 Okay, good morning everyone trust you all are doing well and Safe as well. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer Success is it okay if you can lead us in prayer this morning. All right. Good morning My father my god, I want to say thank you for the life you have given to us this morning Thank you for every one of us here. Thank you for family Thank you for a lecture. Thank you because you are here and healthy Be that glorified in the name of Jesus your mighty God I commit this lecture into able and follow Please come and glorify yourself in this lecture And we'll be the hearer and the doers of your word and you give reason to a lecturer To teach us more deeper your world in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you my father Jesus name we are pray amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you success Okay, before we go and let's just do a quick review of what we did last week last week we looked at The two-fold role that Jesus has on behalf of the Father Right, so we learned that you know Jesus is not that it's you know He's completed his work on the cross resurrected and now You know, he's just finished the work and he's not doing anything. No, the Lord Jesus has a two-fold role And we looked at that the first role was He stands as our high priest Before the father in heaven, right and the second role was he's he's our mediator Who stands before the father and enforces the blessings of the new covenant upon us as his children now we also looked at The role of a high priest in the Old Testament, right now We saw that you know, the high priest had many roles that he had to go Stand on behalf of the people he had to stand on behalf of the nation had to stand. He was representing Man to God. He would go into the Holy of Holies. He would wear the you know the 12 Tribes over his shoulder over this chest to say that they're close to him And he had Levites under him who helped him And he would go into he would he was in charge of all the offerings and everything that had to be done with regards to the temple and so we looked at that the role of the high priest in the Old Testament and How the Lord Jesus? Completed the work of a high priest in the New Testament right So remember the Old Testament the high priest would take the blood go into the Holy of Holies here Jesus He completed it Old Testament the high priest would speak blessings those people here in the New Covenant Jesus did it so Every role in the Old Covenant as a high priest Jesus has fulfilled Right, and now he's doing more than that right as a high priest he is You know we saw that in the Old Covenant when the high when a high priest dies a new high priest is taken It takes his place and so that cycle keeps going but now Jesus as our high priest is our eternal high priest, right? He holds fast confession. He's merciful. He is faithful Jesus continues to be unchangeable He he there's propreciation of sin. He's our perfect high priest and as a high priest He speaks the Father's will to us through the Holy Spirit Now over the course of this You know these this this entire Subject that we've been looking at We looked at the main points that we can think about is that God and man God Is a holy God man By nature is sinful and so that is why this whole thing of high priests and you know God brought all of that into being but now through the cross God The Lord Jesus is fully man Fully God we see that in the book of Timothy Paul writes and he says we have one mediator between God The man Jesus Christ Right, so which means he He relates to us, right now We can't say that the in the old covenant the high priest could relate to us But yes being a human being he could understand, you know, okay These are the problems you are facing and he would pray for them pray for the people of Israel or he would pray for Blessings over their work or over their business, whatever they were doing But now we have this high priest who who is a great intercessor and Advocate before the father Right, so this week we look at something Additional that the Lord Jesus is doing Right, we saw the two-fold purpose one is he's our high priest to he's our mediator and our Advocate Jesus is our advocate So I'm on the notes on page 43 if you're tracking along and we'll just go ahead and You know understand what it means to be an advocate, right? I'm sure you we all have heard that word advocate In the natural terms, you know, the first thing that comes to your mind is a court of law when you say advocate So let's see what Jesus is doing for us today in heaven as our advocate Right one John chapter two was one and two. Yes. Could one of us please read that? One John chapter two verses one and two What turns up to this warrant? My little children this thing fire right to you so that you may not sing on Even worse things we have an advocate between father Jesus Christ the righteous And himself is the prohibition for our sins are not for our hours only but all for the whole world Amen, thank you about curry. Now the word Advocate in the Greek is very interesting. It's called paracletos now. You may ask me But the Holy Spirit is also the paracletos the advocate. Yes. So when you look at the original Greek Jesus is our Paracletos and the Holy Spirit is our alos paracletos, which means another Helper another advocate, right? So let's look at What what this advocate means it literally means Called to one side or called to one aid, you know, it is used in a court of justice you know So if you want any legal assistance in any matter a Counsel or a defense what we do is we ask for an advocate and the advocate Stands and speaks on our behalf Right. So if you if you picture a courtroom very rarely does the person who is Put you know on trial very rarely he gets to speak I Only only after they have been, you know Sentenced is when they'll give them a time to speak and in some cases they don't want to do that, right? But here though the word advocate paracletos is somebody who's our assistant our Counsel our defense and and if you look at yourself, you know, we can picture our self picture this we are standing in the court and We are in that, you know, the trial room and and The court is being is taking place the the verdicts are being passed and our advocate our helper our aid is The Lord Jesus Christ right the word paracletos is occurs about five times in the New Testament and And it's only one time here in one John to one as advocate because in other You know in other translations the word paracletos is also used as different, you know, like we mentioned right assistant counsel Legal help legal Assistant and defense But in this verse one John to one as it says there We have an advocate if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous right now We want to just dwell a little more on this word paracletos The word paracletos is a big word right just like the word You know remember the word so do we saw we studied about that word right? It's a power power packed word. It's got Several meanings to it. It's not just salvation. It's deliverance. It's healing. It's it's a restoration. It's so many Parallels and cinemas to that one word Same way even in paracletos. It's got a seven fold meaning Right. What is that seven fold meaning now the amplified Bible? I highly recommend That each of us especially as students right to read the message translation and the amplified version because it gives a lot of Extra details and really helps us to you know really bring out the essence of the verses So we encourage you to you know, you can go online. You can read it on Google as well. But what is that seven fold? meaning of this word paracletos one Comforter to is a helper three Strengthener for intercessor Five is our counselor Six I Standby and Seven an advocate so you got those seven Aspects in that one word seven fold meaning in that one word paracletos Right. He's let's go over that again. He's a comforter. He's a helper. He's a strengthener intercessor counselor Standby an advocate with the father So now when we read John 1 John chapter 2 verse 1 to 2 we put all of this in context and it's gonna read this way, right? My little children these things I write to you so that you may not sin and if anyone sins we have the Advocate which means the seven fold meaning the comforter the helper the strengthener the intercessor the counselor The standby and the advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous So you see the word advocate is not just a one-time word These are the seven things Are is what Jesus is doing for us? Now picture this The Lord Jesus said I'm gonna send you a helper and he's going to reveal the will of the father to you That's the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit comes. He's also our alos Paracletos another advocate, but he's got the same functions. What does he do? He comforts us. He helps us Strengthens us in the seats for us. He's our counselor And so we can safely say that It's not that the Lord Jesus is gone and he's you know, he's in heaven and we are here and you know There's no there's nothing much That he's doing no, no, no He has given us the Holy Spirit who has all of these Attributes are all of these Functions that he's fulfilling right now right now picture this You know say for example We are in a situation we need to make very important decision the decision can be Something that can affect us on the long run Right now, what do we do? We can say God I The Lord Jesus we can pray Jesus. I know that you are my advocate. You are my Paracletos And when I say Paracletos, you are also my counselor So in this situation, I need your counsel. I Need your wisdom remember the Holy Spirit comes also with the gifts of the Holy Spirit Spirit of wisdom and understanding Picture this maybe we've just been tired or we've lost a certain, you know Battle in our life. We have failed. We've fallen. We are weak feel like giving up and What we can do is we can pray and say Lord Jesus. I know You are my Paracletos You are my one of the aspects of being a Paracletos is my strengthener So I know that Holy Spirit you're gonna give me strength to overcome the season that I am in I Know that you're gonna help me and lift me up You know the Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit with us is like Jesus with us And it's not difference. It's not like okay. Jesus was not there. No. Anyways, this Holy Spirit is there So that's why I couldn't do much. No, no the Holy Spirit Jesus and the Holy Spirit is with us. It's the same thing Because what are they doing They're Paracletos They're standing as advocates from with the father now In one John 2 1 and 2 the context here it had to do with sin when we sin We have an advocate Which is the Lord Jesus Christ Standing before the father now here's something very important. We must understand this Sin does not break our relationship with God Right, there's no break our relationship. So when we sin Intentionally unintentionally, it's not that our relationship with the Lord is broken but our Fellowship our intimacy with the Lord Has been reduced Right. It has it temporarily breaks Or it temporarily is affected Right. So for example, right, we have accepted the Lord maybe three years Earlier, I said Lord Jesus come into my heart. Make me a new person. You've said the Lord's prayer You've given your heart to the Lord Jesus. You've confessed your sins But somewhere around the line, you know, we have sinned That does not mean that that relationship with God is broken off But the fellowship the intimacy With the Lord Jesus Christ with the father with the Holy Spirit is affected and it's cut off What does Paul say? He writes and he says do not Grieve the Holy Spirit Whom with whom you are sealed for the day of redemption What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit now? For example, I've Jesus is saying I'm sending my and You know my my spirit the Holy Spirit and he's going to be an alos paracletos He's going to do everything that I would do if I was with you Right. Now if we are grieving him If we are sinning constant sin We are suppressing the voice of the Holy Spirit Right and I've always used this example Imagine you're standing in a room right and Every time we sin it's like putting a brick Right in front of us And then that brick becomes more and more and you keep adding bricks because of the sin and finally you have a wall in front of us So what's happening? The Holy Spirit is trying to speak to us, but we have this wall of sin And so we're not able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. We're not able to Have an intimate relationship with him So What we must do we must immediately confess our sins And we know when we're walking in sin immediately confess and say god, I'm sorry Uh, I I know I have fallen short But I know that you still love me. That's the relationship, but I want to still love you. That's the fellowship Right a relationship and a fellowship is always two ways Right. It's not one way. It's two ways uh, therefore You and I have this confidence when we pray When we ask god for forgiveness He is faithful and just to forgive our sins And he strengthens us in our weakness and he knows that the weakness that caused us to sin The the paracletos as an advocate he will stand to strengthen us during that time So why is this important? Because you and I Can enter the presence of god Without any shame without any condemnation Because the blood of jesus has cleansed us Why is it that in the old covenant the people could not go in on their own? Why did they need a high priest? It was because there was condemnation. They knew They knew that they haven't fulfilled the law They knew there was guilt But now There is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus I want to be careful here just because There's no condemnation does not mean we continue A life of sin paul writes and in many places he says that's not acceptable We are dead to sin. We cannot continue in sin But if we do sin immediately we ask for forgiveness And receiving that forgiveness and saying that god because of the blood Now i am justified That is the most powerful part and the enemy cannot really do much about it right He can put guilt. He can put shame condemnation But when we stand on this That jesus is my paracletos the holy spirit is a alos paracletos who's going to help me He's my advocate And i'm coming to his presence not by my own works then We're completely free from shame and condemnation Now just a side note on this whole aspect of being an advocate There are a lot of teachings Going around Call the teachings on the courts of heaven Where basically what it is is i'll just try and summarize this for you If we have sinned right There as believers we have to go to the courts of heaven And plead our case before the father We have to go and plead our case before the father in the courts of heaven This is a teaching that's been going on for a long time Early 90s onwards these kind of erroneous teachings now the reason we don't Believe in it right there's a lot of scriptures to validate that But we're just going to put a few of them out right It does not hold In the light of the completed work of the cross Now if I go and if I have to plead my case God is going to judge me as a sinner right Then the work of the cross is of no use and the whole point of You know Getting into heaven getting into the presence of god is not me pleading my case, but it's the lord jesus pleaded who who already Fought the case and has won the case So that's what the cross is all about so It does not go in line With the completed work of the cross right and so The bible teaches us that the lord jesus he condemned satan he destroyed satan And and and now satan has no place in In heaven or he has no place To partake in our lives right so as As we are declared as righteous. We are declared as fully qualified to partake inheritance colossians says We are partakers of christ So there's no need of us going and pleading our case right to another Example why we don't believe in this whole thing of course of heaven is because Now the lord jesus was tempted at just as How we are all tempted through all areas the lord jesus was tempted as a human being Right and he overcame all those areas but we don't see you know The lord jesus going into the courts of heaven And to fight our case against him in order to you know to walk With what the father wanted him to walk in that authority. No, we don't see that at all right and three Today satan has no access to the presence of god He has no access So it's not like satan is standing in one place the father's in one place and we are standing there like the picture of job and then You know and then satan is we are pleading our case before the father and satan is standing that no satan has been you know in the in the book of genesis even isiah says That he and his angels three fourth of his angels were were thrown out of heaven So right now so you got the Second heaven you got the third heaven apostle paul talks about going to the third heaven He says when I went to the third heaven, I saw things that were unimaginable I cannot comprehend I could not speak it was too much for human minds to conceive That's the third heaven. That's the presence of god Now satan is only working in the second heaven and on earth right now the second heaven is The the princess of the air right remember daniel is praying And as he was praying What does it say that his prayers did not go up because of the works That there was hindrances for the his prayers to reach heaven And and so that's when the archangel comes and You know comforts daniel and says your prayers are going to be answered Now even when we see Satan and his demons they're working on the spiritual realm. That is the second heaven Right, but he he can't just go walk into heaven the presence of god. No He has been defeated. He had he cannot even think about You know going there Right, he cannot Because he knows his destruction. He knows that God is almighty He knows that he's been defeated. So To present this whole thing of standing before the courts of heaven, of course, there are many more scriptures But to present our case in front of the courts of heaven would be Erroneous teachings and that's something that we do not subscribe to Any thoughts any questions on this? Anybody has any questions? Everyone okay? Is that okay? You will understand that that whole aspect of courts of heaven also this whole aspect of paracletals The lord jesus being That sevenfold meaning To us any questions any thoughts Should we continue? Should we continue? Yes, pastor. Let's continue. Okay. Okay All right. Thank you. Let's go. Let's continue. Okay. Okay. Thank you So How Does the paracletals help us How does the paracletals help us jesus is our paracletals? He's in heaven. He has sent the holy spirit. That is the alos paracletals How does the holy spirit help us and i'm sure that all of us? Uh, you know, we have studied the holy Sessions on holy spirit. We may have heard sermons or done your personal study on the holy spirit and We're just going to look at a few things now. How does He come to our aid How does the holy spirit being the paracletals strengthen us? Now roman's a 26 states that he helps us in our weaknesses And he takes a hold Takes a hold of us together With us against our weaknesses He does this through prayer And intercession that rises out of us Now, how does the paracletals help us? We must be willing to go against our weakness now we all As believers as human beings Have weaknesses Now if anyone says I don't have a weakness they're lying We all have certain weaknesses right Whether it is spiritual weakness or a physical weakness Uh, the great apostle paul had a weakness too He says I can't see uh, you know history says that he couldn't see and that's why many of his writings He says, uh, I think it's a book of romans where he says look how What's the galatians? He says look how big I write Uh, how big my alphabets are I write with big letters to show you that it is me writing and I said that Paul may have had a big problem on his eye with his eyesight and and so the holy spirit Uh in our weaknesses We must be willing to go against our weakness now if we are willing to go against our weakness The allos paracletals the holy spirit Comes beside us and he assists us in overcoming our weakness Now picture this right Say just an example right say there's somebody who is addicted to gaming right And it's really ruining this young man's life. Say it's a 15 year old boy But he's given his life to christ. He's goes to church Serving in the church. He loves the lord, but this gaming thing has really taken a hold of him He's not doing well in his grades. He's missing out on his assignments He's he's just in a complete mess because of the games Now he realizes it Hey, you know what I need to get out of these games I need to be serious because my main exams are coming up and I need to get out of this And I need to you know, make sure that my life is right The moment he says that he decides that and he just says a prayer Holy spirit Help me get out of this The holy spirit is right there And he'll come with all his strength with all his power to assist you To assist this boy to stop gaming And this is a simple example right Now the enemy is going to he's not going to sit back and watch and say okay Now holy spirit has come so I can't do anything. No the enemy is going to try and try But the holy spirit He's our strength now He will assist us to overcoming our weaknesses But we must be willing first If a person who's accepted the Lord and he's going on gaming and you know playing all these video games and Wasting time and not studying well and he just feels okay life's going to go on. It's okay. I'm going to do something else in my life The holy spirit is not going to intentionally force this person to you know Change his ways. Of course, he he's our reminder. He reminds he brings conviction But he's not going to force himself. Remember the one of the attributes of the holy spirit is like he's a dove. He's gentle So is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to force people to you know do something So we must be willing to When we are willing He he does this through prayer and intercession And so when we pray he enters in us and empowers us through the holy spirit through prayer and intercession Right. So for example, there's You know, uh, let me take this other example. There's maybe there's somebody who is uh, you know, this boy who is you know always addicted to YouTube or Facebook Instagram social media Right. Uh, just an example right trying to make us understand right now every time He wants to go to a phone or use the laptop and his mind goes to that place At that moment what we can do is pray Say holy spirit Make intercession for me that I may not fall into this temptation And the holy spirit begins to pray on our behalf. He makes intercession for us He intercedes through us and for us So when we are speaking in tongues Now, uh, what are we doing? We are speaking a language that is unknown. The holy spirit is making intercession with the father to empower us Speaking in tongues is very very very powerful It just energizes you Just strengthens you and there are times you've had a long day ministry hard work Been so really tired And we just want to just go and just you know, even students, you know, you just want to Get some rest go back. Okay. Go and sleep Right. Have your dinner sleep and of course we all feel that way There are times and the holy spirit has Woken me up and said you pray You know, maybe it was some confusion in the mind or I'm I'm planning something ahead I'm not able to get the right idea or the right Way to deal with things or there's a problem. There's a situation. There's a dispute In the church and I need to handle this and I'm confused. How do I do it? pray in tongues We do The holy spirit will give us the right idea He will speak to us So I want to encourage each one of us spend time Praying in tongues is powerful Because he is our ala alos paracletos Right now if you haven't yet begun speaking in tongues, it's all right. You can You know, the holy spirit you can continue to pray whole fast. Remember the holy spirit is faithful. Jesus is faithful Continue to trust in him, but you can pray in your own words pray And he will come through for us. He will help us in our weaknesses So as believers We must learn To relate to Jesus as our high priest as well now You know international we relate to people in different ways, right? Relate to our parents in one way We relate to our friends in another way You know, we relate to our cousins another way usually, you know, when you have cousins, right? It's more of a very Friendly relationship. You love your cousins. You love to spend time together Uh, then you got you relate to your colleagues a different way. You relate to your boss different way So we all relate to people in different ways Now I can relate to Jesus as a king I can relate to Jesus as a lion I can relate to Jesus as a lamb Or I can think of Jesus the first thing that may come to my mind is love Or another thing that may come to my mind is humility Uh, and another thing that comes to my mind is Uh, a god who does miracles some things that nobody has done. He has done it Uh, and when you read revelations, you read as you read Revelations chapter one, especially you see the glorified Lord Jesus And you read, uh, you know in in the book of matthew and you read those Uh, you know the ministry of the Lord Jesus how he was simple man people just, you know Uh, wanted to stone him and people didn't like him but now revelations one His eyes are like burning fire. His hair is like, uh, uh, you know, uh, White as brass and his his Uh, his tongue like a double-edged sword and you see a glorified Jesus Then you can also see him as a simple lamb Now as believers All of us must also Relate to Jesus as our high priest Right as a high priest understand that You know, when we think think about this, right? Oh, okay Uh, I have sinned now instead of going and you know finding a lamb and cutting it Like what was done in the old testament relate to Jesus as your high priest Say Lord Jesus You are my high priest And I know that you are going to go into the father's presence Not with any other blood but by your blood So that my sins will be forgiven so that my relationship with the father is restored Right, what does it do? It gives us boldness. It gives us confidence. It gives us an assurance of faith Know that he is interceding For you as you take your request to the father in his name For example in the church, maybe your church is uh, you know calling for prayer And only five people turn up don't send them back. Okay. Only five people have come Let's not pray today. It's all right When you pray Whether there's two or three and you pray Know that the Lord Jesus is interceding with you As you take your request to the father Right, so we can pray Holy Spirit. We can pray Lord Jesus. Please bless the church Uh, you know make the church let there be science miracles and wonders Let the work of your Holy Spirit just move in our church let there be you know transformations of hearts Let there be miracles and let let people let this heart of stone be removed and let there be a heart of flesh There may be just 10 people in your church And we are praying this No problem We're not praying, you know, we're not praying empty words Remember for those 10 people, the Lord Jesus is interceding with you For those requests that you are making to the father. Can you picture that? It's a big deal Maybe you've called for a worship evening And there are two people who've come for that Don't say okay. No worship evening today because nobody's come. It's okay Do it When you are interceding when you are praying the Lord Jesus is there Right, know that he is there. He's merciful and faithful to strengthen you in every way And know that he speaks the father's heart to you by his spirit And this is so wonderful. This is so reassuring Right, uh, he speaks the father's heart to us by the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit tells you You know, maybe you're praying and says today I want you to call this person and pray for them Or just call him up and you know, uh, talk to them And when we do it, you know, it is the father revealing his will To us there is something that the father father wants to do in that person's life. Maybe our words Will impact that maybe that in that situation they are in will comfort them Right. So when the Holy Spirit is leading us to do things, remember, it's the father's will Reveal to us by the Holy Spirit Right So what is Jesus doing as our mediator? The word mediator in the greek is message is literally meaning to go in between Right, uh, to stand in between to come in the middle uh now What is There are two aspects to jesus as our mediator First aspect is Has to do with his redemptive work on the cross Where he alone can be our mediator between god and man. Let's read first timothy Chapter two was five and six Yes, any one of us first timothy chapter two five and six Yes, anyone first timothy chapter two five and six First timothy chapter two five and six for there is one god and one mediator between god and man The man, uh, the man christ jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in Even thank you zele So what is he doing here? He is a mediator between god and man. Now the lord jesus is the only person Who could stand as a mediator because he is fully god And could represent god to man and he was fully man who could represent man to god Right and that's why that whole twist of words There's one mediator between god and man the man jesus christ. So paul is trying to emphasize that He's there the lord jesus was fully god And he represents god to man and he's fully man representing man to god Right, so as a mediator, that's what he is doing to He's a guaranteeer of the new covenant So that when anything so for example, we we you know, we take a policy The policy says you need to have a guaranteeer So, you know, you'll put maybe your parent or your wife Son or your daughter you put that as a guaranteeer. So They will be somebody who will stand on behalf like he they will act as a guarantee Right for something that you know, they have not done anything but they will obtain it later Now the book of Hebrews talks about this in many many places now. Let's read a couple of verses, right? Hebrews 7 22, uh, is it going to be easier if I You know share the screen on the notes for us to read the verses. Uh, should I do that maybe? It's fine Okay, okay, uh, can one of us read that now Hebrews 7 22 By so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant Yeah, uh, and let's read the the tpd version as well. Uh, it says in Hebrews 7 22 Uh, so all of this magnifies the truth that we have a superior covenant with God Then what they experience for Jesus himself Is it's guarantor Jesus himself is its guarantor Hebrews 8 6. I'll read that But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which is established on better promises Right, uh, I also read uh, Hebrews 12 24 To Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood Of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of able Right He lives as a mediator. He lives to see his covenant Enforced on our lives Right, he is the one who set up the covenant He's the one who's a high priest of the covenant The Lord Jesus is the one who is the mediator of the covenant And the advocate and he's doing everything on our behalf That's that's why the Lord, you know Paul writes and he says Uh into that presence we come Not by the works that we have done Right, it is not our abilities It is not our talents. It is not our skills It is not our works that we come in because He has done everything There's nothing more that we have to do Right, uh And and so it is such a joy for us to understand this All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back and we'll see how do we receive? Christ mediation Of the new covenant meaning as a mediator What what is it that we can what is What is the benefit for us as Jesus as our mediator? So we look at that when we come back. Let's take a break and I will be back at 11 o'clock. Thanks