I'd invite your attention this evening to, as I told you last night, another of my favorite texts, Hebrews chapter number 4, one that my friend that preaches this text and I both consider to be holy ground. You'll soon see why I preached Matthew and Hebrews 1 before we got to Hebrews 4 because there's a lot of ties what we have said the last couple of nights. I want to thank you again for coming this evening. I know our lives are busy and your lives are busy. For those of you that have made an effort to be here tonight, I appreciate it, I thank you, and I pray that you'll be blessed for being here this evening. I know there's often many other places you could be, many other things you could think about, but I pray that you will be blessed and that the Spirit will meet with us and the Lord will be lifted up and magnified, glorified, not only on His throne, but in your eyes. As we look to Hebrews chapter number four, I would say that so many times, you know, we're called to live a life. in front of the world that is different from the world, and we're called to live a life that is an example to the world, and it's difficult to do that, and so many times we are faced with difficulties and with trials, and as we said the other night, temptations, and sometimes our Christian life just seems to be like we're plodding along and looking for relief. And because of that, because sometimes life seems to be such a drudgery, and sometimes we seem to be just caught in the day-to-day activities of just living in a broken and fallen world, that sometimes those of us that are believers, we start to fall into this trap of looking at our relationship with Christ in future tense only. We start to think of such things as our home in heaven in the future. And I'm looking forward to that. You know, we're looking forward to the time when we're in a new heaven and a new earth and it's a future, a perfect place and we won't have this drudgery of everyday life, right? We won't have these things of pressures of politics and wars and rumors of wars and all of the things of a broken down society that we deal with on a daily basis. And that's gonna be a good thing. And we look forward to a glorified body. Won't have aches and pains and won't have to wear glasses and hearing aids and knee braces and you know, ace bandages and all them other things. I don't know what your, I don't know what your aches and pains are. I know what mine are and I'm looking forward to the time when that's all gone. We have a glorified body, right? And if you're like me, You know, some, I see we have a few young people tonight, they're gonna think, man, that old man's crazy, or they're gonna think he's, can't remember all the adjectives, they're gonna think he's either angry or mean. I think that's what I've heard this week. He's an angry preacher, he's a mean preacher. Maybe they just think he's old. You know, if you're like me, you have more friends and loved ones over there than you have left over here. And so we start looking forward to being over there, right? See, there's a problem though when we think like that. The problem with that is when we start to think like our ultimate blessings are all over there, and certainly it's okay to look forward to being over there on that side. But when we start focusing everything over there, we think of our ultimate blessings of salvation over there, and they certainly are, we lose the fact that we have blessings here in Christ. We have present blessings in Christ. And so in our text, we're pointed directly to the fact that the superior office of Jesus as our great high priest is not just a blessing over there. It's a blessing for right here, right now. If you're able, stand with me and we'll read this short text, starting in Hebrews chapter 4. My text is verse 14 through the end of the chapter, but I want to start reading in verse number 12, so we get the context of what our author is saying. He says this, he says, For the word of God is quick and powerful. is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Here's our text. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Father God, we come before you today humbly bowing in your presence, Lord, because of our great high priest, Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for him. We thank you for salvation that we have in him. We thank you for access that we have in him. Because of that access, Lord, we ask tonight that you would meet with us. Lord, we've heard of the blessings of the superiority of your son, superiority to the prophets, superiority to the angels, and Lord, we've heard that he was tempted. And because of those temptations and the success, Lord, the triumph that he had over those temptations, we can come to you, and Lord, we can ask you for that healing. We can ask you, Lord, that you would comfort us. We can ask you that you would guide us in our lives, Lord. We know that there are those here today that have struggles. They have struggles at home. They have struggles at work. They have struggles at school. They have struggles maybe at church. Lord, there are those here that have struggles we don't know about and only you know about in the secret recesses of their heart where we pray. for that comfort tonight. We pray that you would be our great physician and heal us. Whether it's emotional, physical, spiritual, Lord, we pray that you would have your will in our lives tonight. Lord, send your spirit. If the spirit doesn't come, everything that we do here is vain, but Lord, we pray that whatever is done here tonight will bring honor and glory to you, that your son would be high and lifted up, that he would be magnified, that your name would be praised not only in this place, but in every place that we extend and touch. that our lives would truly be a representative of your people. It's in Jesus' name we ask, amen. Thank you for standing, please be seated. These verses here that we've read in your presence this evening, they call us to remembrance that Jesus is our high priest, and that's my title tonight, our great high priest. Jesus lives. He ever lives to intercede for us, His people. He lives to reconcile us to God. He is, as we heard, not only the Son of God, but He is God the Son. What a priest we have, if we consider the blessings of salvation as only over yonder. If we consider those blessings of salvation only as future blessings, then what we fail to do is we fail to recognize that we have a high priest in the holy place. That attitude causes us to completely pass over, to completely ignore all of the current benefits that we have because of our relationship with Christ. Yes, we have a great benefit of having a life in Christ, in the future, in the heavens, in the new heavens, in the new earth. But life is worth living because He lived, because we have a life where we can serve the great King. The blessings that we have in Christ are not merely a fire insurance. They don't just allow us to escape hell, but we enjoy the blessings of a renewed life here in the present. Our lives on earth can be confident. They can be connected to him. They can be comforted because of the free access that we gain because we have a perfect priest When you consider that, those blessings surpass even the national blessings that Israel had in the Old Testament. Because we have Jesus, our great High Priest. I want you to consider these three things with me tonight. He is greater in His priesthood. He is greater in His provision, and He is greater in His persuasion. Those are my three points, if you're following in my outline this evening. We started in verse number 12. I wanted you to see in verse number 12, just for context, before we get to our main text. In verse number 12, it speaks of the Word of God, and you know this, it's an oft-quoted verse. Verse number 12, the Word of God that is quick. It means living. God's Word is alive. It's powerful. the power living, the sharp word of God that pierces better than any two-edged sword. It pierces the soul and spirit. It separates the joints and marrow. It discerns between the thoughts and the intents of the heart. It is an omnipotent word. No one can withstand the power of this word that is applied to the heart by the Spirit. In verse number 13, We see that there is no creature that is able to withstand the sight of this Word. All things are naked. All things are open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. When Christ looks into the sinner's life, there is no hiding. We call this the omniscience of God. You see here an open, declaration of the attributes, the perfections of Christ. And then we come to our text. The superior priesthood. We touched on it briefly yesterday. But I want you to consider with me. His greater priesthood. First of all, in verse number 14, I want you to notice that he is greater. He has a greater priesthood because he has a superior prominence. Notice this opening phrase, seeing then that we have a great high priest. He is the Great High Priest. That's a superior prominence. It is Aaron that was the first High Priest. Aaron was called the High Priest in Israel. He was anointed as the first High Priest. But notice here that it is Jesus that is called the Great High Priest. This title is never given to anyone else. That title was never applied to anyone else. And so we know that Aaron was the prototypical priest. Everyone that came after Aaron, every high priest that was anointed after Aaron, all of his sons and grandsons were but types. They were shadows and symbols. But Jesus is the one to whom they appointed. They pointed forward to Him. He is the fulfillment. He is the faithful. He is the final high priest. There's never reason for another high priest. There's never a need for one. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 10 if you want to read turn just a couple pages you can read that but we see there in chapter 10 and verse number 10 the author says by the witch by Christ we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ notice it says once for all. Never will this priest offer another sacrifice because we have a perfect sacrifice. Once the perfect sacrifice has been applied to the mercy seat, there's never a need for another. What a priest! He doesn't have to repeat the sacrifice. It's done. Finished. Complete. Once for all. The final priest. His work is completed. It is forever put away, never to be repeated. That's a superior prominence. That makes him a great high priest, doesn't it? He's also a great high priest because he is superior in his position. Notice. Seeing then, we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Well, that was never said of Aaron, was it? Jesus is passed into the heavens. The earthly priest performed his work in an earthly tabernacle. But Jesus is so much better than Aaron. Aaron had his work in an earthly place, a physical tent, which is merely a type But again, if you'll turn just a page or two over in your text in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse number 24. Hebrews 9, 24 says that Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which is a figure, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself. But notice what else he says, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Where is Jesus? He's in the Holy of Holies, having purchased our redemption. What a priest. He is passed into the heavens. You know, so many times we present the gospel, we leave off the last part, don't we? We talk about the birth of Christ and the life of Christ and the death of Christ. We talk about the resurrection. We talk about the ascension. And we stop. But notice that Jesus is not just ascended. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. That's enthroned. Why is that important? Verse number 16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We have an enthroned Savior. He is enthroned as the King of Kings. And so all of the benefits of redemption that we have today, we receive because they are dispensed from the benevolence of a compassionate King. Hebrews 10, verse number 11, every priest standeth daily, ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, Only once, right? Never to be repeated. Sat down on the right hand of God. There is never a priest that sat down on the job. Every priest was required to stand up the entire time they were working. The entire time they did their jobs, they were always standing. And Jesus offered the sacrifice. And once he offered the sacrifice for sins forever, never to be repeated, sat down on the right hand of God. What did he do there? The same thing we said last night, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. We have an enthroned savior, a perfect priest that is a place of prominence. So he is superior in his prominence. He is superior in his person. Superior in his position Why is he superior in his person? Let's look back to our text again in verse number 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest That is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God Jesus the Son of God That's why I preached Hebrews chapter 1 last night, before we came to this text. This one is so precious. Because you have to know Jesus, the Son of God. So this one is so precious. Jesus, superior in His person. You see that name, Jesus, it's the name that identifies His humanity. It's the name that was assigned by the angel. Oh, but it was sent by the spirit. That's what his parents were told. It was prophesied to his parents. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. What does Jesus mean? Savior. For he shall save his people from their sins. This is the name that identifies His humanity. We see here in the text not just Jesus, but His superior person is Jesus, the Son of God that identifies His deity. It affirms for us that He is God. He is the Son of God. Now, when you look down into chapter 5, all of chapter 5 is an expansion of the last three verses of chapter 4. And so look down into chapter 5 very quickly. Look just to verse 5. Chapter 5 and verse 5. I want to preach all of chapter 5. Y'all just aren't going to sit here that long, right? I'll get the feedback in the morning that he's a long-winded preacher, too. Chapter 5, verse 5. So also Christ, glorified not himself to be made a high priest. He was anointed, right? The one that said to him, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. So also Christ, that word Christ, that's a messianic title. The word Christ simply means the anointed one. He is anointed of God. He's the one that is appointed by God to this position of high priest. God sent Jesus to be the priest, to be the prophet. Sent him for the redemption of sinners. So we have here Jesus Christ, the son of God. We see His humanity affirmed, His deity affirmed, His calling affirmed. He is the one appointed by God to be the Savior of men. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse number 26. What does it say? such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. It sounds like chapter one all over again, doesn't it? Sounds like a summary of chapter one. If you don't believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then the scriptures are clear. You don't believe what God said about His Son. If you don't believe in the deity of Jesus, then you don't believe what the Spirit has said about the Son. If you don't believe in the deity of Christ, then you don't believe what the forerunner, John the Baptist, has said about the Son. If you don't believe in the deity of Jesus, then you don't believe what the Son has said about Himself. And we've read all of these texts. If you don't believe in the deity of Christ, you don't believe what the apostles have said. We've read that text. You don't believe what over 500 eyewitnesses have said. You don't believe the gospel. You don't believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, then you have no mediator who is both God and man. You have no salvation. Jesus himself said in John 8 and verse 24, I said, therefore, to you, you shall die in your sins. If you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. That's a big deal. We have a great high priest passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. That's a greater priesthood. There's never been one like it, and there'll never be another one. That's the priest where you have to place your faith. Verses 15 and 16, we not only have a greater priesthood, we have a greater provision What makes this priest have a greater provision? It's verse 15. First of all, he has provided us, for us, with his compassion. We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are. Now Aaron couldn't say that, could he? His sons couldn't say that. There's never a priest that could make that claim. Jesus is the only one that could make that claim. Which is why, Thursday night, I went to Matthew chapter four, because I wanted to show you those temptations, that Jesus was triumphant in those temptations before we got to this, Hebrews chapter four, this holy ground. He's identified with us. How so? How has Jesus identified with us? Isaiah 53 gives us a clue in verse number three. It says, He is despised and rejected of men. You ever go to work or go to school or, oh my goodness, you ever come home? I wish I could explain. I wish I could tell them something that really shows them my heart, but I try to explain myself and they just misunderstand me. They just don't get me. They just don't understand. And the more I try to explain, the more they go off into left field and they just take things out of context. despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows. You ever grieve over anything? It says Jesus was acquainted with grief. You're right there with me in Hebrews chapter four. Again, chapter five explains these last three verses of chapter four, so jump into chapter five with me and look at verse two. Speaking of Christ again, who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity." What a statement. He has compassion on the ignorant. Now, we kind of bristle at that word a little bit, don't we? We don't like that in our modern English, but that just simply means somebody that doesn't know. It doesn't mean you're stupid. We kind of insult people that way, don't we? You ever feel rejected at the end? Okay, we covered that one already, right? We use that in a negative connotation, and that's not what that means. That just means somebody doesn't know. You ever feel like, man, I just don't know what to do. If I do this, then this is gonna happen. But if I don't do that, and I do this, then, wow. You know, I just don't know. What about those that are out of the way? That's somebody that tried to do right and just stumbled and got off the path. Man, I was going down the right, I was doing the right thing and I don't know, the tire blew out and the brakes failed. I thought I was doing right and I went to hit the brakes and there was nothing there. I just couldn't stop. I didn't mean to, I didn't try to, I didn't intend to, but it just happened. I don't know how it happened, but it just happened. You ever feel like that? Chapter five, verse two. It's got you. He has compassion. Jump back a leaf with me. Go backwards to chapter two. Look at verse 17. Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like his brother, like unto his brother, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Wow. merciful and faithful. He was in every way tempted like we are, but verse 15 of our text says, yet without sin, he passed the test. We'll come back to that in a minute. He remains without sin. And so in Matthew that we studied a couple of nights ago, we're given the account that the Holy Spirit actually directed Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan. And what were those temptations? We looked at them. But summarized, all three of those temptations are a parallel of what happened in the Garden of Eden and where Adam and Eve failed and plunged the entire human race into disarray. The second Adam, Christ, succeeded, regained the crown of creation. Jesus was tempted in the same three areas. John calls them the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. But in each of those areas where Adam and Eve yielded, Christ remained faithful. And Hebrews 4, verse 15 says, yet without sin. He remained without sin. And what we studied the other night, that wasn't all of the temptations. Those were just the initial ones. At the beginning of his ministry, there was a bunch more that followed. But his obedience placed on our account, right? There was not one sinful action of Christ, not one sinful attitude, not one sinful assumption. He never had one evil thought. Nothing. Out of the way. And for that reason, the Holy Spirit directed our divine author here in chapter 2 to write verse 18. Chapter 2, we read verse 17 a moment ago, so verse 18 says, for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, refers back to what we talked about in Matthew on Thursday night, he is able to succor them that are tempted. What a statement! What a high priest! There's never anyone that can understand you. There's never anyone that can come alongside and comfort you like this high priest can do. Not anybody else sitting on the pew with you can comfort you like Christ can. We can try. We can sympathize. We can empathize. Not like Christ. And so here's what happens. Because Jesus has obeyed perfectly, there's a great transaction that's taking place. Jesus suffered the penalty of our sin, and so he gives us the benefit of his righteousness. Look in verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. So when you're misunderstood, when all those things happen, you see, we can come to Christ and we can find mercy. We don't get what we deserve. Isn't that great? Isn't it nice to know that we can confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and we get mercy. Because He was obedient in those situations, we can find mercy. There's something better. There's actually something better than not getting what we deserve. Also in verse number 16, there's a word in there that's used twice because it's twice as good as mercy, I think. There's this word grace. Come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and then find grace to help in our time of need. You see, our justice is withheld. Eternal punishment is withdrawn, and that's great. That's a good thing, right? But what's even better is that the benefit of Christ's righteousness is granted to us. That's placed on our account. In other words, withholding the punishment that we deserved is a good thing, but then he gives us all the benefits of the righteousness that he has. What a transaction. One theologian has said, all of our rottenness is imputed to him and all of his righteousness is imputed to us. So he takes, he takes all the stuff that we deserve and we get all the righteousness that he earned. What a transaction. That's a faithful high priest. That's a high priest like no other. Galatians For, Paul explains it this way, wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Aaron never did that. Aaron never took a sacrifice and said, here, I'll offer your sacrifice. And when I offer your sacrifice, you get to inherit everything I own. Only Christ. gives that sort of sacrifice. Paul says in Romans 3 that we're heirs according to that promise. And so Christ himself now ministers to us and for us. So verse number 18 of chapter two, which we just read a moment ago, chapter two verse number 18 says, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's able to succor them that are tempted. That word succor there is a word that means he runs to the aid of a distressed child. When you cry out to Christ, he runs to the aid of a distressed child. Yeah, that's a greater priesthood. because he makes a greater provision for us. And not only do you have a greater priesthood or a greater priest with a greater provision, he has a greater persuasion, a greater persuasion. And I want you to notice his persuasion comes with two imperatives. There's two imperatives here. In verse number 14, you've probably been clued into this before. Anytime in your Bible that you see these words, let us, it's an imperative, which we call a command. Verse number 14, seeing them, we have a great high priest passed into the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, hears the command, let us. Hold fast our profession. That's the first command. You hold fast your profession. The second one we find at the beginning of verse number 16. It's the same words. Let us. Let us therefore. What's the therefore therefore? Because of everything Jesus has done. Because we have a high priest. which is touched with the feelings of our infirmities and was triumphant in his testings. He says, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. That's the two imperatives. That's the two commands. Hold fast your profession and come boldly because of Christ. We must have confidence. Again, Paul writes these same things to the Ephesians in chapter three. He says, we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Now, let's be clear on that. When Paul says by the faith of him, he doesn't say by your faith. Nor does he say by exercising your own faith. He says you have access and confidence by the faith of Christ. It's his faith that gains you these things. Did Jesus have faith? Do you ever stop to consider that this great high priest we have has faith? You think it took faith to leave heaven's glories and take on the form of a human? Yes, it did. You think it took faith to suffer the cruel, inhumane, calloused, cruelties of a Roman torture death or cross? Sure it did. How did he exercise that faith? He accounted that God would raise him from the dead. He had faith that his father would raise him up, as he promised. Hebrews 10 23 says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promise. That's exactly what our high priest did. He held him faithful that had promised. And so he says, you hold fast because Christ, because Jesus, the son of God is faithful. Your loyalty. Your devotion is a direct reflection about what you believe of Christ. Is Christ faithful? Then you be faithful. If you don't think Christ is faithful, perhaps that's why you're wavering under the stress. But you have an impeccable high priest. And as the Puritans used to say, a great God ought to have a great people. So you have these two imperatives. But because you have these two imperatives, you also have the same invitations. Notice that we have an invitation to access. And it comes to us because we're family. In verse number 16, he says, therefore, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Come boldly to the throne of grace. You can find mercy and you can find grace there, but you have access and you have access because you are family. Again, let me appeal backwards to an earlier text in chapter two. Look to verse number 16. Verily, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. In chapter three, in verse number three, this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who built the house has more honor than the house. What's the house that Christ is building? In verse number six, it tells us Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence rejoicing of the hope firm to the end, you're the house that he's building. It's the kingdom. Your family. Galatians 3 and verse number 16, now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made. He saith not unto seeds as many, but as one and thy seed, which is Christ. So the question is, are you part of that seed singular? Are you one of his? Have you trusted him? Have you repented? Have you believed the gospel? Is your faith in Christ? We're family. He says, we have access. Therefore, let us come boldly. Again, I'm reminded of how much better a priest Christ is. You know the Old Testament? Israel was never permitted access. You can't come in here. How was the presence of God represented in the Old Testament. The presence of God was represented by the Ark of the Covenant. You can't go there. It's sequestered into the holy place, into the holy of holies. It's sequestered behind a great multiple layered thick veil. You can't even look in. You can't go in there. You don't even look in there. You can't even come into the outer room. Not even if you're a priest, you don't go in there. You can just hear stories about it. Only the high priest is allowed to go in there, and only one time a year. And he can't go in there, but under special conditions. He has to go in and he has to go through all this ritualized cleansing. He has to offer a sacrifice for himself. Then he, in order to go in there, he has to take this incense. He has to sneak it around behind the curtains, behind the veil. He has to smoke out the room so he can't even see the mercy seat. He can't even see the Ark of the Covenant. He just has to know where it is. Then he has to go in there and take a blood sacrifice to sprinkle on the mercy seat. And if God accepts that sacrifice, he'll live. But maybe he won't. And so on the chance that he won't, he has to wear bells and pomegranates around the bottom of his apron. And he has to tie a rope around the bottom of his leg. And if God kills him, you don't go in there and collect the body. You drag him out with a rope. You don't go into the presence of God. But, we have a great high priest, bastard of the heavens. Jesus, the son of God. We have not an high priest which cannot be, what's that word? Touched. With the feelings of our infirmities. But with all points tempted like we are yet without sin, let us therefore come. Come. Come often. Come now. Come courageously. Come continuously. Verse 16 tells us to come confidently. Come boldly, it says, to the throne of grace. Come continuously, 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray without ceasing. Romans 12, 12, come constantly, continue instant in prayers. Three times it tells us, come, come to the throne of grace. You have a benevolent king to dispense all sort of benefits to you. Come, come now. You don't have to wait to go to heaven to find this throne of grace. You can come now. Just come. Three times this word here for confidence is used in the New Testament. Three times this use of the word for encouragement, for confidence, is used to tell us to remain ever more faithful. I want to show them to you as I close. All three of them are in the book of Hebrews, as you might imagine. The first one is in chapter three in verse number six. We read it a moment ago, let me read it again. Christ as a son over his own house. Christ rules this estate. Christ rules this estate. As a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Hold fast the confidence because Christ is still in charge. He hasn't abdicated the throne, okay? The next one we find, the next use of this very same word, we find in Hebrews chapter 10, chapter 10 and verse number 18. I want you to see that Christ has remitted our sins. It's the next time we have a reason to have confidence in chapter 10 and verse number 18. Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Sounds like that great high priest done. offered that once for all sacrifice. Verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Christ has remitted our sins, so we have boldness to enter in the holiest. At the very end of that chapter, in chapter 10, look to verse 35. Christ rewards our service, in verse 35. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence which has great recompense of reward. That's the reward for service. For you have need of patience, that after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise. What's he telling us there? Hold on. Don't give up now. Just keep on. He knows things are crazy down here. How does he know? He lived here. Been there, done that, right? Three reasons for our confidence, because Christ rules the estate, Christ remitted our sins, and Christ will reward our service. Warren Wearsby says this, if we fail to hold fast our confession, it's not proving that Jesus has failed. We're only telling the rest of the world that we failed to draw on his grace and mercy when it has been so freely available to us. Jesus, he's our great high priest. He's a priest like no other. Why? because he is a greater priesthood, he has a greater provision, and he is greater in his persuasion. And those blessings of having the very Son of God as our mediator, they're infinite, but they begin by providing us with a connection to the Son and a confident access to the throne, and they comfort all of our afflictions today, now. What a great high priest! A priest like no other! Because we have this priest, you have a greater imperative to commands and to invitations. To commands and to opportunities to respond. They're both right there in our text. One to the saved and one to the sinners. To the saved we see verse 14. And what does he say? Seeing then that we have a great high priest passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Don't quit now. Don't quit now. You're closer now than you've ever been. Don't give up the race in the last leg. To the sinners, verse 16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, because there's mercy and there's grace. And you can find mercy and grace to help in your time of need. That's written to you. That's written to anyone that will call out to the name of Christ, to the name of Jesus Christ, the son of God. That access is open. It's available. It's waiting. Come boldly. There's mercy. And there's grace that awaits you at the throne of a benevolent king and the high priest that intercedes in the holy place for you to stand. Brother, feel calm.