I invite you to turn with me tonight to Hebrews 7 as we read together verses 11-28, considering in particular verse 25 tonight. The writer of Hebrews has earlier introduced Melchizedek, and then in chapter 7, at the priest king Melchizedek in the Old Testament and his encounter with Abraham. And then beginning in verse 11, he begins to talk about Jesus like Melchizedek. Hear now the Word of God. If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood, for on the basis of it the law was given to the people, why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron. For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law. He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests. And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry, but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. For it is declared, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect, and the better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. Others became priests without an oath, but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, you are a priest forever. Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office, but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need. One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the 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 appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the oath which came after the law appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. Therefore, meaning because Jesus lives forever and has a permanent priesthood, therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him because He always lives to intercede for them. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, many people we know work behind the scenes. There are those who work behind the scenes in almost any business, almost any institution, even here in the church, there are those who do a lot of work behind the scenes. When you hear that phrase, behind the scenes, you probably might think more quickly about a play or a musical or even a movie. There are those who work behind the scenes, changing the sets or running the lights or taking care of the sound. There are those who are not visible as they do their work, yet apart from their work, those who are on stage, those who are before the cameras would not be successful. Those who work behind the scenes may not receive credit other than having their name listed in the program or in those quickly rolling credits at the end of a show. Yet their work is indispensable. When I was in sales, I was the face of the company to my customers. Yet I would have failed if those who were faceless, if those who were behind the scenes had not done their jobs well. Jesus ascended into heaven. Hidden by the clouds. Behind the scenes from our perspective. now his resurrection and all that led up to it including his suffering his death, his burial, his resurrection and all that led up to it is treated we know at length in scripture there is much to be read there but as I said a little bit earlier his ascension there is not much said about it as far as the gospel writers Matthew and John are silent Mark and Luke in their gospels give one sentence each we know of course as we read that Luke expands upon it in Acts 1. In reality, the book of Hebrews says quite a bit about it. But some might take from the silence that we are to treat this as if His work on earth before the eyes of men is much more important than His work in heaven behind the scenes. Yet even though He is behind the scenes from our perspective, the writer of Hebrews makes it clear that from God, the Father's perspective, the ascended Lord Jesus Christ is center stage as He is busy and active for us. You see, beloved, when it comes to us, when it comes to you and me as believers, the ascended Jesus is the Father's focus because of what He has done and because of what He continues to do for us. His work on earth would be meaningless apart from His work in heaven. And His work in heaven would have no effect without His work on earth. Lord's Day 18, as we confessed a few moments ago, was about the ascension of Jesus Christ. And answer 46 says that He ascended for our good. As another translation says, for our interest. And answer 49, as we confess, lists three benefits that we enjoy because of Christ's resurrection, including the fact that we now have our own flesh in heaven. He restored humanity in God's presence. And that is a guarantee too that we one day with our glorified and resurrected bodies will be with Him in heaven. Another benefit we confess is that He sends His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts even today is a guarantee. A down payment. that Jesus is coming back to get us. But there's also one more benefit, the first one that was listed, and that is that Jesus Christ pleads our cause. Even now, even at this very moment, He pleads our cause for you, for me, for each and every one of us in the presence of His Father. He is our advocate. He is our defense attorney. And therefore, with the ascension, we have Christ our Advocate in His Father's presence, first of all, as a permanent priesthood, as a permanent high priest. He is in His Father's presence as a permanent high priest. Now, you may remember that we might say the burden of the book of Hebrews before this text, after this text, really throughout the entire book, the burden of Hebrews is the priesthood. And the Old Testament sacrificial system, complete with a shedding of blood as payment for sin. And the burden of the writer of Hebrews seems to be to point out the inadequacy of the Old Testament sacrifices as well as of the Old Testament priests. Therefore, showing that Jesus Christ, as he says in chapter 4, verse 14, is the great high priest. He is the one to which the entire Old Testament priesthood and to which the entire Old Testament sacrificial system pointed. He is the one that those Old Testament institutions ended with. As we think about the Old Testament priesthood, the priest and especially the high priest, Hebrews we know represented man before God. The priest was the link between the sinner and a holy God. the sinner, because he was unholy, was not able to come into the presence of a holy God. The priest offered the sacrifices for sin to God on behalf of the people. And especially on that great day of atonement, the high priest took the blood of the sacrifice into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies to atone for the sin of the people to satisfy the wrath of God against sin and that the guilt of sin might be removed from God's people. We know that the priest was a mediator. A mediator is a go-between. One who goes between two parties. One who works to bring two sides together again. The priest was a mediator between the people and God. And the priest was an intercessor. He interceded on behalf of the people. He prayed on behalf of the people and brought from God, He brought to the people the assurance of pardon. But as the writer of Hebrews makes clear, the Old Testament priesthood was limited. The Old Testament priests were sinful too. They needed to first offer a sacrifice for their own sin. They first needed to be cleansed before they could offer sacrifices on behalf of the people. And we know that they were inadequate because they always died. They died one after another. They always needed to be replaced. There was always a need for another. And when it came to the sacrifices of the animals, as Hebrews reminds us, these sacrifices, the blood of the animals was temporary. It temporarily covered the sins of the people in God's sight. That blood could not truly pay for sin. That blood did not remove sin forever. but that blood of the animals we know pointed forward to the ultimate, to the perfect, to the final sacrifice. It's the burden of the writer of Hebrews not only to point out the inadequacy of the Old Testament priesthood and sacrifices, but then to point forward, to point to the supremacy of the priesthood of Christ. And he tells us that priesthood of Christ is permanent. It's permanent because Jesus Christ lives forever. He is victorious over Satan, sin, and death and hell. And that priesthood of Christ is perfect. Because He is perfect. He did not, and He does not need to offer a sacrifice for Himself first. He does not need to offer a sacrifice again and again and again. And His priesthood is powerful. Because not only is He the great High Priest who offered the sacrifice on behalf of His people, but He is the sacrifice Himself. He is the perfect and the complete and the final sacrifice. And His blood is perfect. It is powerful. It is precious. It paid for sin. And it satisfied God's wrath against you and me. And Christ, as High Priest, beloved, is present with that sacrifice of Himself in the very presence of God. where He has entered for us on our behalf in the heavenly holy of holies. He has opened the way to the Father for you and me. He has entered there for us. And His sacrifice of Himself, His perfect, complete, and finished work never ever loses its power, but it is always effective for His sheep. And that is why we can rejoice and that is why we can depend on His work and His Father's presence in the second place as an ongoing intercessor. An intercessor is one who prays on behalf of another. The text says He always lives to intercede for them. Who? Those who come to God through Him. Beloved, those who are born again, those who are given the gift of true faith are to be comforted Because Jesus Christ is always working behind the scenes, as it were, for them, for you, for me. You don't see it. I don't see it. You don't think about it much, I suspect. I don't think about it much. He is always working on your behalf and on mine. And as an ongoing intercessor, His presence with the sacrifice of Himself, His presence before His Father, His presence itself is an ongoing prayer. A never-ending prayer. You see, Christ's ascension was the Father's welcome home of His Son. And His ascension guarantees that God the Father is satisfied with His Son's work and therefore He is satisfied with those for whom that work was done. He is satisfied with you and with me. And Christ's presence before His Father is a guarantee of our salvation. We are saved completely. Our salvation is sure. It is forever. We will never lose it. His presence, beloved, is an ongoing reminder to God the Father that all that He asked of His Son for you and me in giving His life a ransom for sin, it has all been finished. We are saved right now. For those who believe, we are saved this very moment forever. But that's not all. Even as we wait, even as we wait for the day that our God takes us home, whether by death or Christ coming on the clouds of heaven, even today there is something for you and me. While the Savior is busy preparing a place for us, He is also busy preparing us for that place even as He intercedes for us for our good throughout this life. His intercessory work, His prayer on our behalf, beloved, is intimately connected with His perfect sacrifice of Himself. In Old Testament Israel, the daily burning of the incense represented prayers and intercession. But that intercession, those prayers would not be heard, they would not be effective without the sacrifice. The sacrifice to reconcile the people with God. Apart from reconciliation, prayers are not heard. Christ's intercession on our behalf is accepted by the Father only because of His perfect sacrifice which has brought us peace with God. And therefore, beloved, ours is the comfort that His prayer on our behalf protects us day by day from the ongoing accusation of Satan. You see, we still struggle, don't we? I do. We struggle with sin. We stumble into sin again and again. We are unfaithful over and over. We offend God daily. Something that we're not proud of, but we do. And because of that, in a sense, Satan never ceases to accuse us in essence to say, they don't deserve to be saved. Look how sinful they are. They really belong to Me. But listen to what Paul says in Romans 8, verses 33 and 34. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Paul reminds us that we are justified in the sight of God because of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Himself is in the Father's presence as proof that that justification is real. Satan has no accusation against us because of Jesus. It's as if Jesus steps in and says, Father, do not be hangry with him or her again, for Your anger was already directed at. It was already poured out upon Me. And by that, their sins are forgiven. Christ intercedes daily for you and me that we might have pardon for our daily sins. But His prayer on our behalf is also a prayer that my faith will not fail when the danger of it is there. And that danger is also there daily. Even as He prayed for Peter, Simon, I have prayed for you that Satan will not sift you as wheat. And because of Christ's intercession on your behalf and mine, and we enjoy the promise of 2 Corinthians 10, verse 13, where Paul says, No temptation has seized you except what is common to man, and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it because of Christ's intercession. We are not tempted beyond what we can bear. We are not bowled over by it. We are able to stand up under it because His intercession is that we might be sustained in life in the midst of the trials of life which He knew well. Chapter 4, verses 15 and 16, 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 was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Our Lord Jesus Christ knows the temptations and the struggles that you and I face, each and every one. And because of that, He prays for us. He intercedes for us that we might find grace to help us in our time of need. His prayer on our behalf is also that our prayers and our good works that are stained with sin would be acceptable to God. His prayer is for our protection in times of danger, danger that we are not even conscious of. Prayers throughout our life for our health and safety and all that we stand in need of. His prayer is for our needs, spiritual and physical, that we often fail to think about and ourselves bring before God in prayer. Fail to bring before God in prayer. His prayer for us is for those times when we are so anxious and distraught that we don't know what to pray for. Very simply, beloved, Christ's intercessory work is ongoing. It is for the whole of our lives. For every detail of our lives. That the Holy Spirit will continue to sanctify you and me. That God would complete His work in us by His Holy Spirit. His work is for the whole of our lives as Jesus' prayer continually is that those who are given to Him by the Father would be with Him where He is as He prays in John 17. Isn't that amazing? Jesus longs. He desires for His own to be with Him. For you, for me, to be with Him. Do we long for Him? You see, praise God that even when we don't or don't as we should, he still longs, he desires that we be with him. Dear people of God, our comfort of his ongoing intercession is that he is not pleading, as it were, with outstretched arms and tears falling from his eyes before a reluctant God, before a tyrant God who needs to be convinced, who needs to be prodded, who needs to be bribed. Jesus is not begging hopelessly. But He is interceding on your behalf and mine as a throned priest-king sitting at the right hand of His Father, confidently asking what He will from a Father who always hears and grants His request because Jesus Christ has merited every single blessing for you and me. And therefore, He is in His Father's presence, finally, as a complete Savior. He is able to save completely, the text says, because He is eternal. And His sacrifice is perfect. It is forever effective. He is able to save completely. That's talking about both in quantity and in quality. He is able to save for all time. Beloved, ours is a salvation that will never end. It will never be taken away. It can never be stolen or lost. It will never lose its effect. it comes with an eternal guarantee. And He also saves completely in the sense of fully. The Holy Spirit's sanctifying work will be completed. That means Jesus Christ will present His bride, including you and I as believers, He will present His bride without spot, without blemish or wrinkle, but instead perfect to His Father one day. Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ has ascended. He has ascended behind the scenes from our perspective. Yet His every thought and action continually, constantly, is for us continually to keep us in the salvation that He has earned for us until His prayer is completely answered and we are where He is forever and ever. And therefore, be comforted, believer. Indeed, we will sin, sadly. And at times we may forget that Jesus has opened the way into God's presence for us and that He is there, even now, for us on our behalf. And when we do, the Holy Spirit lifts our eyes to Him that we might remember where He is, why He is there, what He is doing. And that He presents Himself to God the Father always, that we might always be accepted by the Father in Christ and always find forgiveness. And beloved, His prayer for you and me is that with every breath, every thought, every word, every step, that we be made more and more in His image and be kept safe and secure until He takes us to Himself in glory. His work behind the scenes keeps us in the salvation and the life that He has earned for us. Dear people of God, is there any greater comfort than to live day by day, moment by moment, knowing that our Savior Jesus Christ is watching over and caring for every single detail of our lives? May we be pleased to live for Him who lives even now for us. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we must confess that it is so easy to forget about our ascended Savior. It's so easy to think about our resurrected Lord. the life that we have because He lives. But let us never forget about that life that continues for us because He is ascended and rules and reigns today. We thank You for the precious gift of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised, who would take from what is Christ and make it known to us. We pray that You would open our eyes, our hearts, our minds more and more day by day that we might see the things of Christ. That we might be comforted daily at our Lord's work on our behalf every moment of every day. Oh, Father, what a great blessing. What a great promise. What a wonderful guarantee that we are never alone, but that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ carries us and protects us every step, every moment of our life. To Him be all the praise and the honor and the glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.