How to Approach God | Lawrence Campus | October 18, 2026

Well, good morning, church.

My name is Bill, and I'm on the teaching team here at Spring Lake Church.

I'm also the downtown campus pastor.

But it is great to be with you at Lawrence this morning.

Today we are continuing on, as Cole said, in our greater than series in the book of Hebrews.

And whether you've been here for the whole series or you're just joining us, we have to start today sort of remembering where we've been, because it's actually going to set up where we're going today.

And so right away in Hebrews chapter 1, we learn that Jesus is God's Son.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

We learn that everything was actually made through Jesus.

He shows us what God is like, he dealt with our sins, and now he rules beside the Father.

And then in chapter 2, we learn that this same Jesus became human.

He suffered, he faced temptation, he experienced death, and he knows what it's like to suffer.

The author tells us this because he wants us to know that Jesus can help us.

And then in chapter three, the focus kind of turned.

It turned to our response.

The writer reminds us of the people that Moses led out of slavery in Egypt.

God rescued them, but in the wilderness they refused to trust him.

And this part is a warning for us to not follow their examples.

The call was this: keep listening to God.

Keep trusting Jesus.

And then last week in chapter four, we learn that God's invitation to rest is still open to us.

Meaning we can share in his salvation and forgiveness, but we can only do that if we actively trust him.

Now, it's important to note that our passage last week actually ended with a sober warning.

I don't know if you caught it last week, but it was talking about God's word.

Remember that phrase, God's word is living and active?

Well, that ends with this idea that God's word reveals the truth about you.

It exposes you before God.

That in fact, God sees everything, right down to our thoughts and our motivations.

Nothing is hidden from him.

He knows if we are actually truly trusting him or not.

And so that's where we pick up today.

And the question is, what do we do with that?

I mean, think about that.

It's kind of scary when you think about it.

It's supposed to be a sobering reality for us.

God sees us, he knows our heart, he knows if we are truly trusting him.

And if that's true, it presents a problem.

Because I don't know about you, but as much as God has changed me and transformed me as a person, there's still a lot of work left to do in my heart and in my life.

And so if you're like me, you sort of go, yikes.

Like, if God can see who I really am and he can see the areas I'm not trusting him, how do I even come to God?

How can I even go before God?

Because sometimes the real truth is I don't always trust God.

Or I keep this part of my life from him, or I try to shoulder everything myself, or I struggle with sin in my life.

And the sobering truth is I don't really always surrender to his will in every area.

And so, how can I even approach God at all?

And so here's how it sounds in our minds.

Because maybe you don't like rationalize that or say that out loud, but here's how it sounds in our minds.

We say things like, Well, I know I should pray, but I've actually messed up a lot lately.

God probably doesn't want to hear from me.

Or we'll say, I've already told God I was sorry for this, and yet here I am again bringing the same failure to him.

How can I do that over and over again?

Or maybe even a more common one, I need to get this thing in my life under control first, and then I can bring it to God.

Does any of that sound familiar to you?

Is that just me or is that a thing that we struggle with?

You see, the truth is that understanding that God knows the real me could be a huge barrier for me coming to him.

Why?

Well, because we actually can't explain it away like we do to other people.

We can't give him the version of ourself that makes us look better.

He knows the truth.

And so that's the tension we're dealing with today.

Now, what's awesome about our passage today is that this passage is gonna clearly lay out our path for coming to God.

And I'll talk about how we can approach God, why approaching him is possible, and actually why Jesus is the key to all of this.

So if you have your Bible this morning, you can turn it to Hebrews chapter 4.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

We're gonna start there.

Hebrews chapter 4 will begin in verse 14, and we'll be going through chapter 5, verse 10.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

And while you're turning there, or going there on your phone, let me pray for us.

Lord, we come to you, and we recognize your world, your word is truth, it is real, and you reveal to us in this part of the passage that you can see everything.

You know the real us.

And so we have a problem this morning, Lord.

How how can we possibly come before you?

And so, Lord, I pray that as your word reveals this truth to us, Lord, that we let it sink in.

Lord, would you give us the boldness that you talk about in this passage?

Would you help us to see that Jesus is our great high priest?

Lord, we come to you and Lord, we ask for your help, and we need it.

We pray this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said.

Amen.

Okay, we're gonna start right away in the passage, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 14.

Hebrews 4:14

Here's what it says.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who is ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us home hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize 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 approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

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 sin.

He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the sins of the people.

And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest, but he said to him, You are my son.

Today I have become your father.

And he says, In another place, you were a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Son 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 he was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

This is God's word, amen.

Well, this passage shows us how we can approach God and why Jesus is actually the key to all of it.

And it starts with this approach God confidently, because Jesus is compassionate.

So look at the beginning again.

It says this.

You know, I was reading this this week and I just kept on thinking, what a great relief.

What a great relief.

Because yes, it's true what I said in the beginning, that you and I are utterly exposed before God.

Our lack of trust, our lack of faith, it's evident, but this passage is telling us a bigger reality.

That in fact, when we look at it, what we see is that Jesus himself is representing us.

He is the great high priest.

And you might ask, well, like, what is a high priest?

What do they do?

Well, honestly, we could go into this whole background.

I read a lot of commentary about what the high priest did of a high priest, and and we could like look into Israel's history and all of that, but the important part for us to understand for this passage is that the high priest was the person designated to represent the people before God.

You see, the high priest would offer sacrifices before God to cover the sins of the people.

He was the designated go-between between the people and God.

He was the mediator, standing between God's judgment and the people.

And this passage is saying that that is Jesus' role.

But what's interesting is that our high priest is different than the high priest of Israel.

And here's why, because our high priest is not advocating for us in a temple on earth somewhere, but actually we see him in heaven at the right hand of God himself.

And I just slow down for a second and think about that.

Right now, in this moment, he is actively and presently interceding for the people, for us, for you and me.

Not from a temple, but right next to God.

And I love that picture.

When it comes to the idea that Jesus or that God actually sees your sin, that he knows your weakness, we need to remember, while that's true, it's also true that Jesus has your back.

He is literally interceding for you before God.

But the picture gets even better in this passage because our high priest isn't just some human who's chosen from among the people, but it this passage reveals to us that it's actually God's own son.

And so, like, follow this logic with me.

Yes, you are exposed before God with all your sin and with all your shortcomings, but also the one presently representing you before God is God's own son.

Do you see why I say it's a great relief?

Jesus has our back, but there's one more thing to notice here.

It's not good enough just to know that Jesus is our high priest.

The call in this verse is to hold firmly to our confession of faith.

You and I, the call, because we know this information and we know this truth, is to actively put our trust in God.

And the Greek verb in this passage is describing physically grasping something tightly.

And when I was studying this and was reading all these definitions of this word, um, I kept on thinking about when I was a kid.

Because back in my day in the 80s and 90s, well, that makes me feel old now, but in the 80s and 90s, we still had some pretty dangerous playground equipment.

Anyone else remember the dangerous playground equipment?

Okay, we didn't have like rubberized surfaces to fall onto, okay?

We had cement or blacktop to fall onto, right?

And if you messed up and you fell off of something, you were probably going to break your arm or your leg or your wrist or something like this.

And if you think that I'm making it up, I remember very distinctly signing the cast of the person in elementary school who fell off the type top of the slide, okay?

So that was a real thing.

And the crazy thing about it was none of the teachers were like, you know, we should probably put down, you know, some rubberized surfaces.

No, they're like, hey, you know Stephanie, she broke her arm.

Don't fall off the top of the slide, people.

Right?

Like, that's what they told us.

But probably the most dangerous thing um wasn't the slide, but it was actually the metal merry-go-round.

Anyone remember this?

Metal merry-go-rounds.

That's where we all learned about centrifugal force.

Right?

And here's the thing: if you held on really tight and you positioned yourself just right, right, like you put the bar between you and the outside ground and you just hold there, right?

You were fine.

Even if your head was spinning and you thought you needed to let go and you were about to puke, you could still hold on and you would be okay.

Because letting go would hurt too much.

And that's the picture in this passage.

When it comes to our confession of faith, our personal trust in Jesus, we have to hold on like that.

Even when sometimes we are tempted to slip or let go, um, we have to hold on to Jesus.

And that's what this passage is saying.

But the argument continues beyond this because next we learn in verse 15, it says this for we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin.

So not only is Jesus in heaven interceding on our behalf, but he's not clueless or detached from our own nature.

In other words, Jesus knows firsthand how weak you are, because he became human.

And he also was able to remain sinless despite experiencing the temptations we face.

Again, this should be a huge relief to us.

Because when we think about Jesus in heaven interceding for us, we need to remember that he knows how hard it is.

I mean, again, think about this.

We have a really big problem.

We're approaching a holy, perfect God, and we're not holy and perfect.

We are the opposite.

We come to God as a scattered mess, unable to make it on our own.

We are constantly messing up, even if we try not to.

And this passage is reminding us that the one advocating for us, Jesus, he knows our temptations and our weaknesses, and he's the very one who's advocating for you.

Not only that, but if you zoom out, you realize that despite all of that, Jesus did what we could not do.

He was actually able to obey God at all times.

He experienced the same temptation, the same weakness, and yet he didn't sin.

And guess what?

He did that on your behalf.

He didn't just do it for himself, he did that for you.

So not only do you have the Son of God interceding for you as high priest, but he also knows your weaknesses, and on your behalf, he perfectly followed God.

So that when God looks at you, he sees the work of Christ.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

It's amazing that God looks at you and he sees the work of Jesus.

And so we have an answer then.

The tension is being broken here.

How are we to approach God if we know Jesus?

It says in verse 16, it says this let us then approach the throne of grace with what does it say?

Confidence.

So we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Wow.

This eliminates all of our excuses and conversations in our head.

Remember what I said in the beginning?

Well, you know, I know I should pray, but I've messed up a lot lately.

Like, God probably doesn't want to hear from me.

No.

This passage says boldly approach God's throne, approach it confidently, because Jesus is your high priest.

Or we said this, I've already told God I was sorry for this, and yet here I am again, bringing the same failure.

I can't keep coming to him like this.

No, you can.

Because Jesus, your high priest, he knows your weakness and he accomplished what you couldn't.

Or maybe it was this I need to get this under control first, and then I'll talk to him.

No, you don't.

Run to God now.

Why?

Because you receive mercy and grace to help you in your time of need.

Jesus eliminates all the excuses for not coming to God.

Amen?

Okay, so Jesus understands our weakness, and we can come to God through him, but the author wants to reinforce Jesus' role as high priest even more by telling us how he got the role.

And so that's where we're gonna go next.

And it's this point, it's Jesus or trust Jesus' authority because God appointed him.

If you look in the beginning of chapter five, it says this every high priest is selected 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 astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins as well as the sins of the people.

Let's pause there.

So, right before he begins to talk about Jesus, he explains what a high priest does.

A high priest comes from among the people and he represents those people before God.

And then notice what he does specifically.

Now, lest you assume that someone in that position would feel pretty high and mighty about being in that role, the author reminds us that a good high priest would deal gently with people who are in need of help.

And why does he give?

What's the reason he gives for this?

Well, because the high priest himself has the same exact needs, doesn't he?

He's not just representing the people, but he's representing himself.

He's dealing with their sin, but he's also dealing with his sin.

And don't get mixed up by the example here, because before we carry that over to Jesus, the author has already established that Jesus did not sin.

But the part you're supposed to connect is that a high priest intimately understands the need.

Okay?

But I want to pause for a second because I just want to share something with you.

This hit me this week as I was studying this, as I was meditating on it and thinking about it.

I was resonating with this idea specifically as a pastor, as a as somebody who's hired and is paid to actually be a pastor and shepherd in the church.

I think there are times where people think that pastors or people in ministry like have everything figured out.

Like, apparently some people don't think that.

But it's kind of a common thing.

And maybe the thought is like, you kind of have mastered being a Christian, or you're like a professional Christian.

But here's the honest truth.

We're in the same boat as everybody else.

And so before you ever hear me or Arlen or Pastor Jack or Adam or Ryan or any of the pastors teach a truth from God's word, we've had to wrestle with that truth ourselves.

We sit under that ourselves.

There are so many times, I can't tell you, this is like every time I preach, there's so many times where I'm teaching a truth from God's word, and I'm realizing in the moment that this message is actually for me.

That God is speaking to me.

I get convicted, I get encouraged, I hear the warnings, I hear the promises the same way that you do.

And so very often I am preaching to myself.

And I think that's important for you to hear.

We don't stand up here telling you hard truths because we are higher or we are better.

We all sit under the same authority of Scripture.

We are just messengers.

And that's the same as a good high priest.

Because he deals gently because he's in the same boat as everyone else.

But now the author is going to turn directly to Jesus.

In verses four through six, he says, This and no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

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 become your father.

And he says, in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

Okay, and so the point the author is making here is that the role of the high priest is actually given.

It's not taken.

And specifically in Jesus' case, it was given by God the Father to his one and only Son.

And what the author is saying is he's making sure people know the legitimacy of Christ's high priestly role.

It's not as though Jesus shows up one day and personally appoints himself.

To a position.

No, he took the role that was assigned by God the Father and he obediently accepted it.

And the example that he uses, Aaron from the Old Testament, it was God assigned.

Jesus gets his role as a high priest from God himself.

And not only that, but the author is linking that to Jesus' position as God's own son.

And he uses two Old Testament quotes to prove this.

He says in Psalm 2.7, you are my son, today I become your father, and in Psalm 110, verse 4, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

Psalms 110:4

And so what you're supposed to do is you're kind of supposed to put both of those ideas together.

God's son is also God's appointed priest.

But there's a couple other things that we shouldn't miss here as well.

Did you catch the word forever?

It's easy just to read over that, but did you catch forever?

Church, you need to hear this.

There is no expiration date on Jesus being the high priest of God.

There's no expiration date.

He will always be representing you.

It's permanent.

I love that.

And the other interesting thing here is the phrase, in the order of Melchizedek.

Now, every fiber of my being, when I was going through this this week, wanted me to jump in to the background of Melchizedek, and when I talked to the other pastors, they said, no Bill, bad Bill.

And the reason why, I don't know why they talked to me like a dog, you should talk to them about that.

But they wouldn't let me talk too much about Melchizedek because it comes up, again, I think it's in chapter seven.

And so we're gonna go all into that.

So I'm not allowed to reveal to you all the things about Melchizedek, but I will tell you this that in the Old Testament, Abraham is visited by this king who's also a priest, and his name's Melchizedek.

So there's more on that in future weeks.

But I don't want you to miss the whole point of the sections and its implications, because they're huge.

The main point is that God himself appoints Jesus, his own son, to represent you.

And I want you to think about that for a second.

Because you might get the wrong idea in your head.

If you're not careful, you might picture that Jesus is the one who wants to help us while wondering whether the Father actually wants us there.

Like you might assume that's the picture.

But did you catch what this passage said?

Who appointed Jesus?

The Father did.

The one who knows all of our sin and all of our weakness is the very one who appointed his son to represent us.

And so, church, when that thought comes up, you know, I know Jesus understands me, but God actually probably doesn't want me to come to him.

Just look at what God has done.

He's assigned his very own son, who's also God, as your advocate, as your high priest, as your intercessor.

We can trust Jesus' authority because God assigned him to the role.

Amen?

It brings us to our last point, which is this depend on Jesus to save because he completed his mission through suffering.

Verses 7 and 8, it says this during the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petition with fervent cries and tears, the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.

Let's stop there.

Now, when the author says during the days of Jesus' life on earth, he is almost certainly talking about one night in particular: the Garden of Gethsemane.

The night before the cross, Jesus, he goes off to pray, and in the Gospels it tells us that he was so overwhelmed, he was so sorrowful even to death that he was sweating like drops of blood.

And he prays, Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me.

That's what this verse is describing.

Fervent cries and tears.

And I want that to sink in for a second.

This is actually God's own son, the one through whom everything was made.

And he's on his face in the dirt and he's crying out to his father.

Church, sometimes we picture Jesus as like sort of floating through this life with calm and untroubled look on his face, like none of it really touched him, but that's not the Jesus of Scripture.

Jesus felt the full weight of what was coming.

And remember, that's the point the author has been building to this whole time, that our high priest, the one representing you before God, he knows.

He's been there.

And so here's where it gets interesting.

The verse says he prayed to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard.

And you go, like, wait a second, he was heard.

Didn't he still go to the cross?

He still died.

And so what does that mean?

Well, God didn't save him from going through death, God saved him out of death.

Three days later, that tomb was empty.

His prayer was heard, just not in a way that skipped his suffering.

And notice why he was heard, because of his reverent submission.

That's the other half of the Gethsemane prayer.

Not my will, but your will be done, Lord.

And then in verse 8, son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.

Now, this one can trip us up because we might read that and think, wait, was Jesus disobedient then before the suffering fixed him?

No.

The author already told us he was without sin.

Here's the idea.

There's actually a difference between knowing what obedience is and actually walking it out when it cost you everything.

Jesus didn't learn obedience like a kid who finally stops misbelieving or misbehaving.

He learned in a way that a soldier learns courage, not in a classroom, but in the battlefield.

His obedience was tested all the way to the end.

And guess what?

It held.

Every single step, all the way to the cross.

And so that brings us to verse 9 and 10.

And it says this, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey.

It was designated by God to be a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Again, what's going on here?

Once made perfect?

Again, that's not saying that Jesus was flawed and needed fixing.

The word here carries the idea of being complete, finished, fully qualified.

Think of it like this: Jesus had a mission to do, and through his suffering, he completed the mission.

Remember what he said on the cross?

It is finished.

Mission accomplished.

And because he finished it, he became the source of eternal salvation.

Don't miss that word source.

You see, Jesus is not a helper, not a contributor, not one ingredient in your salvation recipe.

He is the source.

Your salvation doesn't flow from how well you've been doing lately.

It doesn't flow from getting your life under control first.

It flows from Jesus.

From him.

Now, you might notice the phrase for all who obey him, and you think, yep, there it is.

I knew it.

It's saying, it's talking about me obeying.

But remember what we learned in chapters 3 and 4.

The people in the wilderness didn't enter God's rest because of disobedience.

And the author says that that disobedience was actually unbelief.

Their sin was that they didn't trust him.

And so obeying Jesus here starts with exactly what verse 14 told us: holding firmly to Jesus, trusting him, depending on him, putting your belief in him.

And it brings me back to the merry-go-round for a second.

I said the call is to hold on tight, right?

And that's true, but here's what I want you to see.

You aren't holding on to something flimsy.

You're not gripping a rusty bar that might snap off.

You're holding on to the one who's already completed the mission.

The one who already went through suffering and death for you and came out the other side.

Your grip, it matters in some sense, but what saves you is what you're holding on to.

And don't forget that Jesus is holding on to you as well.

And so we started with this question How can people like us approach a God who sees everything?

And the answer is really simply, but profoundly.

Jesus.

It's all about him.

He knows our weakness.

The Father appointed him to represent us, and he completed the work to save us, and so, church, hold on to Jesus.

Amen?

Well, this week is actually communion week, and it fits so well into what we were just talking about, because communion is actually a remembrance, and it's a celebration of what Jesus has done for us.

The bread, it actually represents his body, which was given for us.

And the cup reminds us of his blood that was shed for us.

Together, the elements of communion, they remind us of what it costs Jesus to bring us to God.

And so let's take a moment and just come honestly before him.

I want to remind you of what this verse said.

You can approach him confidently because he's your great high priest.

And I want to give you a few actual moments to commune with God before we take it together.

So we'll hold on to it, but maybe this morning you realize you've been avoiding God.

Maybe those excuses that we talked about in the beginning, those are in your head.

Maybe it's been a while since you've confessed your sin.

You've been avoiding him, or you have a shame or a guilt that you're holding on to.

This is your moment.

Bring it boldly before God's throne.

Why?

Because of Jesus.

And in just a few moments, I will lead us in taking communion together.

You can take and eat the bread.

In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine and he said, This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood.

Do this whenever you drink it.

You can go ahead and take the juice.

Church, whenever you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again.

Jesus is our great high priest.

And he is representing you before God.

And so you can come boldly before him.

Not just this Sunday morning, this whole week, this whole life.

We pray for us.

Lord, we come to you and we are so thankful that you are a great high priest, Lord, that you stand and you advocate for us in heaven.

Lord, we're thankful that you live the life that we could not live.

And you died for us.

We're thankful for your body and your blood.

We don't just do it as a ritual or as a practice, but Lord, we remember what you sacrificed for us, what you've done for us.

And Lord, above all things, we ask that you would help us to truly trust you.

We pray this in Jesus' name, and all God's people said.

Amen.