Grace to You :: Unleashing God's Truth, One Verse at a Time

Good Friday: An Invitation to Salvation

Scripture: Hebrews 4:14-16
Code: 80-415

Were so happy to welcome all of you here on this Good Friday, and that includes those who may be
visiting with us. Were honored to have you here. This is a little taste of what we enjoy on the Lords
Day every week of music and fellowship. And in a moment the opening of the Word of God before we
come to the Lords Table. Were so happy for guests who have come to be with us. We hope you feel
welcomed and at home. Were really delighted to have you here.
The best thing about Grace Community Church is the people who are the church, and the church isnt
a building, its people, people who love the Lord Jesus Christ and endeavor to honor Him, and obey
Him, and spread His gospel. So we welcome you tonight. And I would be remiss if I didnt extend an
invitation to all of you for Sunday, 7:00 AM, 8:30, and 10:30, three services. And well be looking at
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and its been a few years since we actually looked at the
account of the resurrection in Matthew. So were going to do that on Sunday morning.
But for tonight, as we prepare our hearts for time around the Lords Table, I want you to open your
Bible, if you will, to Hebrews 4:14-16. No matter how many times I have preached through the years
on the cross and on the sacrifice of Christ and at the Lords Table and on Good Fridays and many,
many other occasions, I have found the Scripture to be an inexhaustible treasure of truth related to
the sacrifice of our Savior. It is, of course, the theme of all of Scripture, and so its found in many
ways in many places.
But I want you to look at just three verses at the end of the fourth chapter of Hebrews. And I want to
read them to you, Hebrews 4:14-16. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a
high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things
aswe are, yetwithout sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that
we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
For the first part of our service, obviously, we considered the cross. Our music tonight was an
invitation to look at the cross. There certainly was in that music pathos, and sympathy, and even
heartbreak for those of us who understand the agonies of our Savior on the cross. But Good Friday is
more than an invitation to sympathy. Its more than an invitation to view the past. Good Friday should
be viewed as an invitation to salvation, an invitation to salvation.

Really, every time we meet together and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, that in itself becomes an
invitation to salvation, the forgiveness of sin, escape from divine judgment, eternal punishment, and
the gift of everlasting life in the glories of heaven. The crucial reality in looking at the cross is not
simply to see the physical features of the cross, the things that were going on around it, as important
and significant as they are. The important thing to see when you look at the cross is the spiritual
significance of it, and thats exactly what this passage helps us to do. This passage is not an invitation
to just look at the event. Its an invitation to look at Christ Himself and what he was accomplishing
there.
The invitation is two-fold. You will notice in verse 14 the end of the verse says, let us hold fast our
confession. And then at the beginning of verse 16, let us draw near with confidence. Two clear
commandments - really, invitations. One, let us hold fast our confession. Two, Let us draw near
with confidence. Holding fast to your confession assumes a statement of trust in Christ. Youve made
a confession.
The Scripture says if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him
from the dead, youll be saved. If youve made a confession, the invitation here is to cling to that
confession, to hold onto that confession. Thats grabbing the past.
The second invitation is to draw near with confidence. And that indicates moving ahead to the
future. Well, what is this talking about? This is looking at someone whos been convinced of the truth
of the Gospel and to some degree confessed its integrity, its validity, its accuracy. But hasnt come all
the way to full faith in Christ.
This is that most dangerous of all places to be: caught in the middle, convinced its true. Perhaps
youve even affirmed that its true, that Jesus is who he said he was and he died the death that
Scripture says he died, and rose from the dead. And you dont dispute that. You dont deny that.
Youve affirmed that confession. Dont let go of it, keep going. Draw near with confidence.
The same language is used in the tenth chapter of Hebrews. Its identical, in fact, only its in reverse.
Verse 22, Let us draw near. Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.
Drawing near means coming all the way to full faith. And then verse 23, Let us hold fast the
confession without wavering.
This becomes a pattern in the book of Hebrews, this kind of instruction and warning. Hebrews 10:38,
my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we
are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the
soul. Its the same thing.

That really is what the book of Hebrews is about. And in chapter two, chapter three, chapter four,
chapter six, all the way through chapter ten. Come all the way to Christ, come all the way to Christ,
come all the way to Christ. Dont stop.
And in these little verses that I read to you, just this brief passage, there are three reasons why to
hold onto your confession and come all the way to Christ, three reasons why. And they relate, really
to one reason. And that is because of what we read in verse 14. Since we have a great high priest
who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Thats
the very same reason why we are to draw near with confidence, because of Him, called The One
in verse 15.
Why? Why come all the way? Why hold fast to that confession and draw fully near? Because of
Jesus the Son of God. Hes the reason to hold fast. Hes the reason to draw near. He has no parallel.
He has no equal. He has no competition. There is no match for him. The whole book of Hebrews is
designed to illustrate the absolute superiority of Jesus the Son of God.
All through this book, we are told he is better than the prophets. He is better than the patriarchs. He is
better than the most noble of all Old Testament leaders. He is better than the priests. He is better
than the angels. He is better than everyone. He has no parallel. He has no equal. And no one can
provide and offer what he offers. He offers to us a better sacrifice, a better covenant, with better
promises. Thats the book of Hebrews. He offers to us a relationship with God that is everlasting and
joyful.
Christianity is about Jesus Christ. Its about Jesus Christ. Christianity is not ethics. It is not morals. It
is not virtues. It is Christ. We would never say to someone, Become a Christian for its ethical value.
Become a Christian for its moral value. Become a Christian for its virtues. Become a Christian
because you can hang around some nice people. Become a Christian because were charitable and
youll be a part of something bigger than yourself to make a difference in the world.
Theres only one reason to become a Christian and that is to embrace Jesus Christ. Many religions
can offer ethical improvement, moral improvement, virtue, charity. But only Jesus Christ offers
salvation. Theres no one else who does. I am the way, the truth, and the life, he said, No one
comes to the Father but by me.
So the writer of Hebrews is saying to us, Draw near. Come all the way. Dont shrink back. Dont let
go of the confession youve made. Come all the way to Christ because he alone offers salvation.
There is no salvation in any other. Sinners require a savior. Sinners require a mediator. Sinners
require a priest who can actually bring them to God, a reconciler who can join sinful man and holy
God and bring them together. Theres only one mediator between God and man, and thats Jesus

Christ.
Jesus is the only mediator. He is the unequaled mediator. He is the only reconciler because and Ill
give you three points he is the perfect priest. He is the perfect priest. In verse 14, we have a great
high priest, a great high priest. What do you mean, a great high priest? Unmatched, unparalleled,
superior, perfect, flawless, transcending all other priests. And there were tens of thousands of priests
in Judaism in the Old Testament. There were many, many high priests. But theres only one great
high priest.
What sets him apart? Please notice verse 14, a great high priest who has passed through the
heavens. That is absolutely one of the most important statements made in the book of Hebrews.
Every priest in the economy of Israel passed through something. They passed through a sequence of
areas, every priest.
All earthly priests passed through certain barriers, through certain curtains, whether it was in the
tabernacle or the temple, or whatever temple was built at whatever time in Israels history. They
passed through certain areas to finally arrive in the presence of God, the symbolic presence of God in
the holy of holies.
So all the earthly high priests who went into the holy of holies entered only once a year and had to
sprinkle the blood and leave immediately on the penalty of death. So they passed into a tabernacle
made by men on earth. They passed into the holy of holies in that tabernacle or in a temple
constructed by men, which was symbolic of the presence of God. But the earthly high priests never
got beyond the earthly temple.
They went through three areas. They started in the court where sacrifices were made. Then they
went into the holy place. And then they went into the holy of holies. So there were three barriers,
three areas. The high priest couldnt go into the holy of holies until he had offered a sacrifice for his
own sins, which speaks of the reason why he had to get out of the presence of God as fast as he got
in there. After sprinkling the blood, he left out immediately. There was no chair. There was no bench.
There was nowhere to sit.
But the great high priest, he didnt pass through a curtain in a tent. He didnt pass through a curtain in
a building. He passed through the heavens, plural. The first heaven, the atmospheric heaven. The
second heaven, the stellar heaven. The third heaven, the eternal abode of God. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, the great high priest, went through the atmospheric heavens, through the stellar heavens, into
the eternal abode of God, presented his own blood shed on the cross to sprinkle on the heavenly
mercy seat - according to Hebrews 12:24 - and he then did what no priest ever has done. He sat
down. And hes still there. Hes still there in the presence of God. He offered a sacrifice before he
went in, but not for himself, but for us. He did what no priest had ever done. He stayed not in the

symbolic presence of God, but in the real presence of God in the glory of heaven.
The book of Hebrews makes much of this. Hebrews 1:3, When He had made purification of sins, He
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 7:25, He is able also to save forever those who
draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting
for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above
the heavens.
Hebrews 8:1, The main point in what has been saidis this:we have a high priest, who has taken His
seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high. 9:12, Not through the blood of goats and
calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal
redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have
been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?
And then 9:24, He did not appear in a holy place made with hands, amerecopy of the true one, but
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. It wasnt that He would offer Himself
often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Verse 28,
Christ, having been offered once to bear the sin of many, will appear a second time for salvation
withoutreference tosin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Hebrews makes much of him finishing his work sitting down. Hebrews 10:12, He, offered one
sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of god. He sat down. Fix - says 12:2 your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Back to
chapter four.
So you see many times through the book of Hebrews, the emphasis is made on the completion of his
work. It was done. Nobody needed to do it again. And he was a fully acceptable priest who entered
into the heavens. He passed through the heavens. Thats what verse 14 is saying. He was the perfect
priest who passed though the heavens and took His own blood, as it were, into the very holy of holies
in heaven itself and brought satisfaction to God, and stayed there to ever live and intercede for his
own.
Why hold onto your confession? Why draw near in full faith? Because theres only one Christ, only
one perfect priest.
Secondly, he was a perfect priest because He was a perfect person. He was a perfect priest because
He was the perfect person. Look again at verse 15. We do not have a high priest who cannot

sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things aswe are, yetwithout
sin. That constitutes the perfect high priest. As man, he fully sympathizes with our weakness. As
God, he is free from sin. Both of those realities are tied into the very name: Jesus, his human name;
Son of God, his divine identity.
So the countless gallons of blood that ran all over the temple altars for centuries, the sprinkled blood
that stained the mercy seat year after year could not take away sin because it was animal blood. The
great high priest as man shed his own blood for man, and as God triumphed in the midst of the wrath
of God came gloriously out of the grave. Redemption accomplished, took his seat.
As man, he can sympathize with our weakness. Hes able to understand us. In fact, he has sympathy
for us. Thats sympathy, a very, very Anglicized word.Sumpathe, from which we get pathetic,
pathos.Summeaning together with. To feel pathos with.
He came into this world as a man and he suffered all the things that humans suffer except sin, sin.
Could you be tempted without sinning? Yes. We are. Youre supposed to be tempted without sinning,
right? And he was. He had to be a man to die in our place, to have full sympathy. And he had to be
God in the midst of all of that suffering to never sin. So the sinless, spotless, without blemish sacrifice
is also the perfect priest.
Hold onto your confidence, draw near, because hes the perfect priest, because hes the perfect
person. And then finally the perfect priest who is the perfect person made the perfect provision in
verse 16. Draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. If you want to do an interesting study of Scripture, go into the Old
Testament. You can go all the way back in the Old Testament.
Places like Psalm 89 say, where it says, Righteousness and justice - speaking to God - are the
foundation of Your throne. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne. You can
go back to Ezekiel chapter 1, and you will see fury and judgment and fiery wrath being stirred up at
the throne of God about to be unleashed on men.
Go to the book of Revelation. Go to Revelation chapter 4 and see a vision of the throne of God in
Revelation 4 very much like Ezekiel 1. Go to the great white throne at the end of the book of
Revelation. Youll find a throne of judgment, a throne of justice, a throne of wrath.
The blood of animals could not pacify the wrath of God, could not satisfy his justice. The blood of
animals could not change a judgment throne. But because of what the perfect priest who is the
perfect person did, you notice in verse 16 that we draw near not to a throne of justice, not to a throne
of judgment, but to a throne of what? Of grace. He transformed the throne of God. And where we go,
and what we receive when we go there is mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Draw near withparrsia. That means that word, confidence, absence of fear, absence of fear. That
we dont have to worry about what we say. Say anything. Its also a word that means openness of
speech, freedom of speech, freedom to speak. We can now go into the holy of holies. We can go
into the presence of God anytime we want and say whatever is on our hearts without any fear. We
who are in Christ.
All we will ever find at the throne of God is grace. All we will ever find is mercy because Jesus paid in
full for our sins, our iniquities, and our transgressions. Hold onto your confession. Come all the way to
Christ, the perfect priest because hes the perfect person who made the perfect provision.

Our Father, we ask that as we come tonight to think again about the cross and about what You have
provided in the sacrifice of Your Son, we might first of all examine ourselves to see whether were in
the faith, whether we are in that halfway ground or whether weve come all the way, all the way to
fully embrace Christ as Lord and Savior. I pray for those who may be being tempted to fall back to
destruction. Bring them all the way to your Son, Jesus the Son of God.
We thank you for His mighty work on the cross. We thank you that he passed through the heavens
into your eternal abode, having offered His blood as a fitting sacrifice. He was accepted. He was
exalted. He was enthroned. And He sat down at your right hand, the majesty on high forever glorified,
forever exalted and honored, the final sacrifice ever to be made.
Lord, I just pray for all who are here not to walk away from this singular provision of reconciliation with
you through the one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. For those of us who are believers, may our
hearts be refreshed tonight in looking again at these most beloved of all truths that fill our hearts with
joy and hope.

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