Today is the Fifth Sunday of Lent my friends!
During this time of Lent, we searched the scriptures to learn about ‘Preparing for a Journey’, ‘Aligning our Intentions’, ‘Learning about the Cross’ and ‘Power and Passion of Gods Love.’
This final Sunday of Lent, I want to try and put together a description of something that I know each of us can relate to in so many ways.
A desperate plead,’Lord, Help me!’, ‘God, protect me!’, ‘Father, Save Me!’
Very soon, we will hear and potentially experience in the coming Sundays, the Lord Jesus coming into Jerusalem, fulfilling the Scripture by being betrayed, arrested, beaten, crucified, and then die for each of us. But knowing his resurrection is the pinnacle of all of what Easter is for Christians today.
In preparing for the sermon today, I thought more about what Christ has done for us in terms of how he himself asked the Father, with prayers and agony such as in the garden of Gethsemane.
I came upon a story in a national newspaper that helped me think more on just how important it is to have a voice! To know our desperate cries do not go unheard. To have someone speak on our behalf in times of need.
It is well-known that it seems to blacken the eye of Justice in our world; men and women are accused of heinous crimes that are ultimately proven to be innocent.
In a 2018 article in Chicago Tribune, wrote about wrongful convictions in the United States are estimated to be somewhere between 2 to 10 percent.
This may sound like a low number, but when you place that percentage against a 2million inmate population, that number is rather significant.
One of the system's significant hurdles is when an innocent person is convicted, it is next to impossible to get the individual out of prison.
So when it comes to being innocent or guilty, isn’t that something we each can relate to in the sense of sin?
I could just imagine how the pleas and yearning from these individuals that didn’t commit the crime, their cries fell upon deaf ears. No one to listen, no one to hear them, no one to be their voice! No one believed them.
In the book of Hebrews, we read about a concept that really isn’t in our mindset that often, how someone can or could fit into a position for Gods people as ‘High Priest!’
In the Old Testament, a High Priesthood had a very important role.
Every High Priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, offer gifts, and sacrifice for sins.
He has to deal with those who are ignorant and are going astray. Since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was.
Does this sound familiar?
In the days of Moses, a High Priest could NOT be the solution to the sinful ways of people. It only temporarily covered them with the sacrifice offering. Since the High Priest themselves had their own sin, this raged into a interesting cosmic realization that SIN, needs to be dealt with in order to be Godly period!
The High Priest could only ‘tolerate’ sin, but not solve it! So what did God do for his children to solve the SIN problem?
Gave Us Jesus! Our High Priest!
When we come to fellowship and worship at Memorial, or any Church, a deep voice portraits from each of us if we could only admit to it;
Is there any word from the Lord for me to hear? Does God really hear me today?
This is something we each encounter to be sure! When you hear the scripture “Draw near to the throne of grace with confidence” that is something we each should strive for! We should have that CONFIDENCE in knowing someone, Christ Jesus, hears our voices and prayers.
Our High Priest is sympathetic with men and was called by God. To have sympathy is something we each pray for don’t we? Especially when we are in agony, turmoil, whether our fault or not! When we hurt, we want sympathy! We want a solution! We want it to be over with!
That is what Christ, our High Priest continues to accomplish.
Christ himself friends, offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Can we truly expect God to hear us?
Just think about it!
Throughout the bible both Old and New Testament, God has demonstrated time and time again; his gentleness and sympathy to those who come to God in prayer.
God is [a]spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
Christ gives us a true, genuine example of what it means to come to God during our times of despair.
When Christ went to the Father, he pleaded ‘earnestly’ and with ‘reverence.’
When we come to Christ, do we not hesitate at times? Many of us tentatively and fearfully turn away from the Gospel by some hardening of our Spirit. Something that drives us into another direction, such as DOUBT! And the word ‘Grace’ does not have a true meaning to those.
But the sympathetic High Priest, we have a open door to his heart. A Powerful and Tenderness in dealing with men even in sin.
Christ himself had weakness of the flesh, but was strengthen by God the father! Have you ever thought, how other fellow man are hard on others just because of their own weakness?
So once we honestly deal with our sin and ask forgiveness, we tend to have mercy and tenderness towards others don’t we?
In this sense, no man can ever be gracious to others until God has been gracious to them!
He Who is forgiven little, loves little (Luke)
Christ is full and willing to take our sins upon himself freely.
Christ does not take the honor upon himself, he doesn’t self seek or self promote. Its always God the father he showed.
Christ tells us ‘Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.’
So to this point, we should start to see how our High Priest, Jesus, has fulfilled the duties.
When prayer is offered from us, his children, God does hear us!
As Christ showed us from the beginning teaching disciples to pray to the father in Spirit, to the famous Lords Prayer, and even to these final hours of Jesus on Earth at the Garden, He prayed for relief and aid sustenance.
Nothing far less could we also do before God. We each have at our disposal a ‘reassurance’ and with ‘confidence’ And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.
Sometimes the answer is NO, Wait! For Christ, it was NO! Do you realize that?
Christ asked for this cup pass from him, save him from this hour. God answered the prayer by sustaining him, comforting him and in the end fulfilling the promises.
No where friends in scripture is our Journey easy just as it wasn’t easy for Christ to be tormented, killed and knowing in the end raised from the dead.
Think of this for a moment!
Christ knew long before the actual crucifixion that he would be risen. Did that stop him from having agony in his prayer? If he knew in the end that God would save him, why was he praying so hard and fervently?
It is the same dilemma we each have, our fleshly body is weak! Our fleshly mind is brital!
When we are accused of something that isn’t our fault per-say, if we think we do not have representation or our voices are not heard, we need to focus on ‘YES I DO! I HAVE CHRIST!’
The Gospel of John gives an account of Jesus’s prayer and how God responded.
“What should I say, Father, save me from this hour? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Jesus goes on to say “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine…”
God hears us! God seeks us! God listens to us! God speaks to us!
Let me close with a excert from a known Gospel singer Tony Gore song that quoted this:
You say that you dont need this man called Jesus!
You Say you can handle your own life?
But if you truly believe the words you are saying, then tell me why are those teardrops in your eyes?
Believe in Christ friends! Trust in him and he will sustain you in all your ways.