What Are You Drawn To? Hebrews 4:14-16

Bro. Jesse Byrd preaches “What Are You Drawn To?” from Hebrews 4:14–16, reminding listeners to draw near to God with confidence, seeking His grace and mercy rather than the things of this world.

Message preached on April 19, 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Jesus, the Son of God, and his whole path on the high grief, which cannot be touched, but depends why it hurts. But with an all going since it like if we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and divine grace to help us in the time we need. I pray God that feelings of the congregation, I pray to the place. The Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

The time of my sermon this morning is, What are you drawn? What are you drawn? Everybody has an interest in their drawn. You think about it this morning as you grow older. That interest changes from one thing to another. You live, and once you get what you're drawn to, it becomes old and then you move on to the next thing. Something has your attention this morning. Something throughout this world. Many people have woke up this morning and realized that I had their attention. That there is life after death, and that life is whether you're going to be standing with God in his presence in heaven or you're going to be standing in hell, burning in hell. So this morning, some people have woke up and realize that their interest is not even in church. The interest is not on God. The interest is some worldly materialistic thing. And you think about it, everybody is all about give me to me now. They want things to happen right now, they want things to make God to make a way right now. And you think about it, the devil in this world will keep you occupied and humble you just as God will in some sense. The devil will do the same thing. The devil knows what we like in life, he knows what our attention is, he knows what's drawing us away from church, he knows what's drawing us away from God. And the devil, in some sense, this morning, will do the same thing as God will to give you what you need, what you want in life, instead of what you need, but what's got your attention and your heart this morning, the devil will do the same thing to give you that to keep you straight away from God. So it tells this morning the devil sees us hurting and gives us something to keep us away from God, but it won't last because it ain't the real thing. You see, uh many this morning are drawn to worldly things, and you think about it, many this morning are drawn to money. Uh, money can buy what you want, but not what you need in life. Uh, many people this morning is drawn to alcohol or drugs. Those things can help you temporarily, but not a permanent fix. Uh, people will get drunk, they'll get hired, and all these things to stop worrying about the problems right now, but when they get sober the next morning, they wake up, or they come down off that high water level, they come down and they realize that the problems have gotten worse, not better. So it's not a permanent fix. Many people this morning is drawn to greed. Uh, greed can help you gain, but it also may hurt people when you gain those things. You may hurt other people to gain greed this morning. Jealousy, many people is drawn to being jealous this morning, jealous over what their neighbors got, what their brothers got, their sisters got. Jealousy and greed, as we said in the back this morning, jealousy and greed has split up, I'd say, either 90% of the problems in families this morning is over jealousy and greed. Because somebody is jealous of what you got, they want what you got, they always want more. But the Bible says, be thankful for what you got. So many of them this morning are drawn to selfish desires. They don't care about anybody but self. You know, and this morning I've been praying. I pray that you pray for yourself, you pray for me, I pray for you. That we are drawn out of this selfish Christian attitude. That all I care about is God giving me. All I care about is God making a way for me. All we care about is what we got. That's a selfish Christian. You see, but the Bible says this morning that we shouldn't be selfish Christians. We should pray for those in need and pray for those around us. Because as a Christian this morning, as I said this morning, if you really live by this and you're on the right track this morning, if you really say with all your heart this morning that if God stopped blessing you right now, that you will still follow God for the remaining of your life, the remaining of your days here on earth, then you can say that you are a newborn Christian this morning. Many can say it, but many won't stay with God to bless them. You see, at times I just thank God because see when we go to God all the time wanting things. God give me this, God help me get through this. But as a father this morning, I get tired of my children always wanting things or want me to help them on this. If they never took time out and say, thank you, daddy, or thank you, mother, you will get tired of steady giving to this child. God is the same way if you steady go to God. God give me, God I need, God I want. And never say God, thank you. Think about how God feels with you this morning. So we see many people are drawn to these material things because we realize that the pleasure of sin only lasts for a season. So it tells us that all these things that have been mentioned is because one is drawn to sin away from God. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11, 25, it says choosing rather to suffer, affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. But there's a cure for that this morning. And our scripture helps us, it tells us the writer of Hebrews, many believer was Paul, many believers, but it was an unknown author, but whoever was going to fight for God. So it tells us in the book of Hebrews, in our scripture this morning, that the writer has an in-depth understanding of the religious life of Israel. And it tells us that included the priesthood, the tabernacle, and the sacrificial system. So it tells us this morning today that I want to show you what we should be drawn to. Number one, we have a high priest. Now we have a high priest who is willing to give you mercy and grace. Now you think about it this morning. Our God is willing to give you mercy and grace. No matter what you come from, no matter how bad you've been, no matter what you think. We serve a high priest of God that is willing to give you mercy and grace. I told you many times before, I've been around some sinful people. I was a bad sinner myself. But not one time have I ever said, Satan, have mercy on me. No matter how bad I was living, no matter what I'd done, no matter what I've said, don't know where I was at at times. But when I was in trouble, I said, God have mercy. You see, we serve a God this morning, the high priest, that is willing to give you grace and mercy. Without his mercy this morning, we can't have grace. Without his mercy this morning, we can't do what God has told us to be. But by his mercy this morning, God will forget that you were a sinner. God will forget this morning that you were once a sinner. By his mercy this morning. So we've got to understand that in the Old Testament, when God established the tabernacle and the way of worship for Israel, he established the priestess of system. Now let me teach you this morning. You see, back then they had a priest. The Jews, whenever they preach, whenever they sinned, they went to this priest to confess their sins. So this priest would go and he would make the sacrifice of bull, he would get the blood, and he would go into the tabernacle, and he would spread it on the seats, the high mercy seats, by his fingertips. It says that he would go there and he would confess the sins of the people. And it says when Israel sinned, they would go tell the priest what they sinned about. So it says then the priest would take the animals and sacrifice them before God. And in Leviticus, God made promise that the sins that were continued, confessed to the priest, will be forgiven. That was a promise by God in the Old Testament. That if you confess your sins to the priest, he goes out and brings, and he kills a lamb or a bull or whatever and gets the blood, that he confessed your sins to God, that he will be forgiven. I thank God this morning that we don't have to do those things. That every time we sin, we've got to kill an animal and sacrifice his blood. I thank God this morning that when we sin, we can say, God forgive me, and Jesus is pleading our case to the God Almighty this morning. So it tells us that this was a system of worship God had established. So it says that offering of sacrifices was the only way to be forgiven. Among the priests, then after the priest, there was a high priest. Once you confess your sins to the priest, he'd done his part. He took the whole sins of all Israel and went to the high priest. Once the high priest, on the devil coming the seventh month and the tenth day, he would go into the most holiest place in the temple and present a sacrifice for himself by sprinkling the blood seven times on the front of the mercy seat with his fingertips as well. So then it says that you realize this morning that the writer of Hebrews is telling us that Jesus is the high priest. So when we confess our sins, we confess them to Jesus. Jesus then goes and confesses our sins to God. You see, everything that we do this morning, we got to go through Jesus. There's nothing you do this morning can put you skipping Jesus. Jesus is the mediator. You see, right now, in this time, in the world we're living in, we've got mediators all the way around the world. They're discussing ceasefires for these boys we got going on. They got this, got that. You see, they're not talking directly with one another. They got somebody in the middle. This morning, as a person, as a human, the only way we can get to God this morning is by his sacrifice, which is Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter who you call, it doesn't matter what you present, unless you go through Jesus this morning, God is not going to answer your prayers. You've got to go through the one-time sacrifice who was perfect, lived for 33 years, that didn't get into sin. That's the sacrifice that we have this morning. So we should be thankful this morning that on Monday morning we don't have to get up and kill a bull or a goat and spray blood. We should be thankful this morning that by Monday evening we ain't got to realize how many sins we've got and how much blood we've got to shed. We should be thankful this morning that Jesus shed his blood for you and I so that we don't have to do the hard work. It's easy this morning. All we have to do is go before Jesus. And as God, as Jesus do we do our heart, and once we get saved, we strive to be Christ like, and we strive not to sin no more. We don't have a license to sin, but we strive not to sin. But once we do sin, we say, God forgive me, and by that being just this morning, we can be forgiven. Amen. Well, we understand this morning that he was telling everybody that he was sinless, he was just and perfect. So he is making intercession for us now to the Father. Then secondly, we see that he is to understand us. You see, as a Christian this morning, we've got to understand this. That God understands us because he came down in the human flesh to live with us. You see, everything we go through, Jesus has already been through. Not saying God couldn't have done it because God could do anything but fail. But I think it made it easier for Jesus, once you come down in the human flesh, just to see how bad disappointment was. Just to see how bad it was when you lose a loved one, just to see how bad it was when the devil tempts you. You see, Jesus went through these things so that he'll know the answer when you go through it. Everything you've been through this morning, Jesus already went through it.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Don't you know this morning that the Lord will fix it? Whatever problems you're having this morning, God will fix it this morning. So it tells us this morning, Jesus become human flesh to see how it was. He experienced the birth, the life, and the death. He experienced joys, he experienced sorrows, pain, happiness, and weakness. Jesus knows what it is. When you become weak, Jesus knows how it is to become weak. You see, you think about it this morning. We all love our mother's death. Think about it while Jesus was on the cross, while he was getting crucified, while he was making fun of him. He looked down in the crowd and saw his mother littling and praying. He saw his mother broken. He saw his mother hurt. So Jesus felt the pain that you feel when you lose a loved one. Jesus feels that pain. He knows the answer to give you this morning. It tells us that Jesus cried out to his father in Hebrews 4.15. It tells us that he cried out. It says, For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points typically like as we are, yet without sin. I don't care how strong we are this morning. You can strive to live without sin, and somehow the next minute, the next hour, the next day, he's gonna give in to sin. It's just human nature. The Bible says, as long as we're living in the human flesh, we're weak, because human flesh is weak. But the moment we leave this flesh and depart this flesh and get our resurrected glorified body, then we become whole, we become strong. Then sin will be no more. So it tells us this morning that Jesus cried out to the Father. Jesus wept, Jesus saw his mother, he saw his brothers, saw all of them turn on him. He saw his brothers turn on him. You think about it. All the disciples that was with Jesus, they said they were never leaving. But the moment he started getting beat, the moment he was getting crucified, they forgot what Jesus had told them. All the people in the crowd that day was in doubt and questioning, was this really the Son of God? He had told him all the things that he was going to do. Miracle after miracle. They had saw him before him, they had saw him raised Lazarus from the dead, they had saw him healing sick, they saw all these things. But that one split second while he was on the cross, many of them had doubt, was this the true Son of God? You see, when you go and got the good things going in life for you, you love God. Everything about God is you give God all the credit. But the moment the rope's pulled out from under you, you forget what God has done and what he is. You start blaming God and questioning God. That's the worst thing we can do this morning is start questioning God. Because I told you, we could be at the bottom of the totem pole this morning. Long as we have Jesus, we have it all. This morning, as long as we have Jesus, it doesn't matter what the world has offered. We've got it all this morning. So it tells us Jesus saw how painful it was to live in this world. But he still asked God to forgive him. While he was on the cross while they were making fun, he said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. Jesus was still on his deathbed on the cross dying, and he still had worry for us. He was still worried about you and I. Maybe we weren't in the crowd that day, physically, but spiritually we were. You see, it tells us that while we were in the crowd, while the spirit was in the crowd, Jesus was still praying for you and I. Thank God this morning that we serve a God that prays for sinners. Thank God we serve a God this morning that saves sinners. We thank God this morning because without Jesus, we are nothing this morning. Jesus knows what it's like, but everybody turns on you. You see, I've been born again, I've been saved. But you go through a trial, you go through a period in life where it feels like everybody's turned against you. Because you get closer to God and you start seeing people talk about you for living a holy life, they start talking about you for going to church, they start talking about you for reading the Bible and stuff, they start talking about you for not cursing, not swearing, not doing all the things that you used to do. So people start turning on you. You see, Jesus felt that. Because everybody professed and claimed to love him, but the moment he needed them, they departed from him. The thing about God this morning is you may try to walk away from God. You may try not to love God anymore, but God still loves you this morning. Even though we sinned this morning, God still loves the person and hates sin. You see, we can be living in this world, we could be living a sinner's life. God doesn't love sin, but he loves you as a person. God loves you so much that he is willing to die, he die for you just to save you from hell this morning. So it tells us that since Jesus went through all these trials and tribulations, he can relate to us today. You think about the things Jesus went through. 40 days he fasted, 40 days he was starving, 40 days he was tempted, 40 days he had to live out in the woods with Satan. All these things you think about, think about the trials and tribulations he went through. We go through a trial and tribulation with 30 seconds, we're questioning whether God still loves us. We go through a trial and tribulation, we go through a, go to the doctor and receive a little bit of bad news, we start questioning because God still loves me. But Jesus went through these trials and tribulations to show us that even when we are lowest, God's still in his highest. Even though we are sorrow, God still gives joy. We should all be praying just like David this morning. God restore me the joy of my salvation. That when I get down, still make me feel like I'm inspired. That when I don't feel like anybody loves me, God, you still show me that you love me. We should be joy this morning, have a joy in our heart that we are saved this morning. We love this world. We love what God has created, but we're not of this world. We live in the world, but we're not of the world. We live in this world because we are human and we see what God has done. God's creation was beautiful. How do we know that? Because God says he created it. So everything he'd done was perfect. But now human, the devil in humanity is trying to destroy what God has created. So we taught ourselves this morning that he never sinned and Jesus to give you what you need to get through this morning. Maybe you've gone through a hard time this morning. Maybe you don't know who God is. Maybe you don't know how to get through these trials and tribulations. But Jesus has already done it. Jesus tells you what to do this morning. It doesn't matter how bad we struggle with whatever we're drawn to. God can help you get over it. So it tells us certainly, Jesus can give you what you need. This morning, thank God we can come with confidence to God by expecting his mercy and grace. Jesus is a merciful high priest ready to forgive us, pardon us, and willing to overlook our past. God is a merciful God. You see, I let the devil tell me for weeks after weeks. Every time I felt the Holy Spirit deal with me, I let the devil convince me that I had done too much. You too relate to this because the devil's probably told you the same thing. That you have too much in the past to be a child of God. That you've done too many bad things. You've said too many bad things, you've talked too many bad thoughts. The devil will tell us all these things to stop you from walking out and accepting Christ as your Savior. So it tells us this morning that when Jesus went through it, Jesus realized that he can give us everything that we need in life this morning. So it tells us in 1 John 1 and 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I have confidence this morning in the only true living God. Now this morning, I tell you, as I was studying this scripture all week, you know, I thought about the word confidence. And years ago, a couple of years, a few years back, I say, there were some things going on in the world. I don't want to get into details because I don't want to get some people calling out about it, but there were some things going on in this world, and I had a very, very important question. So I called one of my mentors and asked some guidance on this situation. And the first thing he told me was, brother, never put your confidence in the government. Put your confidence in God. Amen. So then I started realizing that we've been obeying the government laws as long as it don't go against God's word. But we put our confidence in God this morning. As you think about it this morning, where is your confidence? Is it in mankind or is it in God Almighty? Because this morning you've got to realize that one day man is going to let you down. There's so many people heartbroken this morning by what's going on in the world, by how much these politicians have let them down, the government's let them down. But my friend, if we've got our confidence and trust in God this morning, you know that all these things are working out according to God's word. That God said all these things are going to happen, but it's on us to get right. It said, be thee for ready to meet God. So if the world stops spinning right now, you've got to ask yourself, am I ready to stand before God? Not about what I've done to mankind, how much I've pleased or done this, but have you been a God pleaser this morning? You've got to understand that we've got to put our faith and confidence in God this morning. You must seek God this morning for his mercy. Now, you see, when I come before God as a sinner, I didn't have to go into every detail about what I'd done wrong because I couldn't remember what I was doing wrong. I just told God, God, you know everything about me. You know the very hairs of my head is known. You know every time I denied you know, every time I made fun of you, you know, every time I uh disobeyed you, you know everything about me this morning. From the time before I was even born, it says the foundation, before the foundation of the world, God knew you. God knows you this morning. So when you come seeking God, you've got to ask God for his mercy. God have mercy on me that you will save me from a burning hell this morning. You've got to ask God for his mercy. Mercy this morning that he'll save you and keep you on the right track this morning. Many people have confessed to follow God, and 30 minutes after accepting God, so-called accepting Jesus, they've lost their way with God. I'm afraid I don't think they were ever on the right track in the brother. Because if you ever get on that right track, you don't lose your way with God. Once you get saved, truly saved this morning, whether you're 100 years old or whether you're 10 years old, once you get truly saved and on the right road this morning, you don't lose your way with God. You may stumble, you may fall, but you've got to be getting up, you've got to find your way to God. You stay on that track this morning. You see, because once we get saved, God says he established your feet on solid rock. That solid rock this morning is Jesus. You can't get lost once you accept Jesus. You may venture off, you may find this, that, and other, but you're going to find your way back to God somehow, some way. So in closing this morning, it says you must draw close to God. In James 4 and 8, it says, draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. In order to draw to God, you must come to him in his presence with prayer, praise, and obedience. You come before God in prayer. You come before God in praise, and you also come before God in obedience. You come down and you pray unto God that He saved you. You praise God for sending His Son down the cross for your sins. Then you also obey God. You say you can't, you can't come down and say, God, save me. Forgive me. Then when you get up, you're already thinking about what's going to be your next sin. That's not the way you obey God. Once you set out to God, you say, God, I'm giving you my whole life. From my heels to the top of my head, I'm giving you everything I got. Save me and establish me on the right road. So it says that we've got to be Christians, just on Sundays. See, we've got a lot of Sunday Christians. Amen. A lot of them. They love God on Sunday mornings, they feel the Spirit on Sunday mornings. They get up, they sing, they come to church, they sing, they pray, they read the Bible. As soon as Sunday's over, they run back living in the world. Then we've got a lot of worldly Christians this morning. So-called worldly Christians. You see, but it tells us this morning that we've got to be a Christian all the days of our life. If I'm not doing what God has told me to be, I'm filling God. If I'm not living the way God has told me to be on Monday morning, I've got a problem with my spiritual wall for God because God says that we've got to be a Christian at all times. I've got to be willing to obey God and worship God and praise God and pray to God. Not just on Sunday mornings while I'm in God's house. But everywhere I go, you've got to take Jesus with you. On the outside, take him with you. At home, take him with you. At work, take him with you. Why don't you drive down the road? Take Jesus with you. Everywhere you go, take Jesus with you this morning. As long as we're living with Jesus walking beside us, you'll never fail in your walk with God. You may stumble, but you've got to get up because Jesus is stretching out his hand to you this morning to help you. And it says today, you have to realize are you drawn to something else? What's your interest this morning? Have you been drawn to these worldly things? I find myself a time getting drawn to social media. All this garbage. Nothing but pure garbage. Scroll down and you find one thing, you get ready to close your scroll down, you find one thing, you start reading and start looking at you. Stay on it for 30 more minutes. That's social media garbage. What are you drawn to this morning? Are you drawn to God? Think about it. If God wouldn't have been drawn to you, he would have died for your sins. So let's tell this morning: have you realized that you have all your trust in God this morning? Have you realized that ain't nothing in this world can save you but Jesus? You see, you don't have to let the devil tell you that you get fixed before you get to God. The devil will tell you that you've got to get fixed before you get saved. My friend, we serve the great physician. That means that he's the great doctor. That whatever you've broken at, he can fix you this morning. Haven't you realized this morning that Jesus says it is finished on the cross? When he said it was finished, that means your sins have been paid for this morning. Think about it. Haven't you realized that God has mercy for you today? Maybe you've wandered away from the Father. Just like the Chronicle Son did. When he found his way, he got up and got out the deep end and found his way back to his father. This morning, maybe you're wallowing in the mud. Maybe you're living in this world. Maybe you're doing all the things the world is telling you to do. But if you find yourself wandering away from God this morning, today is the day that you get up and find your way back to God. What other day we'd rather have. I wouldn't put it off not one more second. Because God will take all these problems you have and we'll fix it. Just trust God this morning. Today Jesus can fix everything that you have going on. Will you come to him today? He's the greatest defense lawyer that's ever been. I wouldn't want anybody else pleading my case to God Almighty but Jesus. How can we accept Jesus this morning? Jesus did his part. Maybe you won it away. Will you find your way back to God this morning? Jesus hadn't moved. He stood in the same spot waiting for you to return. God has been good to us this morning. God has blessed us. God has only blessed us with a good living and good health, but God has blessed us with the most important thing. That He sent His Son and God across our salvation. Have you accepted Jesus born as a dead to accept the time to accept Christ before it's ever last too late? Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for this opportunity we have to preach our word. And God, we're so thankful this morning that we have a Savior. That no matter how far we are away from this word, no matter how bad we've sinned, that we serve a Savior this morning. We serve a God that's given us a Savior that can find us in the lowest parts of our lives, in the lowest parts of the world, He can find us this morning and save us. Father, we thank you this morning for sending your Son and God across our sins and shedding his blood, this purified blood, that by one drop of this precious blood we can be saved and our sins can be forgiven. Father, I pray this morning that we realize that we must put all our interest, we must be drawn to you this morning. God, I pray that we realize that we take our interest and our love off these morning things and turn them to the cross this morning. God, I pray that you help me. Help myself, help all the people up on the South of Voice this morning. Realize that if we've drawn anything other than the cross, the cross of Christ, let me come before you this morning and ask you to help us. Father, we thank you again for everything you've done. We pray that you leave God into races. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.