Sunday, May 27, 2017 – New Heights Christian Church, Kent, WA – Dr. Daniel Folden
Our Crowned King Jesus Who Serves As Our Interceding Priest!
Hebrews 4:14-5:10
15 For 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. 16 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. Hebrews 4:15-16 (NIV84)
------[Note to readers. This symbol Ý suggests you look up to view a new PowerPoint slide.]
As briefly as I reasonably can, I want to share the testimony of Ravi Zacharias. The essence of his testimony is this: Ý The hope that we have in Christ as our Ascended King and Priest will get us through the most difficult of times we can ever experience on earth.
Here is, in his own words, Ý the testimony of Ravi Zacharias, albeit abbreviated because of our time constraints: “Questions plague our minds. From the time you begin to speak, you begin to use the word ‘why.’ And initially, they are merely questions of trying to know a little more and then they just become irritating questions to keep a conversation going. But then you come into your teenage years and the questions begin to feel very intense. And as the years go by, sometimes those questions are not answered and it would be very easy then to become cynical and assume that there are no answers.
Ý “G.K. Chesterton, the English philosopher and theologian said this: ‘For the Christian, joy is a central factor of his or her existence and sorrow is only a peripheral one. Joy is central and sorrow is peripheral.’ The reason being, he said, ‘For the Christian, the fundamental questions are answered. The central questions of life are answered. Some of the peripheral ones may not be. Therefore, joy becomes fundamental. Sorrow becomes peripheral.’ He said, ‘For the one who is not a Christian, sorrow becomes fundamental and joy becomes peripheral because the fundamental questions remain unanswered and at best, only the peripheral ones may be addressed.’
“There really are Ý four fundamental questions in life you at some stage will ask if you are to make sense out of your life. The first is the question of origin: How did I come into being? The second is the question of morality: How can I determine what is right and what is wrong? The third is the question of meaning: What is the purpose of life itself? And the fourth is the question of destiny: What happens to a human being when he or she dies? Origin, meaning, morality, and destiny.
Ravi says this about himself. “The two (questions) that plagued me most were the questions of destiny and … of meaning. I struggled with meaning. Ý How do I find meaning and purpose in life? Meaning that is so powerful that I don’t need a ‘high’ for it to be meaningful and no amount of ‘low’ is going to take it out of my mind. And destiny, what happens to a human being when he or she dies?
“The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate and it has let you down. I had various ways of trying to find the ultimate. None of them was satisfying.
“I found myself going to a Youth For Christ meeting. The only reason I went was because they told us they were going to serve us refreshments after the meeting. And I would go anywhere where they were serving refreshments.
“I didn’t know this was supposed to be a religious meeting, especially since the leading singer sang a well-known Gospel song that meant nothing to me. And the song was called, Ý ‘There is a balm in Gilead.’ So, I looked at my friend who had come along with me, a young Hindu lad, and I said to him, ‘What on earth is a bomb in Gilead?’ (I didn’t know he was saying ‘balm,’ I thought he was saying ‘bomb.’ I was just hoping we weren’t sitting in Gilead.) I said, ‘What on earth is a “bomb in Gilead”?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, you joker, you brought me here. I didn’t bring you.’
“… I was a student at the University of Delhi. And I kept pondering. I said, ‘You know, Ý my dad has said I’m going to be a failure. I really don’t have peace within my heart. I’m not doing well in my studies. Maybe if I just took my life, that would solve it. At least, to not exist is better than to exist if what you enjoy when you’re existing is such shallow sense of being, and no hope and no meaning.
“I went to my university that day and put all kinds of chemicals marked ‘poison’ in the Science Lab, put it into my brief case. I didn’t think I was really going to have the courage to do it, but I thought I’m going to somehow see if I will. Put all these things into my school bag and I went home that night. The next day dawned. The house was empty, except for the cooks who were in the other end of the home, and I went into the bathroom, shut that door, took a tall glass, took a little bit from each packet, put it into this glass and I opened the faucet and ran that faucet and started to stir it into that glass. And before I could even have any common sense to stop myself, I guzzled that whole glass down.
“The ironic thing about that was that all of those chemicals put together were so salty that my body was not able to keep it in and my body was trying to reject it as I was trying to hold it in.
“Next thing I knew I was just collapsing on my knees and I shouted for help. One of the servants heard me shouting, came and broke that door down and the next thing I was aware of a long while later was I was lying in a hospital bed in Delhi with all kinds of needles inside my body. And the doctor had not given me much of a chance to live. ….
“And as I lay there in my bed, I thought to myself, ‘I’ve really blown it not, haven’t I. Ý Not only did I not know how to live. I didn’t even know how to die.’
“But the thing that saved my dad’s anger against me, I think, was the doctor didn’t hold out much hope. He thought that even if I did survive, I was going to do permanent damage to my inner system completely.
“And you know, there is something horrible about lying in bed and knowing how much you’ve blown it; completely blown it; and with no sense of hope or internal dignity. It’s a horrible, horrible feeling of betrayal. You’ve betrayed everybody, including yourself.
Ý “As I lay in that hospital bed, a man came to the door. I recognized him because he was the man who sang, ‘There is a balm in Gilead.’ So, I knew my mind was clear. Had I also been cheerful, I would have said, ‘I hope he’s not going to sing again, because that would have been awful for me at that time. But he didn’t. He came in. And my mom said, ‘You’re not allowed to come in here. How did you come in? He’s in intensive care.’ He said, Ý ‘I’ve come because the most important thing I can give your son is right now in my hand.’ And he took out a red New Testament. But he wasn’t allowed to stay there. And he opened it to John chapter 14 and asked my mother to read it to me.
“You know, my mother was a lovely lady, but she spoke with a heavy, heavy accent. And to give her the King James Version of the New Testament, to have her read it to me in that condition, only the sovereign grace of God could have brought something out of that.
“As she stumbled and started to read in John chapter 14, then the words of Jesus saying, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes unto the Father except through Me.’ The way, the truth and the life. I didn’t know enough to expound on each one of those words. But then He came to these words, Ý ‘I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Before long the world will not see Me any longer, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.’ Those words, ‘Because I live, you also will live.’ And I prayed this prayer. I said, ‘Jesus Christ, I don’t know who You are. But, Ý something in here tells me You are the Author of life and You are what life is all about. If you will give me that life, give me that life so that You will change what I want to do.” And here are the words I prayed. ‘I will leave no stone unturned in my pursuit of truth because I will follow You with all my heart and with all my soul.’
“Five days later I walked out of the hospital bed a brand new man, completely well, completely well. And do you know what? Ý For the first time in my life I had what I believe was meaning. It didn’t all come together over night, but I began to realize I had found the source of meaning. I had found the place from where I would find the answer.” [1]
Friends, Ý the hope that we have in Christ as our Ascended King and Priest will get us through the most difficult of times we can ever experience on this earth.
So, this morning, I want to draw your attention to the coronation of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords and the fact that He is now reigning and ruling the universe from His throne in heaven. I want to show you from Scripture that immediately upon His return to heaven after His death and resurrection, He was crowned King of kings. I want us to be asking as we look at a handful of Scriptures, and especially the passage from Hebrews 4 and 5, who is Jesus Christ to us right now? Who is He right now as we engage with Him as our Lord and Savior? And, what difference does it make in how we live our lives right now?
Ý This is Ascension Sunday, celebrating the event of Christ returning to His Father in heaven. This past Thursday on the church calendar around the world was Ascension Day. For this reason, today we are focusing our attention on the ascension of Jesus Christ from earth to heaven. What took place in this event has joyful and consequential implications for all people who have placed their trust in Him as Savior and Lord. We will explore some of those implications in this sermon.
Jesus spoke to His disciples in advance of His death about the day when He would ascend into heaven. Ý John 14:1–2 (NIV84) 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” Here is one reason for His return to heaven, namely, to prepare an eternal home for us who are united with Him by faith.
In John 16, Jesus again speaks prophetically to inform His disciples of how critically important it was that He return to His Father. Ý John 16:5–7 (NIV84) 5 “Now I am going to Him who sent Me, yet none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” Christ’s going, His ascending to the Father meant that He would send His Holy Spirit to take His place here on earth.
In Luke 24, during His walk to Emmaus with two of His followers on the day of His resurrection, they thought He must have been a visitor to Jerusalem that day. But Jesus rebuked them for not believing what the prophets had said about how the Christ’s earthly life would culminate in His return to glory after having greatly suffered. Ý Luke 24:25–27 (NIV84) 25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. If we read the Old Testament prophets, we will see that the Christ would suffer, die and return to heaven to enter His glory.
The writer of Hebrews highlights Ý what qualified Jesus to ascend to the throne in heaven. Hebrews 1:3 (NIV84) 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Before Christ could sit down in heaven, He needed to provide purification for sins. That He did by dying on the cross, and rising to heaven by both His resurrection and His ascension. But, He needed to be the satisfactory sacrifice for our sins before He rose from the dead with a glorified body and before He returned to heaven to sit on the throne.
This brings us to Revelation 5. Chapter 4 set the scene with God the Father sitting on His throne in heaven. There’s no mention of Jesus in chapter 4. But, as we come to chapter 5, we become aware of His absence by the question in verse 2.
Ý Revelation 5:1-4 (NIV84) 1 Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
The search for someone worthy to break the seals and open the scroll has included heaven, and earth and under the earth. That would be everywhere. John weeps at the thought that there is no one who can open the scroll, who can execute the plan of God. His hopes have been dashed. He is traumatized by the thought that the scroll would not be opened and sinners would not be rescued. But the story does not end there.
Ý Revelation 5:5 (NIV84) 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”