In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the role of Jesus as an apostle. Jesus came to earth to do the will of the Father and to accomplish the work of redemption. He is the full representation of God and speaks for God, delivering the complete and final revelation. As an apostle, Jesus also opens the way for believers to enter into the presence of God, serving as our forerunner. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a vision of Jesus as both our apostle and high priest, as it is vital for our deliverance from religious systems and for entering into the fullness of Christ.

Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1. Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus. I'll repeat it. Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, as we continue in thy presence, we do pray that thou will remove any veil that may be upon our heart. That we may see Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. We ask thee to grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God. We pray that as we see him, we may be transformed, that glory may be unto him. We commit this time into thy hands and trust thy Holy Spirit to make thy word, life and spirit to us. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. This letter to the Hebrews is very unique in the books of the Bible. Probably you would say that I usually introduce every book in the Bible in this way. And that is very true. Because every book in the Bible is unique. And of course Hebrews is no exception. We do not know for sure who is the writer of this letter. Nor do we know for certainty who are the recipients of this letter. But we do know that this letter must be written before the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. This letter carries with it a very vital message. Not only to the Hebrews, that is the Hebrew believers, in the early days. But it is very vital. It has a very vital message to us. Who live at the end of the last days. We do not know actually who the human instrument of this letter is. Very probably it may be Apollos. Because it seems that Apollos fits with all the circumstantial evidences. He is a Jew. A Hellenistic Jew. Schooled in Alexandria. Mighty in the Scripture. Familiar with the thought and teaching of the Apostle Paul. But of course we know through the centuries there are many other suggestions. Almost everyone you can find in the New Testament. And we do not know for sure whether this letter is addressed to the Hebrew believers in Jerusalem or to the Hebrew believers in Rome. But we do know that this letter is addressed to the Hebrew believers at a very critical time. These Hebrew believers, they were once under the bondage of the law. But now they are free in Christ Jesus. But even though they are free in Christ Jesus, yet they are still somehow attached to Judaism. It is a very critical moment. A transitional time. And we know that at the time when this letter was written, before A.D. 70, some change had come upon the world. In the beginning Christianity was considered as a sect of Judaism by the world. But during this particular time, we know that this attitude was changed. To be a Christian is considered as a crime to the Roman Empire. But Judaism is still recognized as a legal religion in the Empire. So under such pressure, believers, Hebrew believers, at that time they were under great pressure. They were under great pressure to return to Judaism. In order to be protected, to be secured. But at the same time, we know the Spirit of God was moving ahead. God was going to do a tremendous thing. And that was, He was to destroy Jerusalem, the center of Judaism, and even the Temple. The very center of it all. Now why is it that God was going to make such a move? Because God considered that it was time for these Hebrew believers to be completely freed from Judaism. That they might enter into the fullness of Christ. So here you'll find a conflict. Outwardly, circumstantially, the pressure was to bring these Hebrew believers back to the fold of Judaism. But on the other hand, you'll find the Spirit of God was moving to take away Judaism, that these Hebrew believers may enter into the fullness of the Gospel. So this letter is written with that in view. To set the Hebrew believers free from any bondage to Judaism. And to get them into the fullness of Christ. Now in a sense, dear brothers and sisters, we too, today, are in a very critical moment. We know that our Lord is coming back. Soon. We know that He is looking forward to have a bride who is His counterpart. He desires to see in His bride every character that belongs to Him. That He may be united with that bride. And that bride be united with Him into one. This is the time that we know all outward appearance will sooner or later be shaken. Only that which is real, which is reality, will remain. You know with the Jewish people in the first century, when God revealed Himself to the Jewish nation in the beginning, it was a living faith. But unfortunately, gradually you'll find this living faith became a religious system. It became an ism. Now historically speaking, Judaism had its beginning at the time of the Babylonian captivity. It was during that time that the scribes and the Pharisees somehow they reduced the living oracle of God into a religious system called Judaism. When God first gave divine revelation to the fathers, these revelations were to prepare the way for Christ. But when these divine revelations were reduced into a system, a religious system, you find that instead of preparing the people for Christ, they on the one hand began to substitute Christ. And on the other hand began to oppose. That is the reason why when Christ appeared to them, they rejected Him. And brothers and sisters, we find we are in the same situation. Christianity in the beginning was a living faith. But gradually through the centuries, you find that that living faith has been reduced into a religious system called Christianity. Instead of introducing us to Christ, it began to substitute Christ. And in doing that, it actually is opposing Christ, taking Christ away from us. If you will allow me to use just an illustration. For instance, baptism. We are going to have a baptism after decession. Now baptism is a living testimony. By baptism we testify that we have been identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. By going to the water, we testify by faith of the greatness of the work of our Lord Jesus. His finished work. That in His death, He has included us. In His burial, He has put us away. And in His resurrection, He lives in us. It is a tremendous testimony. But you know through the centuries, Christianity practiced baptism. But gradually baptism becomes a ritual. A form. And there is a kind of teaching, baptismal regeneration. Once you are baptized, you are regenerated. You are safe. You can go to heaven. So many people in Christianity, they rest their salvation on baptism. The water. Instead of Christ, His blood. It becomes a deception. It takes away Christ from us. And dear brothers and sisters, we find that as we are approaching the coming of the Lord, all these as a system, as an ism, as something of external appearances, all these will be shaken off. All these will not avail of anything. Only that which is real. Only that which is Christ Himself. That will bring us into glory. So brothers and sisters, we do feel that this letter to the Hebrews is very important to us today. As this letter delivers the Hebrew believers in the early days from the bondage of Judaism into the liberty of the fullness of Christ. So we believe that this letter today is able to deliver us from Christianity as a religion. And to bring us into the liberty of the fullness of Christ. Now we know this letter is a letter of exhortation. Because the writer at the end of the letter tells us that he writes this letter to exhort them. It is just a brief letter. Only 13 chapters. To exhort the believers. And we know the word exhortation in the Greek at least carries with it two meanings. On the one hand, an exhortation is to encourage. To encourage us to press on. On the other hand, exhortation is a warning. To warn us lest we fall back. So you find the whole purpose of this letter is to warn us not to fall back into that which we have been delivered. But rather to encourage us to press on to perfection. And perfection simply means full growth. It means growing into the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ. Now what is the message of this letter? I believe the verse that we read at the beginning gives us the message. Here you find the writer says, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider. Consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus. Now we have a confession. I was told that there is a difference between confession and perfection. Profession is to be made among friends. But confession is to be made among foes. Among enemies. So to us it is not a profession. It must be a confession. We have a confession to make. And what is our confession? Our confession actually is our faith. And what is our faith? And here it is said, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Jesus. The letter to the Hebrews is divided into two parts. The first part is from chapter 1 through chapter 10 verse 18. That gives us the vision. And then from chapter 10 verse 19 to the end, chapter 13, it gives us the vocation. On the one hand we need to see. We need to see what our confession is. What is the faith? What is the truth? Then having seen it, it shall become our living, our practice, our way of life, our testimony in the world. So far as the vision is concerned, you find in the book of Hebrews the vision is twofold. On the one hand it is the vision of Jesus, our apostle. That is chapter 1 through chapter 4. And another vision is the vision of Jesus as our high priest. From chapter 5 through chapter 10. We need to ask the Lord to give us this vision of our Lord Jesus. Because this vision is so vital. It is life and death to us. Whether we can be delivered from a religious system such as Christianity. Whether we are able to enter into the fullness of Christ. Press on to perfection. You find this vision is vital. We must have this vision. Or may I put it in another way. If we are lacking in this vision, we do not know how to live as a Christian. And we just cannot live as a Christian. First of all, we need to see Christ as our apostle. You know, the word apostle means one sent forth. One who is sent forth with a mission. With a work to do. Probably we will connect this word apostle first of all with the twelve apostles. The twelve disciples whom our Lord Jesus chose to be with him. Trained and then to be sent forth with a work. But actually you will find our Lord Jesus is the first apostle in the New Testament order. He is the one who is sent forth by God the Father. With a special mission. In the beginning of this letter, in the first two chapters, we find the credentials of the apostle of God, Jesus. You know, when anyone is sent out as an envoy, an ambassador, an apostle, he must have certain credentials. So here you will find in the first two chapters of the book of Hebrews, the credentials of Christ. Our apostle of being presented. You know, in the Old Testament times, God has sent out many prophets. In a sense, these prophets who were sent out by God were apostles. Sent out ones. With a message. With a mission. In the old days, God has spoken to our fathers in many ways and in many forms. By the prophets. But in the last days, He speaks to us in the person of His Son. Now dear brothers and sisters, you find even though in the past God has sent many into His people. To reveal His mind to His people. To give a message to His people. But all those who were sent were men. Yes, they were holy men of God. Moved by the power of the Spirit to speak. But they were still just human beings. Imperfect. Limited. Full of weaknesses. God could only speak through them in parts and in bits and in fragments. But think of that in the last days. God sends forth His only begotten Son as His apostle. So this apostle, our apostle, is none other but the Son of God. And there you find His sevenfold glory is being presented before us. He is the heir of all things. He is the full representation and manifestation of God. He is the creator of the world. He is the holder of all things. He is the purifying fire of all sins. He is seated at the right hand of the Most High. He is so much better than the angels. This is the credential of our apostle Jesus as the Son of God. And then in the second chapter you'll find His credentials as our apostle as the Son of Man. This Son of God has become the Son of Man. He is the man of God's mind. When God created man according to His image, that is the man He has in mind. He was made a little inferior than angels, faced death for everything, crowned with glory and honor. By His death is destroyed devil who has the power of death. He is waiting to have all things being subjected under His feet. And He is the one who is to bring many sons into glory. Now these are the credentials of Him as the Son of Man. Now just think of it, brothers and sisters. That this Son of God and Son of Man, He is our apostle. He is the apostle that God has sent into the world to us. What an apostle! You know when one is saint, what is he to do? What is the apostle of our confession is to do? First of all, an apostle is to represent. And the one who is saint is to represent the one who sends him. And there is no one that can represent God better than the Son. Because all the prophets that were sent before Him, they could represent God only in a very limited way. But when the Son is sent into the world, He represents God fully. That is why you find in John chapter 1 verse 18 it is said, No one has ever seen God. But the Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. That is the reason why you find in the last day, when our Lord Jesus was having that last supper with His own, Philip said, Show us the Father and it suffices us. And the Lord Jesus turned around and said sadly to Philip, Philip, you have been with Me for so long and you are still asking that question. Do you not know that if you see Me, you see the Father? In other words, you find our Lord Jesus, while He was on earth, as the apostle of God. He fully represents God to us. If you want to know what God is like, look at Him. The Word became flesh, tabernacle among man, full of grace and truth. God is love. And we see this love of God in the grace of Jesus Christ. God is light. And we receive this light through the truth in Jesus. In Christ Jesus we see God fully. Or to put it in another way, you cannot know God better than what you can know in Christ Jesus. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. He is the full representation of God the Father. If you want to know God, you know Him. You must know Him. You cannot know God aside from Him because there is nothing more. It's all in Him. He is the full representation of God. The exact image of the invisible God. How we do thank God that He is so gracious and merciful to us that He who is invisible is now made visible through Jesus, His apostle. He who is unknowable is now being made known to us in the person of the Son, our Lord Jesus. Knowing Jesus is knowing God as an apostle. Number two, He is to speak for the one who sent Him. And you remember our Lord Jesus said, I cannot say anything by myself. I say it because I've heard my father said it. In other words, you'll find that whenever our Lord opens His mouth, He is not saying His own word. Whenever our Lord Jesus opens His mouth, He is saying the Word of God. He speaks for God. In the old days, the prophets spoke for God. But their speaking for God were in parts. In fragments. But when the Son speaks for God, it is the full revelation of God. The final Word. The complete Word. There is nothing more to say. He has spoken it all. And then, of course, an apostle, thirdly. He is to do a job. Accomplish a mission. And what is the mission that our Lord Jesus is sent for? He comes to do the will of the Father. He said, sacrifice burnt offerings and oblations. God, You do not want these things. But You have prepared me a body. Lo, I come to do Thy will. And Thy law is the delight of my heart. You'll find the whole life of our Lord Jesus on earth is not living to do His own things. The whole life of our Lord Jesus on earth is to do the will of the Father, is to finish the work that the Father has committed to Him. And what is the work? It is the work of redemption. He came to die on the cross. He said, it is finished. The work is done. Mission accomplished. Thank God for that. And then, fourthly, as an apostle, He is the one who will open a new and living way for us that will lead us behind the veil to the very presence of God. He is to be our forerunner. And we know He has already gone behind the veil in the very presence of the Father. But He is there not just for Himself. He is to lead. As an apostle, He opens the way. He goes before us. And He leads us into the very presence of God. Now dear brothers and sisters, these are the works of an apostle. Christ, our apostle. And of course you find in the book of Hebrews He is typified by two men. By Moses and Joshua. Moses and Joshua were sent by God to the children of Israel. They were the leaders among them. Moses was used by God to lead the people out of Egypt. Joshua was used by God to lead the people into Canaan. So how much better is our Lord Jesus than Moses and Joshua? Because Moses is but a servant faithful in God's house. But Christ is the Son who builds the house and who rules over the house. Joshua led the people into Canaan but He did not give them everlasting rest. But our Lord Jesus gave us a Sabbath rest. That we may rest from our works as God has rested from His work. Now knowing Christ as our apostle is vital to our confession. In other words, this is our confession. If you do not know Christ as our apostle then you do not know Christ at all. What should be our attitude towards Christ who is our apostle? Number one, we need to hear Him. The writer to the Hebrews said, For this reason we should give heed more abundantly to the things we have heard. He is sent by God to speak to us. Let us hear Him. Let us not harden our hearts like the children of Israel, they hardened their hearts. They would not listen. And because of that, even though they came out of Egypt they failed to enter into the Promised Land. Now brothers and sisters, we need to hear Him. The great salvation first spoken to us by Him and then by the apostles. We need to hear. Oh, that the Lord would give us a tender heart. A hearing heart. That we may hear what He says. Not just hear what we like to hear. Not just to hear a little bit of what He said. But hear all that He has said to us. Let us listen to Him. And to hear Him actually is life. And secondly, we not only need to hear Him but to believe Him. You know the children of Israel, they heard but they did not mix faith with what they heard. In other words, they hear it with their heart would hear but their heart being hardened they would not believe it. God said, go over and possess the land. Oh, they say no. That land is a terrible land. It denies the inhabitants. They do not believe. And because they did not believe their carcasses fell in the wilderness. Now, brothers and sisters when we hear what our apostles say let us believe it. And this applies not only to our initial salvation. That is to say, when we hear that He is our Savior. That He has borne our sins on Calvary's cross. And when you hear it, you believe it. Thank God for that and you are saved. But this is to hear all that He has to say to you. He is saying to you that there is a rest prepared for you. There is a Canaan land for you. There is a land flowing with milk and honey. He is saying to you there is the unsearchable riches of Christ. He is saying to you there is a kingdom prepared for you, an inheritance for you to inherit. Go in, hear Him, what He said to us. And thirdly, to follow Him. We need to follow. You know, the children of Israel, they refused to follow. They refused to follow Moses many times. They wanted to go back, choose their own leaders. And they refused to follow Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb said, let us go in. They said, no, we cannot go in. Dear brothers and sisters, let us always remember our Apostle Jesus. He is the one whom we are to follow. No matter how difficult it may appear to be. No matter how strong our enemies are, if He says, come and follow me, let us follow. Even though it means the way of the cross, let us follow. Because we know the way of the cross leads. So dear brothers and sisters, let us remember that our Lord Jesus is our Apostle. All our salvation is in Him. He has done everything for us. And all that is left for us is to hear Him, believe Him, and follow Him. Now in doing that, you will find you will not be bound by a religious system. You will find that you will be set free. And you will find yourself being pressing on towards perfection. Towards Christ. We need to see Christ our Apostle. But then you will find the book of Hebrews spends more time on this matter of Christ as our High Priest. Now I can understand why, because I have the same problem. You know, it seems to be easier to know Christ as our Apostle. But it seems to know Christ as our High Priest seems to be a little bit vague. And because of this, the writer of Hebrews spends more time on that. And as a matter of fact, you will find to know Christ as our Apostle is the foundation. But to know Christ as our High Priest is the building up. An Apostle is one sent by God to us. A Priest, a High Priest is one chosen from man towards God. An Apostle represents the one who sends Him. In other words, Christ as an Apostle, He represents God to us. First as the High Priest. You know, He represents us before God in Heaven. As an Apostle, He brings God to us. As our High Priest, He brings us to God. And this dual ministry must go hand in hand. In other words, you cannot have the one without the other. We thank God that our Lord Jesus is our Apostle. And I do believe, brothers and sisters, we know a little bit more about this. But do we know the Lord Jesus as our High Priest? You know, when our Lord Jesus accomplished the work of redemption on Calvary's cross, He was buried for three days, and then He was raised from the dead. He appeared to the disciples for forty days, and then He ascended. He was taken up, ascended up to be seated at the right hand of God the Father. When our Lord Jesus ascended up to Heaven, something happened. You know, He was anointed by God. On the day of Pentecost, Apostle Peter, end of 11, they testify that this Jesus that was crucified, God has exalted Him on high and has anointed Him as the Lord of Christ. And it is because of this that you have seen and heard being poured out the Holy Spirit came down. And if you read Psalm 110, you find that after the Lord was ascended up on high, He was anointed by God as the High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. And the picture is found in another psalm. It says, like the oil poured upon Aaron's head, and it flows down to his beard and goes all over his body, even to the skirt of his garment. You know, in the old days, when they anointed the High Priest, He did not just sprinkle a few drops of oil. We are told that when they anointed the High Priest, they just poured an abundance of oil upon His head. So He just flowed down His face and all over His body. And, of course, we know the oil represents the Holy Spirit. In other words, here you'll find when our Lord Jesus was ascended He received from the Father the Holy Spirit and He poured the Holy Spirit down upon this earth. And at that moment, He was anointed as our High Priest, according to the order of Melchizedek. Now, brothers and sisters, on the one hand, the work of our Lord Jesus as an apostle has finished. He says it is finished. Mission accomplished. And because of this, we know He is now seated at the right hand of God. Now, you don't go down and you don't sit down until the job is done. And because His work as an apostle is finished, therefore He sits down. It is finished. But don't think that our Lord Jesus just sits there and goes in doing nothing. No, no. You'll find that one phase of His ministry is finished, but another phase of His ministry begins. As He ascended to Heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, He was anointed as the High Priest of our Confession. In other words, there He begins His ministry as our High Priest. Our Lord Jesus is very busily engaged in Heaven. He ever lived making intercession for us. Those who approach God through Him, that He may save us to the uttermost. Do you not know, dear brothers and sisters, that if we, it is not because our Lord Jesus is our High Priest today, we will not be able to be blessed with any blessing in the Heavenlies in Christ Jesus. We will not be able to be a Christian. Not to say we will not be able to live a Christian life. Unable to. Impossible. It is all because our Lord Jesus today is our High Priest. Why is His credential as our High Priest? We find that He is our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. Now, Melchizedek is mentioned in the Bible only three times. So far as history goes, He is only mentioned once. In two verses. Two, three verses. In Genesis chapter 14 after Abraham overcame the four kings, delivered his nephew Lot, Abraham returned to the king's valley and there you will find Melchizedek which means King of Righteousness. He is the King of Salem. King of Peace. He encouraged to lead Abraham with bread and wine and He blessed Abraham in the name of the Most High because He is the High Priest of the Most High and Abraham gave him one tenth of all that he had. Now that's all you find. So far as history goes. Now isn't it wonderful that in the land of Canaan occupied by the seven wicked tribes. Now these seven wicked tribes actually represent the evil forces of darkness and yet you find in this place there was a place called Salem that is Jerusalem and the King of Jerusalem is the King of Righteousness amid all this wickedness and amid all these idolatries you find there is a king there who is the High Priest of the Most High God Isn't that wonderful? God still has His testimony everywhere, even in that place and He came to bless Abraham and it is without doubt that the superior blesses the inferior In other words He is greater than Abraham Now who is this man? And the second mention of him is in Psalm 110 A thousand years have passed and there you find a sonnet through inspiration saying that one day the Messiah He will be anointed not only as King God said to my Lord, my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your apostles and then He said you are being anointed as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek and then another thousand years pass in the book of Hebrews you find, who is this Melchizedek? He said this Melchizedek has no beginning, no end no genealogy like the Son of God Now it doesn't mean that this Melchizedek You know Melchizedek is a real person I don't think he is a fictitious person He is a real person who lived in that time of Abraham, a real person Now that person of course has a beginning and an end But, you know the Holy Spirit withholds His beginning and His end Why? Because the Holy Spirit wants to use Him as a type of Christ So don't mention His beginning and end He is as if without beginning and with end So He can represent Christ, the High Priest Our Lord Jesus is the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek And what is the order of Melchizedek? In what way is this order different from the Levitical order of priesthood? Well there is great difference, because the Levitical priesthood chooses man as priest But the Melchizedek order has a son as the High Priest The Levitical order choose weak man, mortal man as priest But the Melchizedek order choose the immortal God. The Levitical order you find because they die Therefore the priesthood changes often. But in the Melchizedek order you find it never changes because He lives forever He is a priest according to the invisible life He lives. In the Levitical order because they are with themselves They can sympathize with the weak In this Melchizedek order you find that once He came into this world to be a man, to be tempted in all things, except sin without sin. So He can sympathize with us, but not only sympathize because He is instituted, constituted according to the power of invisible life Therefore He can save us Not only to sympathize, but to save Dear brothers and sisters Do we know our Lord Jesus as our High Priest? You know consciously or unconsciously, with your knowing or without your knowing You are where you are today It is because of His High Priestly ministry. But how much better if you know How much more He is able to save you, if you know That is why we need to know Him as our High Priest Dear brothers and sisters, I believe you know Him as your Apostle to a certain degree Yes, we need to know Him more as our Apostle, but you know Him But unfortunately you find the reason why Christians are so weak today It is because they do not know Him as our High Priest. Now what is the High Priest to do? Of course First of all you find the High Priest is to offer sacrifice Once a year the High Priest will use the blood of goats and bulls, and He will enter behind the veil, before the mercy seat of God, sprinkle the blood there to make atonement for the sins of the nation Our Lord Jesus as our High Priest. If the blood of goats and bulls and hapless ashes can purify the defiled How much better How much more that our Lord Jesus by the eternal Spirit offer His body spotless unto God. Once and forever He has completed our eternal He has perfectly sanctified Once and for all by offering Himself as the sacrifice to God. Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus as it were now don't think of it physically because it is not, but it is as it were our Lord Jesus in ascending up to heaven He brought Himself His blood before the Father, and laid it before the Father, and that blood speaks for us. Able blood for that For the blood of our Lord Jesus Our Lord Jesus as our High Priest, He has presented that sacrifice, the sacrifice to God So redemption is an eternal one It is eternally available and brothers and sisters we know our sins are forgiven because He is our High Priest He has presented His blood, and this is once and for all In other words, brothers and sisters before we were saved we came we repented, we believed in the blood of our Lord Jesus we accepted Him as our Savior and because of this, the blood speaks for us and the Father forgives us But it is not true that in our daily life sometimes through our weakness, carelessness, we still fall we still sin Now if we do what will happen? You know, in the old days You know, one reason why in Christianity, you have baptism by sprinkling If you read church history, you'll find that once upon a time that is in the early days, all baptisms were by immersion, but later on a kind strange kind of theory I do not call it theology, but it's theory developed, saying that all your sins will wash away at your baptism but the sin that you commit at the baptism will be very difficult So people postpone their baptism as long as they could and in their death day They want to be baptized Now if you immerse them, you cannot do that So you sprinkle Brothers and sisters, they do not see the efficacy the eternal efficacy of the sacrifice the blood of our Lord Jesus, once and for all is perpetuated in perfection They do not see that 1 John chapter 1 verse 9 If we confess our sins that is to believe God is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness If we confess our sins God is righteous Now if God is righteous and we confess our sins He does not need to touch us to confess Then you are condemned But strangely you say God is righteous If you confess your sins God is righteous Why? Because He has once accepted His beloved one as His Savior And He has not crushed Him on the cross The prize is paid The penalty is executed Therefore He is righteous He cannot execute others It would make Him unrighteous He is faithful Because that blood has sealed a new covenant between God and us And He has to be faithful to His covenant Therefore if we confess our sins God is righteous and faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness That is the ministry of our Lord Jesus That is why I say If it is not declared by the ministry of the High Priest How can you live a Christian life? You will be under guilt all your life You will be under accusation throughout your life. You cannot live But then God, there He is Our High Priest And then secondly as a High Priest you know The work of High Priest is to entomb Entomb The High Priest went into the holiest place Not only to offer the sacrifice But also to pray for the nations To intercede for the nations So when He came out from the holiest of all He could bless the people Now brothers and sisters What is our Lord Jesus doing today? He sits at the right hand of the Father Interceding He prays for us He takes up you and my voice and presented before the Father On the basis of what He has done for us He is the purity He is the mediator of the New Covenant And did He say to the Father, Father Look This child of mine has sinned I have sinned I am the guarantor of the New Covenant And according to the New Covenant He will forgive their sins And not only to forgive but to forgive Yes As if He is presenting our witness to the Father Here my children are weak They do not know your weakness But remember According to the New Covenant They should know Me in themselves May they know Me in themselves And if the Father I am the mediator of the New Covenant I am going to channel the goodness, the blessing of the New Covenant into these my children And may they live by my resurrection That they may overcome All He intercedes You know one illustration When our Lord Jesus was on earth There was an illustration, you remember Peter Peter loved the Lord And when the Lord said He will be crucified, He will die But on the third day He will be raised from the dead And He said, you will all be scattered like sheep When the shepherd was taken But Peter said, oh no If I don't live me I will go with you to death And you know our Lord Jesus said Peter, Satan I will crucify you As you see But I am free You know dear brothers and sisters Satan cannot do anything to a child of God without asking for God's permission Because Satan got them unpunished And of course he punished with a reason Because Peter He got no reason He was so incompetent He thought too good of himself So as you were God used Satan To shake him So the child will be blown off He will be purified Right It's a dangerous practice So you find that Satan asks And our Lord asks too And the Lord said, I pray for you I will listen to you With a promise That your faith will not be lost Instead your faith will be refined And you can help your brethren Now that is an illustration of The high priestly ministry of our Lord Jesus Brothers and sisters You know our Lord Jesus God is interceding for us Before the cross We do not know ourselves But he knows us He knows everything And it is this intercession Dear brothers and sisters That we are being taught What a powerful intercession Without his intercession where would we be? We would be sifted out But thank God With this intercession Even though we have been sifted The child Are blown off But the brain Will be purified And then thirdly A high priest Of course Is to present gifts To God Not only sacrifices but gifts You see there is a difference Between gift and sacrifice Now first of all of course Our Lord Jesus presented himself As the gift to God All how he pleases He is the burn offering You know the burn offering Actually Is more in the sense of gift Because the burn offering Is a voluntary offering It is a whole offering It represents a life wholly devoted And that is a Pleasure to God And of course Because he as our high priest He presents us To God When Romans 12 says Present your bodies a living sacrifice How can we present our bodies A living sacrifice Unless It is presented in Christ Today we can present our bodies A living sacrifice And the bodies please Today We can pray And he will add Incense Mingle incense with our prayer So our prayer will be accepted Now do not think that Our prayer is so powerful You know our prayer Is so weak Our prayer is Is almost nothing But our Lord adds His incense into our prayer He adds merits Into our prayer He adds prayer into our prayer And that makes our prayer powerful He enables us to pray To worship He enables us to serve God All these Are presenting us As gifts To God It is all Brothers and sisters Without him Your service will not be accepted Without him Your praise and worship will not be accepted Without him Your prayer will not be heard Without him Your devotion will not be accepted You find that everything That is in the area Of giving Is accepted Because he has accepted Jesus Now I have said all these And the time is gone But I have to ask you To wait a little bit more Because The most important part is here How do we Really experience Our Lord Jesus as our High Priest See our problem is The Lord is in heaven And we however We know He is praying for us Interceding for us We know he is Functioning as our High Priest But how do we know How do we experience it When you come To the experiential side Now How do we enter into the intimate Experiential Knowledge of Christ As our High Priest And I believe The key is here You remember when our Lord Jesus Went to heaven Before he went to heaven what did he say to his disciples He said I go But I will send another Comforter to you In other words the Lord himself Is the Comforter The Strengthener The Guardian But he said I go I will send another Comforter another of the same kind The Holy Spirit Will come And dwell in you He will never leave you Nor forsake you And brothers and sisters The Holy Spirit in you He Does not represent you He Represents Now do not make any mistake The Holy Spirit In you never represents you He represents Christ Christ in Heaven represents you So you find Christ in Heaven represents you And the Holy Spirit in you Represents Christ and you Find this is where The ministry of Christ our High Priest works As he Intercedes The Holy Spirit works The Holy Spirit Convicts The Holy Spirit convinces The Holy Spirit teaches The Holy Spirit guides The Holy Spirit leads The Holy Spirit constrains The Holy Spirit restrains The Holy Spirit empowers Enables You find all the working Of the Holy Spirit in your life Is according to The ministry of Our Lord Jesus as our High Priest And if you know this Then you'll find The Lord as our High Priest Is very real Real every Moment of every day Brothers And sisters if we do Not know the Holy Spirit How can we live a Christian life If we do not know the Holy Spirit How can we know Christ as our High Priest The Holy Spirit In us is to glorify Christ He is to transform us and Conform us into the image Of Christ And the work of the Holy Spirit Is based upon The work of Christ So remember Our experience Of Christ our High Priest Is In the working of the Holy Spirit That is why You'll find Paul When he was in Ephesus He was one of the disciples of John When you believe That you receive the Holy Spirit In other words If you do not have the Holy Spirit Then how can you be a Christian It's impossible So brothers and sisters Just See that the Holy Spirit Who dwells in you That everyone who Believes in the Lord Jesus Has the Holy Spirit dwells in him Or in him And the Holy Spirit is there Representing Christ As our High Priest And as it were The Lord in heaven He was praying I see in this child There is something of Christ He needs to be convicted And the Holy Spirit Comforts him Or as it were Our Lord Jesus is praying And said I see this child of mine He is in darkness He needs light And as he prays You'll find the Holy Spirit You know This is why we say Without The Lord as our High Priest We simply Cannot give But thank God he is our High Priest Ever living Never dying Ever living Making intercession for us That he may say those Of which God will hear To thee But thank God So brothers and sisters This whole letter Is to Enable to see Christ As our Apostle Our High Priest And see in him as such Let us approach The throne of grace With full assurance Of faith Let us hold fast the confession And let us Encourage one another Provoking one another To love And goodness Dear Heavenly Father Do open our eyes To see Jesus The Apostle And High Priest of our confession That we may approach Thy throne of grace With full assurance of faith That we may hold on To our confession And we'll be able to Encourage one another to love We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Amen