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

Hello.

It's good to see everyone today.

And uh hope you're enjoying the fall.

The last couple of weeks, especially the last two weeks.

It's been beautiful.

Went to Door County about two weeks ago.

It's like driving into a postcard, which is awesome this time of year.

I have a friend in uh Florida.

He texted me yesterday, and of course, Tampa's still on the running for the World Series.

They're trying to catch up with us.

And uh he wrote me and was like, So, how will they deal with the snow during the World Series?

I said, Well, you know, we've got the plows ready.

So, anyway, I didn't get that snarky, but I wanted to.

Um, that had nothing to do with anything.

It's really good to see you today, though, and it's good to live in Wisconsin right now.

Uh, we are about a quarter of the way through this series of Greater Than, the study of the book in the Bible called Hebrews.

And I just want to do a quick, kind of high-level flow flyover of what we've studied so far before we get into today's message.

We looked in in chapter one, we saw the fact that Jesus is greater than every message, every spiritual being, or anything ever created.

So, the author of Hebrews, as we mentioned at the beginning of this, it's almost like a lawyer making his case before a trial.

He's like, hey, here's what I'm gonna show you.

This Jesus we're talking about, his message is greater.

You may be worshiping spiritual things out there, spiritual beings, angels.

He's greater than that.

And you may hear the message of the prophets, his message is greater.

You may be worshiping idols and created things.

He's like, Jesus leaves all that in the dust.

That's chapter one.

Chapter two, Jesus is paving the way for us to share in his victory.

There are struggles and trials in life, there are things you're gonna face, but the author of Hebrews tells us Jesus is greater than anything you're gonna face.

It doesn't make the problems go away.

It doesn't, it's not a magic fairy dust you can sprinkle on life, but he is greater.

And because of his victory, we get to enjoy and celebrate and share in his glory and in his family.

And that's something that we can be proud of, and it's something it says he takes joy in us.

Anyone got that family member that you see them and you're like, I can't believe I'm related.

Like, how did we come from the same gene pool?

Jesus isn't pulling that up with us.

Like, no matter what we've done, no matter what we've said, Jesus is like, no, that's my guy, that's my girl, that's family.

Chapter three, Jesus, we saw is greater than Moses, which from a historical perspective, there is no one greater in the in Hebrew history.

Moses was kind of like the upper echelon, the the pinnacle of what it means to connect with, relate with God, to be able to go to God on behalf of people.

And yet the writer of Hebrews is like, no, Jesus leaves them in the dust.

Like where Moses had to stop at the beginning of the promised land in a in a practical earthly sense.

Jesus follows through, and our promised land is eternal with no battles ahead.

Last week, chapter 4, verses 1 through 14, we talked about finding rest and finding it in Jesus.

Now there's rest that we get a taste of here on earth.

There's rest where you stop and you realize this is good.

And I'm not talking a nap or a hammock.

I'm talking about where you just realize the peace that comes from a trust in God.

And it's hard to find, and you can't find really that peace outside of that.

But then Jesus brings us to a place of eternal rest.

When this life is over and we take our last breath of earthly air, Jesus has prepared the way for us to have eternal rest.

And I appreciate in the follow-up video last week, Jeff Pittman made the point we're talking about rest, not easy.

Jesus never says, I came that you may have easy.

But you can have life and you can have rest.

In other words, there could be peace, even in the middle of the storm.

So through it all, the message is clear that it's Jesus who is superior to anything and anyone else.

Not only is he superior over them, but when we follow Jesus, we can have that joy, that peace, that rest that he provides.

Once again, not ease or lack of problems, but peace in the problems.

Through the highs and lows that life throws at you, remember you don't go through it alone.

We have Jesus and he gets it.

I want to go back and read from Hebrews 2 from a couple of weeks ago.

Hebrews 2, verse 17 and 18.

Hebrews 2:17

It says, For this reason, he had to be made like us.

This is Jesus.

He had to be made like us, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people, atonement at one.

His atonement, his covering of our sins, our rebellion, makes us at one with God.

It's a good way to remember the word atonement.

And then verse 18, because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Now, in this passage, I want to use it for two reasons, remembering what Jesus has done for us.

But two, also we're introduced to this idea of Jesus being the high priest.

And that's what we're going to be touching on today.

He, the high priest, was the person in Israel who stood between God and man, mankind and God.

He represented God to the people.

If the Lord spoke, he would speak through the high priest, and the high priest had to come with the message: good, bad, or ugly.

And at the same time, he would take the hurts and the pains and the woes of the people, and he would go to God and be like, God, we're asking you to do something.

We're asking you to move.

So, what does that mean for us today?

And it's a picture as we read forward, remembering it's a picture of that Jesus represented all of this.

And not only was he the priest, he was the not only the high priest, he was the great high priest.

And that means something in the passage we're gonna see.

We're gonna see what Jesus represented and what he accomplished.

The other question we should ask then is how do we view him?

And more intriguingly, is how do we approach him?

Because the high priest had a role as the high priest on the day of atonement, on the day of being made at one with God, that only the high priest could do.

And now it's a role that Jesus has fulfilled.

That's what we're going to discuss today as we see that it's all about him.

How do we approach God?

Hebrews chapter 4, beginning at verse 14, and we're going to be reading all the way through chapter 5, verse 10.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

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

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to 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 then 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.

That's so powerful.

We're going to come back to that.

Verse five chapter five.

Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

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

This is why he has to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins, as well as for the sins of other people, 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 God said to him, You are my son.

Today I have become your father.

He says, in another place, you are 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 was designated by God to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

So with this understanding of the role of Jesus as the great high priest, how do we approach God?

What should be our posture, our attitude?

I think the first two verses give us the first step toward this approach.

And it's we need to approach God confidently because Jesus is compassionate.

We approach God confidently because Jesus is compassionate.

Therefore, verses 14 through 16, therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to 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.

Combining this with what we read earlier in chapter 2, verse 18, he suffered and was tempted.

He is able to help those who are being tempted.

Last week we talked about a merciful God and a truthful God.

And Jesus is both, and he has to be both.

And on our behalf, it's good that he's both, because he is true and just and faithful.

And at the same time, I thank God that he is merciful.

There is something that is lacking in connection and in relationship when faithful or merciful is missing.

The worst thing you can do is go into a doctor's office, a lawyer's office, a teacher's office for those of you still in school, a counselor, a mentor, a pastor, and try and relate to someone who has zero mercy.

You're trying to talk to them about what you're going through, what you're facing, maybe maybe a struggle in the cast and in a class, and the only thing you see in their eyes is, I don't care.

It's brutal.

And to think if you're going to a God, and and some of us have this picture, a God who is only truth and only justice, and he's just waiting to drop the hammer, and when you go to him looking for compassion and care, or when you go to him thinking, I can't show that side to him because he doesn't care.

He's just looking for what I did wrong.

We miss the compassion and the gracious side of God.

We miss the fact that Jesus became human and went through the stuff we're struggling with.

We're talking about a Jesus who understands what it means to be abandoned.

We're talking about a Jesus who understands what it means to go through family issues, to lose a dad.

We're talking about a Jesus who is betrayed.

He understands the struggles and the trials we go through.

Does he understand the horrors of waiting for your cell phone to update?

No.

Or not having Wi-Fi, you know, big issues in life?

No.

But when we look at what the true challenges of life are, he was ridiculed, he was ostracized, he was belittled, he was looked down on.

All of these things.

So when we go to him with our challenges, our struggles, our lack, our heartbreak, our concerns, our whatever it is, he goes, I get it.

Did I go through it exactly like you at the heart?

Yes, I did.

I know what it looks like.

And we have a high priest who understands as well.

Now, Israel's high priest was the main leader in the worship of God.

He was the mediator, like we said earlier, of God and man.

If you want to look this up, Exodus 31, 2 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 26, all spell out the role of the high priest.

He would go into the temple, into an area of the temple known as the Holy of Holies.

It was the most holy place.

And only the high priest could go in there, and it represented God's presence.

The early high priests entered God's presence in the most holy place once a year.

Leviticus 16 spells all this out if you want to do some research on it.

But he would have to come back out for two reasons.

One, he was human, and there were things as humans you need to leave the holy place to take care of human needs.

But then, secondly, the presence of God was described as so thick, so heavy, it would kill anyone who stayed in it too long.

They honestly, this is true, they would put bells at the bottom of the robes of the priest.

And you could hear the priest walk around jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle.

When the presence of God hit, you would hear jingle, jingle, jingle, thud.

They had a rope tied around the priest's waist and they would pull him out so that he didn't die in that place because God's presence was so thick.

Jesus isn't just our high priest, he is our great high priest.

He enters a temple, he enters and is the most holy place, and his temple that he's talking about is not made by brick and mortar.

By contrast, Jesus, our priest, our high priest, has entered God's presence in heaven, the holy place, and he remains there forever.

We're going to talk more about this in Hebrews 7 and Hebrews 9 in the weeks to come.

Because of this, the writer of Hebrews says pretty sternly, we come boldly.

Another translation says, We come firmly.

This is a clear call to an enduring commitment.

It's an ongoing entering into his presence, an act of belief in and an allegiance to Jesus.

Because there's no high priest that can take his place.

There's no holy man, there's no one you can watch on a podcast or on YouTube where you go, wow, that guy gets it more than Jesus.

It's not happening.

Jesus is not only our high priest, he's our holy place.

He's our refuge in the presence of God.

Colossians chapter 2, verse 19 warns believers to hold fast to Christ as the head of the church, from whom the entire spiritual body is nourished, supported, and grows by God's power.

Colossians 2:19

He's it, he's the one who is our life source.

2 Thessalonians 2, 15 says, So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teaching we passed on to you, whether by mouth or by letter, hold tight to who Jesus is.

Verse 15 makes it clear that he understands our high priest, understands our weaknesses, our human pull towards sin, because he faced all the same tests we do.

He was tempted with all the essential aspects of sin, such as lust, greed, unforgiveness, dishonesty.

And yet it says he did it without failing.

This makes him a compassionate and faithful high priest.

He gets it.

He did not sin.

Jesus is unlike earthly high priests who had to go and give offerings for themselves first.

Why?

Because they sinned.

If I were to pull the room today and say, how many of you sinned in some way, shape, or form this week?

There'd be one or two hands to go up.

Shoot, it's 9.38 in the morning, and some of you are well on your way in the sin category.

But he did it.

How in the world is someone who goes through everything we went through and is fully human, not just survive, but thrive and overcome.

And the words we used last week is victorious in these areas.

He strengthens us to be overcomers, and in those areas where we come up short, he's compassionate and he understands.

Forgiveness is available.

Hey God, I know you understand, so I can drop the errors and I can drop my King James English prayers and I can come right to you with confidence, knowing you hear me.

Don't try and impress them.

Don't read them your resume.

Don't use big words.

Just talk to your high priest who gets it.

Verse 16, the the verb used there, let us come, can be translated with an ongoing action.

Let us continually come into his presence.

See, back then they had one day a week to get right with one day a year to get right with God, the Day of Atonement.

That's the only time the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies.

For us, we can go at any time.

We have access to God through Jesus at any time.

Don't feel like you have to wait till Sunday.

Don't think you have to be in a special place.

Or once again, use religious language.

You have access to the throne of God.

Forget the White House.

Forget Rome or any other holy or religious city.

You have Jesus.

You have access right where you are to the Holy of Holies.

Go boldly into his presence.

So, first of all, we have we approach confidently.

Secondly, we trust Jesus' authority because God appointed him.

Now we see Jesus being the great high priest wasn't just random.

Verse uh starting at verse 1 of chapter of the next chapter.

It says, Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God.

So to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

He is able to deal gently, interesting word there, gently with those who are ignorant and gone astray.

That's us, by the way.

Ignorant and gone astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.

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

And no one takes this honor on himself, but he re rev uh receives it when God, 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.

Now this Melchizedek guy is really interesting.

But we're saving that for another week because there's a whole portion of Hebrews that's going to dive in to this historical figure of Melchizedek.

Stay tuned.

The high priest, once again, going back, was he perfect?

No.

The earthly high priests had to make things right for their own sin, their own heart rebellion against God before they could do it for anyone else.

And yet Jesus was already there.

We see kind of a run-through, a list here of what was required of the high priest.

First, once again, uh they had to be one of the people.

News flash, that's why Jesus had to become human.

Secondly, um, second requires they had to offer sins on their own behalf because they had sinned.

So they had to be cleansed.

Thirdly, on the day of atonement, the high priest was required to offer sacrifices for his household and for the people.

That's from Leviticus.

And then fourthly, the role of for high priest is to be appointed by God.

You didn't get to pick to be the high priest yourself.

The writer of Hebrews is saying, hey, that's exactly what happened with Jesus.

It's a quote from Psalm 2 and Psalm 110.

And it's showing God had the precise moment in the precise person, in the person of Jesus coming to earth.

In bodily form.

God in bodily form.

Now I want you to pause for a minute because it's real easy to get buried in the text right here and pontificate all the deep things of it.

But I want you to think about a Hebrew person reading this right now.

Remember, on one side, they're being persecuted terribly, being blocked out of the temple, which was not only the place of worship, but it was also the place of community.

And they're being blocked out of there, and at the same time, they're being blocked out by the Romans because they're like, we got no king but Caesar.

And you're claiming this Jesus guy.

So a Hebrew person is reading this, going, Oh dang.

When I go and hang out with my Jewish friends and they start talking about the high priest and the day of atonement and the sacrifices, I've got to say, you're wrong.

There's only one high priest, and he's the great high priest.

There's only one sacrifice, and it's already been made in Jesus.

There's only one holy of holies, and it's not the place you're going to visit in Jerusalem.

It's the person of Jesus.

You are asking to be persecuted by holding on to the very things we're reading about right now.

You are asking to be tortured by Rome in recognizing one who is greater than Caesar.

Remember, Caesar saw himself as God, at the very least, a God.

And yet John writes No, Jesus is King.

When you go to work tomorrow, these very words you're reading back then would have gotten you fired and maybe put in jail.

When you see extended family who may have the same religious background you do, but then you take the extreme statement of saying, glad you went to church, glad you sang the songs, glad you did the practices, but do you know Jesus would get you kicked out of your own family.

We read these and we can get context and we can study theology, but we have to remember what this cost them.

Greater than Moses, greater than angels, greater than creation, greater than the emperor, greater than the high priest, and a greater message than all the prophets combined.

This is a greater high priest who fulfills what every Hebrew, what every Jewish person was waiting for in the Messiah.

You see, the Messiah would come that they were waiting for, and he was to have one mission, and that was to redeem, to buy back, to set free God's people for himself.

The Hebrews were waiting for it to happen under their breath that the Romans would be kicked out, if not made extinct.

And yet Christians said, No, it's already happened, and it's in Jesus.

And Jesus does this for us.

And this brings us to the final clarifier from this passage on how to approach God.

Approach boldly because he gets us and he's experienced what we have.

Approach trusting Jesus, Jesus' authority, and understand that God assigned him.

And then thirdly, you can approach depending on Jesus to save because he completed his mission through suffering.

He did what the Messiah was supposed to do.

Jesus' suffering was a foundation for his superior priesthood.

He was not only the sacrificer as the priest, he was the sacrifice himself.

He did it himself for us.

Any parent in the room says, I would be willing to suffer something for my kids.

How many parents are in the room?

Can I see a show of hands?

Okay.

My guess is if I said your kids suffering, you can go through something so they can walk.

They can learn the lesson.

Little note there.

They can learn the lesson, but they can walk from their struggles.

I doubt there are too many parents in the room and go, no, let them suck them up and struggle.

But take a stranger.

Take someone who's been opposed to you.

Take someone who's persecuted you.

Take someone who hasn't shown that compassion and that mercy.

Would you be willing to do the same?

Jesus did.

He suffered as the Messiah.

Verse 7.

Chapter 5.

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears.

Think about the cross.

Not only is he referred to as the Son of God, the Son of Man, but he's also the Son of Suffering.

He offered those up to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Interesting statement right here.

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.

Is this saying that Jesus had to learn obedience?

That he was disobedient.

Is this saying that he wasn't perfect until he suffered?

Another translation of this passage says he suffered perfectly.

He suffered perfectly.

He was obedient through all of the sufferings, every step of the way.

Could he have bailed?

Scripture tells us he could have called angels to put an end to it.

But he knew in doing that it would break the tie, it would break the opportunity for us to be right with God.

His mission, the whole purpose, he came.

He could have called, maybe some of you remember the song, he could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set himself free.

But he went to the cross on Calvary, he died for you and me.

He went through all this, this suffering as he goes through.

He suffers perfectly.

Learning obedience is going through the process and staying obedient through the whole thing.

Jesus wasn't disobedient before his suffering, but he walked his path of human experience all the way to his death on the cross in complete submission to the Father's will.

The call to us is walk in the way that we've seen our great high priest walk.

Stay faithful along the way.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 6, it says, who being, this is referring to Jesus, it says, who being in very nature God did not consider with God, uh equality with God, something to be used to his advantage.

Philippians 2:6

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

There is nothing more embarrassing in the Roman culture than being crucified on a cross.

Because when they crucified you, it wasn't like we see in the picture where you kind of bow your head and your hands are out and you know your feet are crossed a little bit with a little loincloth on.

First of all, it was very public.

It was out in front of everyone.

There was almost never, if ever, there was never a loincloth.

So you were out there, naked as could be, and people walk by and you're not super high above everyone.

You're at a level where people can almost look you in the eye and they're spitting on you and they're mocking you as they walk by, and you are known as the lowest of the low.

And Jesus went through all of that for us.

I want to take a peek ahead as we close now, before we take communion, which we'll do in just a moment.

But I want to peek ahead to Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.

Hebrews 12:1

Because when we get there, it's gonna really resonate with who Jesus is.

But I want us to read this in light of what the writer of Hebrews is saying about Jesus as our high priest.

Hebrews 12, 1 and 2.

It says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.

Let us run with perseverance and keep running.

The race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning and shame.

This was embarrassing for anyone who went through it.

It says he goes through it and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition for ours from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

When you say, God, do you understand what I'm going through?

I hope in our heart we go, do I understand what he went through?

God, do you understand what I'm facing and who's coming against me?

In the back of your mind, let it be a refresher to go, God, do I realize who came up against you and who was in your face?

God, do you realize the pain I'm in and the struggle?

And people are saying there's no hope.

And for Jesus, it was a cross that many people looked at and said, This is the end, there's no hope.

But he endured the cross, despising its shame.

So what do we do?

Verse two of that passage, let's fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, the starter, the launcher of our and perfecter of our faith.

Jesus, you went through it.

You not only survived it, you were victorious in it.

And we can be too.

If you need help, you can ask the person beside you.

But before we take the communion together, I'd like to stop and just remember what Jesus went through.

What are you going through now?

What feels impossible or near impossible?

One, we have a high priest who's gone through it, and he's like, I get you.

I get what you're going through.

I hear you.

I face these struggles.

Family, I get it.

Job, I get it.

Friendships, betrayal, I get it.

Remember, this body represents someone who gets what we've gone through.

And then, secondly, remember, this body represents a high priest, a great high priest who has made it possible for us to have the relationship with God.

If you're going through it, remember he did too.

What you're facing, remember, not only did he go through it, but he says, follow me, I'll get you through this.

I've been there.

Follow me, I'll get you through this.

It may be not be pretty, it may be pretty murky, but follow me.

Enduring the cross, despising its shame, remembering the joy of the outcome ahead our eternal rest.

Could you take a moment, please, just bow your head?

And what is it you need to lift up to Jesus and say, God, you get this.

Help me through it.

I'll speak for myself.

Jesus, it's so easy to become numb to what you went through because of what I'm going through.

It can feel like what I'm going through is a multiplier of what you faced.

And yet you went through it all in such an extreme fashion, and you did it perfectly.

God, I know I don't do it perfectly.

We don't do it perfectly.

But we have a high priest who understands that, a great high priest.

So we come to you humbly.

Father, we ask that our hearts are right with you and with other people.

Where they're not right, show us.

And Lord, help us to remember that this broken body that this bread represents, this blood that this cup represents, came at a cost.

Came at a struggle.

And yet, joy is on the other side of it, even for you.

You didn't look forward to the struggle, but you knew it was on the other side.

God, as we take this, we do this humbly in remembrance of what you went through, that we could have victory.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

So this is what we call believers' communion.

If you're a follower of Jesus today, you recognize what Jesus has done for you.

If you're in the room and maybe you're not there, I just can encourage you to put the cup to the side.

No judgment.

But this is something Jesus said, hey, let's do this as believers together.

On the night that he was betrayed after having dinner with his disciples, he took a loaf of bread and he broke it.

And he says, This is my body, which is being broken for you.

You can take and eat the bread.

But then he took a goblet of wine, our juice, and he says, This juice represents the blood that will be splattered, that will drip from my veins, as my back is ripped open, as the beatings happen, as the crown of thorns is on my head.

But I go through this, despising its shame for the joy that's on the other side, both for him and being back in his father's presence, and for us with eternal peace.

You can drink the juice.

Father, help us to never take it lightly.

Either the moment of communion, which you told us to do in remembrance of you, or the price that you paid for us to have the freedom we have.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.