Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 to 18. And I'm going to be focusing on the second part of this text, 16 to 18, this morning. "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

For surely he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." Let's pray. Gracious Father, we come this morning desiring to worship you, desiring to hear from you. We pray that what you have anointed in these words, would judge the thoughts and intent of our own hearts.

Help us to see clearly, Lord God. Help us to understand. Help us, Lord God, to desire with all our might to humble ourselves before your throne, that we may be pleasing aroma, pleasing sacrifice in your presence. I pray that you will bless this time and all those who have come to be ministered by you in your word.

That we would have fertile hearts, that your word would land on soil that will produce fruits thirty, sixty, and hundredfold. So we entrust this time to you, asking for your help, asking for your blessing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Something that I forgot to announce is next Sunday we have a Father's Day celebration.

And so if you are a father in a church or soon to be a father, or you're going to be bringing a father, next Sunday we're going to be having special lunch for them. And just like for Mother's Day, the mothers and the children will also have pizza, lesser lunch, but there will be lunch for you if you sign up for that.

And so please sign up. If you haven't signed up, we need to know exactly how many people we need to prepare for. And so our logistics team is getting this set up. So please let them know if you are planning to come next Sunday, or if you plan to bring guests, let them know also.

And that will take place right after the second service next week. Our family actually is practicing or celebrating Father's Day today, because next Sunday, Phillip's family are going to be out of town, and so we decided that we're going to do this. And usually on Father's Day, we end up visiting my father's grave, and we usually go there and pay our respects, and then afterwards we'll come back to our house and we'll do – this is what we traditionally do.

I know most of you guys know, but the older I get, the more I think about my dad. And the reason why I think about my dad is because he also was a pastor. And my grandfather was a pastor, he was a pastor, and I'm the third generation pastor.

But the reason why I think about him more as I get older is because I don't remember my dad that well when he was in his 30s, obviously. And I don't – very vaguely I remember him. In my 40s – in his 40s, I do remember, but again, I was too young, so I wasn't really paying attention much.

But as I creep into my 50s, I have very vivid memories of when my dad was in his 50s. He was in the thick of ministry, and my dad was also a reluctant pastor. He didn't sign up to be a pastor. His dad, my grandfather, thought that he had the best character to be a pastor.

When I was younger, the reason why I couldn't relate to my dad is because my dad's personality was nothing like me. Philip, my younger brother, is more like my dad than I am. I'm more like my mom in character. Everything has to be done right away. That's my mom.

My dad was exactly the opposite. So when I was younger, I admired him, respected him, but there was not a lot of things that I could relate to because we were so different. As I get older, knowing that my dad was reluctant, and yet he embraced his role, he had genuine faith, but his ultimate, the real desire was to be a doctor.

He had the good enough grades, and he wanted to get into med school, but my grandfather told him that you should go into ministry. And so my dad submitted to my grandfather, went into ministry, got a seminary degree, and then he came to the United States to get his doctorate so that he could become a professor.

So being a pastor, local church pastor, was not something he wanted. It just happened in the context of pursuing his degree, and while he was pursuing his degree, he decided to pastor some churches, and there are years that I remember he was a pastor of a very large church, and then there were years, many, many years, where it was a very small, struggling church while he was teaching seminary, and this was kind of his background.

So when I was younger, I couldn't relate to any of that stuff. I wasn't a Christian, and I saw a lot of things that was happening in the church, and had a very negative view, but again, I didn't think much about what was happening and his experience as a pastor, but the older I get, I have very vivid memories of him at my age.

And so every once in a while, I would think, you know, it'd be great, and he passed away about 10 years ago, and every once in a while, I'd think, and again, it's Father's Day, and then his birthday is coming up soon, and so it kind of makes me think, like, wow, you know, it'd be great if he was here.

I can ask him, or at least hear from him, his perspective and what he experienced. I share all of this because though he's not here, I think about, I have memories of him. I have memories of him at my age, and it helps me, even though it's not a personal conversation, it helps me to think that somebody walked in these shoes before me, and then before him, somebody walked in his shoes.

And so indirectly, it gives me a great amount of comfort and strength to know that this is in our family, that my dad, to me, from a distance, set the path for me to go. Again, he was reluctant, I came into ministry reluctant, and so this is, you know, what God has given us as a lot in life, and he remained faithful to the day that he died.

And so it gives me strength to even just think about that. The reason why I say all of this is because the text that we're looking at tells us that this is Jesus' incarnation, and the primary reason why he did, Jesus did what he did, was to step in our shoes so that he can help us.

Paul says, Apostle Paul says in his letters, that he has become all things to all men, so that by all means he could save some. Those are not original words of Apostle Paul. Paul is simply mimicking what happened to him. All his life, as a faithful Jew, as a Pharisee, he thought he was serving God, but then when he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, for three days, he was probably contemplating, that man was God?

Why would God come here? Why would he walk among us? And so in those three days when he was blinded and he was contemplating and repenting and his world was being flipped upside down, he probably wrestled with the same idea. Why did God become man? The answer is pretty clear, it's because he loved us.

Our Father in heaven loved us enough to send his only begotten Son, take on human form, our frailty, so that he can become a sympathetic high priest. Verse 16 says that he wasn't to the angels, but the descendants of Abraham, that he sent his only begotten Son to help.

This is all connected to the previous chapter where he says that Jesus is greater than the angels. He's kind of wrapping up his argument about Jesus being greater than the angels, but as he is wrapping it up, he's not just saying Jesus is greater, not only is Jesus greater, his love for us is greater than the angels.

It is to us that he has sent his only begotten Son. And that's why in 1 Peter 1.12, Peter says, "It was revealed to them, the prophets, that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things in which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look." You know what that means when the angels were longing to look?

They were coveting. They were looking at the plan of salvation for you and I, and the prophets were longing to see what is this? Why would the Son of God fulfill this? But even the angels, as they were looking into it, said, "What is this? Why would God do this?" The previous passage that we looked at, the text that we looked at, it gave us the first part of why he came.

In verse 14, it says, "Since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death." That is the devil. He tasted death, which he could not do as God. He needed to live a sinless, perfect life, taste death on our behalf, and then conquer the power of death for those who proclaim him as Lord and Savior, that we also may be free from this death.

He said that was the intention of his incarnation. The second part of that, in verse 17, he says, "Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in all things, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest." Not only did he taste death to deliver us from the power of death, he became a merciful and faithful high priest.

And he could not have done that. He could not have done that simply as God. He had to be a mediator, because a mediator is an individual who is able to mediate between two parties. If you've ever been in a lawsuit and two parties come together, a mediator, an outside objective mediator is hired to stand in between, that they can understand the arguments of both sides, so that they can mediate and bring them together.

You don't bring somebody from your side, or somebody who's on the other side. You bring somebody in the middle who can understand both sides. So Jesus came as a man, because he already knows who God is. He's the second person of the Trinity, but in order to represent us and mediate us between us and this holy God, he became man.

But you know, one of the things that we studied this year, about doing an inductive Bible study, we have to ask a lot of questions. If you really want to dig and understand, not just kind of skim over it, but you have to ask questions. So if you're reading this text, one of the first questions that I hope you would ask is, he said he became like us, made like his brethren in all things.

In all things. Don't just skim over that. What does he mean by all things? Many of you are over 33. He's only lived to 33. So if you're 34, Jesus never lived up to 34. If you're 40, Jesus never lived up to 40. If you're a grandparent, he's never been married, he's never had kids, so he's never had grandkids.

How much of our struggle as parents is raising kids? Jesus never raised kids. So how could he know our struggle? When he says he was made like us in every way, I mean, that sounds like an exaggeration. How often we think like Jesus could not understand. I mean, he was a man.

That's half the congregation in here that isn't a male. So what do you mean all things? My struggles as a female is unique. He was never a female, so he wouldn't understand. Many of us are Asian. He wasn't Asian. He was Jewish. Some of us are Caucasian. He wasn't Caucasian either.

Some of us are Hispanic. He wasn't Hispanic. He was Jewish. A Middle Eastern Jewish man from 2,000 years ago who died at the age of 33, who was never married, never had kids. How can he possibly understand me? What does he mean that he became like us in every way?

Well, you have to keep reading that because he qualifies what he means by all things. He was made like his brethren in all things so that, okay, that's really important because the psaltic basically answers that question, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. His whole point of incarnation and experiencing humanity is so that he may become a faithful and merciful high priest.

So what he experienced was for the purpose of mediating. It's for mediation. So his humanity wasn't simply so that every single person who suffers and struggles and has difficulties in life, that Jesus can come alongside and you can cry on his shoulder. Not to say that that doesn't happen.

Not to say that God doesn't invite us to do that. But his primary purpose of his humanity, his incarnation, is to mediate between us and God. In fact, he explains it even further. In the things pertaining to God, he experienced all things. To mediate in the things pertaining to God.

First Timothy 2, 5-6 is that for there is one God and one mediator, also between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He doesn't say God. He specifies that Jesus is man. That the mediation took place. The reason why he became a man is so that he could be that mediator.

And he became the perfect mediator. Because nobody can mediate us for God. Because God, only God can do that. Only God can represent God. Every other person would simply be a messenger. But Jesus stands between us and God. And only man can represent man. Jesus lived a sinless, perfect life as a man and to this now he stands as a mediator.

But we have to understand, we go a little bit further than that. Because in Hebrews 7, 24-25, Jesus on the other hand, because he continues forever, holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore he is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

You know one of the common questions that people have is how will our eternity be different than the Garden of Eden? Because God made us sinless at the Garden of Eden and yet we fell. What's going to guarantee that when we are in eternity that this is going to happen again?

And that the cycle of falling and redemption, falling and redemption may happen through eternity? Well the answer is made clear in Hebrews chapter 7. That Jesus the mediator was not one time thing that happened in justification and then it's done. He says what? His priesthood is what? Permanent. His mediation it says is permanent.

That he stands before us and God interceding for us, how long? For eternity. You know what that means? Whether he comes in glory or whether we go to glory from our death, when we meet Jesus, we're not going to meet the spiritual Jesus. We're going to meet the man Jesus.

Then the scripture says that he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped and he became nothing and took on human form. That was permanent. Well what does it mean? At the end of that he says well because of that he was exalted to glory. He was exalted to glory as a man.

Why would God need to be exalted to glory? That's who he is. It's not a description of God who fell and then was raised back up. It's a description of the humanity he took on. And then because he was humbled, God exalted him as a man and now he sits at the right hand of his father mediating, interceding on our behalf for eternity.

Our justification was not something that happened 2,000 years ago. Our justification is not something that happened when you became a Christian, when you raised your hand or accepted Christ. The scripture describes our justification as ongoing intercession by Jesus Christ for eternity. And that's the difference between our Garden of Eden and our eternity.

So after we die physically and we are in eternity with God, 500 million years later we will just as much be in need of Christ as we are today. His mediation isn't just when we are in this flesh. For eternity he stands as a mediator. You understand the depth of what he is saying?

He didn't just come temporary, took on human form, and then did his job and went back home to his father. The Bible describes his sacrifice as an eternal sacrifice. And he continues to intercede. It's not simply when we are done with our flesh, Jesus' job is done, so therefore he is going to just relax in eternity and be worshipped by creation.

The Bible says he will continue to be interceding on our behalf. Does that blow your mind? It's not just temporary. His sacrifice is eternal. He says he did all that. He experienced humanity in order to become a faithful, merciful high priest in the things pertaining to God and then he says to make propitiation for the sins of his people.

The word propitiation basically means that a party has been offended and something has to be done to appease the anger of the one who has been offended. Christ came, took on human form, lived a sinless life. He tasted death on our behalf in order to satisfy the wrath of God.

The primary reason behind his incarnation is our salvation, to appease the wrath of God. 1 Timothy 1, 15-16, Paul says, "It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Apostle Paul wasn't saved because he had the most potential. It wasn't because of his Roman citizenship.

It wasn't because of his status, because he was a Pharisee, that he knew the law better than anybody else. Apostle Paul says it's because he was the foremost of sinners. Before Paul became a Christian, ask any Christian at that time who they thought was the chief sinner. Who was the one persecuting Jesus the most?

Who hated the Christians more than anybody else? They would have easily chosen Paul because he took the responsibility over Stephen's death. He was the one who instigated the persecution and wanted to jail, beat, and kill the Christians. He got the approval of the leaders of Israel, got an army, chased them down onto Damascus until Jesus strikes him over the head, and then he becomes a Christian.

He said, "He chose me because I was the worst of sinners." People knew how much I hated Jesus. And the only reason he was chosen is to highlight Jesus' mission for the gospel. If he can save him, if Jesus can be merciful to that sinner, he can save me too.

That's why he was chosen. He wasn't the greatest of preachers. I'm sure there were other men who had more money than he did. He could have chosen somebody who was maybe a part of the royal family. I mean, Apostle Paul, yes, he was a Pharisee. Yes, he had great education.

But couldn't Jesus have converted Caesar himself? It wasn't because of his great potential. It was because he was a sinner. And that's why Jesus says in Matthew 9, 6, and Mark 2, and Luke 5, when they brought the paralytic to be healed, Jesus, instead of healing them, healing him, he says, "Your sins are forgiven." They didn't understand the mission of Jesus.

As long as Jesus was healing people, opening the eyes of the blind, healing the lepers, people loved him. But when he began to speak about forgiving sins, they started getting offended. When he began to tell these Jews who had believed him, "If you believe in the Son, if you abide in my word, you shall know the truth, truth shall set you free," they got offended.

What do you mean, "We need to be set free"? They didn't fully understand his mission. Jesus didn't come to save mankind from slavery. Horrendous things were happening under slavery even at that time. He didn't come to save women who were being abused by their husband. Horrendous things were happening at that time.

He didn't come to save people from poverty. He didn't come to save us from the wickedness of the Roman government. His primary purpose is to propitiate for our sins. That's why he became our mediator. That's why he says, "When the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Not freedom from poverty, not freedom from marriage problems, not freedom from relationships, not freedom from economy, not freedom from the government.

When the Son sets you free from your sins, you will be free indeed. That's why the beginning of the gospel is not, "Are you hurt and broken? Come to Jesus." Are you in despair? Come to Jesus. Do you have a hard time with life? Come to Jesus. Do you have marriage problems?

Come to Jesus. That is not the beginning of the gospel. The beginning of the gospel is to bring us to conviction for our own sins. Gospels chapter 3, 10-18, "There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside.

Together, they have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues, they keep deceiving. The poison of ass is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness? Their feet are swift to shed blood.

Destruction and misery are in their path, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Who is he referring to? The Jews may have thought, "They must be talking about the Romans, because this doesn't sound like a Pharisee. They must be talking about the Assyrians, or the Babylonians, or the Greeks, or maybe the prostitutes, the tax collectors." But not the Pharisees, not faithful Jews.

That's exactly who he was referring to. In fact, he was referring to all mankind. What an offensive thing to say. Who would want to be a follower of Jesus if this is how Jesus describes the people who are interested in following him? Especially in our generation, where we're so concerned about our self-esteem.

Any little discouragement is the greatest sin. And yet the gospel begins by an indictment, because he didn't come to help us because our life is hard. He didn't come so that we can lean our heads on his shoulders and cry when things get tough. Now all of these things are true.

God invites us, because he cares about us. But the primary reason is to set us free from the bondage of our own sins. That's why David says in Psalm 51, verse 4, as he is repenting over his sin of what he did to Bathsheba and her husband, he says, "Against you and you only I have sinned." How can he say that?

He murdered somebody. He forcefully took somebody else's wife. How can he possibly say, "Only to you have I sinned"? I mean, he sinned, clearly he sinned against Uriah. Clearly he sinned against Bathsheba. He clearly sinned against their family. He sinned against Israel itself. He was the king. What kind of hypocrisy is this?

"Only to you have I sinned." What does he mean by this? He's not excusing himself and saying that he did nothing wrong to them. He's not saying that. What he is saying is ultimate sin was against God. Ultimate sin against God. That every sin that he commits ultimately is a cosmic rebellion against this holy God who created him to reflect his glory.

That's why he says, "To you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are justified when you speak and are blameless when you judge." You see where David is? David is exactly where Apostle Paul is trying to get the readers of Romans in Romans 3, 10 through 13.

It's me. It's not them. It's not the Assyrians. It's not the Babylonians. It's me. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner in need of your grace. Romans chapter 118, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." Christ came to mediate us, to protect us against the wrath of God.

If we miss that, if the church becomes anything less than that, all Jesus becomes is a security blanket that we run to when we are scared, tired, lonely, or in despair. Sometimes God causes us to be in despair so that we can recognize our sin. Sometimes God causes poverty so that we can recognize what we're truly bound by.

He will put us in fear. He will put us in terror. He will put us in desperation because God's primary reason why He came is to bring us to God, to mediate us between this holy God and sinful man. And if the church becomes anything less than that, if we get sidetracked from that, if it becomes a place where we meet our family, raise our children, do some good things, and feed the orphans, and yet we stray from this, you haven't just missed something important.

You've missed everything about what we are about, about why He came. Verse 18, it says, "He was tempted in that which He suffered." What a strange thing to say. You know, temptation itself means that you were coveting something, you desired something. How can God be tempted? He can't. He has everything.

He made everything. He can do everything. God does not covet. He experienced temptation because He took on human form. What a strange, strange thing for Satan to take Jesus up to the temple and say, "If you would just bow down to me, I will give you all of this." He created all of that.

I mean, what Satan was showing Jesus was not even 1%, .00001% maybe less than that, than what he did in the universe. And yet Satan, in his audacity, stupidity, thought possibly that he could tempt Jesus, that if you bow down to me, I will give you this. It's because Satan didn't see his deity.

For the first time in Satan's existence, he saw Jesus vulnerable in his humanity. Jesus came, took on human flesh. He experienced temptation. He suffered in order that he may become a merciful and faithful high priest. Hebrews 5, 8-10, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience." He learned obedience from things which he suffered and having been made perfect, meaning his natural purpose of why he came.

He experienced humanity. He became the perfect mediator. He became to all those who obey him the source of eternal salvation and being designated by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. He became the perfect high priest. That's why he came, to save us from the power of death and to become a permanent, merciful, faithful high priest who mediates for us for eternity.

Jesus became merciful because he suffered and he was tempted. You know, I found out, this is a survey that went out in 2018. They said that every year now, there's at least 1.4 million attempts of suicide, 1.4 million people per year. 47,173 are actually successful per day. Suicide, people who choose to take their own life.

In the last 10 years, the suicide rate in the United States has increased almost 5%. It's increasing. There's this many people who are broken. There's this many people who are in despair to the point where they believe ending this life is better. You know, recently I read an article about this young man who's 16 years old who took his life last year.

He was a baseball player at Coronado del Mar High School. Some of you guys know, it's Mission Viejo. And he wrote this long letter of why he committed suicide and it made national news. In his letter, I was combing through what he was writing and it was a common frustration of many teenagers.

Just the pressure of getting good grades. And any little mistake that he makes, he feels this pressure and he said he couldn't take it anymore and he took his life. And it made national news because his experience, his frustration is very common to many young men and women. In fact, when you look up the reasons for suicide, it may sound very mundane unless you're in the thick of things right now.

The most common suicide letters are about breakups in relationships, losing of jobs, financial problems, academic failure, bullying, and loneliness. Every single one of us have experienced some of this. Many of us probably experienced all of this. And these are the reasons why people take their life. Now if we're not emotionally attached to any of this and this is not the state of mind that we are in now, we may look at that and say, "Man, taking your life because you broke up?

Taking your life because you lost a job? I mean, we've lost jobs. Taking your life because you have financial problems? We've had financial problems. We've experienced some form of bullying and academic failure and you took your life for that?" Imagine if we feel that way, what God would think.

Consider what he has done. He created us. He separated us from all the other animals. He gave us his glory. He's allowing the sun to stay where it is and everything that was made and sustained for our life, for our life and enjoyment. And because this didn't go right or that didn't, because I don't know if we're going to pay my next bill, that we take our lives.

And we would expect God to say, "What's wrong with these people?" But that's not what he did. He took on human form and he walked in our shoes. He felt the pain. He felt the sorrow. He felt the loneliness. Hungry. Thirsty. Longing for his father. Friendships. He experienced all of that in order that he may be a merciful high priest.

That's why he says in 1 Peter 5, 7, "Cast all your anxieties upon him because he cares for you." He didn't just hammer and say, "What's wrong with you?" He had compassion when he heard our groaning and then he came and he walked among us. He was tempted in that which he suffered.

He learned obedience through his suffering. And that's why he became a sympathetic high priest that we can relate to. I told you that I felt like I had no channel to communicate with my dad. Part of it was language. You know, I can speak language, but I can... Not language.

I can speak Korean, you know, but I can't speak Korean the way I speak English. So usually when people hear me speak Korean, like for the first time, they say, "Oh, your Korean is really good." Until we have a deep conversation. And then we get deeper. We really want to express what I really feel.

I can't go beyond that because I don't have the vocabulary. And so people can tell right away I was raised here, not in Korea, once we get beyond the surface. So I feel for many of you because you're in that situation where your parents aren't good in English and you guys aren't good in your parents' mother tongue, so the communication is always limited.

So I always felt that distance. And I never had any kind of animosity. That's just what happened. I felt bad for them more than me. But as I get older, without a word being spoken, I understand my dad more than ever. And I know he would understand me because he was in my shoes all his life.

And I find comfort and strength to know that he was in my shoes and I'm going in his shoes. How much more to know the God who counts the hair on your head, who created you, who loved you, experience what we experienced when you and I was deserving of death.

He wasn't disgusted by us. He came toward us. How much more should we draw near to our Father's throne with confidence? But not only was he merciful, he said he was faithful. And that's the problem of mankind. You may have somebody in your life that is very, very merciful to you.

Your mom, your dad. You may have a really close friend who no matter what you do, you can rely on them. You've done horrendous things, said horrendous things, but they forgave you and they've been merciful to you. Usually it's our parents. You know, most people won't put up with our sins to that degree.

But no matter how merciful they have been to you, they have limitations to their faithfulness because they are also sinners. They also have their own problems. Even with the best of intentions, they will never fully understand you. They can never come to you fully. Not only was Jesus merciful, he was faithful.

In Hebrews 4, 15, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, in all things, as we are, yet without sin." He was merciful and yet he was faithful. That's why we can go to him for confidence.

That's why he became the perfect mediator. He represents the holy God in his perfectness. And he represents frail humanity in his frail humanity. How long? As long as you and I exist, he will be mediating on our behalf. Does that blow your mind? I know we knew the love of God and that's why we were attracted to him.

That's why we praise him. That's why we sing to him. That's why we study him. But when we first come to know the love of God, it's very superficial. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. All of that is true, but spiritual maturity and sanctification is knowing the depth and width and height of the love of Christ.

And when we begin to understand that we had a very tunnel vision and then the more we studied the Bible and why inductive Bible study is so important, that's a plug for our Philippines Bible study. Why this is so important is because the more we intently look upon it, we see the depth and the width and the length and height of the love of Christ.

And that's where sanctification happens. The more we are exposed to the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are changed. Let me read you this song. Andrew Peterson. It's a Christian song. You can't tell it's a Christian song because I'm only going to read the first part and then because he gets to the cross at the end, but I'm just going to read the first part.

You'll find your way. And basically it's a song that our father wrote for his growing son, recognizing that at one day he's going to grow up and experience hardship and live in this sinful world. And he's writing this song as an advice to his son. He says, "When I look at you, boy, I can see the road that lies ahead.

I can see the love and the sorrow, bright fields of joy, dark nights awake in a stormy bed. I want to go with you, but I can't follow. So keep to the old roads, keep to the old roads, and you'll find your way. Your first kiss, your first crush, the first time you know you're not enough.

The first time there's no one there to hold you. The first time you pack it all up and drive alone across America. Please remember the words that I told you. Keep to the old roads, keep to the old roads, and you'll find your way. You'll find your way." And you know the part that really gripped me was when he says, "The first time you know you're not enough." First time, what he means by that, when the despair is so deep.

And this pain is so real. And you have no way to help yourself. And the father's looking on that and says, "First time there's no one there to hold you." And as a child, the parent, if we could, we would take the pain for them. Every single one of you who have small children, taking them to get vaccines or shots, or they've broken their arms, and you see how much they hate to be there.

And they're screaming their heads off because they're screaming in fear and terror. How many of you parents thought to yourself, "I wish I could take your place." But you couldn't. That's what the father is saying. When you come to your wits end, and you come to realize for the first time you don't have it in yourself.

And there's nobody there to help you. Keep to the old roads. Keep to the old roads. And you'll find your way. You'll find your way. The old road he's talking about is the cross. The old road he's talking about is the path of Christ. This is why Jesus came.

None of us are smart enough. None of us are strong enough. None of us are old enough. None of us are experienced enough. We will all experience the fall of mankind one way or another. But when that happens, and maybe you are in that now, remember why Jesus came.

Before you go to the counselors, before you go to your friends, before you go to your leaders, before you go to your church, before you veg on Netflix, before you make your next travel plans, before you go to get your next meal, remember why Jesus came. He tasted death to free us from the bondage of our own sins and to become a sympathetic, merciful, faithful high priest on our behalf.

Come to Christ. Come to Christ. This is why he came. As our worship team leads us, I want to invite you to take some time to pray. I'm not exactly sure what all of you are going through at this time. It comes in waves at times. Sometimes it's harder than others.

But as I said, God will allow us to feel certain pains at times in order to highlight the cross. If that's you right now, I invite you, don't run to things, don't run to people, come to Christ, the mediator, merciful, faithful, sympathetic. Let's take some time to pray as we come before the Lord and ask him, "Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see you and love you and worship you." Let's take some time to pray as our worship.