 Okay, welcome back. Let's pick up from where we stopped so we're looking at What the Father what the Lord Jesus is doing? What is his role right now in heaven? So? Right now the Lord Jesus has a two-fold role before the Father on our behalf right So as we mentioned that it's not that the Lord Jesus finished the work here on earth and he's gone there and Now, you know, he's not doing anything. No, the father the Lord Jesus has a two-fold role In with the father on behalf of us. So what is the first one? As a high priest he stands on our behalf before the father. So what does he do? He's our intercessor and an advocate as well as an advocate and he will explain Or not to explain but he will stand Between the father and us as an advocate as an intercessor Right and to he's our mediator. He stands before the father and he enforces the new covenant For us here on earth Right. So the first one is he's our high priest Hebrews talks a lot about it He stands before the father and he makes intercession for us. He's our advocate and To he's our mediator. He stands before the father and he enforces the new covenant For us here on earth right now, let's look at these two separately and get more details on On these two points, right? So let's be clear what the father does to full purpose Sorry, what the Lord Jesus is doing for the father father on our behalf to Fold purpose one is he's our high priest. He stands as an advocate our intercessor and To he is our mediator where he enforces the new covenant into Our lives as well. So let's look at the first one Jesus as our high priest In the Old Testament we saw that, you know, we saw what the high priest does, right? We looked at You know, you know, he stands before the he goes into the Holy of Holies He looks after daily offerings. He also makes sure that You know, the offerings are made on time during fees during You know times of You know sacrificing Sacrificial offerings he was he's there. He needs to ensure that you know, the lamps are given the right lamp is given the right Offering is placed in the right way So a lot of a lot of administrative work as well Melchizedek was the high priest of the Most High God now when we look at Genesis Chapter 14 Melchizedek, we saw that he offered bread and wine to Abraham Melchizedek blessed Abraham Melchizedek received the tithes of Abraham and Abram in the presence of Melchizedek Rejected the offer of King Sodom and stayed true to his faith in God So what is the role of the priests in the Old Covenant? The priests were anointed and Consecrated to minister to the Lord on the behalf of the people, right? So remember Aaron first high priest They poured the oil the anointing oil on Aaron's head and the oil went down his beard He was anointed and he was consecrated to be the the high priest For the people of Israel, right? so God anoints and God anointed and consecrated him for the minute to the minister to minister to the people of Israel to they offered Sacrifices brought by the people to the altar like we already learned that three if the anointed priest himself sinned and he had to make a sin offering for himself and the people right So the high priest Not only made offerings for the people, but remember that he was also You know open to sin There were times when he also would have sinned and so he had to make an offering for himself as well Right the priest as part of his effort now when we read in the Old Covenant The word effort is used a lot especially the new King James version it talks about the robe and the rope that Bezalel and if you see God gave wisdom upon these two people Huliyab and Bezalel and they designed the outfits for the high priest and The the robe itself had the 12 tribes on the chest Sorry on the shoulders and then the priest when he lifted up the people before the Lord as the intercessor and He represented them as a burden bearer Right So the 12 tribes it was to show that okay the people of Israel is is is there on my shoulder and I'm carrying them as a burden and And For the people right the priest also wore the real names of the 12 tribes on the breastplate on of his heart And he went before the Lord And why did he do that? it was to ensure to to let you know the it was to Say God these people Are in my in my heart they are here and I am going to represent them And and the priest had to hold the people close to his heart knowing what they were going through He also instructed them teaching them To do what is right and not to do what is wrong teaching them the ways of the Lord So it was it was an act to say that the people are close to my heart And so as a high priest I will teach them I will instruct them I will lead them in the ways of the Lord So that was the whole point of having that breastplate Which had all the names of the 12 tribes on the chest Once every year the annual day of atonement as as we all know You know they they would the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies Make that offering once a year. I'm sure the high priest would have been so worried You know pictured it he has to go into the Holy of Holies Probably a week before he would begin to you know watch out for his life is you know be Try to be as holy as possible spend most of the time and in the tabernacle Praying living a life that is holy because what he would do is he would take the blood and he did enter the Holy of Holies Now this is history what I'm going to say But it is not biblical fact. It's history. We don't know whether it's true or not. It is said that During those times that later on they would Clamp a chain on the feet of the high priest and As they went as he went into the Holy of Holies if he had sin that was unconfessed He would die on that on the spot and they would literally pull the chain and drag him out It was that serious Entering because the Bible says in Exodus that the presence of God God himself dwelt in that place right and if the high priest went in With unconfessed sins without making atonement for himself There would be consequences. So once every year, he would make atonement for the entire nation Leviticus 16 Imagine the entire nation will come to a standstill All eyes will be on this one single man the single Event that is going to happen and he will go in and He'll offer the blood in the Holy of Holies Once a year Probably when he came out there will may have been great celebrations. Okay, God has forgiven us God has made atonement. God was God has no more angry with us God is not going to pour his judgment upon us God is going to bless us and and that was probably the mindset after that The priest received the tithes that the people brought the tithes could be One-tenth of their, you know agriculture Whatever work that they were doing business or Most of it was agriculture But they would get one-tenth of it if it was Livestock, they would have got that as well. They would give it unto the Lord right and that would be a Sweet-smelling burnt offering to the Lord and say God this is for you And the priests had to be holy unto the Lord the priest blessed the people and blessed And pronounced blessings on the people of God See even in the book of Leviticus says may the Lord bless you and keep you may he causes face to shine upon you May the Lord be gracious unto you and grant you his peace. So just like that. There will be many blessings That the priests would speak upon people now this was mostly the role of the priests now apart from this They were also involved in daily prayers, right? They would go up and go up to the temple and pray. There were also a few high priests who would spend time writing writing prayers or writing manuscripts You know Writing what the Lord places in their heart. So Mostly what the high priests would do is they were Consecrated for the work of the Lord you won't find the high priest going and working in the fields No, they were consecrated to God consecrated for the ministry and later on Levites came in who would help the high priest In getting the pass of the tabernacle to be accomplished. Now, what did Jesus do? do As a high priest, what is the work Jesus completed as a high priest? As a high priest, he was called by God to be the high priest of perpetual priesthood That means he will be our high priest forever Now in the old covenant, there was a high priest The high priest would be there for some time. Maybe he passes away Then there's a new high priest who would come that high priest will represent the nation of Israel then another high priest Then another high priest. So there were different high priests, right? So after Aaron his children took over And then after that there were other high priests who came in But here would after the cross after what Jesus did Jesus is our perpetual high priest. That means he will be our high priest forever No change Right. It's permanent to The Lord Jesus he made as a high priest He made propitiation for our sins, which means he made reconciliation He made atonement and he obtained forgiveness for our sins. Now remember In the old covenant, it was just an atonement a covering of sins Right. It was it was something the offering that they had to do again and again and again and again Right, but the Lord Jesus did it once for all the blood was shed once for all And so we receive atonement. We receive reconciliation obtained forgiveness of sins three Jesus as a high priest has completed the work and has become the source of eternal salvation to all who obey in him Right. Now in the old covenant Salvation sozo Right. Uh, what is uh, you know sozo as we mentioned is a big word has a lot of Uh, it's a power packed word lot of details in that word sozo but as uh After the work of christ On the cross We receive eternal salvation through him Not temporary Salvation not temporary forgiveness not temporary Uh blessings but eternal forever and ever Because the high priest is not going to change He's done it all As a high priest Jesus entered the heavenly tabernacle And offered his own blood once for all obtaining eternal redemption for us released our Conscience from dead works to serving the living god Now it's interesting to note that The word comes here released our conscience from dead works to serving the Lord Everything god you yourself said do all of this in the old covenant And now you're saying it's dead works Why was why is it referred to why is it saying dead works? You know paul is writing there and he says uh, he says All that we did in the the old covenant now remember paul is studied under gemeliel He's Fervent in judaism of Pharisee of Pharisees. He knows everything from the old covenant So full of zeal paul is writing and he's saying that is dead works Right Now why is he saying that because in in the old in the old covenant After the offering was made they would go back Sin they would sin again and then years later on it all became A way of living It all became like okay. I'll if I sin I'll go I'll make the offering go back The reverence was lost it became dead works Right and our conscience was You know dead as well That is why the uh, I had a moment. There was 400 years of silence after malachi 400 years of silence and Probably this is what happened. They were going making the offerings Conscience is dead They're just living the life of sin. They're making these offerings But it's dead works Now the Lord Jesus what he's done is after the cross He took his own blood And he said no more the blood of lambs and goats But the blood my own blood Will testify my own blood will speak On behalf of the new covenant Right and what did he do? He this blood takes us from a place of dead works Of the old covenant to a place of living and worshiping the true and living god Right so no more should we think of Going and cutting a lamp and going into the Going giving it to a high priest and they will make a turn now No more all of those works you come in To the holy of holies Not by anyone else's but blood but by the blood of jesus And there's a song right I enter the holy of holies I enter through the blood of the lamb Because without that blood we cannot enter without The work of christ we cannot enter And as a high priest jesus Took his own blood And he took it to the heavenly tabernacle this time not to an earthly tabernacle Now the earthly tabernacle is done away with Because he's taken it directly to the heavenly tabernacle where the father is seated What an amazing work What an amazing work jesus has as a high priest he He sympathizes with us Right, he knows our weaknesses Now we got a high priest who understands us Who have gone through all the temptations But have overcome every one of them our our high priest is one who has gone through hunger who's gone through tiredness You know weariness High priest has Feelings he has wept He's gone through pain. He's gone through suffering so now For example, when we lose a loved one in our lives The pain and the at the sorrow Jesus as our high priest he knows it He knows the pain that we may be going through Maybe your family member has Rejected us or caused us pain He knows what it feels like What is he doing making intercession for us? He's standing as an advocate and he's saying father this boy or this girl Has lost his You know parents or has lost a loved one I know how it feels It's painful grant them your comfort And what is Jesus doing? He's enforcing the blessings of the new covenant He's enforcing and he's saying I will send my spirit. He's a comforter. He will comfort you Jesus may not come in flesh and blood and stand next to you and comfort you but his spirit brings comfort Right, that's the most powerful thing that he does as an intercessor as a mediator. He Sympathizes he knows what is pain So for example, we you know, we are fasting 40 days fast And it's 15 days and we're really hungry and we want to eat something Her body is weak The Lord Jesus here sympathizes with us. He knows the father doesn't know about You know hunger He's above all of that But the Lord Jesus as our high priest as our mediator, he knows and he says to the father, I know What it feels like I know what weakness feels like because I also went through this And he stands as a mediator and he enforces The new covenant. He says I will send my spirit And he will give you the strength The holy spirit will bring bible verses to remembrance Right Isaiah says when you're weak I will give you strength. You will rise up with wings like eagles. You will run and not be weary That is the ministry of the holy spirit Right, so as our high priest Jesus As our high priest last one, he has permanently removed the list of offenses written against us judged and condemned the accuser and closed all the cases Right Against us. There is nothing pending as you and I as believers in the court of heaven We have been declared righteous and justified Now if you picture a courtroom scenario, right Let's take this example. This man Has murdered somebody Right and There's there on the on the you know, the judge is sitting there And he's going to pronounce his judgment. Okay, we're going to give this person a death sentence because he killed somebody And just before that Another man comes and says Oh Judge Don't condemn this man I will give my life for this And you can let him go the judge says Why would you want to do that says because I don't want him to go through the suffering. I don't want him to go through the pain. I don't want him to go through Uh, this whole thing of being in prison and I don't want him to die But I will die on his behalf. You take my life, but set him free And the judge says, are you sure about it? And this other man says, yes Let him go And I will stand in that podium and I will take his place And the judge says, okay now You the other person the murderer can walk away You're free to go Because this other man has chosen to give his life on your behalf So the court says the court is adjourned And this is the verdict this other person will die on behalf of the murderer That's where This verse comes into me into So much meaning While we were yet sinners Christ died for us Jesus went took our place He died on the cross and the courts of heaven has declared each one of us righteous Yeah, the courts of heaven has declared each one of us just as if we have not sinned So this man can go out and he has a choice as a murderer. He can go back and say Why did this other person be willing to give his life for me when I Clearly everyone knows that I murdered. I was the one who murdered the other person He can go back to his old life or he can turn away from his old life and say God forgive me And when we ask for forgiveness Jesus will be our mediator And he will say yes, I know I know what you did was wrong, but I'm going to wash away your sins That is So powerful While we were yet sinners Christ died for us, right? So in the court of heaven You and I are declared righteous. You and I are declared justified And what is the enemy going to do? Bring condemnation He's going to say you you are You cannot do this. You are useless. You cannot Be successful in life. You have sinned the last time. How can you be serving in the church? How can you minister in the church? Look at your life. You are this you are this He's the accuser of the brethren. The word satan means accuser Now when he accuses what is it that you and I should do We are not to say, okay. Oh, yes. I am like this on you. No, no, no, no He say Yes, I have sinned But right now in the courts of heaven And the eyes of the father I am righteous. I am justified And so we can go back and ask for forgiveness And continue to living a holy life As our high priest just take how in the old testament Aaron and the high priest he blessed the people and he said I will bless you. May the lord keep you Ephesians 1 3 says I've blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus The Lord Jesus as our high priest has blessed us And so What is the high priest doing for us? Jesus is merciful and faithful He is able to help us In times when we are tempted as our high priest when we look to when temptations come We can look to Jesus and say God help me to overcome this temptation right I like that was resisted Submit to God Resist the devil and he will flee from you Right Sometimes we say we do the other way resist the devil then submit to God. No, no, no You submit to God first and then we resist the devil. He will flee from us Jesus is our merciful and faithful high priest He has mercy upon us right now Even when we sin, maybe right now in this moment also We have sin in our lives sin in our hearts things that are so against the word of God so against You know What God has taught us to be maybe there's there's bitterness anger whatever it is Jesus is merciful And our and he is faithful to forgive our sins That is what Jesus is doing for us. He's our high priest when we pray. He will forgive our sins He is the apostle and high priest of our confession Hebrews 3 1 So we are to hold fast to our confession of faith Right. He's our high priest and the apostle is the high priest of our confession We had a whole fast to his convention confessions. What is our confession of faith? Right, of course, Proverbs talks about You know Life and death is in the power of our tongue We confess with our mouth believe in our heart Jesus Christ his Lord We are forgiven of our sins So confession is very important Especially at times when we are in turmoil In times when we are we don't know what to do We feel confused. We feel betrayed. We feel alone Confess the word of God Because he is our high priest Right Hold fast to the confession. Say God. I know you're there in heaven. You're making intercession for me Help me in this time of challenge. Help me in this time where I'm not able to decide what to do And the Lord Jesus will come through for us. He as a high priest understands our weaknesses Having been tempted in all points as we are therefore We can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace In our times of need Right as our high priest. He understands us. He understands our weaknesses Right. So just because he understands it doesn't mean that we keep quiet about it God, I'm sure you understand that I'm tired Lord, I understand Lord that you you know, I I know that you understand my difficulty But don't end it in that What does the verse say Hebrews he says After you understand enter his throne room with boldness Right God, Lord, I understand you. I know you understand that I am feeling weak and I'm tired I know you understand this. I know you have gone through this. Yes, he understands But what do we do after that enter his throne room with boldness? Lord, I don't have wisdom I don't have knowledge. I I don't know how to speak or I don't know What is my calling in life and help me? And then don't just we we're not to just sit and do nothing about it We enter his throne room with boldness Remember the The old covenant the high priest may have been shivering to his knees When he was trying to enter the holy of holies It would have been such a trembling time for him He would have had to make sure that everything was right in his life Now we don't have to wait to make everything right because everything's not going to be right We can go in our weaknesses in our failures go into the throne of God Because his grace will see us through As a high priest According to the order of Melchizedek Jesus receives our tithes And he blesses us When we give to the Lord Whatever we have it's not about how much but it's how we give god loves a cheerful giver So when we give to the Lord Just as Melchizedek the high priest when Abram Abram gave one tenth to Melchizedek Abram received it and he said and he spoke a blessing over Abram Sorry Melchizedek received the tithe and he spoke a blessing over Abram the same way when we give our tithes to the Lord When we give One tenth of what God has given us God is able to bless it And he will speak a blessing over us. It is very important To tithe and to give unto the Lord But here's the thing It's not about you know the Lord Jesus also says that right Remember he's at the temple this woman goes And this puts one coin And Jesus says she has given more than everyone else Right. We're not giving out of our abundance, but we are giving out of our love for God The one tenth that we give Very very important. Don't give it if it's a burden If you feel oh, why should I give if we feel no, why should I give one tenth? Why can I give one eighth? Don't give Because God's blessings will be on those who give wholeheartedly And cheerfully right The woman there the poor lady just gave a single coin and Jesus said she has given from all that she has And she has given it with all her heart Right So so tithing giving unto the Lord giving unto people When you're blessing other people Jesus says right don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing Do it as if you're doing it unto the Lord and God will bless that Right. So those who are in the workplace those who are in ministry, whatever we are doing when we give unto the Lord Remember that the Lord Jesus is going to bless it He will multiply it And he will meet our needs right as a high priest Very important Jesus continues forever with an unchangeable priesthood And so he's always ready to save to the uttermost right As a priest the priests in the old covenant are ready to Put their life on the line for the nation of israel for the people And he teaches them instructs them same way the Lord Jesus is willing to save to the uttermost We can keep turning away from him. We can keep You know turning our back towards him But the Lord Jesus will continue to save to the uttermost. He will not stop We can wake up one morning and say I don't believe in Jesus Doesn't mean that Jesus is going to say, okay, let's go to the next person. No, no, no He will save to the uttermost. He will save my blood is shed for this man or for this woman I will do my best You know to bring my word to bring my to let the Holy Spirit minister to him And I will do what I have to do to save to the uttermost As our high priest Jesus is currently making intercession for us. Let's read Couple of verses here. Romans chapter 8 was 33 to 34. Let's read that Romans 8 33 to 34 Yes Any one of us Romans 8 33 and 34 Romans 8 33 34 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also reason Who is even at the right hand of God? Who also makes intercession for us? Yeah, thank you, silly Who's on the right hand of the father who is also making intercession? For us Jesus right now is sitting at the right hand of the father. Now. I want you to use your imagination, right? Picture the throne of God and the book of revelations Has this amazing throne room is equal one talks about the wonderful throne room How the the set of films the cherubim's picture that this place of utter holiness Uh-huh, and there the Lord Jesus Is seated next to the father picture the Lord Jesus probably with a cup in his hand holding the blood That he shed on the cross and what does it say here? He's sitting on the right hand of the father Interceding for us So What is that? Maybe for example, I have sinned against God Now sin has to be dealt with so God is ready to pronounce a judgment upon that sin And at that moment the Lord Jesus is reminding he's interceding On our behalf and he's saying Just wait for some more time father. Remember the blood that I shed don't pass judgment upon him remember the blood I will Send my Holy Spirit to minister to him Forgive him his sins Don't pass your righteous judgment upon him now. This judgment is righteous judgment Right, so the high priest has a high priest. What's he doing? Remember the old covenant He's saying don't pass judgment or the nation of Israel, please And he posed that blood Here the Lord Jesus saying don't pass Lord Not not the blood of lambs and goats father, but the my own blood was shed for this person And so he the Lord Jesus sitting on the right hand. He's interceding for us He wants all of us to have everything The riches the glory the power Everything that he made available to us. He wants us to have it Standing he's he's seated there with the right hand of the father making a decision There's no other high priest Who can be as worthy as he is There's no other high priest greater than Jesus Right, there couldn't be anyone In the heavens seated on the right hand of the father And standing on our behalf We can look imagine we can look to the father Through our Lord Jesus Christ And the father's like it's like a picture saying Okay, come in my son my daughter come in And we are saying no no I can't come in Lord And the Lord Jesus is saying it's all right You can come because you're not coming by your works. You're coming by what I have done on the cross You're coming from my works You're coming from what I did on the cross And then when we enter that way, that's such a blessing The Lord the father accepts us right Jesus is the high priest over the house of God Therefore we have boldness to enter the holy of holies and we draw near with full assurance of faith Full assurance Right not half an assurance Right not uh, three fourth of an assurance Word of Jesus does not remember that I gave my life to him. Word of Jesus remembers my sin Word of Jesus does this no no no we can enter his throne room with full assurance Right now this has its Good this we are talking about this from a believer's standpoint Right when you read the book of revelations, you see another Jesus And the great white throne judgment you see another Jesus. You don't see him as a high priest We see him as the king of kings You'll you'll study that in the next semester and times Uh, the unbelievers don't see Jesus as a high priest holding, uh, you know the blood his blood and Interceding no no no no Book of revelation says They saw the one who seated on the throne and they They wanted to die, but they could not die They could not stand to see who is that seated on the throne But on the other side we see Jesus humble and meek willing to intercede for us Because we are his children You see the difference there As as just for us his children you and me He's humbled himself. He says I'll be the high priest for you I will make intercession for you. I will show my blood for you But for those who don't believe He is the king of kings He's the righteous judge says Revelation chapter 8 says Hide us from the one who's seated on the throne and from on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb Hide us from his anger hide us from his wrath The same Jesus So beautifully pictured as our high priest So what a joy it is for us To remember that You know as Jesus is our high priest, but we don't take it lightly Don't say anyway. Jesus is our high priest. That's all right. No no no He's also God. He's also king. He's also the righteous judge As our high priest Uh, he speaks the father's heart to us through his spirit What a wonderful thing As our high priest, you know in the old covenant the high priest's job Or responsibilities was to offer the offerings and sacrifice and then his he would spend most of his time praying And he would go and tell the leaders You know, this is what god spoke to me. This is what god ministered to me Right Remember samuel. He was a priest A judge as well prophet as well And samuel he heard from god and he shared it to the people of israel Right and and as a high priest The father he the lord jesus Reveals the father's will for our lives He says okay through the holy spirit And so that is why it is very important to have a relationship with the holy spirit Because what is he doing? He's revealing the will of the father to you and me Of course, there are many other roles that the holy spirit has But one of the main things is he reveals the will of the father to us And how is that jesus is sending his holy spirit Go and tell this person put it in his heart to turn away from sin Put it in his heart to remember that his parents prayed for him Or put it in this person's heart to remember how he served in the church before Put it in his heart that you know You know, there was this young man that I met and he lost his mother at a young age He was a very genuine believer always serving the lord, but all of a sudden his mother Died he lost his mother There was complete bitterness in his life. How can god do this to me? I've not done any wrong. I don't you know have any bad habits from a young age We pray every day as a family. We did everything could be blessed others We always Whatever little we had we gave others But why did god allow sir this kind of thing to happen of my family And we didn't do anything wrong. We were serving the lord we are Uh, and he was so bitter that he just turned away from god He didn't want anything to do with god and many years later The lord ministered to him It was a time when he was so broken The holy spirit came and comforted him saying that your mother is in a better place. She's with me She's joyful And there was this deep assurance in his heart says my mother is in a better place And he gave his life to christ again rededicated his life to christ again that is what the father Does that is what the holy spirit does he reaffirms. He sends through the holy spirit. He He shows us the will of the father Jesus is also our advocate Now, uh, we get into this next class We advocate because it would be nice to spend more time on this but any questions any thoughts on today's class Any questions any thoughts? Now everyone able to understand to track along. Is it is it something that is You know, you're able to relate to are you able to understand that What the lord jesus is doing for us right now as our high priest? now Is it okay? I'm intentionally going slow in this part because it's very important to understand What the lord jesus is doing for us Right, so we'll pick up from jesus our advocate from Next class that's next week And we look at how as an advocate What is jesus doing for us and how he's? you know interceding and and You know Helping us in this walk of life. So we'll pick up from that from next week All right, let's close in prayer Maybe one of us joy. Is it okay if you can close in prayer for us, please selly Maybe selly. Can you close in prayer? Yeah Yes, thank you We want to thank you so much for this wonderful churches that we had and thank you for the wonderful truth that we have learned at least Lonely lord, whatever truth that we have learned holy spirit continuing to remind us lord and as we Dispressed from this place, holy spirit. I pray that your guidance lead us and bless each one of us bless our pastor lord Amen, amen, thank you zele. Thank you everyone Have a great day and a great week ahead. I'll see you next week. God bless. Bye now