A Better High Priest | Something Better | Pastor Cal Jernigan

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Transcript

 Good morning. Uh, one more time. I wanna welcome you. So glad that you're here. I also wanna welcome you if you are on any of our campuses, which I know you're there. And, uh, if you're watching online, we know you're there and we appreciate, uh, all of you. And, uh, before I get to the message, I, I just want to remind you of something that, uh, I'm reminding myself to remind you about once a month, that we have a Thursday night service.

And more and more people are coming to it. And, uh, I just want to keep that on your radar. Uh, if you're out on any given weekend and you don't wanna Ms. Church, just come on Thursday night. It's not a, it's not the last weekend service. It's this weekend service, and it's kind of the first of the weekend. So if that works in your schedule, I would love to see you then.

Hey, so let's, uh, open our bibles. We're gonna be in the book of Hebrews. We're continuing in a series. The book of Hebrews is about Jesus from beginning to end. It's explaining how Jesus is better, better than anything, uh, that people have ever had before, uh, better than anything in the old Covenant, in the Old Testament.

And Jesus came to initiate a new covenant, which we call the New Testament, the new, uh, the, the new agreement between how it works between man and God. And so we're studying that and having a good time. So while you're finding the book of Hebrews, and, and by the way, you want to find chapter five, when you find the book of Hebrew, Uh, let me just go through, uh, lemme give you a quiz, okay?

I'm gonna give you a quiz. We up for a quiz? Yes. All right. I'm gonna, I'm gonna name some names and your, your job in this quiz is to figure out what do these names all have in common? All right. Here we go. Casey Anthony, Derek Chauvin, Scott Peterson, Kyle Rittenhouse, Justine Maxwell, Elizabeth Holmes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnny Depp.

OJ Simpson. Yeah, you got it. It's not that hard. Uh, all of these are names of people that have been, uh, on trial, uh, high profile, a big, you know, media blitz around each of these people. Uh, I I, I started a little bit more obscure and I got pretty obvious. And the, the, the, the reality of it is, is that, you know, as long as people have been on this planet, there have been disagreements and dispute.

And uh, what happens is most times when there's a disagreement or a dispute, you just work it out. You just two parties get together and go, look, you know, either one apologizes, one owns it, whatever. When you can't do that, when you refuse to say, I'm responsible, then what has to happen? It gets elevated. It gets elevated up to a judge and sometimes to a judge and a jury, and they're gonna decide.

And what they're after is simply trying to ascertain whether you are innocent or. , whether you're responsible or not, for whatever happened. And that's kind of how it works. It's always been that way. I, if you, uh, read in the old Covenant, Moses served as a judge before the people, there's an entire book in the Bible called Judges.

Solomon was famous for his judgment over that baby. It's, it's, you know, it's, it's just this process of bringing it in front of somebody else and saying, you know what? I need you to settle the score. I need you to. Uh, make a decision or, or innocent or guilty. So I, I'm gonna make a confession to you, and this is a weak confession at best.

I'm gonna confess to you. I have not spent much time in front of judges in my life, which is kind of a good thing. As a pastor, I, I have not been in a whole lot of trouble. Uh, and so I don't have a lot of experience. But I do want to tell you about one time, uh, that I was in front of a judge. . I want to tell you, I want to preface this story by telling you this was 30 plus years ago.

Get off of me. Okay. So, all right. So what happened was, um, I was out, uh, on my boat with my wife on Saguaro Lake. And again, I'm not making any of this is what happened. So it was, uh, like a Friday night. It was in the, uh, evening. It was not dark. We were sitting in the back of a cove, uh, in my boat. Uh, my wife and I, I think we were having.

Uh, uh, I need to explain something to you. Okay. We were not moving, uh, we, the motor was not running. We were just sitting in the back of this cove floating. Okay. And, um, I have lights on my boat. Now, this might be confusing. Uh, uh, on a boat you have to insert the lights. Okay. Well, on the back light, you have to insert it.

It, it, you have to put it in. Okay. And I had done that. The light was. Socket. And so I didn't have 'em on because it wasn't dark enough in my opinion, to have need to need lights and I wasn't moving. I was just sitting there. So what happens is a sheriff's patrol boat comes by and on, on the bullhorn. This person shouts at me, uh, to come out of the cove.

And so I look and look at my wife and put my chicken down or whatever I was doing and start my motor, turn my lights on, and I put out to.  have a conversation with this sheriff person. And, uh, what happens is the sheriff person decides that I need to get a ticket for not having my lights on. And I'm, I'm looking at this person going, you're, you're kidding me, right?

And they go, no. And I said, I obviously have lights. I just didn't think they needed to be on yet. And they said, well, you were wrong. They needed to be on. And I said, couldn't you just cut me some slack? Like this thing called.  and, and, and just say, Hey, you need your lights on. I've got lights. I turned them on.

Nope. Can't do that. Because if we did that for you, this is what this person said to me. If we did that for you, we'd have to do that for everybody. What? Like short little grace, a little kindness. And I, and I'm saying this through this, per, I'm going, if I'm driving down the street and my lights are not on and you flash me and I turned my lights on, I, I just didn't know my lights weren't on.

And they said, no, not at all. No grace. And I said, well, I'm talking to somebody else and no grace for you in the future. Anyway, I digress. . Um, so basically what this person said to me was, you can tell it to the judge. Now, what was happening was this person was training some other deputies. That's what was happening.

The sheriff's vote was full of trainees, I guess. So they needed to be shown how to write a ticket. You can tell it to the, oh, I will tell it to the judge. Trust me. I will tell this to the judge. So, I, um, I get a court date and you, you probably know the routine. I get a court date, I prepare my case. I am ready to argue before the judge why I'm innocent.

I have never felt more innocent in my life and I'm being charged. So I got my case, got my defense, I'm ready to go, and uh, I go down to the courthouse and, uh, I find out which courtroom I'm supposed to go in. It's all new to me. I don't have any experience with. And so I go into this courtroom and I am ready to roll.

You know what I'm saying? You with me? Okay. And so I walk into the courtroom and it was pretty much at that point that everything began to go south for me. I had never been in a courtroom before. I'd only seen them on tv. Those places are a little bit intimidating. I I never experienced that big guy up there in the black robe, in the gavel on the di.

I had never seen like the bailiff, you know, and all of that and, and all of the wood paneling. And I'm like, oh my gosh. So I meekly came in and sat down and then I watched a couple of people be brought before the judge and, and he seemed like he was in a really bad mood. He did not, he seemed very authoritative, but he was like very quick and like taking no nonsense from.

and, uh, I'm, they're taking all this in. Well, then what happens is, and again, that's my experience, uh, then my name is called . I'm told to approach the bench. I approach the bench and the charges are read against me, you know, and, uh, I'm going mm-hmm. , Uhhuh, , Uhhuh, . And uh, and then the, the, the judge says to me, uh, how do you plead quite, say it that way, but how do you plead?

And, and it's like, here, it's show. I, my moment of vindication has arrived. My moment to set the record straight. How do you plead? I said guilty . I did. I can't believe that came outta my mouth. I said Guilty, and it was like over. It's like my moment. I don't know why I said guilty. I said guilty, and he said, The fine and then he put some like $67 or something years ago, and then he said, pay the clerk on your way out, or something like that.

And I crawled out of the courtroom. I had so boldly entered. Why am I telling you that? I'm telling you that? Because I have thought about that so many times over the years. I have really processed this going. What happened to me? What? Like, like why? You know, why, why did I do? So here, here's what I wanna, in fact, have you ever heard the expression, uh, and I, I know you have a, a man who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client.

They came up with that saying after watching me in front of that judge, just so you know. But here's what I've thought about, and I'm gonna put this so you can just, if you totally choked before the judge, when you were sure you were innocent, how would you fare when you. You were guilty.

I mean, I've never felt more innocent of a charge and yet I choked totally. How would I do if I knew in my heart I was guilty and felt like I should be fine? Y you know, it's interesting and, and let me just drop some bad news on us for a few moments, okay? Just bear with me through some bad news. Romans 3 23 says this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Let, let me translate that. If you're confused, you're guilty. I'm guilty. We're all guilty. We've all been a disappointment to what we could have been and should have been. All right, lemme take it even further, a little more harsh. Romans three 10 says, as it is written, there is no unrighteous, not even one.

There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good. Not even one, not me, not you. You go, I'm good. Okay. Compared to what God designed us to be, none of us are good. That's what we gotta get. And, and here's the really, really sobering news.

All right, ready? You ready? Hebrews 9 27. The book we're in chapter nine says this, just as people are destined to die once.  and after that to face judgment. Let me translate. There's a day coming when we're all gonna stand before a judge who is far more intimidating than that judge. I stood before. We're gonna be in a courtroom that's far more overwhelming to our senses than what I experienced.

There is going to be a sentence read of charges made and. Uh, far worse than, Hey, you didn't turn your lights on and it was twilight, and you should have, how are we gonna do, how you gonna do now? I you didn't come to church to be bummed. I get that. But we are so far removed from that reality in our culture.

We think there is no accounting, there is no day coming. And I, I just want to point out, scripture is very, very clear. There is a day coming and. You might need somebody with you in that moment who's gonna speak on your behalf because you might just choke and your defense might be really lame as to why you did what you did Now.

Sounds horrible. Now, I, I need you to understand God is kind and God is merciful. You might not know that about him, but he's kind and he is merciful. See, all the way, even in the old covenant, he provided somebody to stand with. All right, and let me just walk you through a little bit of history just so that we can be there.

All right. Now again, let me, let me make sure we're tracking all right. Because this is really, really important. The truth is most of us want to hide our guilt. Most of us want to declare our innocence. Most of us have secret sins that we would be humiliated if anyone knew, if anyone really saw most of us.

I'd like the rest of us. We know we're messed up, we know we failed. You can put whatever, you know, lipstick on whatever, you know, the pig you want. Make it look, dress it up however you want. But the truth is, is that we know that we're guilty. Um, we sometimes, and I've, I've seen this happen. In fact, I've, over my lifetime in ministry, I've seen us, I've seen the psyche of Americans change and I'm talking about people in church.

We really do believe God's gonna give us a. God's just gonna give us a pass and just go, Hey, you know what? Okay, yeah, you screwed up. And it's all right. We have so convinced ourselves that there is no accounting for what we've done. I think it's a very dangerous posture if there was a film made of all your screw ups of all.

I mean, if there was a way it was recorded. All right, now just stay with me on this and. , everything that you've done was actually on a reel. And you go, what are you talking about? All the attitudes that you've carried that you know were sinful. The temptations that you've given into chosen to disobey God, the gossip you've participated in, knowing it was gonna harm somebody, the lies you've told, the people you've cheat.

You know what I think most of us would seek to do? If I told you we have it on film, we'd go, I didn't do it. I'm not guilty. It's kind of like this, uh, commercial perhaps you've seen it's a progressive commercial. It kind of captures the essence. What if life was lived like it was on a football field?

Watch this. Nice work. Never heard you scream like that before. What? That it's not a big deal. I'm scared of spiders too. I know it's not a big. Because I didn't scream. Oh, I see. You didn't scream. No. So that's why it's not a big deal. Should we play it back? Do it. This what really happened. Replay is brought to you by progressive.

One thing, no one would challenge protecting your home and auto with Progressive. I'm sorry, you had to relive that

What if it was record? So here's the big question. Will you admit your sinfulness or are you gonna plead not guilty? Will you admit your sinfulness? Or are you going to plead not guilty? See, most of us will plead not guilty and just go, oh, I didn't do that. Um, Hebrews chapter four, you're in chapter five.

Chapter four, verses 12 and 13 says, For the word of God is alive and act of sharper than any double edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and morrow. It judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered in leg bear before the eyes of him.

To whom we must give account. What does this mean for you and for me? What does it mean? Uh, well, what it means is you can. Me and I can fool you, but you cannot fool God. You cannot plead the fifth. You cannot plead innocent when you, he knows you, you're guilty. All right? That means we're all in trouble. Now, let's go back to that.

Is God out to condemn you or is God trying to save you? And here's the answer. He's trying to save you. He's for. Against your sins, not against you for your sins, he's for you against your sins. He's on your side. He's literally trying to help us. All right, so this, this you said a minute ago, pastor, about, he provided some help, somebody to say in the old covenant, he provided these people called priests.

Now, I don't know again how often you run around, throw the name priest out, but let me just walk you through a little bit of history here. Okay. The, the, the word priest literally means to draw near to God. The idea was a priest would be somebody who, who would be close to God, who could help you, could teach, you could advise.

You could literally, um, uh, you know, again, a rescue aid advocate for you. All of that kind of stuff. , they, uh, they were commissioned to teach. I just gotta show you this, this is the word to them. In Leviticus 10, you must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean. You must teach the Israelites.

All the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses. Priests were intermediaries between God and. So God would say it. Priests would help people to understand it, and, and they would, but then they would also come this direction on behalf of people. They would plead the case, uh, uh, you know, to to God on, on, on the person's behalf.

The very first one of these in the Bible, by the way, was a guy named Aaron. And, uh, even though I say that, I'm gonna correct that in just a moment, he, it wasn't actually the first, but he was the one who began something because he, when Aaron, Aaron was the right hand of Moses, you might recall. And when that thing got started, uh, God basically established something through Aaron and his family.

So if you've ever heard of the tribe of Levi, those are the priests. Those are, so Aaron was the first priest in the, what was called the ironic line for Aaron. Ironic. Um, and numbers three 10, it says this appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. Anyone else who approaches the sanctuaries should be put to.

See there's a huge distance between the person and God and the priest was the with the go-between. Okay? So I'm gonna teach you what God said, and I'm gonna represent you before God. That was the role of a priest. Now jump into your Bible, Hebrews chapter five verses one, uh, and let's just kind of work our way through this.

All right, Hebrew five one says this, every high priest, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I gotta back up. I gotta back up. I gotta explain something. Okay, so these are the. Uh, the priest would then designate, uh, through the leading of God, one of them would be considered the senior priest. The high priest, the lead priest.

Okay. He was, he was in charge. He was the one designated to speak to God on behalf of all the priests. On behalf of all the people. Okay. The high priest, that's the phrase high. You gotta know that. All right. Every high priest, this is Hebrews five. Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God.

To offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going Astra, since he himself is subject to weakness, this is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as for the sins of the. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

Now, here's what you gotta understand. The priest was a sinner, just like the people he represented. So the priest would first have to sacrifice for himself before he could sacrificed for anybody else. He had to teach himself the law of Moses before he could teach anyone else the law of Moses. That's what you've gotta understand.

And, and by the way, just a little sight.  one day a year, uh, on what was called the Day of Atonement, which still exists, but the day of atonement, the, the high priest would be designated to go into the presence of God. Now, this is so important to understand. It started with the tabernacle, the tent that was moved around, and then it transferred to the temple that was actually built in Jeru.

and, and so the temple in Jerusalem, a building had a courtyard and it had a holy place, and then it had a place behind the holy place called the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was separated from the holy place by a big, old thick curtain. And, and the idea was, is that God is in that room. You don't go in there, the high priest.

However, because of his role, he would once a year go into that. And he would go have a conversation with God. And there were, the arc of the covenant was in there. Various other things were in that room, but that's where God was. So the priest, once a year, this is fascinating, would take a bowl and, uh, uh, several goats, but one goat that I'm gonna talk about, he'd take a bowl and a goat, several goats.

But he would go in there and he would, uh, fir first he'd take a, he'd be bathed. All of this is like in, in the Bible, and, and be, you know, really clean white garments. All of these, you know, kind of acc recruitments that would go with a priest, and then he would boldly go in there. Now, when I say boldly, uh, the story goes that they would put bells on the bottom of his garment and they would tie a rope to his foot.

You know why? Because he's going into where it's very dangerous, and if he screws this up, God might strike him dead. And so this is what they believed, so they. Put the bells on so they could hear him behind the curtain. If he's hearing bells, he's moving. It's good. You don't hear any bells. He's not coming out.

We're not going in. How are we gonna get him out?

Bizarre. So he would go in with these animals, he would sacrifice the bull. This is what you need to understand. He would sacrifice the bull first for his own sin and the sins of his family, and then he would sacrifice a goat, one of the two goat. He would sacrifice that goat on behalf. He placed the sins of the people on that goat and he would sacrifice that goat.

All right, now you have that backdrop. I wish there's so much more to this I just can't get into right now, but it's so rich. I need you to understand something. You might have never realized this, but this is the point you gotta walk outta here. Understanding today we have a high priest To this very day, we have a high priest.

And our high priest is better than any high priest ever in the past. We have a high priest because we have somebody who was qualified to be our high priest. And if you don't know who I'm talking about, I'm talking about Jesus. Jesus is our high priest. Let me show you in, in the book of Hebrews with the book we're in.

If you go back to chapter two, and I'll just put this on the screen so we can move quickly here. Hebrews two 14 and 15 says, since the children, you and me have flesh and blood, he too, Jesus shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held slavery by their fear of death.

That's you and. We're, we're, we're slaves, remember this, and he's literally come to set us free and his death will do that if you keep reading Hebrews two 17 and 18 Now listen carefully. This is powerful for the reason he had to be made like them fully human in every way in order that he might become merciful, merciful, and faithful.

High priest in service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people because he himself suffered when he was tempted. He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. He doesn't have to sacrifice for his own sins, but he sacrifices for the sins of the people. He's the high priest, and I want to just spend the next few moments and then I'll be done.

What? What makes Jesus so? Because you might not know this, you might not understand this. You might not. This might be something like you've never considered, so just allow me to walk you quickly through some passages, primarily from the book of Hebrews. What makes Jesus so awesome? What? What? Why are we like, why?

Why is he so much better? Well, number one, he was chosen by God, not by man. Men didn't get together and pick him. God, the father picked him. All right. This is number. Look at Hebrews five, five, and six right where you are. In the same way Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest.

But God said to him, you are my son. Today. I have become your father. And he says, in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of melek. Okay, now this will trip you, not in the order of Aaron and the levies in the order of melek a different priesthood. Now the priesthood of Melek. All the way back before Moses to Abraham, Melek is the one that Abraham first tithed to it.

He was, he was a priest and a king. He was the king of Salem, which became Jerusalem. He was the priest and the king, and, and Abraham honored him by giving to him as priests and. Jesus is not from the lineage of Levi. He's from the lineage of Judah, but he's not of the ironic priesthood. He's of the  priesthood in the order of ek.

I'll get more about that later. Uh, we don't have time to dwell on that. Lemme go to the next one. What makes Jesus so incredible too? He alone overcame death. Look at Hebrews chapter seven. I'm gonna ask you to flip over. Just go over a couple of chapter. Hebrews chapter seven, verses 23 down to 25. Now, there have been many of those priests since death prevented them.

Many of these priests since death continued, uh, prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood and therefore he is able to save completely those who come, uh, to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. These priests live and die Jesus lives.

He never died. Okay. He, he, he's, he's here, he's now, all right, your, your priest is alive to intercede on your behalf. Third thing about, and by the way, well, lemme show you this, okay. Third, he was absolutely holy and sinless. Our high priest was wholly and sinless. Look at verses, uh, 26 to 28 of Hebrew seven, just working our way through the Bible.

Such a high priest like Jesus truly meets our needs, one who is wholly blameless, pure set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people he sacrificed for their sins once for all.

When he offered himself for the law, appoint us high priests, men and their weaknesses, all their. But the oath, which came after the law appointed the son who has been made perfect forever. No more sacrifice for sin needs to be made because Jesus became the sacrifice for the sins of us Jesus'. One sacrifice was for all people, for all time, for you, for you if you would, but claim it.

Fourth incredible thing about Jesus. He truly understands our weaknesses. I'm gonna go back to Hebrews chapter four now, and if you, if you knowing what he's doing, he's just talking about the same thing over and over. He's just showing it from different angles. All right, in Hebrews chapter four, verses 14 to 16 says this how to you and me, therefore, since.

We have a, a great high priest who has ascended into heaven. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess for. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are. Yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne, the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help.

In our time of need. You're never gonna go into the grace of God and, and, and the throne of God pleading for the grace of God. And Jesus goes, I don't get it. I just don't. How could you? How could you? I can't believe you. I just can't believe it. Fifth, he suffered for our salvation. This wasn't a gimme. This wasn't a simple transaction.

Hebrews five. No, back in the five, seven to 10, just where we dropped off. During the days of Jesus's life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent Christ and tears to the one who could save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence, submission. Some though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, and was designated by God to be the high priest in the order of milk.

Ode. You going back into the garden and I wish I had time to just take you there. Go back into the garden. Uh, the agon, the agonizing God, is there any other way? Can this cut pass? And Jesus stood his ground and facing the temptation to get out of there, and he died for us. And then this last one is I think the most important one of.

He is now our soul mediator and advocate. You know the significance of, you gotta see this. You just gotta understand this. Don't miss this. When Jesus died on the cross, paying for our sins, that curtain in the temple, in the physical temple that separated the holy from the holy of Holies, it says it was, it was torn into, from top to bottom, very.

From top to bottom as though God reached down and said, no more separation, and pulls the curtain apart, which means the Holy of Holies is literally accessible to you. Now, to me, there's no separation. How can I come into the Holy of Holies? I'd be scared to death. Are you kidding? The judges in there? No, no, no.

You have Jesus who has his arm around you as he walks you into the Holy, holy. Once you meet my son, I, I, I, um, I want you meet my dad, son. Who's this? This is Cal. And uh, you know what God sees when he sees me? He doesn't see, I didn't turn my lights on. He sees the innocence of his son who has his arm around me and he has his arm around you.

First Timothy two, five. Don't miss his, for there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus. What does that mean? The only one separating me from God is Jesus, meaning I, I don't have to go tell a priest anything of my sin. I tell Jesus, you don't have to tell me what you've done. I don't represent you before God.

Jesus represents you before God. And I love how this is said in, in First John. First John two. One says, my dear children, I write this to you so that you will not. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world.

One death one time covers all sin. Oh, wow. When do I love Jesus? I just told you. Here's the big idea. Jesus paid our admission into God's presence. I can see God now. I can come into his pre. I always come in with a son. I don't. I never access him without Jesus. He's the doorway that I can enter into the holy of holy.

Somebody close by just telling you this, you might know the name Stan Lee. Alright. Since beginning in like 1939, uh, Stan Lee created, or he co-created some of the world's most popular now popular superheroes. All right? Now you might not, I don't know how much you know about this, but he had a superhuman imagination.

Stan Lee did. He gave birth to Black Panther, spider-Man, the X-Men, Thor Ironman, fantastic. Four. Incredible. Hook Del Daredevil. Antman, that's just the name. A few. Um, There, there's no shortage of storytellers in the world, but this franchise called the Avengers, uh, Marvel, uh, 41 and a half billion dollar industry.

This is huge. All right, so what was it in Stanley's thinking that made him such an incredible communic? . He, he and, and people go. He was able, he's able to tap into our instincts. Now, let me read to you something that Stanley, back in the eight, like 83, he was interviewed by Entertainment Tonight. He said this, all right?

The whole formula was to say, let's assume that somebody really could walk on walls like Spider-Man or Turn Green and become a monster like the Hulk. That that's a given. We'll just accept that. Just pretend that that were true, right? But accepting that. Then he said this, what would that person be like in real life if he really existed?

Wouldn't he still have to worry about making a living or having acne and dandruff and his girlfriend jilting him? Well, what are the real problems he he would have? I think that's what made the character's popular. These are real people that we could relate to. Somebody said this, I dunno who to credit this to, it's not from me, but about that comment.

We all. No, we need a superhero to rescue us from our enemies and from calamities, but we simultaneously want this hero to be someone with whom we can identify. There are two instincts woven into our fallen nature, the knowledge that we need someone to save us, and the deep desire for another to understand our struggles.

If you know anything about the Avengers, you know that. Um, Stanley wrote himself into every story. I dunno if you're aware of this, but if you watch the movies, Stanley makes a cameo in every movie until he passed. And now there's just pictures of him in the movies. But he wrote himself into the storyline of the movie, of the book of the comic.

But Joan Wilson's the first one who got that idea. You know what's so incredible about Jesus? He wrote him in to, he wrote himself into the story. . You know what? We desperately need someone who gets us. You know what? We desperately need somebody who cares for us. You know what? We desperately need someone who will stand up for us and rescue us from the consequences of our own actions.

You know what you have in Jesus? Have a hero. Why do I dig Jesus? All the reasons we've just talked about. He paid our a. Into the presence of the Father, which means right now when I say, let's pray in the name of Jesus, I will ask God for some things. Let's pray. So Father, thank you for your word. Thanks for this incredible understanding, and we don't think about priests and priesthood and what it means and why it matters, but God, right now, we do.

We get it. We're so grateful that you gave us an advocate. We don't stand in the courtroom alone. We don't have to come up with our own. We simply walk in there. You represent us, Jesus, you represent us, and you declare on our behalf we're innocent, and you are literally, when God looks at us, he sees you.

And that is the most powerful reality. We can approach the throne with confidence. Now with confidence, because we know how much Jesus you mean to your. And that's transferred to us because we matter now because you matter so much. Thank you for this. We praise you for this. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you gang.