Why Jesus

All right. Well, last week — if you were here, or if you haven’t had a chance — I went back and was listening to the message a little bit, even though I don’t like listening to myself. Last week I was talking about how we can’t try Jesus. Jesus isn’t something that we just try on, like a pair of jeans, or a food where we’re like, “Oh, I’m going to be adventurous today.” We can’t try Jesus. Jesus intends to be in relationship with us. We’re actually intended to be in reconciled relationship with God, and that is through Jesus. And so many times, as I mentioned, and maybe you’ve heard this in your own experience, people have said, “Oh, I’ve tried Jesus before.” “Oh, I tried church.” “I tried, and it didn’t work.” Again, I would encourage you, if you have some time, to go back and listen to that message.

Because it’s more than just religion. It requires something of us relationally with Him. And honestly — I didn’t talk about this at all — relationally with one another. That’s actually how we grow in our relationship with Christ. It isn’t just by coming to church. It isn’t just by worshiping or reading our Bibles. We actually grow in Christ as we grow with one another, in community. So we just can’t try Jesus. It is really about learning to trust in His lordship in our life. And sometimes that does require something of us. But salvation, at the end, is a gift that is given to us that we get to participate in.

Only Jesus gave everything

There’s no way anyone can go in depth on a Sunday with any one of these things. So today we’re going to just lightly scratch the surface of why Jesus. And when I say lightly scratch, it is literally not much, because we could go into a very long, in-depth conversation about this.

So I Googled how many religions there are. That was just my Google search: how many religions are there? And it said there are 5 to 12 main religions. And then as I was reading through the Google explanations, it went on to say that there are upwards of thousands of religions, but 5 to 12 main religions. Just think about that. And there are literally billions of people — this isn’t even an exaggeration — billions of Christians, billions of people. I don’t know how many people there are on the earth. I think 7 billion, 8 billion, something. Eight sounds about right. And within that, there are people who believe all sorts of things.

And so I’ve had this question: why Jesus? Why Christianity? When I think about Jesus, Jesus is the only person, the only religion, that has it set up where it’s flipped. Jesus came and died on the cross for us, and He gave so that we could receive and be in relationship with Him. When you look at other religions, what they do is say: you’ve got to be a better person. You’ve got to do these things. You’ve got to sacrifice. You’ve got to do all of this stuff. And then maybe you are worthy. Maybe you’re qualified for whatever extent of heaven or afterlife or whatever it is that they believe. Just maybe. But with Jesus and Christianity, it’s the only place where we see the person whom we worship actually gave everything so that we could worship Him and be in relationship with Him.

I haven’t done a super deep dive into other religions, for various reasons. But I know that when it comes to my faith — and I’m 43; I turned 43; once you get to a certain point, okay, I had a birthday — I’m finding that there’s not much that can convince me otherwise that Jesus isn’t real. There are things that I could never fully articulate. My words and descriptions of a scenario could never fully explain it.

But what I do find, even today, are these little nuances that you could just say, “Oh, that’s just coincidence.” Even as I was finishing up my message today, I went to pull up the worship list that our worship leader had sent us, and one of the songs that I wanted to sing was already a part of her set list. And you guys are going to be like, “Oh, that’s just coincidence.” She had no clue what I was talking about. I had no clue what she was going to be singing. But when I went to go look at the songs, there it was. And it’s just those sweet reminders. There’s nothing concrete to that, right? Someone could say, “Suzie, that’s just coincidence.” But when you begin to see how intricately Jesus goes, and at what great length He goes so that we would know Him, so we would experience Him, so we would see Him, it really then becomes a point where you either need to deny Jesus or accept Jesus.

One day one of my son’s friends was in the car with us, and he was just like, “Suzie, how do we know Jesus is real?” And I’m driving, and — does anyone ever ask you a question and you’re like, I’m not quite thinking there, I should have an answer for you? I don’t fully remember all of what we discussed, but he actually came to this conclusion on his own. I think he was a sophomore or junior. He said, “Suzie, what I realize is Jesus and Christianity is the only religion people will make fun of. The only religion people mock is Jesus and Christianity. And that leads me to think that there’s just got to be something more to this than just another religion.”

A coaches’ meeting

And it got me thinking as I was preparing this message. I don’t know if I would make a good coach. I’ve never had the experience. My kids might say whether or not I’d be a good coach. We know Jay is a good coach. I always say Coach Jay is one of my favorite Jays. I don’t think I’d be the greatest coach. But this is kind of one of those coaches’ meetings right now. If I had a coaches’ meeting, this is what I would do: I would sit us down and say, “Hey, we’ve got to get some things figured out right now, because of where we’re headed and what’s going on. We’ve got to have the right mindset here. We’ve got to have the right perspective here right now.” Because the times that we continue to see happening very quickly will either require us to be so focused that we don’t get distracted, or we’ll be so distracted we can’t get focused. There are so many places that want to grab our attention, to have us create doubt, all of these things.

So this is kind of my coaches’ meeting for us right now, to say, all right, we’ve got to figure this out. We are living in a time where, no matter what you say, you’re something. You say one thing, then you must be this. You do this, you must be doing that. And it is exhausting, to say the least.

And so what I believe is — it says in Scripture that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That’s literally what he’s here to do. If he can distract you, he’s going to distract you. If he can steal from you, he’s going to steal from you. If he can destroy your thoughts, your beliefs, or even you as a person, that is his goal. I had a conversation with someone. They were talking about some things that they were going to experience, and they knew that maybe there were some spiritual implications to going and experiencing these things. And I’m like, why are we even playing with the dark? This is not the time to be playing around with other things.

How about I just say it: there is so much — and we’re going to read it in Scripture — that is calling to deceive us, that if our eyes and ears aren’t focused on why Jesus — why am I a believer, why do I believe what I do — I believe that at the very least we will be taken out and separated. And the enemy always wants to come and separate. When you look at a pack of wolves, how do they hunt? They hunt for the ones that are the most vulnerable, whether it’s because the animal is injured or because it’s a baby. It is no different. And so what I want us to do is just say, okay, we need to have some perspective here. Because if we don’t have any perspective, we can be all distracted, up in arms, and then completely dismantled, or so consumed by one thing that we forget the purpose.

If the world hates you

So, John chapter 15. This is Jesus speaking. At the beginning of John 15, He’s talking about being a part of Him, being engrafted into the true Vine. Then He goes on to talk about love. And after He paints this picture, He goes on, and this is where we’re going to pick up: John 15:18.

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also.”

This is Jesus talking. “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’”

Verse 26: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Sounds encouraging, doesn’t it? Last week: you can’t just try Jesus; take up your cross. This week: hey, if they hated Jesus, they’re going to hate you. Happy Sunday. It’s not really something I would love to be up here giving you. I would love to give you this fluffy, beautiful, encouraging word. But this message is encouraging, I promise.

Here’s what we’re saying. Jesus is letting them know, “I’m telling you these things so that you do not stumble.” His intention is, hey, I’m letting you know what’s to come, so when the time comes you’re not caught off guard. They hated Me; they’re going to hate you. They didn’t know Me; they’re not going to know you. I’m telling you this so that you are not caught off guard.

See, we serve a Savior who not only gave everything for us in the moment of choosing to die — before He’s doing that, He’s making sure that His message to us is very clear. That His message to those who were there was very clear: don’t be caught off guard when people don’t like you because of who you serve. Don’t be caught off guard when they mock you or make fun of you because of what you believe. Know this: the Holy Spirit is coming, who will also testify of Me.

See, Jesus warned His disciples so they wouldn’t be caught off guard. And we know later in Scripture that in the moment when Jesus is going to be crucified, they scatter. They leave Him. They abandon Him, right? Because of the pressure of not being liked, the pressure of potential persecution, the idea that you could lose your job over this, you could lose a scholarship over this — whatever is the most valuable to you — that following Jesus might cost you something. And He’s saying, hey, I’m letting you know beforehand. They rejected Me; they will reject you.

And the good news in this is that we’re actually not even rejected. See, the One who died for us, the Creator of the universe — I always think about God, how He put everything in motion and still knows my name, still knows the intricacies about me. In the beautiful, magnificent sunsets — you know when the sky is that cotton-candy color, that fire color, that just wows you — His thoughts towards me are even greater than that. In all of the beauty of what He created, He created me. He created you.

And so I say all that to say we’ve been given the gift of salvation. Here’s what He’s not saying. Jesus isn’t saying you must suffer to earn My gift of salvation. He’s saying you’re going to suffer because of who you serve, but rest assured, I have overcome the world. See, other religions will put you into a place of suffering to make sure that you have done enough to obtain whatever you’re trying to obtain. And Jesus is saying, no, no, here’s what’s actually going to happen: you’re probably going to suffer for My name’s sake, but just know I have overcome the world. There is a difference between the two kinds of suffering.

The name above every name

So, why Jesus? We just proclaimed it. I don’t know if you guys realized, as you were singing, that all of the songs had kind of a theme. The songs were all about the name of Jesus — all of them. She didn’t know I was going to talk about Jesus. But as I was worshiping, I was thinking, yes, Scripture tells us that Jesus, Your name is above every other name, and here we are proclaiming it this morning together in unity: worthy is Your name, be lifted high. I don’t know if anyone heard, but our worship leader said to sing, and I was the only one who sang. I didn’t read the verse, and I just looked up and thought, thank goodness I’m in the front.

Anyways, right now we’re living in a time where anything we say or do can be taken out of context. We’re living in a time where people can be easily offended. And I believe that the Lord wants us to get our attention and our focus on Him. Why do I believe in Jesus? Why do I serve Jesus? Why does this matter to me? Because it’s going to matter at some point, and you have to decide: God, You can be trusted, or, I don’t trust You enough.

As I said, Jesus says at the end of chapter 16 of John, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Isn’t this amazing? He’s saying, hey, look, there are going to be trials and tribulations that you walk through. There are going to be problems you walk into. But let Me tell you, I have come so that you may have peace. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

See, there is a promise of hope that’s found here: that even though everything is happening around us, our hope is that we would be so locked into Him that we would not be offended by the world around us. Because if someone doesn’t know Jesus, why would we expect them to do anything different? If someone doesn’t know the rules of your house, of how to engage, why would we expect them to do anything but what they already know?

As I mentioned last week, in our house we don’t really take off our shoes. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. It’s not a thing for me. But there are some people who will come in and say, “Hey, is it okay if I go upstairs with my shoes on?” I’m like, “Yeah, no problem.” And there are some people who will automatically come in and just take off their shoes and walk into the house. They just know. So sometimes I think we have these thoughts about what people should know. People who don’t know Jesus — we expect them to have these behaviors, as if they knew something. But why would they do any different?

In Scripture, you read that the Pharisees and the Sadducees knew the law. They knew the ways of doing stuff. And yet even with Jesus in their presence, they missed that Jesus was there. Even with Jesus in their presence, with everything that they knew, they ended up persecuting Him, and Him dying on a cross.

We have to be reminded that we can be in peace — and not only in peace, but be of good cheer. Just think about that. It’s not just saying walk in peace. It’s saying be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world. I have overcome every situation that you’re walking through. I have overcome the world. That doesn’t mean we don’t have to walk through it. But it does matter how we position ourselves to receive from Him.

I talk about this a lot, maybe because I just feel the pressure of life, and life sometimes being a lot. And I realize that the times I feel like I’m spinning the most are when I’ve lost my perspective of who is in control. And when I say He’s in control, I mean that as things are happening, I’m locked in on Him. I’m listening for His voice. I’m reading Scripture with an expectation that He’s going to speak to me through His Word.

And you can say, “Well, you’re saying why Jesus, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Him speak.” It’s because you don’t know His voice. For some of us — and I’ve said this before — if I call my kids’ names, if we’re in Target or somewhere busy and I’m like, “Hey,” and call out my son’s name, he would know my voice. He would be like, “Oh, my mom.” He would know it’s me. And there are some people who would know it’s me. But I guarantee there are other people in this congregation — I could yell out your name, and you would be like, “Who’s calling me? Who knows my name in here?” It’s unfamiliar. That’s the same thing with Jesus. When we read Scripture, it’s also to learn His voice. It’s to learn the nuances of who He is.

Calling on His name

As I’m talking about why Jesus, the reality is everything is an invitation. I’ve realized this: our relationship with Jesus is always an invitation. He’s not going to just supersede. He’s after us. He’s searching for us. He loves us. There are great lengths He will go to to let us know. But everything is an invitation.

In Psalm 118, verses 1–9, He invites us to call out to Him. Jesus, as we said, is the name above every name. Psalm 118:1–9 says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let Israel now say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’ Let the house of Aaron now say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’ Let those who fear the Lord now say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’ I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.”

See, Jesus’ name carries weight when we call out to Him. And it requires us to call out to Him — not think it out, but call out to Him. It says He answers: “I called on the Lord in distress, and the Lord answered me.” That is great news. Even Jay was talking today during worship, saying, let’s call out to the Lord for those who don’t know Him yet. Let’s call out to the Lord for those we are praying for. That’s what we’re doing. We’re calling out to Him in distress, in battle, in walking through circumstances, because He is the name above any name. And when we call out to Him, it matters. He moves on our behalf. We position ourselves and we say, “Okay, Lord, I need to hear You speak. I need to see You move. Lord, I need to feel Your peace.” That’s how we begin to call out to Him.

Now, it’s really important to say this. A long time ago, Jay and I were youth pastors here at this church, and it was a great time. We love all of the youth, who are now old. They are now in their 20s, mid-20s. Some of them are probably almost in their 30s, or maybe in their 30s. One of the things I love about social media is that we get to see their lives, what they’re doing, where they’re at, all this fun stuff. Jay and I loved being youth pastors.

And we’ve never changed our phone number, so if they have our number, it is not uncommon for them to reach out to us. One early, early morning — I think at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning — one of our former students texted Jay and me. I always sleep with my phone on, so I got this text, and he was kind of in a panic. He said, “Suzie, Jay, I need you guys to pray for my friend. He’s having a really hard time.” Well, my phone went off, and so I began texting him at 2:30 in the morning, asking for his friend’s name and trying to understand the situation. And so I prayed for him, and I said, “Hey, let’s connect later today, not at 2:30 in the morning, and let’s hear what’s going on.”

Well, his friend was walking through a very serious situation. It was very traumatic, and there was demonic, spiritual stuff at the core of what was really happening. And I remember this young man, our former youth student, saying, “He keeps calling out to God, and nothing’s happening.” And so we just said, “Well, what god is he calling out to? What does he even believe?”

And the reason why that matters is, what I’ve come to determine is that just because someone says “spirit” or “god,” we may not be talking about the same thing. There are plenty of conversations I’ve had where I thought we were using the same language, but your understanding and my understanding were not the same thing. And this young man didn’t believe in God, and so he was just calling out to the gods.

It matters. We see in Scripture, in the Old Testament, that from the beginning of time there has been sorcery and witchcraft and all of this stuff. You read the story of Moses — sorry, I was trying to think of his name — where he’s going to Pharaoh and he’s saying, “Let my people go,” and they’re going head-to-head, their sorcery against the true and living God. And you’re seeing one side doing the magic and performing, and God is not performing, but God is moving on His people’s behalf.

What we have to understand is that “god” does not equal God. “God” does not equal salvation for some people. And we have to understand that, because of Philippians 2:9. I’ve been saying this plenty of times already, but there is only one name that is above every name. There is only one name that’s above every name. And if we don’t walk away with anything else from this, I want us to walk away with this: there is only one name above any other name, and that is the name of Jesus.

It says in Philippians 2:9, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him” — Jesus — “and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

We need to understand that in these last days, when we are calling out, we are calling out on the name of Jesus, because Jesus is the only name that saves. Jesus is the only name that brings healing. Jesus is the only name that brings joy, that brings breakthrough. And I’m here to declare it is only Jesus. When people are talking about mysticism and energy and all of that stuff — no. The only name that has authority over anything in your life is the name of Jesus, in any circumstances that you’re facing.

This is not in my notes, but if you are experiencing any torment, any bad dreams, anything like that — number one, we want to pray over you. But other than that, you can know that in your bedroom, if you’re starting to feel — I call it the yucky. All of a sudden I’ll just wake up, and I’ll have chills in my body, and I’m like, okay, what is trying to come through, or what’s happening? And I begin to get up, and I pray, and I say, “No weapon formed against our family will prosper. In the name of Jesus, whatever is trying to come in here, I bind you. You have no place. You have no authority.” When you’re feeling anxious, you can say, “In the name of Jesus, anxiety be gone. Peace be released.” Because of the name of Jesus. We just read that He says, “I have overcome the world.” Be at peace.

It doesn’t mean we don’t have these situations we walk in. But when we’re walking in these situations, the name of Jesus is the name above every other name, and we see it over and over and over in Scripture. And I’m here to remind you that we need to be people who choose to say, “But Jesus. But Jesus. But Jesus.” That we would stir ourselves up when we are in the place of temptation: “But Jesus, You have overcome the world. Help me to overcome this place of temptation. Help me to overcome this place of addiction. Help me overcome this place of hiding.” What we need to understand is that Jesus is the only way.

Not turned aside to fables

There are going to be people out there — I think I read it in — did I not put it in my notes? I didn’t put it in my notes. In 2 Timothy it talks about how in the last days — hold on, I’m going to pull it up, because I did not put it in here. In Scripture, I think it’s in 2 Timothy, it talks about how in the last days people will find doctrine that will satisfy their itching ears. Oh, here it is. It is in 2 Timothy chapter 4. This is Paul speaking to Timothy, and he says this:

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

I’m telling you, we are already in a time where, if there’s something you don’t agree with, something I say that you don’t like, you will be able to find someone who agrees with you. But I’m going to tell you, this is not about fables. Jesus is real. He is coming back. There is none like Him. And it is only in the name of Jesus that we must be proclaiming, and we will actually see things change and breakthrough come everywhere you go. If you’re walking into a situation, into an interview: “Oh, heavenly Father, I call out to You.”

We have to be people who use our mouth, who declare out loud. The enemy likes to keep us quiet: “Oh, I’ll just think it in my head. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I don’t want anyone to think bad of me.” No, no, no. We get to walk in boldness in the name of Jesus, because every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, in heaven and on earth, at the end of time, that Jesus Christ is Lord. And if we’re not proclaiming it now, then we will be people who wish we had proclaimed it. We need to be people who proclaim the name of Jesus, because there is no other name, and everything must come into alignment with His Word. There is none like Jesus.

Don’t be people who fall. If you have questions — like, is this on the edge? — just come talk to us. Let’s have a conversation. I don’t have all the answers. I’m going to be really real: I don’t know everything. So if you come to me, I really do try to just say, “I don’t know. Let’s discover this together. Let’s ask the Lord to show us.” We have people in here who are seasoned, who have loved Jesus for a long time, for much of their life. Go to them. Ask them questions.

But let’s not be people who get caught up with the fables and the things that sound good — and the crystals, right? That’s a big thing right now. “Oh, if we do this, and we put this on, then this is going to happen.” There are things right now that sound almost good. If you’ve heard this at all — manifestation: you can just manifest whatever you believe; just keep saying it. And what ends up happening is it hijacks the truth of the Word of God. But it sounds good. And I’m not going to lie, sometimes it probably works, because there are some scriptural precedents — things the Lord has already said. But if it’s not in alignment with God — because there’s only one name, and that’s the name of Jesus. It’s in His timing. It’s in His goodness. It’s in His mercy.

Getting in spiritual shape

I’m passionate about this because, number one, as I said, there are things that I’ve seen and experienced. And there are things that I believe the Lord wants to wake His church up to, including myself. This is me too. There are things He’s put in my heart that require me to get in a little bit better spiritual shape.

I was talking to one of my kids yesterday, and I was saying, when I was young, working out was never a priority, ever. I got an F in PE. Okay, I failed PE my freshman year of high school in California, because I refused to run around the track. And my workaround was that in California you can use your athletics as your PE credit, so I just became a cheerleader, and that was a little less exertion. I just didn’t want to change for PE, whatever. So ever since I was younger, working out was never a discipline that I valued. And guess what? It’s not a discipline I value now. Thank goodness my kids value that discipline and have very gracious conversations with Jay and me, for other reasons. But it’s not a value. I forgot where I was going with that.

The name of Jesus — getting in shape. There we go. We’re at a place where we need to get in shape spiritually. We’ve let some things just be, because it always has been. We’ve let some things just fall by the wayside. But I believe, as we were just reading in 2 Timothy, there’s a time we’re in right now — and you guys see it too; I’m sure you see it, I’m sure you hear it — where we need to be wise about what’s of the Spirit and what’s not of the Spirit.

And so it’s important for us to understand why Jesus: because His name is above every other name. And it may get a little tough in some ways, in some places. But if I’ve learned anything from all three of my kids, who are athletic and work out and do those things, it’s that it’s just for a moment, right? If they can just get past that next rep — they’re like, “Oh, I can’t,” and then they get past it, and they do one more, two more. If we can learn to be spiritually stronger, spiritually wiser, and walk in the discernment of the Spirit — there are going to be times when we feel like, oh gosh, this is a tribulation that’s happening. But I’m going to be of good cheer. I’m going to have peace.

And the thing that’s different from working out is that it says in Scripture that Jesus has given us His name to walk in authority over those things. So we’re not just walking in and it’s like, “Oh, this is crashing.” No, we can walk into places and the atmosphere can change, because the Spirit of the living God lives within us. And He wants to work in us and through us. It’s not just so He can stay in us. It’s so He can walk through us.

I think I’ve shared this story before. I was getting this technique done on my back after an adjustment, and I’m face down. And this woman, out of nowhere — I have no clue how she got on this on-ramp — starts telling me all about this psychic she went to. And I was so caught off guard, because I was in a very vulnerable spot. My head is down, they’re doing pulsating things on my back. I don’t even fully remember — I was at the chiropractor, anyways. And I just thought, man, she just went there.

And so the Lord wants us to be people who, without criticism — we just read that it says convince, rebuke, with longsuffering. Now, I knew it was not for me to be like, “You are wrong.” That was not it. But there is a place where we would be spiritually discerning. What is the Lord saying right now? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to be silent and just listen? Am I supposed to say something? And it’s not mysticism. It’s walking in the promise that He’s given us the Holy Spirit in these last days to guide us and to teach us and to lead us.

Our High Priest forever

So, why Jesus? We’re going to end with this: Hebrews chapter 7. I have a really hard time sometimes just taking out verses. I feel like I’m cheating or something. So we’re just going to read chapter 7, verse 20, and we’re going to go on to verse 6 of chapter 8.

“And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him: ‘The Lord has sworn and will not relent, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”’)…”

So I’m going to pause there. In the Old Testament, in the old covenant, there were priests, and it’s going to talk about this here. You were the priest — say, Jay is the priest — and he’s going to come on behalf of all of us. He’s going to bring a sacrifice, but he’d only get so close to the Holy of Holies. And so here the author is saying, okay, now look, we have a new priest — not like Catholic priests, as we think — but we have a Priest who’s up on high, and it was because of what He did.

Verse 22: “by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant.” A covenant is an exchange. In the old days — we don’t really do covenants now — it says, okay, you and I are going to be in covenant. That’s actually what marriage is: a covenant, right? I’m looking at Jay. We’re going to be in covenant together, and we’re going to take the good and the bad. But with Jesus, He says, I’m going to take all of your weaknesses, and I’m going to give you My strength. And all of the places where you were sinning — when He died on the cross, He took all of our sin, even what had yet to come. That’s why He died on the cross: so there could be an exchange, accessibility to our heavenly Father. Before, we had to go through all these steps. Now we can just pray, as we read in Psalms, and say, “Oh Lord, would You meet me here? Jesus, I need You right now.” That’s what Jesus did for us when He died: He gave us full access.

Verse 24: “But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him” — so, asking Jesus to come into their life — “since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

When we talk about why Jesus — spoiler — He’s up in heaven making intercession. That means He’s praying for you and me. Tell me what other religion’s gods do that. None. The answer is none.

Verse 26: “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.”

Chapter 8, verse 1: “Now this is the main point.” That’s literally what the Scripture says. I chuckled when I read it. “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’”

So basically he’s saying, look, the priests before had all of these things they had to do. But now, because of Jesus, things change. Verse 6: “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.”

That was a lot of words, but a lot of words to say why Jesus: He’s the One who established a covenant for us so we could experience His presence here on earth. He made the ultimate sacrifice for anyone who is willing to receive. We’re going to end with a song in just a moment. But the only sacrifice we get to give on this side of heaven — I mean, there are moments when we’ll have to sacrifice — but the only offering we really get to give is our worship. Just think about that. They went from having to get these perfect lambs with no spot on them, having to go to the priest, and now we get to just enter in and worship. That is our sacrifice. That is our offering. That’s the one thing we can give here on earth.

When we come together and we worship the King of kings and the Lord of lords, we’re not just singing songs as at a concert. We’re offering up our offering to Him, and it says this is a sweet fragrance to Him. See, we’ve always served a God, but we serve a God who is saying, “I want to give you something so much better than anything you could ever do on your own to earn.” That is why we choose Jesus. That is why Jesus — again, just a little scratch of the surface. He is the only true God. Jesus is alive, and He is a Mediator for us. He came so we could have a new covenant.

When you have a chance on your own, you should write down Psalm 71:1–6. Take some time to read it. You could read through Psalms all day. Those are songs. Those are people’s heart cries out to God.

But what we’re going to do in this moment is sing the last song. And what I want us to do in this moment is just sing out to the One whose name is above every other name. And it’s okay if you’re uncomfortable. We’re going to all stand, and just realize that we’re not singing to a statue. We’re not singing to someone who’s requiring something of us, but to One who desires and longs for us to experience Him through worship. So I’m going to ask you all to stand. I’m going to pray over us, and when we’re done I will have a benediction. But also, after this time, if you need prayer, or if you have never accepted Jesus into your heart and you want to, we would love for you to come up and have a conversation with us. So we’re going to sing the song, I will pray a benediction, and then I want to encourage you to come up for prayer if you would like.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.