Jesus Christ, Our Captain

Well, Jesus Christ. We've talked about Jesus Christ a lot, and we should talk about Jesus Christ a lot. We see Him as our leader, and in the Bible we see so many different names for Jesus Christ that we can talk about. And every single one of those names gives us an aspect of His character and an aspect of why we follow Him. Jesus Christ is called our Savior. Indeed, He is our Savior without His life and without His sacrifice. None of us would have any future. We would have no, you know, no reason even to live without Him, without His sacrifice. Eternity is in His hands, and we owe Him everything for that. He's called the Messiah. He's called, one time, the Son of God. He's also called the Son of Man, which He was on earth. He's called the Lamb of God. On the other hand, He's called the Lion of Judah. He's fierce when He needs to be. He's compassionate, of course, at all times. He loves His people at all times. He's called King. He's called Master. He's called Shepherd. He's called Chief Cornerstone, the one on whom our entire belief system and our entire future is focused. He is that foundational cornerstone. And so we can, and you can name more, you know, I'm just listing a few that are coming to my mind as I speak here. There's more names as we go through the Bible that you recognize or could fill in as we went around the room, how Jesus Christ is pictured to us. He is. He is the most important being to us. And we look to Him, and we literally, as we've been talking about in Sabbath services and on our Bible studies, the book of Hebrews tells us He is the most important, the most important being in our future. And it's only through His name that we will ever have salvation enter into the Kingdom of God.

Well, as we've gone through the book of Hebrews, you know, we've seen that Jesus Christ is first and foremost in the book. The book reminds us how important it is. And I, as I mentioned in my letter to you yesterday, I hope we are recognizing and feeling the inspiration of how important Jesus Christ is, and that it's renewed our belief in Him and renewed our inspiration as we follow Him and our commitment as we follow Him. But as we've gone through the book of Hebrews, we've learned a number of things. But there are three names for Jesus Christ that appear in the book of Hebrews that don't appear together in any other parts of the New Testament. And I want to talk about those three names today because they will give us another insight into Jesus Christ and what He means to us. And as we are here in 2021 and we look forward to the time ahead of us, it could be a tumultuous road, you know, ahead of us. Who knows how long that road will be? But between now and the return of Jesus Christ, this identity that we will give Him today that comes from the book of Hebrews, in addition to all the other identities that He has, will see us through. And without understanding this part of Him, we would fail, but God gives us that insight. So let's go back into the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 2, Hebrews 2 and verse 10, we find one of those names for Jesus Christ. And this is the first time in the New Testament that He is called by this word that is appropriately translated in the New King James, a little differently, also appropriately in the Old King James, but the translators of the New King James use the Greek word appropriately here. Hebrews 2 verse 10, it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, speaking of God the Father, it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, the captain of their salvation. Now, that's the Greek word archagos, and it has the meaning literally of chief leader, captain, in some places. It only appears four times in the New Testament, and every single time it appears, it's in reference to Jesus Christ, also can mean author, as it appears one more time in Hebrews, and prince. There are a couple times in Acts that it's referred to as prince. Let's go back and look at one of those in Acts 5 and verse 24.

Acts 5.24, we see a word captain in Acts 5.24 as well, but this is a physical captain in Acts 5.24. It's not the captain and the word that is translated as captain, we're referring to Jesus Christ. Acts 5.24, when the high priest, the captain of the temple, he was the civil or the physical commander, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. Speaking, you know, of what the apostles are doing, let's drop down to verse 27.

When they brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, didn't we strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you fill Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. A principle for us to remember, we obey the authorities of the land, but when it comes to toying between choosing to what God's will is versus man's will, we choose him.

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him, God, is exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. The archagos in verse 31 there is prince. Princes are leaders. They're captains. They're the same principle of archagos. They're more appropriately listed as prince. In Hebrews 2 verse 10, more appropriately listed as captain, as we will see. Now, let's pause for a moment and think about the word captain. You've all heard the word captain, and in our English language, there's a number of captains that we can talk about.

We talk about, if you're in business, you can talk about captains of industry. They're the leaders. They're the ones whom people look to. They may set the standard. You know, we could probably name a few of the captains of industry today who people look to, people listen to because they have actually performed very well and their companies stand up very well over the course of time. We have captains of ships, and those ships, you know, when they're navigated and they have a captain of the ship, he's responsible for everything that goes on there.

Starts at Port A, ends up at Port B, and everything that goes on in between is under his control. It's his job to make sure everything gets there safely. That if storms come up and they have to change navigation, he's responsible for it all.

Good captains are tried and true, and they know how, and they are battle-tried in getting that ship from Port A to Port B. We have captains of sports teams. Those of you who are football fans, basketball fans, every sports team has a captain, and those captains are something that are chosen by the team. These are people that they look up to.

They're the ones who are an inspiration. They encourage. They abide by the rules of the team. They're the ones who are encouraging and inspiring and keeping the team together. They know each other, and they're highly respected by the people on that team. Now we have captains in the military, and if we look in the captains of the military, the army, the navy, the marines, we say that they're a special breed of people. If you look it up on the internet, captains is the highest rank that you can achieve in the military and still be in the field. It is a field position, and it's not something that just automatically comes to you by virtue of seniority.

Lieutenant is that way, but there are qualifications for someone to be captain. They have to be at least four years as a lieutenant, but when you become captain, it's because you are evaluated and you are promoted to that because of what you've done in the field. You've been through a lot that you are the army, navy, marines, whatever, air force, would look at you and say, this is a man that we can put our trust in, and that people their respect.

If there's a battle to go into, they will look to him and they will follow him when he says go, they go, and when he says follow, they follow, but that doesn't happen just by edict. It's because of the reputation that he's developed, because of the performance that he's had in the field, that people would look at him and say, I trust him. I know how he can get us through this battle.

He's got the ideas, he's got the tactical skills, he's got the communication skills, he's got the leadership skills you've developed, kind of, if you've ever watched the the HBO series on Band of Brothers, he can develop that team that is closely knit together, that can follow and can take them right through to whatever they're going. And it's quite a thing. It's quite a thing to have that honor placed on you to be a captain. Jesus Christ, it tells us in Hebrews 2, verse 10, he's our captain. He's our captain. He's the captain of our salvation. Now, what does that mean?

Where are we going? Where are we going? What has God called us to?

Well, all our goals should be to be in the kingdom of God.

But we know that that's not an easy task. It's not just a matter of, you know, being at one place every week and doing the rope things that we do as part of our worship of God. There's an entire family, an entire unit, troops, if you will, that God is developing. And we, as we traverse our time from now until the return of Jesus Christ, there is going to be battles. There's going to be trials. There's going to be windstorms come up. There's going to be things that can throw us off course.

We need someone. We need someone to lead us through because if it was just you and me navigating this course alone, we would run. We would fall. We would get scared. We would back off. We need a captain that can lead us through to the kingdom of God. Only Jesus Christ can be that captain. He is battle tried and battle true. He is the leader. He has gone before us and he has written the script for us. We've seen that as he has lived his life as a human, that he has traversed the same trail that we have, but he's come out and he's been victorious over himself and over human nature and over the world and over Satan. And now he sits at God's right hand.

That's the path that you and I have to be there with Jesus Christ when we're resurrected, but it's a tough road to follow. There will be physical leaders, but the captain of our salvation, the one that we look to, the one that can lead us through, the one that we can absolutely trust, the one who we have to bind to, we have to be together behind as we follow through, is Jesus Christ. We may have physical leaders, but those physical leaders must follow him. They must follow him because he's the one who will see us through. Let's go back to Hebrews 10, the verse I gave you in the letter yesterday, but I think very fitting here as we look at Jesus Christ as our our leader, as our captain, and looking at him as the time that we are in. Yes, he's all those other things that we talked about. He is also our captain, and he will be the one who leads us, leads us to the promised land, if you will, the one who will take us to the kingdom of God.

Let's look at Hebrews 10 beginning in verse 19. We just read this on the Bible study the other night. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, that's how he entered that holy of holies. He did it by sacrificing his life and living his life perfectly as an example for us. The boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, or a recent as it could be translated, and living way, he's paved the path.

He's done the things that we can that we need to do. He knows how to get there by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us. Our captain, he lived the life. He blazed the trail.

He's the captain. He's battle tried. He's battle proven. We can all follow him. We can all get behind him. We can all trust in him and rely on him and learn in that as we go through our lives, so that when he says follow, we would all follow. None of us want to be deserters. That's a dishonor in the military, right? You don't want to be deserters. You have to trust your captain. You have to follow your captain. When he says follow, you follow. When he says go, you go.

But in order to do that, you have to be understanding him. You have to be understanding the rules of the company. You have to be a band of brothers who there are to support each other as you follow the leader, just as it is in the military. A new way, verse 20, which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God. We have a high priest today in the church of Jesus Christ. He's our high priest today, after the order of Melchizedek. No beginning, no end. Our eternal high priest. Because of all this, in verse 22, let's draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Let's believe in him. Let's follow him. Let's follow our leader. Let's learn to trust in him. Let's learn to believe.

Let's learn to be the band of brothers that God has called us to be. That we support each other, encourage each other, inspire each other as we follow him to where he's leading us. Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let's do that. Let's follow our leader.

No, Christ perfectly, perfectly fits the description of a captain, and no matter what arena that you want to define captain, he perfectly defines that. As you go through the Bible and as you see what he's done and how he's blazed the trail, no doubt that he is the commander. We need to fall in line behind him and be prepared and be preparing ourselves to learn to follow everything he says and do everything he says so that as he says go and as he says follow, we're prepared.

We're prepared because our faith and our assurance, our faith and our trust and reliance is completely on him. You know, often as we read through the Bible and we see concepts in the New Testament, we can go back to the Old Testament and we find the very same picture there. So let's go back to Joshua.

Joshua 5. As we look at Jesus Christ and the Hebrews, you know, the author of Hebrews, tells us he's the captain of our salvation, we see that even in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ was the captain, the captain of the armies of Israel as they were about to enter the promised land.

As we look at 2021 and however long it is before Jesus Christ returns, he will be leading us to the kingdom of God, to the spiritual promised land. But here in Joshua 5, we see he was ready and prepared to do that as Joshua was preparing to lead the people of Israel to conquer Jericho and to inhabit the land of God and promise them. Joshua 5, let's begin in verse 12.

They've come into the land. You can read through verse 5, you see that they've done the things that God said. They hadn't circumcised the males as they were down in the wilderness. They got that done. In verse 12, they're in the promised land. It says, the man has ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. Now the land would be feeding them. So the God who had been with them and provided for them all those years, he would still provide, but now the land would be able to feed them. After they'd eaten the produce of the land, the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. Verse 13, and it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold a man stood opposite him, with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries?

So he said, no, but as commander of the army of the Lord. I'm thinking the old King James, it says, I'm here as the captain of the army of the Lord. No, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell in his face to the earth, and he worshipped. And he said to him, what does my Lord say to his servant? Now we know who this captain of this army that was marching into the promised land. Joshua was their physical leader, but here was the one who became Jesus Christ, who would lead them in the battle. Joshua would follow him implicitly as he had demonstrated through his life. Then the captain of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. It was the one who became Jesus Christ.

As Israel was ready to march into the promised land, the captain, the captain of Israel, was there to lead them into that land. Our captain is ready to lead us where he would have us go today in the very same way. So we look at that word captain that we see in Hebrews.

We see it in the Old Testament, and we know Jesus Christ is a captain we can look to. Israel went into the promised land as they followed God, as they as they adhered to his principles, as he they did what he said. Even though some of the orders didn't seem to make sense to some of them, as they did what he said, they entered in. When they stepped out of line and took matters into their own hands and thought, I can do this, what's the difference? They failed. As you read through the book of Joshua, same thing applies to us. As we follow Jesus Christ, as we apply into our lives the principles he teaches us, as we learn to in detail follow, apply, and diligently follow him and apply. He will lead, and we will be there in the kingdom. But if we take matters into our own hands, if we veer off the course, if we're deserters and we're not the band of brothers that Jesus Christ wants us to be, we'll fall. We'll fail. It's only with him as our captain, only with him as our captain that we will find our way, that he will lead us into his kingdom.

And he's well qualified. He's well qualified. Honestly, I don't think anyone could say, well, this or that. You know, Jesus Christ is perfectly qualified. He did it all. The book of Hebrews talks about that as well. If we have any doubt that Jesus Christ is qualified to be our captain, we can look at Hebrews 6, where another term, the only time in the New Testament or in the Bible that it appears in the Bible is in Hebrews 6, in speaking of Jesus Christ.

And in verse 18, I'll pick it up in verse 17. Now, let's pick it up in verse 19, where the sentence begins. Verse 19, Hebrews 6. This hope, we all have the hope of the kingdom of God. It's because of Jesus Christ that we have that hope. He lived. He died. He was resurrected. We have the hope of eternal life because of what he did. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast and which enters the presence behind the veil.

Never underscore how important that is that Jesus Christ, that we now have access to the throne of God and we can come boldly to him. We can speak freely and plainly to God and bear our souls to him. That's hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The forerunner. Forerunner. The only time that's used in the New Testament, the only time the Greek word prodromos is used in the Old Testament is right there. Defining Jesus clearly says the forerunner, Jesus. Prodromos means one who goes before. Could be a scout, someone who spies out or not spies out the territory, but goes before us.

Reading right from the Strong's definition, says, one who comes in advance to a place where the rest are to follow. Jesus Christ. One who came in advance to a place where the rest are to follow.

Well, he did come in advance. He was God, but he emptied himself of being God, but he became a human so he could live his life as we live ours. That he could experience everything that we've experienced, that he would be able to live that life and successfully navigate it and show and prove that with God's Spirit and as we follow him, we too can navigate it. Without that example, without him being in advance of us, there'd be something missing. And in God's plan, he knew we need a captain that we can follow that can say, I know exactly what you're feeling. I've been through it. And with God's Spirit, with what I will open up to you, as his life would demonstrate, with his Spirit, you too can get to the Promised Land. You too can receive eternal life, but you have to follow me. You have to do it exactly the way I did it. He said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

You have to follow me. I did it, and you have to do it the same way. There's only one way to the kingdom of God, and he demonstrated it. In 1 Peter, it tells us, he left us an example, that we should follow. We follow our captain. He did it. He was successful.

Now, in ancient Greek, when they would use this word, prodromos, they had a couple of things that they used it for. The meaning was there. One of them was little armies or little units that they would send in to look at land ahead of time and then come back and say, this is something that we can conquer, this is something that we can do. Another one is little patrol boats that they would send out. The big ship was coming into a harbor, and there was a storm ahead. They would send patrol boats out who would navigate the way and say, well, this is the way you need to do it. Got to watch out for this, got to watch out for that. They would successfully navigate the harbor, and they would go back to the larger ship and say, this is the way. This is the way in.

To show the way. They did it. They navigated the course. They successfully went. They successfully came back. They were able to steer the ship right to where it needs to be because they knew the lay of the land. They had done it. You might be thinking, as you as we're thinking about this, of an Old Testament example a few weeks ago, you heard Mr. Permar give a sermon on the scouts of the land in the Old Testament. And it'll be the sermon that we put up on Sabbath next next week in lieu of a webcast on our webcast. But the scouts in ancient Israel, they were sent, you'll recall. God chose 12. They went into the Promised Land. Ten came back and said, we can't do it. We can't do it. The people are too tall. The walls are too high. Two, Joshua and Caleb came back and said, we're well able to take it. Of course, of course we can take it. God is with us. He's our captain. He can see us through these things that seemingly seem impossible in physical terms. But God can see us through. He, we are well able to do it.

Well, you know that the people who didn't rely on God, who weren't trusting in their captain, who said, we're not following him. We're not going into that land. What happened to them? They perished in the wilderness. They never entered the Promised Land. That entire generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, who abandoned God, who looked and were afraid of doing things because of the physical fortresses that were there, who didn't have the courage and who didn't have the faith in God, even though they saw him do much more mighty things than the walls of Jericho and conquer a few people who were somewhat taller than them. They just hadn't developed that faith.

You and I need to develop that faith that no matter what comes up, God can see us through and will see us through. Back in Joshua again, Joshua 2, as they're about to embark on the Promised Land under Joshua's command at this time, he also is going to send out some scouts into Jericho, and to have them look at the land there and see what is going on. Chapter 2 of Joshua, verse 1, Joshua the Son of Man sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly saying, go, view the land, especially Jericho. Go out and look and see what's going on. Now, you know the story of Jericho. The walls were tall. They were impenetrable. The people of Jericho thought no human would be able to conquer them. God showed. He does it. So they went and they came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. Well, you can go through that story. You know the story there. The scouts, when you come down to the end of chapter 2, this time they came back with a good report. This time they didn't come back and say the walls are too tall. There's no way we can conquer that. They had learned under their captain, their physical captain Joshua, and the example of what had gone before them and the scouts who failed to trust in God. In verse 23 it says, so the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over, and they came to Joshua, the son of Noah, and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint-hearted because of us. No ifs, no buts. Okay, we've looked at the land. We can take it. God can lead us.

Later in chapter 5 we have the captain that's there that's leading them through, but they knew that God would lead them to do that. Even though in physical terms it would seem like an impossible task, a suicide mission, they learned to trust God. As we traverse our trail to the kingdom of God, we have got to trust in Jesus Christ. He's been there. He's done it.

He was a human, and now he sits at the right hand of God. He made it all possible for us. We can't doubt, or shouldn't doubt, I should say maybe, shouldn't doubt that he is well able to lead us into his kingdom, but it has to be done his way. We have to follow exactly the way he said. He is the way, not our ideas on what should be the way. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life.

And he gives us plenty of detail on what it means to be following him in exactly the way that he wants to be followed, and exactly the way that we have to be, as we band together, as the troops behind him, that he will lead into battles. Yes, some may be tough, some may be trying, some may think I want to fall back and I don't want to do it, but you know we always have to have the faith. We are follow him no matter what. He is the way. He is the only way. As it says in John 10, he is the only door to the kingdom. The only way. If we think that somebody doing something a little less or a little different is going to get us into the kingdom, we are fooling ourselves.

It is only by his way, and we're taught that way.

Now, as you look at those scouts, it's very interesting lessons that we learn from them.

But interestingly enough, the word prodromos in the New Testament that only appears in Hebrews 6, as Jesus Christ is our forerunner, does have a Hebrew equivalent in the Old Testament.

But the Hebrew equivalent isn't spy, it isn't scout. Even though these were spies and scouts that Israel sent out, that's not the equivalent of what Jesus Christ when he is called forerunner.

The Hebrew equivalent of forerunner is first fruit. First fruit.

So you and I are not the spies and scouts. We're first fruits. Who was the first of the first fruits?

Jesus Christ paved the way. Jesus Christ showed that it can be done. Jesus Christ showed us it's possible. He was the first. He's our captain.

When we follow Him, we will be those first fruits the Bible talks about.

Now, you can go back and you can look at Exodus 13. It takes some time to ruminate and meditate on it. When the original spies went into the Promised Land, you remember that God told them to bring out the fruit of the land. They brought out these huge grapes. There's artists rendering of them. There's sculptures made of these huge grapes that the Israelites had to bring back on their shoulders. It was a good, good, good land. The Greek equates that to the forerunner. They had to focus on the fruit of the land. Look what God is giving us.

That was the first of the first fruits. Jesus Christ is the first of the first fruits. Our job is to follow Him, to be the first fruits that He has called us to be.

And as we do that, and as we follow Him explicitly and follow the principles of becoming first fruits, He will lead us to a glorious place that can't even, what we can't even imagine.

He's our captain. He's well qualified to be our captain. He's been in the trenches.

He's lived it. He's done it. He successfully navigated it. And what He navigated is far more difficult than anything you and I have navigated to date. And He came out to the other side.

And He now sits at God's right hand. He's been resurrected. He has eternal life. The very same thing that God says for us if we follow, if we see Him as our captain, and when times get tough, and even as we're looking at all the other things that Jesus Christ is in our life, which is literally everything, that we follow our captain and we always remember He showed the way. And if we are departing from that way at all, that we don't trust Him, we don't believe Him, and we simply will not find our way into the kingdom. There is just one way He has shown it, and He can do it.

He's our captain. He is our prodromos, a forerunner. We can have faith in Him.

And there's one other name for Jesus Christ that we find in the book of Hebrews that's important as well. Go back to Hebrews 8.

Hebrews 8 and verse 6.

Hebrews 8 and verse 6. Again, speaking of Jesus Christ, it says, but now He has obtained a more excellent ministry. Remember in Hebrews, it's better. The New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. The Priestly Ministry, or the Spiritual Ministry, is better. Jesus Christ is better than the Earthly Ministry, better than the earthly High Priest. His ministry is better than the Old Covenant, as much as He is mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

As we discussed, their promises were you're going into a land filled with milk and honey, a physical land. Ours is you will have eternal life. You will rule with Jesus Christ forever and ever.

You'll have eternal life, which promises are better. But Jesus Christ here says in verse 6, He's the mediator. He's the mediator. Now, we do find that a few times in the New Testament, only six times. But again, only in the book of Hebrews do we have captain, forerunner, and mediator, focused on in those areas. The Greek for mediator is massetis. Massetis, it literally means go between, reconciler, or mediator.

Why was it important that we would have a mediator? Why do we need someone as a go-between between us and God? If we have access to God the Father's throne and to Him in prayer, any time that we choose to enter in because of Jesus Christ's sacrifice, why would we need a mediator? Well, we can go back again to the Old Testament, this time the book of Job.

And we can see that it highlights in the book of Job something that's, I guess, missing if we want to put it in that term. In Job 9, the Hebrew equivalent of massetis, mediator in the Old Testament is found in Job 9 and verse 33, also in Job 33 and verse 23. But in Job 9, you know the story of Job. You know, God Himself says that He was a blameless man. He obeyed God, He followed God, and yet, you know, all these things came upon Him. Trial after trial, He lost things that to you and me are just kind of unimaginable. If we put ourselves in Job's position, if we had lost that much as we follow God. And you can understand why Job would say, why did this happen to me? I obeyed God. I followed Him. I did everything He said. Why are these things occurring to me?

In Job 9, we'll pick it up in verse 32, we see Job speaking here. And you can appreciate Job. You and I would do the same thing. You know, we would be like, is this fair? Is this fair, God? Verse 32, He's saying, for He, God, is not a man as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. You know what? He just doesn't understand. He doesn't get what it's like to be a man. He doesn't understand what it's like to have your business washed away, to have your home washed away, to have all your kids killed. He doesn't understand that. How do I talk to Him about that? He doesn't get it. He's God. He might have a valid point, for He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us who may lay His hand on us both. There's no mediator. How can I talk to God? He doesn't get it. He doesn't understand. He's never been a human. He doesn't know what it's like to have all these things happen to us. That's Job's complaint. And you know what? He identified something that was, if I can use the term, missing. Avoid that Jesus Christ, one of the purposes for Him coming, is that He would be that mediator. That He would be able to say, I get it. I've lived the life that you've lived. I've been a human. I know the pain. I know the joy. I know the trials. I know the temptations. I know what it's like to have people mock me, ridicule me. I know what it's like to look into someone's face and see that they hate me. I know what it's like to have them railroad me, betray me. I know what it's like to be crucified. I know what it's like to be put to death for nothing that I've done wrong, but because people just wanted to silence me for all the wrong reasons.

Jesus Christ is a necessary part of the New Covenant. God saw that. It was necessary as part of God's plan for mankind that there would be this mediator, and Jesus Christ is it.

He's the go-between. You know, Hebrews 4—let's look at Hebrews 4— tells us this as it's building up to, you know, calling Jesus Christ our mediator. Hebrews 4, verse 14.

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let's hold fast our confession. Let's look at his life. He lived on earth. He emptied himself of being God, and he lived life with all the challenges—well, more difficult challenges than I've encumbered or encountered in my life.

Probably more difficult challenges than you have encountered in your life.

He did it. He succeeded. He kept his eyes on God. He kept his eyes on the goal. He followed his father. He came to do the will of his father who sent him. He learned to obey him in all points, and as he was a human, he learned, I will obey in every single detail. I'll follow my leader if I'm going to be in the kingdom, if I'm going to get to the promised land, to eternal life.

This is how we do it. Seeing then we have a High Priest. Let's hold fast to our confession. Verse 15, For we don't have a High Priest who can't sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. No longer can we say to God, you don't know what it's like.

You have no idea what it's like to be a human, because Jesus Christ is there at his right hand saying, I get it. I know what it's like. I've been there. And he encourages us, and he inspires us, and he can let us know through his Holy Spirit, keep going. Keep your eyes on me. You have a captain who will lead you to the kingdom. You have someone who's gone on before you. I've already paved the way. I've done it, and I've gone on before, and I've come back and shown you the way that it can be done.

Believe me. Follow me. Become a band of brothers behind me. Follow me as I lead you to the kingdom.

Because of this, verse 16, let's therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.

Let's go to God when we have issues and we have trials. You know, Job's problem was that he became self-righteous.

You know, I'm so good. I'm so good. But you notice that he spoke boldly to God.

You know, he was there, and he spoke plainly. And we all at least should come before God with absolute correct fear that we should have from him, the reverence and the awe.

But we shouldn't be afraid to ask him when we don't understand something.

We shouldn't be afraid to ask him to teach us when we... And it's not a shame to say, God, I don't understand. Help me to understand. What do I do? How do I do this?

Show me the way. That's what Jesus Christ is for. That's what he wants to do. That's what he does. There's no harm in doing that. We don't have to pretend to God that we have all the answers because he knows we don't. He's our mediator. He's our go-between. He knows what to say to comfort us and to soothe us and to encourage us. The same things that you and I need to be learning as we work with one another to encourage and inspire and help all of us to keep going.

Just like when you watch those movies of the band the brothers and someone was becoming weak and they wanted to fall away and they wanted to leave, there would be people who would surround them and say, no, no, no. Keep your eyes on the battle. Don't desert. Don't fall away.

Don't betray. Keep together as a unit. Let's follow him. We trust him. That's what God wants of you and me as well. Macetus. Jesus Christ is our mediator. You know, back in Greek times, being a Macetus was an honor. They had courts of law just like we have courts of law today.

And when you would go to a court of law, it would make a decision.

Just like we do today, right? Someone sues us. The judge says, this party wins. Pay him XX. That's my judgment. But there's something missing in that. There can be a decision that was made and the Greeks realized, well, we shouldn't say realized, they had a system where people would go to arbitration or mediation. We still have that today. It still goes there. You hear about it a lot in sports conflicts between team and people who want more money. But a mediator in Greek society was held in high esteem. It wasn't someone you just hung your shingle out and said, I'm a mediator. You had to kind of show by your character and what you were that you could be a mediator. Now, here's three of the things to be a mediator in Greek society that you needed to do. Three qualities. And as the people of the old of the New Covenant back 2000 years ago, when read about mediator, they'd be like, oh, oh, that's what we have in our society. That's what we have in our society. Here's what these people were like. Number one, qualification. You have to fairly represent and sympathize with both sides. You have to fairly represent and sympathize with both sides.

Now, that makes sense when you understand what the overall role, and we'll get to that here in the second and third steps. With Jesus Christ as mediator, God the Father, we come to Him. Jesus Christ directed us to God the Father. Pray this way, our Father, which art in heaven, and pray in my name. And when you are following me and whatever you ask in my name, when it is in accordance with God's will as we learn as we follow and as we accept His will in our lives and practice His will in our lives, He says, whatever you ask, I'll give, because we have the same goal of the kingdom that Jesus Christ has for us. God the Father understands our prayers. Jesus Christ is there. He's the mediator. I get the human side. I understand the emotions involved. I understand the fear, the dismay. I understand the reluctance and the physical barriers that may be there, but you also have to understand as you are developed by God and as He grows you into who we need to be to be with Jesus Christ and to reign with Him during the millennium, that we come to the same mind that we have that these physical barriers, we can't allow them to stop us.

He can break through them all. How many times did He prove that to ancient Israel in the Old Testament? How many times will He prove that to us? If He says, go, go. If He says, follow, follow. And when He says it, He will see us through. He knows the way. So we have Jesus Christ as a mediator who is interested in God the Father. They are on our sides. They understand both sides of the story, if you will, just like the mediator would. I understand God's principle. This is the way. This is how you do it. Do it exactly the way I say. Jesus Christ also understands, never makes excuses for us, and I'm going to repeat that. Mediating is not making excuses for us, but just saying, I get their fail frame. I understand the weaknesses. I understand that they need to grow, so that as they fail in this instance, they will grow. And as they repent and as they purpose in their minds to be strong and use my Holy Spirit, God says they will become strong like Jesus Christ was. That's why we live the lives we do. That's why we're here on earth today. That's why we aren't baptized and turn into spirit beings the next day. We grow and we develop in that. So Jesus Christ is there. He's our mediator. God the Father, Jesus Christ.

We are fairly represented and sympathized. Jesus Christ can sympathize with us in all points because he was tempted as we are. He fits that definition of mediator. Okay? Point two.

A mediator would establish communication between the two parties.

Now, in a court of law, they don't really care whether you have communication or not.

You go through divorce court. Are they interested in, oh, I'm going to try to bring the parties back together again? Have husband and wife come back together? No. They're just going to say, here's the edict. Boom. Gone. They're not interested at all. Mediator is. How do we bring the parties back together again? Okay? Through the course, it might be that this hasn't been right. This hasn't been right. How do we bring the parties back together again?

That's what Jesus Christ is interested in. He came to be our Redeemer. He came to reconcile man to God. If we're not reconciled to God, there is no entree into the kingdom. We're here in Hebrews 4, so verse 16 is about. Let us therefore, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.

Come before God. Bring your trials, bring your cares, your concerns to Jesus Christ, to God the Father. Talk to Him. Establish the communication. Jesus Christ broke apart the veil when He died so that we had access and communication availability to God the Father. I said on the Bible studies often, I hope we can wrap our minds around that. I don't think we can. The access that God has given us to go directly to God the Father. An amazing thing when you think about it and shows us just how important it is to God and Jesus Christ that you and I and the firstfruits, today's forerunners that follow Jesus Christ, how important it is to Him that we also are able to traverse the trail as we follow Him into His kingdom. You know, they hear our prayers. It's mind-boggling to think how many prayers go up to God, and He hears every single one of them. Whether it's in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day, in the morning, in the evening, all of us. He listens to them all. He listens to them all. Christ opened the way to that communication. He is a good mediator. Verse 3, a mediator was to bring a renewed relationship between the parties, establish the communication, and a renewed relationship. Hate would result in love. Estrangement would result in being together again. Bitterness and suspicion would result in trust. Bring them together again. There had to be a renewed relationship between the parties. It's the very same thing that Jesus Christ wants for us today. A renewed relationship between God and us. Let's go to Matthew 5.

Matthew 5 and verse 23. In His very first sermon, you know, if the Sermon on the Mount was indeed His very first sermon, Jesus Christ, after He says, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, not one jot or one tittle passes from the law as long as heaven and earth exists, tells us God's law was there in the beginning, continues today, continues as long as there's a physical heaven and earth, as long as there's physical man. On verse 23, as He expands on those commandments and takes them from just physical as ancient Israel made to the spiritual application that we have in our lives today, and we keep them physically as well as spiritually, verse 23 says, Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.

Reconciliation is so, so important to God. One of the reasons Jesus Christ came to earth is that we would be reconciled to God. Well, primary reason, everything He did. Reconcile man to God.

He showed us the way. That's why He lived. That's why He was sacrificed. That's why He spilt His blood.

That's why He was resurrected. That's why He was resurrected. That's why He was is now sitting at God's right hand. That's why He still is very much interested in what you and I are doing and how we are as we go along our path.

That we we've reconciled to God. But as part of that, the Band of Brothers needs to always be reconciled to each other. They have to be growing closer together.

There's that purpose that God has, that we are there, that if we have anything, He says, if there's anything between us, you know, Jesus Christ and God the Father are perfectly one. And He prayed, my will is that you are one. You all are reconciled to one another. You all are following the same path. You all get it. You're all following it. You're all committed to following Him. And if there's any problem between the two of you, be reconciled.

And God can reconcile. Make no mistake, the most the most bitter things between us, if both parties want reconciliation, if both parties are being led by God's Spirit, if both parties have the intent and purpose and goal in their minds that they will be in the kingdom, they can be reconciled. God shows the way. It's up to us. Do we do it? Do we follow Him? Do we make Him the center of our lives and trust Him? Or do we just say, nope, can't be done. That physical barrier is too much. I can't do it, God. I don't trust You enough to do that. I don't sacrifice myself enough to want to do that.

Do we want to be reconciled? You know, there's an aside. I always come back to, you know, when Jesus Christ asked the blind man, and I think it's the pull of Siloam, and he said, do you want to be well? Do you want to be well? Seems like a question that you would always say, yes, I want to be well. Well, do you want to be reconciled? You know, the answer better be yes, but if the answer is yes, we better do it God's way, because it is something that He is looking to us to do. And even as we're, you know, we have health problems, do it His way. Do it His way.

Follow Him. His will is that we have all these things. Anyway, didn't mean to get off on that. A renewed relationship between the parties. A renewed, healthy relationship between the parties.

Let's go back to 1 John. 1 John 1. 1 John 1. 1 John 1. Let's pick it up right at the beginning here in verse 1.

Apostle John, you remember, walked with Jesus Christ for three and a half years. Here we are, 60 years or so after Jesus Christ was crucified and ascended into the heaven. The Apostle John is still walking with Jesus Christ. He's reminding people, follow Him, adhere to Him. The things that you were taught from the beginning do. 1 John 1 verse 1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life, the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you. He says a lot in those first three verses, we've seen it, we know it exists, it's all there, that which we have seen, verse 3, and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. It's there because God wants that very close koinonia partnership between Him and you and me, and everyone He calls. You're being told this because that you may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. The goal of the mediator is that we become one with God and Jesus Christ, and as part of that, that we become one with one another. As Jesus Christ lived His life, the same principles, the same attitudes, the same behavior, the same obedience that He demonstrated in His life are the same things that required of us. God doesn't require any more of us than Jesus Christ.

He's our captain. He is our captain. As we go into battle, He can successfully lead us.

He's done it. He's the forerunner. He can do it all. He has done it all. He's proven to us. We can follow Him. We trust Him. We rely on Him. We need to rely on Him more and more and learn to trust Him more and more. And He's our mediator. He's interested in bringing us together.

He's interested in bringing us together as a body, in our personal relationships, in a relationship with God and Him, a close bond. Because remember, the goal is to become Jesus Christ's bride? That by definition means we'd better be in sync with Him totally.

He's not going to marry a bride that has doubts or concerns and that hasn't demonstrated in this life and learn to do the things that Jesus Christ himself did and has come that we might have.

It's time for us to look at ourselves. It's time for us to look at our relationships. It's time for us to become what Jesus Christ, our captain, our prodromos, our forerunner, our mediator, wants us to be if, indeed, we truly want to be in His kingdom. Only one way. And who we need to become, we have to be measured, and we are measured, by the stature of Jesus Christ.

That's the way. That's the truth. That's where eternal life is.

Let's go back a few books to Hebrews again.

In Hebrews 12, as the author wraps up the book, we find a pretty good summation of what we have talked about today. And a new, not a new, not a new, an additional way we look at Jesus Christ, in addition to all the others, because they all together prove He's everything we need. Hebrews 12, verse 1, He's talking about you and me, right? He's talking to you, to us, the same as He was talking to the Hebrews back then in the first century. Therefore, we also, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight. You know, let every weight, the things that keep us apart from God, the things that cause us sleepless nights, the things that keep us apart from one another, the things that keep us from being, the things that keep us from being what God wants us to be, or becoming what God wants to be, because we will not yield our wills to Him. We will not be forgiving people, as we'll read. We're not going to read today, but we'll read as we go through the book of Hebrews and finish it up, that we're not forgiving people, that we aren't committed to doing the things that God said and letting His lives in us. Since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, all these men and women who went before us who did sacrifice their lives in Old Testament time, let's lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. You know, we all have those sins that easily bested us before we know it. We've done it. We need to learn how to catch ourselves and ask God, you know, why do I keep doing these things? Help me to understand, or not understand, but help me catch myself before I do it and make the difficult choice to say, no, I deny myself. I'll do what you want to do instead. And as we practice that, it becomes easier and easier to always choose God's will. Well, anyway, the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author, there's there's Archegos. In this instance, they translated an author, where before they translated Captain, he is the author. He's the one who began the work with us, and he will finish the work with us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, again, only one way, only one way, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, the same joy that we can set before us, keeping our eyes on the kingdom, looking past the pain, looking past the things that might concern us and cause us fear, looking to God and learning to trust in him, and looking forward to the kingdom, when we inherit what God has promised us, who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, he despised the shame, and now he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him. Think about it.

Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself.

You and I haven't been tried in that way yet. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You want to give up?

Think about what Jesus Christ went through. He never said it was going to be easy. He said we would have to rely on him. He said we would have to replace our attitudes with his attitudes, his, our will with his will, his way instead of our way. Consider him lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. That's where you and I come in to play with each other as well. When we see that happening, to be able to say, wait, don't give up, don't go away. Remember. Remember what Christ did to you. Remember what he called you to. Remember what he set before us. You haven't resisted. Verse 4, to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you've forgotten the exhortation, which speaks to you as the sons. You never see that word exhort. Think about the zeal and the energy that's behind that. Verse 5, my son, don't despise the chastening of the Lord.

There's that word, pihadea, that we talked about a few years ago. The training that God has us in that you and I are in today. Don't despise the chastening of the Lord. We're not perfect. Of course, there's going to be things that God corrects us along the way. That may come from his word. That may come from a sermon. That may come from a minister. That may come from your spouse. That may come from a friend. Don't get mad. Go back and do what God said. If indeed you want to be in his kingdom, don't despise it. Embrace it. My son, don't despise the chastening of the Lord. Don't be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and he scourges every son whom he receives. When we go through these things, God wants us to learn. Nothing happens to us just by—I teased the word nothing. Things don't happen to us just by chance. He's got a purpose in mind. There's something we need to learn when we go through the things that we do. Let him teach and ask him what it is he's teaching. Let's drop down to verse 22. You and I, we've come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God.

Do we appreciate that? The heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn. That's the church that God has put you and me in. That's the body through which he is perfecting us today. That's the body and the band of brothers that learns to follow him, that learns to trust in him, that sees him as captain and appreciates all he's done. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, they are firstfruits. God sees you in me as that. Jesus Christ has already navigated the way as first of the firstfruits. You are registered in heaven to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect—the process that you and I go through in our physical lives.

To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. The new covenant. Everything that God has us living in today is better. This is the time to be prepared. And now is judgment on the house of God as he gives us all these things. And we have the panorama of human history to understand what God is doing.

Verse 25, a warning for us, see that you do not refuse him who speaks. See that you don't refuse him who speaks. He's our captain. He's the only way. There is no other way. If we refuse him who speaks, then we're basically saying, I don't believe. I'm wasting my time. I want to achieve God's kingdom my own way. It's the same attitude that Adam and Eve had. Look where it got them.

It got them thrust out of the Garden of Eden. Only God's way. Doing it his way, following our captain, following our forerunner. Being thankful always that he's our mediator. I hope we'll all choose to be part of the company. We'll all choose to be part of the band of brothers that he wants us to become. That as we go through difficult times, we will look to Jesus Christ, our captain, who's also our Savior, our Master, our King, the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Chief Cornerstone on which our beliefs are there. We can trust him. We can rely on him. We can follow him wherever he leads.