Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 778 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: I had a well known scripture that's often been preached on come to me and I just pray the Lord will bring something fresh out of it because that's what we need...is something fresh, isn't it? And we need Him to do it. We can't rely on our own ability to do anything and that includes what I do up here, but it includes what you do every day.

None of us is called to live in our own strength. None of us is called to serve Christ with the resources you were born with. We need divine help, don't we? And fortunately that help's available. And so, it's hard to break into the thought here, but we know how the writer is lifting up the superiority of Christ and His perfect provision and how much greater that is than what they had under the law.

And so, in verse 14, he says this. "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." (NIV). Now obviously the point is, we've got something that's real. We've got someone who has not just given us a lot of stuff here on earth...a lot of wise sayings, and wise teachings, and all this stuff. You know, we've got a lot of teachers throughout history who have stood out and impacted history. But not one of them has passed through the heavens into the presence of God and been received on behalf of men. And so this is somebody who is qualified to represent us before a holy God.

And so because of the absolute perfect provision that He has made for us, the exhortation is that we need to stand firm. We have no reason to ever give up. We have no reason ever to look behind or to go back. We have every reason to cling firmly because we have almighty God who is behind what we stand for in Christ. We have His Word and His promise.

And so he says this. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses...." You know, we just sang the song "Let the Weak Say, I Am Strong." Praise God! I'm glad we have a solid basis for saying that. It's not just wishful thinking. But we have somebody...not only do we have that promise of God, but we have somebody who can understand and who knows, as we've said so many times, exactly what it is to live here. And so we never, never ever, are in a place where we can say, Lord, You do not understand what I am going through. You just have no clue. You have no right to expect anything from me because You haven't been here. You don't know. Well, He knows and...He knows in spades.

( congregational amens ).

Just to use an expression...He knows far more than you and I will ever know. He has experienced far more than you and I will ever experience, and yet, He, by the grace of God, was able to stand. But I'll tell you, it comforts me, it strengthens me to know that I've got somebody there who has been here where I'm at, who knows what it takes to help me. He knows and understands if I get discouraged...if I experience weakness, if I experience all of the negative thoughts that every one of us experiences.

You know it's not wrong in one sense to have those things come upon us. What is wrong is when we gravitate to that, lay hold of it, and believe in that more than we believe in the promise of God. God has never promised us that we would sail through life without being attacked. Anybody here been attacked this week? Yeah...in your mind, in your emotions, there's an assault come against your mind.

And it's come to discourage you. It's come to highlight all the bad things that exist in your life and mine. And to just basically...what's the thrust of those attacks? It's to cause us to give up. It's to cause us to wallow in our defeat. It's to cause us to have a pity party. It's to cause us to do anything in the world except to hold firmly to the faith and plant one foot in front of the other and say, my God has called me with a heavenly calling. I will walk forward with Him. My hope is not in myself. My hope is not in what I can do. My hope is in the promise of God. My hope is based upon what took place upon the cross and nothing else!

( congregational praise ).

To even come to Him, I have abandoned my hope and my trust in anything else. Praise God! There is one hope that I have. Jesus died for me! But He didn't just die, He rose again from the dead.

( congregational praise ).

And He lives for me at the right hand of the throne of God.

( congregational praise ).

And He is a high priest in whom I can have full and complete confidence that He not only is a great high priest able to do what needs to be done in my life, but He has been here and knows what it's like. And so He will never look down at me in my weakness and despise me and say, you shouldn't be like that. You should be stronger. You should be this, you should be that. He says, I know how you feel. Don't you ever, ever let the devil tell you any different. Why would God put this in His Word if it were not meant to encourage us that He really, really does know how you feel.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! I just feel like emphasizing this, because it's important. You can gloss right over this and say, oh yeah, yeah, He knows. He really knows!

( congregational amens ).

You think back over this week and the things the devil has tried to fill your mind with...maybe you're discouraged, maybe you're fighting depression, maybe you're fighting 1,001 things. But oh, my God, we have somebody who knows. Praise God!

( congregational praise ).

And He is the One who stands there on high. Praise God! And so "...we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin." Oh, Praise God! I'll tell you, a Savior like that can help me.

( congregational amens ).

I can't help me. I don't know. The self-help section in the bookstore cannot help me. Positive thinking, and confessing, and trying to imagine up all this wonderful stuff cannot help me. But Jesus can help me.

( congregational amens ).

He can help me. And so that's why the writer goes on and says, "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." Now I know the King James says 'boldness.' But I'll tell you, it's not boldness like we sometimes think about it. Like...God, I'm charging in here, You owe me. You know, this is a throne, folks. And I believe there's some implications to that fact.

You know, I think about people that came to Jesus. And I'll just refer without turning over to it. There was a man in Luke chapter 5, I think...but it was right around there. It was either 5 or right before chapter 4 ended, I don't remember. But anyway, he came to Jesus. He was a leper. Now, that was a hopeless situation. Today they have actually...medically they have conquered leprosy. They have a cure for it...or a way to keep people from getting it. It exists in some places in the world, but that's not a problem anymore. But it was a death sentence then.

And so this man with leprosy came to Jesus and He knew that Jesus had the reputation of performing all kinds of miracles of healing the sick of every sort. But He didn't just say, all right Jesus, I'm here for my healing. You owe me. He fell down on his face. He didn't just say, Jesus, please help me. He fell down on the ground before Jesus...his face to the ground.

He said, Lord, Lord...and you sense the place that he's taking before the Lord. This is not somebody who's coming in with a self-centered, cocksure, God, You owe me kind of attitude. This is somebody who is humbling himself, prostrating himself, referring to Jesus, recognizing Him as Lord. He said, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.

I'll tell you, that's a hard thing to resist if you're Jesus. And Jesus said, I will. Be clean. But think about the implications of that...just how he came before the Lord. This is a throne, folks. This is a place whereby every other...every normal standard, we would have no right to come. You think of places in this world where you and I would feel very intimidated.

How many of you would feel confident and cocky and like you had a right to be there...to waltz into the Supreme Court and say, listen here, all you...I've got something to say. Not one of us would feel comfortable doing something like that...or stepping up behind the microphone at the United Nations and say, look, let me explain how things ought to be here. No!

But this is the Throne of Heaven--this is the Throne of Heaven, and I'll tell you, we need to come with humbleness about us, with a penitence, with a sense, oh God, You are so great and I am nothing in myself. I do not come because I think that somehow I deserve to be here. This is the throne. All heaven bows before that throne.

You look at the scenes in Revelation. And you'll see angels gathered there, and there's creatures...living creatures, whatever they are, who cry...all day, all the time holy, holy, holy is the Lord. This is an awesome place that God has allowed us to come to. He has made a way through Jesus Christ into the very presence of God, into the holy of holies!

But oh, we need to come with a sense of awe, with a sense of who God is, with a humbleness of heart and mind, knowing why it is we stand there, giving Him all the praise, lest we should come there with this cocksure attitude and a pride and think that we deserve to be there. I'll tell you, this is a throne.

But you know, it's also a throne in another sense, because Jesus said, all authority--"...All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." There's nobody who can tell me what to do. If I want to do something, who is there that can stop me? Nobody! I'll tell you, that's the kind of throne I want to go to...where once the decision is handed down, it's not subject to anybody's review. The devil can't say, I'm appealing that decision.

( laughter ).

I'll tell you, it stands. We have someone to whom we can go freely--freely, even when we're at out weakest point...especially when we're at out weakest point. That's what it's all about. How many of you feel like...well you've messed up and you feel your weakness and God's made you aware of something...oh, I can't go.

That's what it's all about, folks! Praise God, that's when He wants us to come! He has made a way before the very throne of God that we can come and find the help that we need at that weakest, darkest hour that faces every one of us. Don't you look back at me and pretend that's not so! I know you're not. You know what I'm talking about, if you're honest. I'll tell you, we can put on a nice front and put on the make-up and...see, even I've got my make-up this morning.

( laughter ).

They make me wear it. Otherwise, I guess I'd be shining for Jesus in ways that they wouldn't want.

( laughter ).

Praise God! I'll tell you, we have ways of putting on a front. But there's not one of us who is not weak and needy on the inside, full of fears, full of things that are un-Christ-like, full of so many things that we just pretend...oh, everything's okay, it's okay. And we're dying inside and we need Jesus. We need a place we can go for help. And there is a place. It's a throne where we come, we come trembling in one sense, recognizing the awesomeness of the privilege that we have, but also recognizing that there is a throne where what is commanded, will happen.

Jesus is able to save, how? Completely! Everyone who comes to God by Him, why? Because He ever lives to pray for us! I'll tell you what, intercession...I think the Lord is teaching us a little bit. I believe we need to learn so much more about what intercession is. But you know, a lot of times intercession is somebody else praying for you when you're not in a position to pray for yourself.

( congregational amens ).

You wonder sometimes how you get through stuff when you were at your weakest and you weren't even hardly able to pray. I'll tell you, Jesus was able to pray. He looked down and He saw you and said, there's my child...there's my brother, there's my sister and they're in a weak place. Father, help them--help them. They're not even...they don't have the strength right now even to pray for themselves, they're so discouraged, they're so beat down. They're feeling so condemned. They're feeling so weak, but I pray for them, Father. Look at the blood I shed. I made full provision for them. Lord, give them the strength right now. Praise God! He lives to make intercession for you and for me today.

( congregational amens ).

Oh, how many times have we sailed through things that we would have fallen flat if it hadn't been for His intercession for us? Praise God for such a Savior! Praise the Lord! It's a throne. But it's a throne of grace, isn't it? It's a throne that is based upon...not upon our worthiness to come. It's not based upon our strength and our ability.

You know, I'll tell you, all the philosophies of this world other than the Word of God and the truth of Jesus Christ have one effect. They are trying to cause men to be able to do...to rise up and save themselves in some form or fashion. Every single religion, every single philosophy is trying to turn you into some kind of superman who can save yourself.

And, of course, we see that in the Scripture. We see this Pharisee...goes into the temple to pray, Lord, I thank You I'm not like other men. I'm this, I'm that, I do all this stuff and I deserve to be here. I'm gonna lift up my face and just expect to love me, and just approve of me, and think I'm wonderful. Oh God--oh God.

But who was it that was received? It was a publican...a man who was despised. Do people despise you? I'll tell you, you're a blessed person if somebody despises you because you're a Christian. We're told that we are among the blessed of the earth, if people say all kinds of false stuff about us. There are just...there are bad things that happen to us. Why? Because we're Christians...we are among the blessed of the earth.

But I'll tell you what, that publican, despised though he was, he went in to the presence of God, and he bowed his head, and wouldn't even look up. He recognized that in his own strength, based upon what he had done, the life he had lived, he had no right to be there. He was a sinner, and he knew it, and he confessed it freely. He said, oh God, be merciful to me a sinner.

As you've heard so many times, that word 'merciful' is connected with the mercy seat. The mercy seat was the top of the ark. That was where the priest went in once a year and actually sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice on that mercy seat and the Lord saw the blood and He forgave the sins of His people. He wasn't just asking God to be...to overlook his sins, He was saying, Lord, you have made provision for me. I come humbly before You. I come knowing that it's grace that I need, it's strength that You alone can give me.

Praise God! I've had so many thoughts, I don't even know how to begin to organize them. But, I'll tell you what, I believe God desires us to come, first of all...that's the number one thing. He would not have put this in here if He were not longing for us to come.

( congregational amens ).

What a terrible thing it would be for someone to make a great feast and invite everybody and everybody's too busy to come! Now that would be a terrible thing. But you know, the Lord has made full provision for His children and there are many times we don't come. You know, the Scripture says, you have not...why?

( congregational response ).

Because you ask not. Oh, I'll tell you, we need to never let the devil cheat us out of coming to God freely and right away for the help that we need, because that's why this is here. He's not looking for the superman that the atheist says we've got to...if we'll do this, and we'll do that, and we'll do the other. You know some of the leading thinkers there have got this whole idea about how we can become great and rise up in our selves and become all these wonderful things. I'll tell you, they're just living in a pipe dream. We need to come before a holy God as needy sinners.

But I'll tell you, we need to come...God put this in here to invite you, not just as some general doctrine we teach. This means you! This means, not just in the service, but when you and I are facing the things that we face every day in our lives, He wants us to come freely.

And the freedom comes from the fact that it has been purchased...the right to comes has been purchased and we stand by the grace of God and not by His laws. There is One who has perfectly kept the laws that every one of us has broken, those laws that represent the very character of God, all that He desires...all that He made us to be in the beginning. Oh, I'll tell you what, He has...what a throne that we have.

But you know, I was thinking about some of the things that would keep us from really coming to God and getting the help that we need, and I just pray that the Lord can, like I say, bring things back to my mind. But turn over to James chapter 4, a scripture we know. This has to do with prayer. And, of course, this is actually where that Scripture is in verse...the end of verse 2. He says, "...You do not have, because you do not ask God."

But then in verse 3, there's another problem. It said, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Now this gets back to the reason for that throne being there. What is God's purpose? What is it that He desires to give us in our lives at that throne? If you will look back through the beginning of the Book of Hebrews and really you could go right on through, you will see what God's purpose is. God's purpose is not simply to feather our nest here on this earth.

You know there's a lot of sinners who try to go and pray...pray for this and pray for that. And if God were to grant their request, He'd be working against Himself. It's like the sinner's saying, oh God, I'm having a hard time, will You just smooth out my path? Do you see the Lord saying, oh yes, you poor thing, you. I'll pave your road to hell...just make it all smooth and nice. I tell you, God has a reason. He has a certain thing that He is longing to dispense at that throne and we need to understand what it is, so that we can come with confidence and know that we will receive what we ask for.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to have confidence toward God? Not just say, oh God, help me. I know a lot of times that's what we do. We're just sort of begging, and we're whining, and we're complaining. And I believe God wants us to know what He wants of us as we come, and what it is that He wants to give us.

But you look back at chapter 2 of Hebrews...and you will see that God's purpose...and it's hard to break into a thought here. But God's purpose for man was to rule over His creation and the writer in verse...oh 6, 7, 8 along in there, quotes from the Psalms about how God has crowned mankind with great honor. This was in the beginning...put all things under his feet, didn't He? He gave Adam the rule over His creation.

And it said, there's nothing that wasn't subject to him. "Yet at present..."--He goes on--"...We do not see everything subject to him." Well, that's an obvious statement to us. We have...our life is not under our control, is it? There's a lot of stuff that happens that's just simply beyond our control. "But we see Jesus..."--and all that He did--"...crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

But listen to His purpose in verse 10. "In bringing many sons to glory...." That's what God's purpose is for us. It's not simply making this life smooth and easy. It has to do with bringing us to glory to where all that the curse has done in this world is undone in us. All of it is blotted out.

It's not simply that our sins are covered up and excused, but it's that we are totally transformed inside and out to where there is nothing left but people who love and serve God and have nothing, absolutely nothing in between us and God, or us and one another. There is a glory to which God means to bring you and me. Is He able to do this?

( congregational amens ).

Is there anything that can stop Him from His purpose? But this is what it's about, folks. We are so taken up with all the stuff that happens around us that we forget what God's purpose is. God's purpose is to change here [pointing to heart]. Praise God! Bringing many sons to glory and so forth....

It was the right thing for God to do to make the Author of their salvation perfect through suffering. "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family...." Now, see the central thought is the fact that He's one with us and He's come the way we have to come. But not so incidental to that is...what's at stake here is making men holy. That's what God is after. He's after changing our character.

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