near'. If you do that you can talk
about emotional distance. You have a close friend. There isn't any emotional
distance in that relationship. You are, in that sense, near each other.
Now, let's take that and use it to
understand the words 'draw near'. You were at a distance from someone, maybe
physical distance, maybe emotional distance, maybe both, but that's changed.
You have moved closer. You have drawn near to that person.
I think that you can see quite clearly
now what it means to 'draw near to God'. It's about removing distance,
especially emotional distance.
Imagine a parent and an adult child.
They've had a falling out. They just don't get along any more. And to
underscore the emotional distance, one lives on the east coast and the other on
the west. But something happened. There was deep healing, and things changed.
So, while the one still lives at a great physical distance from the other, they
call one another and talk about life for an hour or more each week. The
emotional distance is gone. The two are now so very close. They have drawn near
to each other.
With this in mind, listen again to the
sentence we've been meditating on.
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. Hebrews 7.25
What do you think? Would it be wrong
to say that the work of Jesus, the point of the Gospel, this saving to the
uttermost, along with the intercession that makes it possible - that all of
this is so that we can be emotionally close to the Father? What do you think? I
think that seeing it that way makes a lot of sense.
People talk about how great it will be
to be in heaven. And why? Well, for too many it means that they get to see
their friends. Now, that will be good. I have a few people that I am looking
forward to seeing again. But that can't be the main point of it all. The glory
of the age to come is that the Father with whom we have been developing a
relationship, the person to whom we have, inch by inch, been drawing closer to
- He will be there. And whatever distance there may have been, whether
emotional or even in some sense physical - it will disappear. We will be close.
That's drawing near to God.
The glory of the Gospel isn't the
gifts that we get: answered prayer, living forever, love, joy, peace, patience
and all the rest. Those are wonderful gifts, and they should be enjoyed to the
full. But the glory of the Gospel is knowing, that is, being close to, the
giver of those gifts. That's the point of all the repentance and faith, the
intercession, the praying about our sins, the saving to the uttermost. We get
God: Father, Son and Spirit. And it will take an eternity to even begin to
experience the wonder of what that means.
Believe the Gospel so that you can
draw near to God.
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