Sacrifice of Praise

Thanksgiving arrives on Thursday this week. Many of us have fond memories of the holiday and look forward to building more good memories this Thursday. But I suspect Thanksgiving might hold bittersweet memories for some of us, and you are not as excited about this Thursday as you have been excited in the past.

 

And so, it is about thanksgiving – not the holiday, but the attitude of thanksgiving that I want to speak about today. To that end, let’s look at Hebrews chapter 10. If the text seems an odd way to introduce Thanksgiving, please be patient. All will be explained.

 

The community to which this letter was written was suffering persecution. Some of it was severe. Many had had their possessions stolen. Some were imprisoned for their faith. And consequently, many were becoming demoralized. Some were drifting from their faith.

 

Listen to what the apostle wrote by way of encouragement: (Hebrews 10:32-36) “Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

 

As I said, the writer was concerned – rightly so – that persecution or affliction was turning some away from the faith – just as we today ought to be concerned about the same things, that persecution and sufferings and various disillusionments have turn some Christians away from Christ.

 

I sometimes think about that when I read 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I also think about it when I read Paul’s letter to the Christians at Ephesus: (Ephesians 5:20) “Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” 

 

I memorized both of those verses decades ago. But every so often – because I forget so often – God focuses my attention once again on them. And I confess to you how frustrating it is to me that God must remind me of the same things He’s has already reminded me of a hundred times in the past, that being to give God thanks IN all things and FOR all things – for this is God’s WILL FOR us in Christ Jesus.

 

All things. For good things like health, prosperity, dreams come true, hopes realized. But also to give thanks in and for bad things – accidents, deaths, illness, chronic pain, loneliness, loss of income and so forth. For all things and in all things. Which brings us to the thanksgiving point of my message today.

The writer tells us later in Hebrews: (13:14-15) “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

Let’s talk a few moments about a sacrifice of praise. It is NOT a sacrifice to thank God when things go well. A sacrifice is not a sacrifice if it costs us nothing. I can give a dollar to someone in need, and I wouldn’t think about it twice.  But if God called me to give someone ten thousand dollars – well I can tell you, THAT would be a sacrifice.

 

Here is only one example of the Biblical principle behind sacrifices: The backstory of David’s sin of overwhelming pride takes up a full chapter in the Scriptures. (By the way, this chapter is not talking of David’s sin with Bathsheba. That happened earlier in his reign as king). We won’t take the time to rehearse what 1 Chronicles 21 tells us. You can read it yourself, if you like. But what I will focus on is the last part of this story where God demanded of David a burnt offering sacrifice for his sin.

 

David went to a man named Ornan, who owned the site David wanted to use for the burnt offering. But Ornan, a loyal and faithful servant of King David, said to him, “Take it for yourself; and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I will give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I will give it all.” But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.” (1 Chronicles 21:23ff) 

 

Listen to David again: “I won’t offer a sacrifice to God that costs me nothing.” That is, of course, the definition of sacrifice. It costs us something. And so, we ought to expect a sacrifice of praise to cost something.

 

It’s is no surprise to anyone here that life is full of trouble and heartache. Job had it right when he said: (Job 5:7) “Man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward.” In chapter 14:1 he continued: “Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.”

 

So, what shall WE do when life picks us up and smashes us to the ground? What shall we do when we pray for our beloved sick, and they don’t get well – or they die?  When we pray for family reconciliation, and it doesn’t happen?  When we pray for the salvation of our family – and they never, so far as we know – come to Christ. When we pray that we might have children, and we remain barren all our lives?

 

What shall we do? God tells us what He’d like us to do: “Persevere” as we read in that opening text from Hebrews 10. It’s what Scripture tells us to do in Paul’s letters to the Christians in Thessalonica and Ephesus as I read earlier. “Give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”

 

Is that easy? Of course not. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be a sacrifice. But is giving thanks in all things and for all things necessary?  Yes, absolutely. If it were not necessary, God would not have commanded it of us.

 

So, why does He command it? Why is it necessary? Because not only can prayer change situations, prayer can also change US. And that is part of God’s plan for you and me – to change us, to conform us to the image of His Son. That’s what God tells us in the eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Christians at Rome – and this is important to grasp with our hearts and not only theoretically with our heads. And oh! How well I know that theoretical knowledge does not keep us at peace when things go terribly wrong.

 

Being conformed to the image of Jesus will not happen without successfully persevering through trials and tests. As we learn from Hebrews 5:8, Jesus (remember, Jesus was 100% God and 100% human at the same time) – Jesus the Man learned obedience from the things he SUFFERED.

 

That’s surely one reason God tells us through the apostle James, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

 

For years I thought I had it all together. I had lots of head knowledge, but through life-experiences, I learned much of it was theoretical – and not at all in my spirit. But my failures aside, and YOUR failures aside, here is what God wants us to know that can help us when life’s fires and floods and storms again break loose against us. Many of you will recognize this passage from Romans 8:28-39

 

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son . . . What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? . . . . Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Neither good things or bad things, neither death or life, neither storms or nightmares or floods or fires – nothing can separate us from God’s immeasurable, indescribable love.

 

A sacrifice of praise means giving God thanks and adoration and exaltation even when our hearts – as Tevye sang in Fiddler on the Roof – even when our hearts lie panting on the floor. It means giving God praise even when we don’t feel like praising Him. It means giving God praise even when we don’t WANT to praise Him.

 

Why do you think the psalmist wrote more than once in the psalms: “Bless the Lord, Oh my soul. Bless His holy name”? The word David used in those texts is in the imperative form of BLESS; It’s a command from our mind to our soul to bless His Holy Name.

 

In other words, David commanded himself to praise God – even when his life was such that he didn’t feel like praising God. Nevertheless, he’d grab himself by the proverbial scruff of the neck and require of himself to praise God who, simply by virtue of who He is, is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving.

 

The more I think about the idea of a sacrifice of praise, the more I get agitated by a specious, deceptive theology floating around among many churches which falsely promises that God wants us happy, prosperous, healthy, and wealthy.

 

The roots of this damnable doctrine are traceable to at least the 70s. All we need, so they say, all we need is to have is enough faith, and God is obligated to His word (as they say) – God is obligated to make our life a proverbial Rose Garden without even thorns on the roses.

That false theology, often called, “Name it and claim it” theology, is as far from Biblical truth as east is from west. And of course, advocates of that theology find all kinds of biblical texts – always taken out of context – to support their view.

 

But tell that lie to those who suffer martyrdom today in places like Egypt, China, Russia, North Africa, Iran, Iraq, and on and on. Tell “Name it and claim it” to those who suffered those events described in chapter 10 of Hebrews that I read to us at the beginning of this message. Tell it to those in the next chapter, chapter 11—the so-called Heroes of Faith chapter – where we find listed famous Old Testament saints whose faith “conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword . . . and on and on.

 

But then we find in the next verses these words: (verses 35-39) “and others were tortured . . . and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated - men of whom the world was not worthy - wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised . . . . .

 

Talk about a sacrifice of praise. Talk about giving thanks to God in all things – in good times and in very, very bad times.

Many of our Christian brethren throughout history, from the earliest days of the apostles, many lost everything. Theirs was never a “name it and claim it’ faith as promised by so many modernists who either haven’t a clue of the whole of Scripture, or Church history –past or current – or they simply will say anything people want to hear.

 

Biblically based faith is and always has been rooted in a total trust and love for God, a faith rooted in “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done” – and not “my kingdom come and my will be done.”

 

Does any of this suggest we should not ask God for healing of our body? Or the reconciliation of our families? Or the salvation of others? Or a job? Or anything else important to our lives?

 

Of course not. The Scriptures include stories of many, many people who prayed about their sometimes-desperate needs. But Scripture still tells us, “In all things give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you and me.”

 

How might we offer such sacrifices when we’re struggling with life-issues? Perhaps try a little self-talk, as the Psalmist did. Listen to him in Psalm 42:5, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.”

 

Perhaps listen to some of the many church hymns of thanksgiving. Read aloud some of the Psalms of thanksgiving such as Psalms 8, 40, and 145, which are among dozens of others. Listen now to a part of Psalm 145: “I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.”

 

Again, it should not matter if we FEEL like praising God. Let our mouth speak His praise anyway – because He is worthy at all times of our praises, and THAT’S why it’s called a sacrifice of praise. And we ought to know this, God is pleased with such sacrifices. 

 

God loves you. He is desperately in love with you. He is so desperately in love with us that He did all that He could do, He did the maximum He as God could do to prove His love for you and me – and that was to give His beloved Son as a substitutionary sacrifice for your sin and for mine.

 

When we come to know in the depths of our souls God loves us – regardless how things turn out and turn up in our lives often filled with trial – when we know in our spirits, and not simply theoretically in our head, that God always stands with us, and not against us – then the sacrifice of praise will flow more easily from our hearts. And it will be immeasurably easier to give Him thanks in all things and for all things.

 

Truth

 

 

As we continue our series in the book of Hebrews, we’ll park one more week at this text in Hebrews 3:1: “Therefore holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” 

 

We’ve seen how Jesus is the matchless Apostle and High Priest of our faith. Last week we turned our attention to what is commonly called the Lord’s High Priestly prayer to uncover some of WHAT He prays for us. Today we will look one more time at some things He prays for us.

 

For the sake of time, I will read only a few of the salient points of John 17 -

(John 17:1-24): “Lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ² even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent . . . .9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me . . . 11 Holy Father, keep them . . . that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name . . .and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled . . . 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth . . . 20 I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. . . . 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given  Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

 

In verse 17, the Lord asks the Father to sanctify the apostles. The Greek word John uses for ‘sanctified’ means to purify, to cleanse, and to set apart for God’s work. And as we saw last week, the Lord also prays for us today who believe what the apostles wrote about Christ – that being, Jesus prays that we also will be sanctified in Truth. And let us not overlook the next clause in this verse: “Your word is truth.”

 

But some might ask, ‘What is truth?’ I think the one person in all history who made that question most popular was Governor Pilate. If you know your Bible well, you’ll remember his mocking question when the Lord Jesus told him: (John 18:37b-38) “I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” To which Pilate said, “What is truth?”

 

What is truth? Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has been seducing men and women to dismiss God’s truth. You’ll remember how he sowed doubt into her mind: (Genesis 3:1) “Has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” And just like our first mother, humanity has succumbed to his same seductions ever since.

So, what truth does our Creator want us to know AND obey to receive eternal life? That’s easy to answer. God wants us to know His truth about the faith and the morals He built into us. But since Genesis 3 we’ve been corrupted by our sin nature to such a degree that most people can stare Truth (capital T) – in the face, and still ask the question as Pilate asked.

 

Why is that? Scripture answers that question, too: (Ecclesiastes 7:29) “God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes [for evil].”

 

It is only God’s word that tells us the Truth about God’s nature: His love, His holiness, His justice, AND His wrath toward sin. God’s infallible and inerrant word tells us who we are, WHY we are what we are, where we come from, where we’re going, and even what it will be like when we get there – both for the unredeemed and for the redeemed.

 

Truth is truth – any kind of truth – regardless of a person’s opinion of truth. And to deny any kind of truth is not only irrational, but idiotic. For example, mathematical and biological truths do not bow to opinion. And I might deny the truth of gravity, but if I jump off the roof of this building, I’ll quickly discover that gravitational truth doesn’t bow to my opinion.

It’s the same thing with God’s truth regarding faith and morals. A person can argue day and night against what the Bible says about faith and morals – and he may get away with his reckless opinion for decades, even for a lifetime. But when he closes his eyes in death and immediately opens them in the next life, he’ll quickly discover to his everlasting horror that God’s truth does not bow to his opinion.

If ever there was a time you and I needed an anchor for our souls, something that has been true since Genesis chapter one, and will remain true into eternity, it is now, today, as we near the end of 2025.

 

Yes, not everyone wants to know God’s view about faith and morals. Why? Because knowing His truth makes us RESPONSIBLE to follow its direction. God’s truth forces us to take sides. No one can stay neutral in the face of Truth.

 

We looked last week at what is God’s truth about Jesus – that He is Almighty God in the flesh of a man, born of the Virgin, died a sacrificial and atoning death to save us from the Father’ wrath for our sins, His resurrection, ascension, and soon return. To deny ANY of those truths is to deem oneself unworthy of eternal life. Harsh words, yes. But sugar-coated truth to make it more palatable is to be eternally harsher still. (See Acts 13:46)

 

So, beyond what He tells us about Jesus, what is God’s truth about faith and morals? To fit within our time constraints, we will look at only three of His truths.

 

First, God requires of us a holy lifestyle. Second: Heaven and Hell are REAL places. What we do with Christ in THIS life determines where we spend our afterlife. And the third Truth we’ll talk about today: God searches for everyone and for one reason only - to bring us home to Himself.

 

So, let’s look at the first truth for today: God requires of us holiness. What does that mean? A lifestyle geared toward holiness means we strive to avoid what God calls sin. For example, listen to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate [i.e. male prostitutes], nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”

 

St. Peter added: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16)

 

Indeed, anyone familiar with the Scriptures knows God’s requirement of us to be holy fills virtually every page from Genesis through Revelation.

 

A lifestyle of holiness means to be separated from the culture’s view of life and acceptable lifestyles. It means to be morally AND ethically pure. And it will be woefully insufficient to try to excuse or rationalize a sinful lifestyle when we each stand at the Judgement Seat of God by saying our pastor, or our church allows such and such an action.

 

I spoke to a man not many years ago who tried to justify his acceptance of homosexual marriage, abortion, and fornication. When I told him what the Bible said about his view of those damnable sins, he told me his church does not believe those practices are sinful. He added, as if to further seal the deal, his church is pastored by ‘intellectuals’ – that was the word he used. I guess he meant by that, his church picks and chooses what they will follow when it comes to Biblical Truth about morality.

 

Please hear me: If your church teaches God’s view of morality has changed with the millennia, that He has updated His definition of Truth and of holiness, then you’d better find a different church. God was very clear when He said: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

 

Here is some truth worthy of attention: Don’t mess with a holy God.

 

Truth number two: Heaven exists. And – contrary to what a growing number of clergy and theologians today want you to believe, Hell also exists. Listen to this dire warning in Revelation 20:11-15 – “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

 

I remember talking to a young atheist more than fifty years ago. What he said to me as I watched him diligently studying an open Bible on the table in front of him – what he said has stayed with me all these decades. When I asked what he was doing he turned and looked at me for only a moment before responding, “I’m studying the Bible to prove it wrong.”

 

For good reason, the Holy Spirit moved St. Paul to write to the church at Corinth: “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

 

And it doesn’t matter a whit what academic degrees or titles people have who mock or twist or pervert the plain truths of Scripture. The Pharisees and Sadducees held academic degrees from their most prestigious seminaries, but what did those degrees ultimately do for them? It got them the eternal lake of fire unless before they died, they repented of their sins and their rejection of Christ.

 

How many times have you heard people refer to God as a fable believed by an ancient and scientifically ignorant people? But how many scoffers today know that, for example, in the years between 1900 and 2000, 64% of the Nobel prizes in physics, 65% of the prizes in medicine, and 74% of Nobel prizes in Chemistry went to Christians? Would those who mock the idea of God and His absolute Truth – would those who boldly assert belief in God is a fable fit only for ignorant people – would those mockers be so arrogant as to call those scientists ignorant?

 

Well, despite the evidence to the contrary, many probably would still cling to their arrogant disbelief.

 

Why? The ONLY reason otherwise intelligent men and women reject God and His Son is because they want to avoid the light of the gospel message. They want to live their own way and according to their own version of truth. That’s not my opinion. They are the words of Truth spoken by Jesus: (John 3:19-20) “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” 

 

Rightly did St. Paul tell the Christians at Corinth, “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

 

I remember when I visited my friend, Dan Taub, as he lie dying from liver cancer, he placed his hand on mine and quoted St. Paul’s last words to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”  (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

 

Finally for today’s message, here is truth number three: Despite the sins – or even the evils you have done in your past, God searched for you – and STILL searches for you for only one reason. That reason is not to punish you, nor to condemn you. He searched and is searching to RESCUE you.

 

 Many of you are familiar with the story Jesus told of the lost sheep: (Luke 15:4-7) ⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

 

The shepherd seeking its lost sheep hears it crying in the distance. It’s frightened. Cold. Lonely. And when the shepherd hears it’s cry, he runs to rescue it.

 

Have you ever cried out to God, lonely? Lost? Frightened? Make no mistake, Jesus heard you. Jesus ran to you. He always runs to you. That’s the point of the entire 15th chapter of Luke – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

For me, the truth about the Lord’s active search for the lost is the most encouraging of all the truths of Scripture. Even to this moment, I remember being lost. I remember feeling alone. I remember the sorrow that I had for my sins – some of which were most horrible. I remember not knowing if God could ever forgive me.

 

And I still – to this day, nearly 53 years later - I still remember my joy when I discovered God loved me – ME – enough to keep seeking for me until he found me.

 

Do you know that God loves you, and that He kept seeking you until He found you?  And listen to this: Jesus didn’t stop seeking you after He found you. He STILL seeks for you and me as we drift from time to time. He still seeks us, wooing us back to himself, watching us, protecting us, chastening us, guiding us into His Truth. He is still wanting us to love him better today than we did yesterday, and better tomorrow than we do today.

 

Today we looked at only some of the Truths of Scripture: God requires of us a holy lifestyle. What we do with Christ in THIS life determines where we spend our afterlife. And God searches for everyone for one reason only - to bring us home to Himself.

 

May our God help each of us to not only believe those truths, but to put those truths into practice day after day – because doing so will change our lives for the better.

 

 

Jesus, Not the Church

 

My adoptive father, Tommy Maffeo, was raised in the Catholic Church of the 1930s and 40s. And as was true of Roman Catholicism in those days – and even today in the 21st century – Catholics were taught to believe that the Catholic Church is virtually synonymous with Jesus Christ.

Not only is that notion patently erroneous, but it is dangerously so. It certainly proved to be that way for Tommy.

When Tommy was a small child, his godly mother died suddenly and could not receive “Last Rites.’ Consequently, the Catholic Church in her area did not permit her to be buried in a Catholic cemetery. Even on appeal by the family, the priest remained adamant.

For Catholics, being buried in a Catholic cemetery holds great importance because those grounds are considered sacred. To be buried elsewhere means that the deceased does not receive prayers and Masses offered for them by the living.

The terribly distraught Maffeo family was incensed that this godly and faithful Catholic mother could not be buried in a Catholic cemetery because of some unbending rule. It was because of that callous and cold-hearted rule that Tommy left the Catholic Church. AND, because he’d been taught that the Catholic Church and Jesus are synonymous, he turned away from Jesus, also. And why should he not? After all, he believed it was Jesus who refused burial to his mother in sacred soil.

Mom and Tommy were divorced after only six or seven years of marriage. Their separation didn’t affect me very much because he and I never had a close relationship.

Several years later, when I was 22, I joined the navy. Very soon after I arrived at my duty station in Japan, I discovered Jesus. And, literally overnight, my life changed. I was in love with God for what He has done for me in His Son. He’d opened my eyes to my sins and to His grace, love, and forgiveness.

And I wanted to share that with Tommy. A year later, I traveled back to New York on leave and made time to meet with him face-to-face. It was a friendly meeting – but as soon as I told him what I discovered about Jesus, his face got red and in what I could tell was a controlled rage, he told me he never wanted to hear about Jesus Christ again. I tried a time or two during the next couple of years, but each time he quickly and angrily rebuffed me.

What’s my point? Regardless of what ANY church teaches, regardless of what any pastor or priest has to say about the matter, Jesus Christ is NOT the same as the Catholic Church – any church. When the Lord Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) – He was not telling them they could only come to Him through a church – whatever the label. He was inviting them – individual men and women, one by one, to come to him personally in prayer by faith.

He tells us through the Prophet: “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22)

Simply said, Jesus tells us to turn to HIM, not a Church. Turn to HIM, not a priest or pastor. Turn to HIM in repentance and learn of Him through personal study of His word which is called the Bible.

Tommy died a few years later in a tragic car accident. From what I was told, he died almost instantaneously. I don’t know if in those last moments of his life he repented of his rejection of Christ. I don’t know if he finally realized that Jesus is NOT synonymous with the Catholic Church – or any church. It was NOT Jesus who refused his mother’s burial in that Catholic cemetery.

Jesus stands above all churches, and He stands at the heart of every individual man and women, gently but persistently knocking. Listen to what He tells us in Revelation 3:20 – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

Please. If you’ve never done it – and even if you have done it before, do it again – open the door of your heart to Jesus.

Christ's High Priestly Prayer - Part One

Sermon

November 9, 2025

Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer

Part One

 

Last week I centered my remarks around Hebrews 3:1: “Therefore holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” We looked at Jesus the matchless Apostle sent into the world by the Father with the eternal message of salvation through repentance through Christ. We also looked at Him as our matchless High Priest, infinitely higher than those under the Mosaic covenant. Infinitely higher because He is Almighty God in flesh, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, inextricably One with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

 

Last week we saw HOW our Supreme High Priest intercedes for us to the Father – lovingly, individually, knowledgeably, effectively, and specifically. You may remember the acronym I formed from these adverbs – L I K E S.

 

Today I want to turn our attention to WHAT the Lord Jesus prays for us. To do that we will look at what is commonly called the Lord’s High Priestly prayer in John 17 because it best illustrates what it is that He prays for us. We cannot take the time now to read the entire prayer. You can do that yourself at your leisure. But here are some of the salient points in selected verses from John 17:1-24:

 

“Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ² even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent . . . .9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me . . . 11 Holy Father, keep them . . . that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled . . . 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one . . 17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth . . . 20 I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. . . . 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given  Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

 

Of first importance, we see in this prayer that the Lord is interceding ONLY for those who know the Father, AND Jesus whom the Father has sent. So,  at the outset of this message, we must ask a critically important question: “Is it possible to know God and yet reject Jesus as His only begotten Son? 

 

The short answer – and what should be the obvious answer to those who believe the Bible is God’s infallible word – is “No.” It is not possible to know the Father apart from the Son. To disagree with that answer is to believe our opinion overrides God’s truth.

 

New Testament scholar John Piper put it this way: “Jesus looked right into the eyes of the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders, and said, “If God were your Father, you would love me.” He’s saying to the most religious, the most God-oriented, Old Testament–saturated people on the planet, “You don’t know him. He’s not your Father.” In fact, He goes so far as to say, “You are of your father the devil” (see John 8:44).

 

And I will take this moment to remind us that the text in John 17:3 - “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” – that text is only one of a multitude of texts wherein Jesus made it clear that to know the Father means a person must also know and worship the Son.

 

For example, Jesus said in Matthew 11:27b - “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

 

I’ll say it this way: The litmus test for knowing the Father is to worship Jesus as God-in-the-flesh, born of the Virgin, lived a sinless life, died as an atonement for our sins, resurrected the third day, ascended back to the Father, and is coming again for His own. Anyone who says they worship God but not Jesus is self-deceived. The Scriptures give us no wiggle room for another opinion.

 

All this then begs the crucial question that, as your pastor, I am obligated to God to ask – even though I believe I know your answer: “Do you know Jesus?”

 

The question is not, “Do you know ABOUT Jesus.” The question is, “Do you know Jesus – Jesus as God Almighty in the flesh of a man, as the supreme Lord of your life? Do you strive to live in obedience to His commandments? Do you genuinely repent when you break any of His commandments? Do you seek to routinely communicate with Him in prayer and by reading and studying His Word?”

 

These questions are not incidental to our lives. They are monumentally consequential. Our answers determine how we live our lives; And how we live our lives determines our eternal destiny. Our answers are unmistakable signposts that demonstrate whether our ‘knowing’ God is merely intellectual, or if it is rooted in our hearts in such a way as to result in changes of lifestyle and life-trajectory.

 

Please hear this. This is really, really important: If your lifestyle today is not much different than it was before you committed yourself to Christ, then, as the apostle cautioned those in the Corinthian church: (2 Corinthians 13:5) “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!”

 

I’ll reiterate that point: If your lifestyle is not much different today than it was before you committed yourself to Christ – you might not truly be saved.

 

But, if your answer to those questions about Jesus is fully aligned with Scripture, then you can be fully assured about this rest of Jesus’ prayer.

Listen to what our High Priest said in verses 9 and 20 - “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me . . . “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.

 

Everyone on this planet needs to understand this point. Jesus’ High Priestly prayer applies only to those who are truly His sheep. “I am the good shepherd,” He said in the tenth chapter of John’s gospel, “I know My own and My own know Me.” (John 10:14)  And He prayed not only for His Apostles of the first century, He also prays for those today who believe in Him because they trust the words of those same Apostles as recorded in Scripture.

 

Next – In His prayer, the Lord asks the Father to keep them – and by context, to keep us as well. But keep us from what? Certainly NOT from persecution. The Lord repeatedly warned His Apostles of the impending and deadly persecution. You’re familiar with the New Testament. You know how often He told that to the Twelve – and, by context, to ALL faithful followers of Christ through the centuries.

 

St Peter – later crucified upside down for his faith in Christ – Peter instructed his readers: (1 Peter 4:12-14) “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

 

So, the Lord’s prayer to the Father could not have been to keep us from persecution. More likely, His prayer was that we’d be kept from succumbing to temptation and even from falling into apostasy.

 

But here is the rub. We know we all stumble into sin and many of us personally know of people who’ve turned completely away from Christ. So, how do we explain on the one hand the superabundantly effective prayers of God the Son, and on the other hand, how we all nonetheless fall into sin – and some even into apostasy? 

 

Yes, God is sovereign over all creation. He opens and no one can shut, He shuts and no one can open. But He has placed on Himself one critically important limitation: He will never override our freedom of choice. He will protect us from sin and even from apostasy – if we want to be protected.

 

The truth of 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 ought to put to rest the question of His mighty protection from succumbing to temptation: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

 

And as Paul warned the Corinthians in verse 12 of this text – “Let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” – we ought NEVER be so sure of ourselves to think we could never fall. We only need to recall the story of Peter, so sure that he would never deny His Lord. And we know how that turned out.

 

So, yes, God DOES protect and keep those who want to be protected and kept from sin. And how does He do that?

 

Surely, the most common method is through the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised (John 14:26) “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

 

It is in remembering the Scriptures we’ve read or heard preached, the Holy Spirit encourages or chastens or directs our steps along the journey. Every mature Christian will readily attest to that truth.

 

That is why the significance of knowing God’s word can never be overstated. Listen to what He said to Joshua: (Joshua 1:8) “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”

 

Listen now to the apostle Paul’s instruction to Timothy: (2 Timothy 3:14-17) “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

 

Let’s return now to the Lord’s High Priestly prayer. (Verse 20) “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

 

Two thousand years ago, Jesus asked of the Father that everyone who faithfully follows Him would be one as He and the Father (and the Holy Spirit) are one. Why? So that the world may believe that He was sent to us by the Father.

 

Some of you may have heard the phrase as it relates to unity among Christians: “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” But that phrase begs the question – what is essential and what is non-essential in true Christian faith?

 

I could teach a six-month Bible study on the subject, but we don’t have that kind of time this afternoon. So, to keep it simple: The essentials of Christian faith, meaning the doctrines one MUST accept and hold to, are encapsulated in the fourth century formulation of faith known as the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is similar to the shorter Apostle’s Creed, which dates to the second century.

 

In brief, and for the sake of time, here is the shorter Apostle’s Creed: (By the way, and for clarification, the word, ‘catholic’ in both the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed mean ‘Universal” and not Roman Catholic).

 

"I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen." 

 

Since the second century, the essential doctrines of true Christian faith have been expressed in both the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds. Therefore, a person who denies the full deity and simultaneous full humanity of Christ, is NOT a true Christian. To deny the virgin birth of Jesus, His atoning death on the cross, His resurrection, ascension and impending return as judge of all the earth is to place oneself outside of the saving faith of Christianity.

 

That means, for example, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, and unbelieving Jews who deny the essentials of Christian faith are not saved – as the New Testament defines the word. They may be wonderful people, kind, philanthropic, and so forth – but if we are to believe the Bible, they are lost in eternal sin unless they repent and bring themselves into true saving faith.

 

As for the non-essentials of faith – those are beliefs which do NOT affect one’s salvation. Non-essentials would include, for example, beliefs about end-time prophecy, or the exercise of spiritual gifts such as ‘speaking in tongues’, or the various Do’s and Don’ts such as drinking alcohol, playing cards, dancing, smoking, and so forth.

 

Holding such beliefs are NOT essential to salvation. That’s one reason Christians of all churches should be ‘charitable’ with each other when there is a difference of opinion about non-essentials – kind of like, ‘agree to disagree’ without breaking fellowship with each other.

 

You here demonstrate that kind of charity. We have in this sanctuary today, Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and a host of other denominations and non-denominations. Yet, you come together each week for worship, for Bible studies, and for prayers. And that’s not unnoticed by those in the dining room. Nor is it unnoticed by our Lord.

 

So, in closing, let’s review what we’ve seen thus far in Christ’ High Priestly prayer: (1) That we would know the true God, and Jesus whom the Father has sent. (2) He prayed that the Father would keep us from the Evil One who never ceases to lead us into sin. And (3) The Lord prayed His followers would be united.

 

Surely, as the Psalmist wrote: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”  (Psalm 133:1)

 

The writer to the Hebrews tells us Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Today we looked at some of what Jesus prayed in that 17^th chapter of John’s gospel. We’ll return next week to examine what else our High Priest prayed for His apostles – and for us.