A Sympathetic Savior - Audio
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But honestly, over the last two weeks I've been just not great. I'm tired of this year. I feel weak. There's been a couple of times in my life where I've felt this way and it's very rare. So this is definitely, I can tell that 2020 is getting to me because the last time that I felt the way that I feel now was in the aftermath of 9/11. I was in college when 9/11 hit, I was a junior, I was a whole kind of counselor guy and one of my freshman came and got me and so I was there watching on television as the second tower got hit and went down. And that time was different than this time, but the thing that I've noticed internally that was so similar was how helpless I felt when that happens. And the helplessness I've felt this year. I marvel at our church, I mean, I have stories of a lot of different leader guys whose people are just a complete mess and as many times as I've made you mad or other people in this church have made you mad over this year, I've just been nothing but impressed by your commitment to unity, your commitment to each other and to the Lord. And even though we have differing opinions about so many different things this year, I've been blown away by you, you're honestly what's giving me strength right now. Because I do, I feel helpless, I feel like there's nothing we can do. I can't control a virus and I don't know that anyone can, I don't know that there's a button out there that you can have power over nature, in fact, I think that in a lot of ways one of the things God does from time to time is He allows things to come into our path to remind us that we're out of control because it's very human, it's very human for us to want to be strong, it's very human for us to want to be in control, it's human for us to want to be the ones who are shaping our destiny, shaping our lives. And we know that at like a micro level there's elements of that, there are things that I can control, right? We also know, and we hate to be reminded of this but from time to time it happens, there are also, there are big things out there that you just can't do anything about. And I can't do anything about 2020. And I think as we, you know, this time of year where it's like the coming of the Lord, the joy of Christmas, I think this year, I think more than anything what we need is to be healed, to be comforted, to be, to know that Jesus is with us, the Spirit is with us, that all the craziness around us, that God is sympathetic to our plight, God is with us in our plight. And we're going to see that today in our text. So we're going to start with Hebrews 4 and then we're going to get to the birth of the Lord. "Since then 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 who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." I just want to point out a few things. It's very odd language, passed through the heavens. In fact, some translations will just say ascended, but that's not the word that's used in Greek. It's because they're trying to help you understand what's going on, but that's not right. It's not that Jesus just ascended through the heavens, it's Jesus passed through the heavens.
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See how, from Scripture, Jesus' incarnation and birth shows that He can sympathize with our current plight and offer us the grace and mercy we need to heal.