Able To Sympathize
The Heart of Christ • Sermon • Submitted
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Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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Why This Text…Again?
Why This Text…Again?
I have preached from this text multiple times. Yet I confess, I continue to learn.
When the Puritans wrote they often took one versus or one passage and then continued to wring that text/passage out until there was nothing less. This was the case with Goodwin and his primary text was Hebrews 4:15
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For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
In the past I have read these verses as a unit without putting more weight of one verse over another.
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Per Ortlund, Goodwin’s burden was to convince disheartened believers that even though Christ is now in heaven, he is just as open and tender in his embrace of sinners and sufferers as ever he was on earth.
When Goodwin wrote his work he originally titled it, The original title page of the book from its 1651 publication reflects this; note especially the prominent juxtaposition between “Christ in heaven” and “sinners on earth”:
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The HEART of CHRIST in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth
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A TREATISE demonstrating The gracious Disposition and tender Affection of Christ in his Humane Nature now in Glory, unto his Members under all sorts of Infirmities, either of Sin or Misery
Goodwin wants to surprise readers with the biblical evidence that the risen Lord alive and well in heaven today is not somehow less approachable and less compassionate than he was when he walked the earth.
In speaking of this text Goodwin says,
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I have chosen this text, as that which above any other speaks his heart most, and sets out the frame and workings of it towards sinners; and that so sensibly that it does, as it were, take our hands, and lay them upon Christ’s breast,
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and let us feel how his heart beats and his affections yearn toward us, even now he is in glory—the very scope of these words being manifestly to encourage believers against all that may discourage them, from the consideration of Christ’s heart toward them now in heaven.
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Able To Sympathize
Able To Sympathize
The key verse in this passage is verse 15 - Our High Priest is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. This verse is the anchor to this passage.
Verse 14 has a hortatory clause: let us hold fast (present, active, subjunctive)
Verse 16 has another clause: Let us come (present, middle, subjunctive).
Verse 15 begins with “for” showing that the content of verse 15 is built on the statements in verse 14; we see the same with verse 16, this could be rendered, “Therefore, let us come.”
Verse 15 is the anchor of the passage - verses 14 and 16 draw out the implications of verse 15.
What is the key truths of this passage:
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Jesus Christ’s sheer solidarity with his people.
We naturally know that Jesus is with us, on our side, present and helping, when life is going well.
This text tells us something different, it is in “our weaknesses” that Jesus sympathizes with us.
The word for “sympathize” here is a compound word formed from the prefix meaning “with” (like our English prefix co-) joined with the verb to suffer.
Ortlund says, “Sympathize” here is not cool and detached pity. It is a depth of felt solidarity such as is echoed in our own lives most closely only as parents to children.
We are told in Hebrews 2 that He was made like his brothers. The reason that Jesus is in such close solidarity with us is that the difficult path we are on is not unique to us. He has journeyed on it himself.
He knows what it is to be thirsty, hungry, despised, rejected, scorned, shamed, embarrassed, abandoned, misunderstood, falsely accused, suffocated, tortured, and killed.
He knows what it is to be lonely; His friends abandoned him when he needed them most.
We are inclined to think that the more difficult life gets the more we are alone; this passage tells us the more difficult life gets the more we can be assured of Christ being with us.
We must consider the phrase “in all points” in a way that maintains Jesus’s sinlessness without diluting what that phrase means. [next slide]
Jesus knows temptation better than we do - this is because He was without sin [next slide]
The one who shares in all our pain shares in it as the pure and holy one. [next slide]
Our sinless high priest is not one who needs rescue but who provides it.
It is for these reasons we can receive mercy and find grace in V. 16.
How Should This Change My Life?
How Should This Change My Life?
I have emphasized the word FEEL in each of these statements, because what we feel is our reality.
How do I respond when I feel alone?
Lo, I am with you ALWAYS [NEXT SLIDE]
How do I respond when I feel rejected?
He was despised and rejected by men [NEXT SLIDE]
How do I respond when I feel tempted by sin?
He was tempted in all point like we are, yet without sin.
When we feel the feelings above we tend to lash out, become discouraged, and despair - in everyone of those feelings the reality is Jesus feels for us and He is with us.
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Ortlund quotes John Owen in closing, Christ “is inclined from his own heart and affections to give . . . us help and relief . . . and he is inwardly moved during our sufferings and trials with a sense and fellow-feeling of them.”