Believers can do something very bad. Christ intercedes in even those cases. He saves to the uttermost. Sin repulses God, and yet He is drawn to the guilty one. (Hebrews 7:25; Luke 13:11; Psalm 103:10-13; Psalm 130:1-8)

Speaker: Thomas Schaller
Date: 2026-11-11
Time: Wed 7:00 pm
Sermon #13238

P. Schaller –

Wow. Yeah. Thanks for your prayers. Yeah. What a great time we had over in Hungary. And P. Barry and P. Phil Norman, myself traveled to Hungary and saw a lot of our old friends and then folks from Italy, Albania, Austria, Romania, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Germany came. 

 

And we had a little mini Eurocon in Hungary and felt the Spirit of God and God’s clarity and purity of mind and thought was so edifying. And I really say the prayers of the Body were answered and we had prayer today for the persecuted church here at the church, as they do every Wednesday I think. Pirjo, is that right? Every Wednesday. And I appreciate so much what God is doing. 

 

Sunday I listened to James Bryson and then Justin and then P. Love on Wednesday, and wow! It’s amazing. I’m just so thankful for all this good – what God is doing. Like it says in Ephesians 4 that God, he does the work of the ministry. It’s like beautiful.

 

Monday, we drove down to Szeged, Hungary and had a great time with the church there and drove back that night and flew out yesterday morning. And then in the car just talking and fellowshipping was so good. I want to share tonight from Hebrews 7 and also my voice is improving day by day. Can you hear it? Yeah, it’s good. So thankful for that. 

 

We could, we could put up a map of Hungary I think on the screen. We have the country, the map. You know how we like maps, right? So, it’s a little country in central Europe and about the size of Pennsylvania and surrounded I think nine countries around it and it’s a unique language. It has its own different from Slavic languages and the Roman languages. 

 

What’s that? What is it? Yeah. I don’t know. Anyway, what a great, great people and what a good time and so many memories and history of the work there. And the work of God is the same everywhere. 

 

And I want you to see this about Christ being the intercessor. Hebrews 7:25. And I want to draw your attention to that phrase, the uttermost. Save them to the uttermost. So, Hebrews 7:25 as we are thinking about God’s love and his nature. So he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. So, this phrase save them to the uttermost and that word, this phrase is one other place in our New Testament, “save them to the uttermost.” And what does that mean?

 

So, this is vs. 25, “that come unto God.” We come unto God by him as seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. So, Christ is living and there are two things. Actually, we could say three. Session. Christ, what is he doing in heaven? He is in session on our behalf. He is in relationship with the Father, and we can call that a session.

That God, Christ is there on our behalf just existing in the nature of God and in the presence of God on our behalf. He is in – so if anybody would bring a charge against us, that charge cannot have any authority because Christ is in session as an Advocate. 

 

This is the second word as an Advocate on our behalf. Christ is there in advocacy for us. So, no matter what would ever happen in your life, no matter what bad sin you committed, let me make a point on that. 

 

Many times we as Christians, we sin and our sins are relatively small. I think, I’m not sure about you, we may tell a lie. We may be proud. These are relatively small sins. They are big in a way that all sin is big. 

 

But then like if you could imagine you sinning terribly, like doing something absolutely terrible because could you imagine doing something absolutely horrible as a Christian? I hope you can because that is very biblical to understand that believers sometime do very bad things. And of course, David is a good example for us. If you were doing something very bad, then do you know this teaching that Christ is in heaven on our behalf in session with the Father as an Advocate.

 

And then the third thing. He intercedes. He is in intercession for us. And I want to explain that a little bit. He is in intercession and he is able to save us to the uttermost. So, if we could put up on the screen where we read that phrase. Now, I’m like a little bit lost. Sorry about this. Because I hate to ask you where it is cuz – wait a minute. Yeah, I have, okay. All right. Yeah, I found it. Luke 13:10-11, and we have, we have this phrase in vs. 11. 

 

Vs. 11. That’s the phrase in the Greek that is the same as in Hebrews 7, and it means this. That she bent over by a demon for 18 years. Like she’s bent over like this, and she’s not able to lift herself up to the uttermost. Like she’s not able to reach her full height. She wasn’t able to be to the maximum. 

 

And this is when God – it’s used in a bad way for us that when your sin goes to the maximum, when you are a sinner to use the illustration. You are a sinner and then you reach the heights of your sin. That your sin is exceedingly bad, that he is able to save you and makes intercession for you when your sin is to the maximum. 

 

Now, the meaning of this is important because it relates to Psalm 103 and also Psalm 130. So, turn with me please there. First, we’ll go to 103, and then I’ll make a good point here. I believe this is good. Thank you, Lord. 

 

There’s a paradox about God because when you have God and you have sin, you have, he, it’s repulsive to God. It’s unclean. It’s sin. And God is holy. So, he can’t look on it. When Adam sinned, he lost Adam. And so there’s that holiness and sin are in opposition to each other. 

 

But now we’re reading something that is paradoxical and that is God is drawn to the sinner. God is drawn to somebody who is sinning. God is compassionate, merciful, loving, saving, caring, makes intercession for when your sin goes to like full extent. God is there, not running away from you, but coming to you, drawn to you to love you, to pity you, to care about you, to save you. 

 

So, that’s what I want to say here. Look at Psalm 103:10. “He has not dealt with us after our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Vs. 11-13. Notice you have distance in verse 11. Like one way of illustrating it is distance and another way is family relationship. 

 

Vs. 13 is family. Vs. 14. So, what is the meaning of this? God is drawn to us. God is drawn to us. He’s not running away. Here is there to pity us, to be drawn to us, to love us, to forgive us, to restore us. God is of great mercy and great compassion. 

 

One other place, Psalm 130. Turn there with me. Psalm 130:1-4. The depths of depression, depths of despair. Vs. 2-3. So, if you judge me, there’s no way. I have no answer. I have no way to go. Nothing. I cannot. I have nothing. If you mark my iniquity, who will stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared.

 

Two things about that word “feared.” There is forgiveness with you that you might, this this, this is the point of it. There is forgiveness with you. I have sinned. I have sinned. You pity me. You are drawn to me to love me. That’s who you are, God. You are drawn to me and you make intercession and you are an Advocate and you are in session on my behalf. Why?

 

So that I, you would be feared. In two words, that you, I would respect you. #1. Reverence. Reverence. And #2, relationship. I am forgiven so that I could respect you and relate to you as my Father. You’re my Father. You’re a loving Father. You’re the one that forgives me. You’re the one that’ll never leave me, never forsake me. That is a great understanding of God. 

 

And I’m so thankful that God has taught us these things through the decades with P. Stevens and the finished work and through men of God through history. And that’s in our time we’re embracing this character of God and that we love him because he did this for us. 

 

If I go to the full extent of my sin, you ever live to make intercession for me. You will always be there to restore me. You will always forgive me. If you marked my iniquity, I would have nowhere to stand. But because you are forgiving me and forgiving me, then I have a relationship that is at the very heart of my life. No matter what would happen, we know God. Jeremiah 9:23-24. No matter what would happen, we have a relationship with God, because he will forgive me to the full extent of whatever happens in our life. 

 

There’s no way that anything could change in that relationship. That is rock solid. That is rock solid. That is God loving us with an everlasting love and that can never change. So, vs. 5-6. It means that my anticipation in life is rooted in my anticipation of God’s great grace. That God’s love and that he wants to teach me love. He wants to teach me that I am loved, that we are loved, and that we love the living God who has done this for us. 

 

My soul waits for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning, more than life itself, nature. Anything the world could ever give me cannot compare to what we have received through Jesus Christ. I say more than they that watch for the morning. Vs. 7-8. Amen. Would you pray with me, please? (Prayer)

 

Before we closed this service, let’s have a few minutes of prayer and we can do that together. (Prayer). Would you all stand with me and just put up your hands and worship God and thank him and trust him and say to him, talk to him. Everybody just talk to God and praise him and worship him. Yes, Lord, thank you. And then the worshippers can come up and lead us in a song.

 

And then turn to your neighbor and tell them how much you love God, how much you love your neighbor, how much you love your church, how much you love the Word, how much you love the God of all mercy. Praise God. Go ahead. Talk it up if you want in Jesus’ name. Thank you, Lord. 

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