Christ's Person - Chris Kidder - Session 3 - 4. Able to Sympathize

OK, so I'll do a just a bit of review from last week. so Pastor Mike talked about chapters 2 and chapters 3. chapter 2 is his heart in action, and I looked at it as like the what of his heart. So like what is his heart most like, right?

And he talked about that weird Greek word coming from his bowels, right, from his inward parts, his most inward being. It's, it's what it's most like, right? And he, talked about Christ moving towards sinners and, he mentioned, being that, that good monk that sits in the middle of the donkey, right? Not the drunk one that falls off to one side or the other, but at the same time we don't want to be, Unbiblically balanced, right, so we want to, we want to make sure that as scripture goes one direction or the other that we do that and so we don't want to fall off the mule unnecessarily, but we also don't want to sit in the middle unnecessarily so we've got to stay close to the scriptures.

he talked about Christ not becoming unclean, right? Christ is the clean one. So when he approaches the unclean sinner, he does not become unclean like the priests or anyone else. He causes them to become clean.

He doesn't shy away from that, which is encouraging, and, and he is really love covered over in flesh, right? That was a quote from Goodwin from last week. And one thing I found extra encouraging was if you look at John 16:7 and the fact that today we're closer because of the Spirit than even when Christ was here in person on the earth, which is quite a thought to think about. And then in chapter 3, he talked about the happiness of Christ or going with the flow, and I just looked at this as the why of his heart, right?

Why, why is his heart most like this, right? And so we, we, we come to Christ for grace and for mercy and that's going with the flow of his deepest wishes. it's, it's not like he used the example of like the, the rosary beads, right? And I'm doing my devotion today and I'm, I'm getting my prayer time today so that God's off my back, right?

And that's not how we want to come to Christ. He wants us to come to Him. We'll talk a little bit about that later, but he also talked about not draining Christ's resources, right? When we come to Christ, we don't drain his resources.

That's his, his disposition towards us is that we would come to Him. He wants us to come to Him. And and we don't need to draw sparingly, right? We're not going to exhaust his resources.

We're not, they're not going to run out. In fact, it's, it's what he, he wants. He's not offended when we come to him for his affection, for his mercy, for his comforting, comforting, etc. right?

And so the thought that that Christ isn't offended when we come to him, that's encouraging. It's comforting. And Mike talked about it a little bit last week, but for any of you who have children, you, you can certainly understand what it's like, to have people constantly coming to you in need. and unlike Christ, we tend to be, a tad bit shorter and less sympathetic, especially if we're drained, right, from these constant requests from children, that are being made of us, right?, there's been plenty of times at my house, where children, one of my children or all of my children are not acting the way that they should be acting, right?

It usually, it involves some gymnastic feat off the side of the couch. and so, I, in passing, I'm like, hey, don't do that. but I, I'm in the middle of pouring a glass of water for this one and I'm maybe making a sandwich for this one, and I'm, I'm looking at something over here, for this one. and then you can hear it, right?

That, that cry of pain, right? Every parent knows, they're hurt, right? It's usually, it was a miscalculated dismount off the couch, and obviously they can't walk, so they cry all the louder so you can come over there, right? So what do we do?

Right, so I finished pouring the drink. I make the sandwich. I put it on the plate, and then I shout out, Well, if you'd been listening to me and kept your feet on the ground, then that wouldn't have happened, right? how many times do I need to tell you that couch is for sitting, not gymnastics.

Are you OK? Right? that's, that's how we tend to be sometimes, but what a, what a comfort it is to know that, that Christ, that's not how he deals with us, right? He's, he's not offended, he's not exasperated when we continually come or, or cry out in need, right?

And, and of, of all people, you should look at me, right? And, and how many times should he say like, oh, Chris, not again, right? How many times do I have to tell you? And so as we consider the, the what and the why that that Pastor Mike showed us about, talked to us about last week, we want, we want to look at now moving into the how, right?

We're going to start looking at the how. So how does Christ demonstrate his most deepest affections? How does he, show us what his heart is most like and why it's most like that? how does he put it on display for us, right?

So to start today, we're gonna look at the sympathy of Christ as our, our great high priest. So I wanna, I kinda, I'll read the passage in, in Hebrews chapter 4, Starting in verse 14, it says this, it says, since then, 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 as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. So I'll set some background. we'll look at the high priest. so the high priest in the Old Testament was from the lineage of Aaron, right?

It was something that was passed down from generation to generation. So Aaron was the high priest and his sons and his sons and so on, right? but what exactly did they do? What was their role, right?

So I, I think in the handout, there's some verses. You can take a look at those, but they would, they would offer sacrifices. They would pronounce benedictions. They would teach the law, light the lamps, burn the fire.

They were responsible for the sanctuary. They purify the unclean. They'd carry the ark. They would burn incense.

They'd offer up atonement for their sins and for the sins of the people. So I guess, in short, the high priest was responsible to mediate between God and man. So we can read in Hebrews chapter 5, and I won't get too much into it because it's, if you've read ahead at all, it's the discussion for next week, but look at verse 2 of Hebrews chapter 5, it says this, He can deal gently, he's talking about high priests, can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided since he himself also is beset with weakness, and because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins as for the people, so also for himself.

So they were the ones that once a year they went into the, the holy of holies, they'd sprinkle blood on the ark.

And they offered sacrifices. They placed their hands on the scapegoat. You can look at it in Leviticus 16, but they did that in order to atone for all the sins of the people of Israel, as well as themselves. And the high priest was the only person who would ever step into the holy of holies, into the, into the presence of God, right?

And they would only do it for the amount of time it took to sprinkle that blood on the ark and the altar. So why is it important? Why does it matter? So if you look up high priests, not just priests, but high priests in the Bible, you find it's used about 76 times.

17 or almost a quarter of the usage is from the book of Hebrews alone. So it's really one of the common themes that you see throughout the book of Hebrews. The need for all mankind was a perfect priest, a perfect sacrifice that would actually remove sin, right? So this, the going into the holy of holies was something that the high priest did every year, year after year after year, because it never fully removed sin, right?

It would cover that. And so what we needed was a high priest that could do this, that could actually remove sin. And so the writer of Hebrews puts forth Christ as as this priest and sacrifice, right? He performs the duties of the high priest perfectly.

So because of this, all believers now have access to God, and we may approach His throne confidently. And that's not all, right? So as Orle lays out the affections and longings that we find in the very heart of our high priest towards us, right? So we see it's not just about that, right?

We're going to get to see the affections of that high priest. so we'll look at the sympathetic high priest, right? So, what runs, so think about this, what runs through your mind, when you fail to live up to your calling as a, as a believer, right? Or what's your first thoughts when you, when you fail again to do those things that you're supposed to do?

we, we failed to persevere under a trial or, temptation. I know that my first thought, it goes to like how I've disappointed Christ, right, or how I'm on the naughty list., I can think about days where I, I get up in the morning and I don't give myself enough time or I don't make time to read or I don't do the family devotion at night, something like that. And the Lord is angry or at the very least he's indifferent towards me, right? I have to do, this is what Pastor Mike talked about, right?

We have to do this. We have our beads. We have to do this, and that's how we come to our, to our high priest, and, I send my kids to bed and I might be angry or, I'm I'm angry with my wife because of something. There's no way that Christ could have sympathy on me.

There's no way that I can come. To Christ at that point, right? So I, I despair of my failure to hold fast to my confession, and I feel like, like I've come up short of entering that rest that God has promised, right? and I think that this is what's going on.

So in these verses prior to where Orlan is drawing from at the end of chapter 4, there's an almost identical passage at the end of chapter 2. So in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 16 to 18, you'll find a passage that's almost identical. It's very, very similar. We'll look at that.

But then from the end of chapter 2 until the end of chapter 4. there's some, some interesting language and so I'm just going to read through it, not the whole part, but just pulling out some of those. So just listen to, to what happens between the first encouragement of Christ as our high priest who's made like his brethren. To the second one at the end of chapter 4.

This is what it says, we are part of Christ's house if we hold fast. Do not harden your hearts. They always go astray. Take care that you don't have an evil and unbelieving heart falling away from God.

We are partakers of Christ if we hold fast our assurance. Let us fear lest we fall short of the promise. Let us be diligent to enter the rest, lest we fall through the same example of disobedience. So as I read that, it's, it's easy to get lost in that as these demands that hang over our head like a, like a guillotine, right?

it's ready to separate us from the rest that God promises the minute we fail to hold fast. or the second that our weaknesses reveal this evil, unbelieving heart, right? And there is, there is a command to obey, and it's necessary, but I don't think it's out of fear of losing salvation or out of fear of, of being out of God's good grace, right? That's not why we obey.

We obey out of love for Christ and out of a renewed heart and a renewed mind. but what hope do we have of overcoming our failures and weaknesses? how do we hold fast? When things go incredibly wrong and we're tempted to abandon the faith.

what chance do we have of being able to enter the rest that God's providing? And I think that's where these two encouragements of Christ, who's been made like His brethren in all things, tempted in all points as we are, that's, that's where these come in as an encouragement to us, right? So we can see these and we can find encouragement that as we struggle, we have someone to look to, someone who's been through it, and not only that, but someone who wants to sympathize with us and is able to do that.

And so I think that's what the writer of Hebrews and Thomas Goodwin and Dane Ortland, that's what they want us to see, right?

Is that we have someone who's able to sympathize with us. you see, Christ, he's persevered, he's showed us the way, but he also, beyond that, he desires to journey with us, right? He's, he's walked the same path, right? As, as Orle talks about, to journey with us in our, our trials and our, our tribulations, so.

this is a great cause of great rejoicing. I like the way John Owen said it. He says this quote. And it cannot but be a cause of great refreshment unto believers.

And all the hardships that befall them and their weakness under them. That they have the compassion of their high priest accompanying of them. So we're going to look at these encouragements and refresh our hearts and feel this what Orlin says on page 45, the vigorous strength of Christ's deepest affections and longings. so we look at, like his brethren and tempted as we are.

so Orland says on page 47 that Christ came as a normal man for normal men, and we understand, from Scripture, right, as we read the Gospels and other things that Christ was, he was hungry, he was overcome with fatigue, he slept, he was taught, he loved, he was zealous, he was grieved. Right? AW Pink says that we should not think of him as merely appearing a man, but as a man in body, soul, and spirit. So, we know that Christ came to reconcile us to God.

We know that Christ came to destroy death and to fit us for the presence of God, but I think what's awesome about this is that Christ came in order to put himself in our shoes. to feel what we feel. to be a merciful, understanding and faithful high priest. so how can this be?

Or how can he be this understanding, sympathetic high priest, right? We're talking about the Creator of the universe. what comparison is there between his nature and mine, right? His perfect holy nature and my sinful fallen nature.

and the truth is in these verses, I think, namely that Christ was tempted or he was tested, as we are. He was made to be like us in all things. and so what we wanna look at is how, how is this? How was he tempted or tested in all things?

so before we look at this, I wanna consider what it, what does it mean, to be tempted, right? So what do you think of, when you, when you think about temptation, when you say you're tempted, what do you think of? Typically for me, it's like I'm on the verge of being found out about something. So what am I tempted to do?

Tempted to lie, right? Or if I'm frustrated or whatever at home or at work, what am I tempted to do? I'm tempted to be angry, right? These are, these are just things that come to us, right?

It's not, we don't have to try very hard to be, to be this way, right? so Orland confirms this right, I think on page 47, he says, if sin were the color blue, all that we say Do and think has some taint of blue, right? So it's just there. so there's, there's two things, right?

So there's, there's two ways that we can be tempted. So we can be tempted from within, right? Or we can be tempted from without, from outside externally. Right?

And, and temptation in and of itself is morally neutral, right? So it's not good or bad, right? Attesting or attempting isn't good or bad, it's The issue isn't with the temptation, it's with the sinner or with our sinfulness, OK? So we'll, we'll look at this.

let's look at James chapter 1 and see if we can draw this out a little bit. We all know this verse, I'm sure. James chapter 1 verse 2. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.

So now trials right there, that's the noun form of the verb that's in Hebrews chapter 2. So that's temptations, same verb or same words, it's the noun form of that verb. So consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various temptations. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, so we, we can't look on that as something that's evil, right?

Because James is telling us that we should look, we, we should be thankful for that. We should find joy in that because we know that endurance. Produces a perfect result, right? You can see in chapter or in verse 4.

so John Owen says like this, he says, most of our temptations arise from within us, from our own unbelief and lust. Again, and those that are from without or from externally, There is something somewhat in us to take part in them, so there's something in us that wants to take part in them, which always makes us fail in our duty of resistance. Whatever is the moral evil in temptation, it is from the depraved intention of the tempter. Or from the weakness and sin of the tempted, right?, I think Orle gives the example of, from CS Lewis where the man's leaning into the wind, but he can only lean in for so long and he finally gives up, and he lays down.

So he'll never know what it was like to have continued to endure through the temptation or through the testing. Right, where Christ walked all the way through that. He never lay down. Right?

And, and, and so that's, so it is with us, right? We, there's something, what Owen says is somewhat in us that wants to take part in that, in that temptation or in that testing. And that's that stain of blue that Orland talks about, right? Whereas Christ held up under the The full weight of it, right?

And if you look at Luke 22:28, the context seems to show that Christ's life is like, his whole life was a trial, right? And, indeed we can, we can read the Gospels. We have a good idea of what Christ went through. And what it means for him to, to suffer, but I, I think there's a survey we can just go through real quick of some of the Messianic Psalms, and they enlighten us right as to the depths of Christ's share.

So I'll, I'll read some of those. I think they're written down there and you can check them out, if you'd like, but I'll just read through some of them. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? All who see me deride me.

They sneer, they shake their heads. I'm poured out like water. My strength is dried up. A band of evildoers has encompassed me.

They pierce my hands and feet. I am weary with my crying. My throat is parched. Those who hate me are more than the hairs of my head.

Songs of mockery by those habitually drunk are about me. I waited for sympathy, but there was none. So I think it's safe to say that Christ has suffered more than any of us ever have or ever will. Isaiah says that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

He suffered from the outset of his ministry. he suffered, he was tempted to doubt his father, right, to give in, to quit, to bail., you see it in the temptation from Satan, right? So Jesus fast, he's out in the wilderness, he fasts. Satan comes up, what's the first thing he does, right?

Hey man, turn these breads to stone. Why should you starve? You're the Son of God. Grab some satisfaction, right?

Don't trust, don't trust God. Just do it for yourself. Or he takes him up to the top of the, the temple, right? And he says, OK, well, if you trust God so much, just throw yourself down.

Don't worry about what his plan was, just do it. Show us. And he's being tempted to just forego what God had, had already planned, right? The, the, the, the will and plan of God.

Or you think about the distress that he's in in the garden, right, where Luke tells us that he was praying very fervently and his sweat became as as drops of blood falling to the ground, right? And what is he, what is he praying for? Yeah, God, right? Let this cup pass.

Let this cup pass. But he remained resolute. What did he say? Not my will, but yours be done, right?

And Peter tells us that in his arrest, he opened not his mouth, he kept entrusting himself to the one who judges righteously. So, he was made like us in all things. He was in all points tempted as we are. He is what Orlin, as Orle said that the doctor who has endured the same disease.

as us, right? So in short, Christ submitted to this, this life of testing in order that he would feel what we feel, right? He became this co-sufferer with us in our trials, our pains, our sorrows. He was tempted like we are.

So Christ experienced every sorrow, every vicissitude or change in circumstances that we will ever come across. But I think what's beautiful about this is that in all of this, His heart is to sympathize with us. His desire is to come to our aid, and that's what we want to look at now. We want to see that drawn out in these passages, so.

I think as we look at these, we're gonna, we're going to see a couple of things, right? So it's the, the fact that he was made like us and tested and tempted as we are, it's the principal proof that he's able to sympathize with us. It's the principal proof. So look at Owen says this, he says, it's not such a one as cannot be affected he is, excuse me, he is not such a one as cannot be affected.

But one who was himself tempted, and this plainly shows that it is evident that he can be affected with a sense of our infirmities because he was tempted. So it's Confusing way to say it, but in other words, had Christ not come in the flesh and submitted to the testing and temptation like us, he wouldn't be able to be a sympathetic high priest. So that's, that's what, that's what it's saying, right? So as we look at the verses, you'll see that because he was tempted, he is able to sympathize.

So our, our sympathetic high priest, he's, he's so full of compassion and mercy that he's waiting as it was, as it were for this outward object of weakness or temptation to unleash his passion upon us, right, upon them, whatever it is. the affection and compassion from the heart of Christ, it's connected to his humanness, right, because he was made like us. but that still continues today, right? Post-glorification in heaven is still the same heart that's beating there, as, as on earth.

So let's look at the verses. We'll look at Hebrews 2, and I'll read it, starting at verse 16, it says this. For assuredly he does not give help to angels. But he gives help to the seed of Abraham.

Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. So you see the cause and effect there, the condition, right? So at the end in verse 18.

He himself was tempted and that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted, and so they're tied together. And it's not just that he's able or even willing, right? Christ stands at the ready to come to our aid. the word for come to the aid or help, I'm not sure which version you have, but, he's able to come to the aid or he's able to help those.

it's just weird, it's a compound word. so the first word is this, it's an onomatopoeic word. It's a fun word to say, onomatopoeic. Anybody know what that is?

No, I didn't either, so it's OK, but it's, it's a word that is formed based on a sound associated with it. So we all know, right, when somebody's talking, we want them to be quiet, what do we do? That's it. It's OK.

You can say it, right? It's a, it's, it's like that. How do you spells? Like it sounds, right?

Or think of sizzle or maybe a cry for help. What do you do when you need help? right? So that's what that word is.

That's the first part of that word. It's just this word. It's a cry for help, and then the second word of the compound word is, is to run. Right, so literally it's, it's like to run to someone's aid quickly.

There was a, there was a military usage of it, answer this SOS call or this distress call, but it's to do it quickly, right? So I think of, and Brian's not here. This is like his favorite passage, so I'm disappointed. But if you think about Peter and Matthew 14, right?

So Peter is going to walk to Jesus on the water, right? So he gets out of the boat. Well, first he says, if that's you, Lord, tell me to come to you and I'll come. OK?

So he gets out of the boat, he starts walking on the water. What happens? He looks around. Oh man, this is no good.

So he starts to sink. Right? He cries out for help. What does, what does the Lord do?

Cross his arms. Oh, Peter, son, I told you, come to me. You should have come. he does, he questions his faith and, and why did you doubt?

But what does he do first? It says that he immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him. He came to his aid immediately. And then he does question his faith.

Why are you doubting? Don't doubt. But after he has rescued him. So Ping says this, the same human heart we touched on this beats within the bosom of Him who sits at God's right hand.

That's the same heart. That pulled Peter from the storm, and it's the same heart that stands ready and waiting to come to our aid today, right? Same heart, same Christ. So Christ is ready to come to our aid.

He's ready to answer that SOS call, that distress call, right? But it, it goes deeper, right? So as we look at Hebrews chapter 4, we read this, right? So I'll read, we read it, but I'll read verse 15 again.

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are. Yet without sin. So there's a qualification that we see again, right? We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, so he's saying he can, right, double negative.

But one who has been tempted as we are, so to qualify the ability of him to sympathize with us is the fact that he was tempted. So Orland says this on page 46, sympathize here is not a cool and detached pity. In our pain, Jesus is pained. In our suffering, he feels the suffering as his own.

His is a love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain. His is a love that cannot be held back when he sees his people in pain. So that verb for sympathize, it's, it's only used twice in Scripture, but the other one happens to be in Hebrews, and I think the passage helps illustrate, what, so Orland does a good job of talking about how it means co-suffering and the quote there, but I want to read this passage here because I think it does a pretty good job at really highlighting what it means.

So if you want to look at Hebrews chapter 10, verse 32 to 34.

So the writers point the Hebrew Christians out or reminding them, right, the days when they were under great conflict and sufferings, right? So let's look at this in verse 32. He says, but remember the former days. When after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of suffering, so now they're under conflict, right?

So here's this tribulation, here's this trial, right? Here's this, here's this temptation to abandon the faith, right? You're, you're under attack. It says in verse 33, partly by me, excuse me, by being made a public spectacle.

Through the reproaches and tribulations, so they're made a public spectacle, but there's more, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated, for you showed sympathy to the prisoners. There's that word sympathy, same, same word, right? So there, there it is. They became sharers with those who were so treated because you showed sympathy.

So they, they didn't just wish their, their fellow believers, their brethren in prison, they didn't just wish them well, right? They accepted the plundering of their property. They became sharers of them in that trial, right? They, they, they were there with them.

They co-suffered with them because they had a better and abiding hope, right? And I think that's what a comfort to know that Christ, he doesn't look at us the way we often look at other people when they're caught in a sin or a trespass, right? what do we, what do we do, right? I know that, you see people doing things and, and the first thing you do is, well, and I told them not to do that.

I knew that was going to happen, right? We don't. It's easy to stand back and aloof from someone and judge what they're doing. It's much harder to jump in there with them and bear that burden and become sympathetic in the way that Christ is sympathetic towards us.

So we've heard some of this quote, but I wanted to finish it up from John Owen. And he says this, he says, and it cannot be, cannot but be a cause of great refreshment unto believers in all the hardships that befall them. And their weakness under them that they have the compassion of their high priest accompanying them. He is in Himself exceedingly great and glorious, nearly allied unto us, able to relieve us, being far above all those persons and things that occasion our troubles.

Why? For they are all under his feet, all which considerations render his compassion refreshing. And relieving. So for those who don't know, my wife and I, we have 6 children.

the oldest is 14, the youngest is 3. So it goes without saying that our house is busy. In fact, rarely is my wife, even now, right? Rarely is she able to finish helping, one child with school or lunch or a project or looking at something for the 100th time, before another one's asking for something else, right?

but there's, there's probably nothing worse than finding out, that one of our children needed something after the fact, right? And they And when we asked them, why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you come and tell me that you needed something? What did they say?

Oh, you're so busy. I didn't want to bother you. Right, you're so busy Man, and as parents, anybody that has, has children, you have a love for them that's deeper than anything you even knew was possible. and there's nothing worse than knowing that you weren't able as your parent, as a parent to meet their needs, right?

And not only that, but you didn't even know about the need because they didn't want to bring it to you because they're so concerned about how busy you were. So they're looking out for you when you should be taking care of them, right? And And God's love for his children is even deeper than that. It's even more intense than ours.

And we know that Christ came in and walked in our shoes, right? Orland says he journeyed the same difficult path that we're on. And the writer of Hebrews, he tells us that because of what Christ has done for us and the fact that he, he stands ready to help in time of need, we should, what's verse, in chapter 4, verse 16, right? That we should come boldly.

To the throne of grace to find mercy, to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Right, but if Christ is so affected by our concerns and troubles, right? He has this desire and ability to help us in our time of need. What keeps us from coming?

Right? And I think that, this is when he desires us most, but most of the time, myself included, right, is if I'm angry or if I haven't, I'm not reading or whatever it is, right, my heart isn't right, so I can't come to Christ. I can't go seek Him for help. Why would he help me?

Or I'm not even worthy to come to him to ask for help, right? But that's when he desires us most. that's where, Pastor Mike was talking about it last week, right? We, we can't see this as some, rosary bead type thing where we have to do things a certain way before we're able to come to Christ.

He wants us to come. He wants to offer help. It's what most goes with the flow of his heart, right? These closing verses should be an encouragement, right?

They confirm that none of God's children will ever miss out on the true and final rest. They speak of the provisions that are available from God through Christ. And we have confidence to know that that Christ is that great and glorious high priest. he's full of tender compassion and he's ready to help.

So I want to close, I'm gonna read a quote from Pink, From AW Pink, he says this, so he, Christ, still asks today, Believe ye that I am able to do this? Do what we may ask. Whatever you are really in need of, give peace, impart assurance, grant deliverance, supply succor. Anybody know what that word means?

I had to look it up. As assistance and support in times of distress. He is able to secure them that are tempted. Remember who he is, the God-man.

Remember the experiences through which he passed. He too has been in the place of trial. He too was tempted to distrust, to despondency. Yes, he was tempted in all points, like as we are, sin excepted.

Remember his present position sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high. How blessed then to know that he is able both to enter sympathetically into our sufferings and sorrows. And that he has the power to succor. To rescue us.

Oh, what a savior is ours. Amen. Why don't we pray and then if there's any questions, we've got a few minutes. Heavenly Father, We thank you for our sympathetic high priest.

We thank you. That Christ stands ready to come to our aid, that he co-suffers with us. He desires. To bear our burdens and to.

Just to carry the load and Lord we We pray that your spirit would help us to look to Him as we go through the trials and the temptations in our lives, as we're tempted to to lay down under The pressure of the wind against us or The temptations that are coming from. Our unfaithfulness or lust internally or even from some source externally, Lord, that we would look to Christ. We would see that He persevered, He endured, and he did it sin excepted. He did not sin, nor he showed us, and then not only that, but he desires to help us.

So we pray that we would come to the throne of grace. To receive mercy and find grace and help, to help in time of need. We thank you and pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

So if there's any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. None at all. Thanks. Save him.

I think Pastor Mike's back next week maybe, so save it for him. So that's a good one. So I'll I'll give you the, it is an assistance. What does secur mean?

Is it in there too? Is that quote in there? S U C C O R, not like secure or secure. But anyway, it's assistance and support in times of distress, assistance and support in times of distress, distress.

OK. Yes. Yeah So, there is a word in Hebrews 2, where it's come to the aid or help. It depends on what version you have.

So in the NAS I have come to the aid. Does anybody else have a different version? ESV maybe? I don't know what it says.

I apologize. Yes, exactly, yep, yeah, so that Greek word is an onomatopoeic. It's a compound word and the first word is the onomatopoeic word. You should all try to say that.

So that I'm not the only one who's tripping over that, but yeah, you're welcome. Any other questions? OK. Well, thank you all so much.

You can have 3 minutes extra. Look at that.