As we were gathering last night, I couldn't
help but think that there's no doubt a
lot of meetings going on in this town,
in this nation.
Today there's been business meetings, political meetings, big
decisions are being made.
But none of those meetings compare with this
meeting of God, is what we're doing here.
Dealing with the matters of eternity, the matters
of our soul, reality, supreme importance.
It says wisdom is better than silver and
gold.
That's God's economy.
That's how God's looking at things.
If we can find some wisdom, you've found
gold, shall we pray.
Lord, you've been our dwelling place in all
generations.
Down through the years, poor sinners have found
you and made you their dwelling place.
And we're here, Lord, in a waste, howling
wilderness.
Darkness has settled in on another day, and
we feel like those on the road to
Emmaus abide with us, tabernacle with us, visit
us.
We're very poor, naked, needy, impoverished, apart from
you.
We're very grateful that you called us out
of darkness, redeemed us with precious blood, set
us on the highway to heaven, given us
a hope of glory, given us an inheritance.
And we're praying, Lord, tonight, and in these
days, it help us to serve you better.
Amen.
Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews chapter 4, let's read verses 12 through
16.
For the word of God is living and
active, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing as far as the division
of soul and spirit of both joints and
marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.
And there is no creature hidden from his
sight, but all things are open and laid
bare to the eyes of him with whom
we have to do.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest
who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast our
confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one
who has been tempted in all things as
we are, yet without sin.
Therefore, let us draw near, let us come
with confidence, boldness, let us come boldly to
the throne of grace, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help in
time of need.
I would like to speak tonight, especially on
the 16th verse, especially 14, 15, and 16,
on coming to the throne.
I realize that this is bigger than prayer,
but it surely does include prayer.
And the high priesthood of Christ and the
coming to the throne, the high priesthood of
Christ and prayer, it's like we're going back
beyond prayer, and reasons are given here why
it is even possible to come to this
throne of grace in prayer.
There are two exhortations that are given in
this passage, in this paragraph, verses 14, 15,
and 16.
One is in verse 14, it says, let
us hold fast.
The other one is in verse 16, where
it says, let us draw near.
Five times each of these phrases occur in
the book of Hebrews.
The first, that is, let us hold fast,
is given to us lest we draw back.
And the second, let us draw near, that
is spoken, lest we not go ahead.
I remember one time in high school, there
was a classmate of mine who was injured
in a football game.
He tore his knee up real badly.
And the next week, when the coach was
showing the rerun of the movie, he, I
am told, stopped the movie where this fellow
was injured.
And he said, now look at that.
That is why Bill was injured.
He was going backward when he should have
been going forward.
And so the exhortation is, let us draw
near.
God wants progress, and he says, let's draw
near to God, nearer, yet nearer.
We have been made near by the blood
of Christ, and now he is writing that
we draw near, yet nearer to the very
presence of God.
A man in his fallen condition, you remember,
you know, is not near to God.
He is far off from God.
He is shut out from paradise, separated from
the presence of God.
I remember one time when I was a
little boy, I was with my father in
a big crowded building in Chicago, and I
was separated for a while from my father.
It was a very terrifying experience.
But that is the very essence of hell,
isn't it?
They shall pay the penalty away from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory
of his power.
And so, J.C. Ryle, he says, few
things are as little realized as the extent
of the fall.
Proud man has a love affair with himself
and not with God.
We'd rather murder than we admit we're wrong.
They tried to kill Lazarus rather than admit
they were wrong.
Man had rather be flung into hell than
bow to need of Jesus.
Isn't that something, the depravity of man?
We used to take a sign out whenever
we did open air work.
We took it out until it was stolen
from us.
It read, God puts people in hell for
neglect of him.
And most of the objection that we got
on that sign was from professing Christians.
They would say frequently, they've said, God does
not put anybody in hell.
We put ourselves in hell.
Well, there's some truth in that, but you
know, it's not what the Bible says.
And so, you see, man, proud man, he
doesn't mind so much going down to hell
as long as he goes down in charge.
That's how fallen man is, how proud he
is.
We Christians, we have an explanation for the
schoolhouse shootings, an explanation for the wars and
why there's a jail and a hospital and
a cemetery in about every town is because
man is cut off from God and is
in a state of death.
But this is the backdrop for the gospel,
isn't it?
That man is fallen, he is not near
to God, but far.
One time I was waiting in a doctor's
office and I read an interview that Oprah
Winfrey did on Jane Fonda after she had
professed Christ.
And she said, I'm a woman with tremendous
inner resources and resilience.
I am lucky.
I deserve my luck.
I was born with an innate goodness.
A poor woman does not know the gospel,
does she?
Mere Christianity is reconciling God to man and
man to God.
That's the issue of the gospel, is getting
man back into the presence of God.
And that's the very end of it all.
The very essence of heaven is they shall
be with me, that they may be with
me where I am.
Is this your testimony here tonight?
Can you say tonight, I was once blind,
but now I see.
I was once far off, but now I've
been made near by the blood of Christ.
Have you had a conversion experience?
I grew up in a dead Methodist church.
I had absolutely no concept that I needed
a conversion experience.
I had no idea what it meant to
be saved.
Saved from what?
What's the problem?
A while ago we went to a wedding,
professing Christians, and at the reception they had
a biographical movie.
The name of God was mentioned, prayer was
mentioned, but there was no mention made in
that testimony, in that biographical movie, of a
conversion experience.
You know, once I was lost, but now
I am found.
You see, it's an avoidance of the offense
of the cross.
One time there was a couple.
They were obviously not Christians, and the wife
died from cancer.
And so a professing Christian said to the
surviving husband, I hope that this experience will
make you nearer, bring you closer to God.
What he did was he played the part
of a false prophet to that man.
That man did not need to be made
closer to God.
He needed to be brought to God, period.
He was far off.
He needed to be made near.
These Hebrews, they were Christians.
They had been made near, right, by the
blood of Christ.
They had a confession.
It says in verse 14, hold fast our
confession.
They had a confession.
They had demonstrated things that accompanied salvation.
They had suffered.
They had suffered the spoiling of their goods
and took it cheerfully, gladly knowing that in
heaven they had a better and enduring substance.
But yet, he's writing to them in these
terms.
Verse 15, he speaks of a weakness.
Sympathize with our weaknesses.
And in verse 16, we have these terms.
Need.
Help in time of need.
What was their condition that he was telling,
exhorting, inviting, pleading, admonishing them to come to
the throne of grace, to draw near.
What was their condition?
What was their problem?
What was their weakness?
What was their need?
Scan it in your mind.
You know, what was the warning?
What were the warnings that were given to
the Hebrews?
The first warning is in chapter 2.
They were negligent.
How shall we escape if we neglect so
great salvation?
I have never destroyed a car by reckless
driving.
But I have destroyed a car with neglect.
Neglecting to check the oil.
And so he tells them, we ought to
pay all the more earnest heed to the
things which we have heard.
Another problem that they had is found in
chapter 3.
He warned them against what?
Hardness of heart.
Lest any of you be, lest your hearts
be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Have you ever tried to repair a rust
spot on your car?
You've got this putty and it's very soft.
But you add this other substance and all
of a sudden it begins to harden.
That's what sin does to our heart.
It hardens the heart.
Lest any of you be hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin.
A third warning, a third problem that they
had was immaturity.
See that in chapter 5.
When for the time you ought to be
teachers, you have need for someone to teach
you again, which be the first principles of
the oracles of God.
It's not that everybody is to be a
teacher, James says.
But nevertheless, after a while, we all ought
to be able to say something good and
clear and right.
A fourth problem they had is the warning
in chapter 10.
Lest we go on sinning willfully.
Sinning willfully.
I mean deliberate loose living.
And the last warning that we have is
in chapter 12.
And that is they were not rightly responding
to discipline.
Taking it too hard on the one hand
and they were fainting.
Taking it too lightly on the other hand
and brushing it off.
And so they were in danger of falling
back, shrinking back, drawing back, falling away.
These words, these terms come up through the
book of Hebrews.
They had made a profession and now they
were in danger of shrinking back.
And so in that He exhorts them, let's
draw near.
And all of that in light of verse
12 and 13.
The searching eye of God.
All things open and naked before the eyes
of Him with whom we have to do.
Verse 12.
The searching word of God.
Discerning the thoughts and the intents of the
heart.
How can we draw near?
I feel like such a failure.
I feel so commonly defiled.
And God knows it all.
All the secrets.
And here I am.
And yet the invitation is, draw near.
Come boldly to the throne of grace.
How can He say that?
How can He give them this powerful encouragement?
How is it that He wants us to
think that way?
Let's look at the encouragements that are given
here.
Namely, the one big encouragement.
And that is the great high priesthood of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Look what it says here.
It says, first of all, that we do
have a priest.
And since we have a great high priest,
we do have a priest.
Even the heathen know that they need a
priest.
They know that there's something wrong somewhere between
them and the God who is there.
And they know that they need a go
-between, a mediator, an intercessor, a representative.
They know they need someone to represent them
and make some sacrifice, whether it's a chicken
or a pig, before the God who is
there to try to propitiate them so that
they can be a worshipper.
And so He's saying, we have a priest.
We know that all the other priests, whether
they are the ones in the Old Testament
or whether they are the heathen priests, we
know that there is only one true priest,
only ever been one, only one real priest
who has ever done the work of interceding
and propitiating.
There is one God, one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Just as He appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself, now He appears
in the presence of God for us.
As the Puritan said, He opened His side
to bleed for us, now He opens His
mouth to plead for us.
Just as a ribbon is tied to the
cage of a fan and is upheld by
the breathings of the fan, so we are
upheld by the breathings of His intercession.
I have prayed for you that your faith
fail not.
He prays for us how?
John 17.
He prays for our sanctification, our unification, our
glorification.
He prays for us.
He intercedes for us.
And so we have a priest and he
says, come boldly.
Isn't it wonderful when you feel like you're
at the end of the rope?
Isn't it wonderful when someone says, I'll just
take care of all of that for you?
That's what the Lord is saying has done
for us.
And it says that we have a great
high priest.
The Hebrews would know that that's important because
it was only the high priest, only the
high priest that could enter into the very
presence of God beyond the veil.
And so again, and so again, it's a
reminder of the free access that we have
to come to God, the open access that
we have.
He is a priest.
He is a high priest.
But then it adds another adjective and it
says we have a, what a great high
priest.
Why so great?
Because, number one, a greater sanctuary.
It says he has passed through the heavens.
Passed through the heavens right there in verse
14.
Look at it.
Enjoy it.
Put your finger on it.
Underline it.
A great high priest who has passed through
the heavens.
It's one thing to be working for the
government and have an office here at the
local level.
It's another thing to have your office in
the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. He's
in another realm.
Another realm.
He's passed through the womb, passed through this
life, passed through the grave, passed through the
heavens into the very highest heaven to appear
in the presence of God for us.
At the right hand of God.
Five times in the book of Hebrews it
says that.
And in chapter 8, verse 1, he says,
just so we don't miss it, he says,
now of the things that we have spoken,
this is the sum.
We have such a high priest who has
sat at the right hand of the throne
of the Majesty in the heavens.
Don't miss the point.
Here it is.
He's there at the right hand of God.
He is attempting, trying, writing to present the
dignity and the glory and the honor and
the sufficiency of our great high priest.
I grew up on a farm in northeast
Iowa.
And every farmer knows you're going to get
stuck now and then.
And so one time we had the truck
go down real bad in the mud.
But my father had a provision for such
things.
He had a strong cable and a long
cable.
Real long.
Why did he have to have a long
cable?
It was so that the pull tractors could
be out on solid ground.
Out on solid ground, away from the mire.
And so here we have such a high
priest who has passed through the heavens.
He is on solid ground, way out in
another realm.
Charles Spurgeon says, every swimmer knows that as
long as the head is above water, the
body is okay.
Sometimes I ask people, what is your hope
of heaven?
Now, let's just get it real simple.
Why would God let you into heaven?
Their answer ought to be, if they know
the Lord, something of the nature that they
have a representative who has satisfied God on
their behalf and paid their sin debt.
One time there was a couple that attended
our church.
He was a commander of the hospital at
a nearby Air Force base.
A commander, pretty high up.
And he invited Terry and me to come
over and have supper with him.
He lived on the base.
And so we pulled up to the base
there at the gate and the guard came
out and stopped us, of course.
And we told him that Colonel Chan had
invited us.
Now, Colonel, he gave a call and Colonel
Chan came right down and ushered us in.
We'd have never got in if it wouldn't
have been for Colonel Chan.
We'd have never got in if there had
to have been somebody in there who was
in a position of authority.
And so we're talking about a great high
priest who has passed through the heavens.
He's in with God.
He's accepted with God.
And he bids us come to the throne
of grace boldly with no doubt.
A second reason why he is a great
high priest, and that is because of a
superior sacrifice.
Not only a superior sanctuary, but a superior
sacrifice, a superior work that he did.
His work was acceptable.
He passed through the heavens.
Back in grade school, you didn't pass if
your work wasn't good enough.
He passed through the heavens.
The work that the Lord did on the
cross was obviously sufficient, obviously accepted because he
passed through the heavens into the very presence
of God.
All of the work that these other priests
did, they never could take away sin.
They never could put away sin.
They never could satisfy God but the Lord
Jesus with one sacrifice, which he offered himself
as that sacrifice.
By that sacrifice, he put away sin.
He took away the sins of the world.
Think of this language.
He took away the sins of the world.
We have all we can do to get
the trash man to take away four bags
of trash.
It says, he took away the sins of
the world.
Took them away.
No, not all without exception, but all without
distinction.
The Samaritans, they said, you're the Savior of
the world.
The Savior of the world.
The Redeemer of a new humanity, a new
heavens, a new earth.
What a work the Lord has done.
He paid it all.
And so he's saying, you come boldly to
the throne of grace.
I remember one time going into the jail
to talk with those fellows and there was
one guy, he says, I'm in a terrible
mess.
And we talked a little more and he
admitted, I'm in a terrible mess.
But he says, I'm not afraid.
He says, I've got a good lawyer.
I thought, boy, there's the gospel right there.
A third reason why the Lord is a
great high priest, and that is because of
his greater tenure.
His greater tenure.
It says he passed through the heavens.
If he passed through the heavens, obviously he
came out of the realm of death and
the grave.
You know, if after the conference was over
on Sunday, why, somebody called me on the
cell phone.
They say, where you're at?
Well, we just passed through Memphis.
Obviously they'd know that we weren't back in
Muscle Shoals.
And so the Lord passed through the heavens,
out of the realm of death.
He never lived to make intercession for us.
Think of all these other priests.
I mean, Aaron was an outstanding priest, and
yet he was fipped of his garments on
Mount Hoare and he died.
Eliezer was a faithful priest, but he died.
Phineas was an outstanding priest.
I mean, he executed judgment with a jealousy
of God, and yet he died.
Ahimelech, he sacrificed his life for David.
He died.
Eli trembled for the ark.
He died.
Zechariah, Luke 1, 6, walking in all the
commandments and requirements of the Lord, and yet
he died.
They all died.
But the Bible says the Lord Jesus never
lives to make intercession for us.
No death.
He conquered death, resurrected, raised, appearing in the
presence of God by the power of an
indestructible life.
Think of it.
You might have a good lawyer that knows
your case.
He knows you.
But what good is he if he dies
in the middle of the case?
You might have a banker that's very sympathetic.
He can get you that loan, but he
dies, and you're out of favor again.
It's bad enough when your barber dies.
But here, the Lord Jesus ever lived to
make intercession.
I mean, this is the most important thing
that we ever will need.
And He ever lives for us.
Another reason why the Lord Jesus is a
great high priest is because of the greatness
of His person as deity.
It says here in verse 14, Jesus, the
Son of God.
Not sons of men, nor Levi, nor Aaron,
but the Son of God.
Deity.
Sovereign in your very creation.
Sovereign in your redemption.
He chose you.
He called you.
He died for you.
Sovereign over you in every way, the Son
of God.
Charles Wesley caught the idea.
He says, arise, my soul, arise.
Shake off your guilty fears.
The bleeding sacrifice in your behalf appears.
Before the throne, my surety stands.
My name is written on His hands.
The Father hears His pray.
Hears Him pray, His dear anointed one.
He cannot turn away the presence of His
Son.
The Son of God.
So come.
Come as we are.
Load down no good, hell-deserving sinners we
come.
The Son of God ever lives as a
priest representing us.
Another reason that the Lord Jesus is a
great high priest is because not only He
is the Son of God, but He is
the Son of Man.
It says here in verse 15, we do
not have a high priest who cannot be
sympathized and so on.
Jesus, the Son of Man.
The man from Nazareth.
And so as the Son of Man, it
says He can sympathize with our weaknesses.
What a combination.
Deity and yet humanity.
So majestic and yet so sympathetic.
I remember one time when we had made
a major decision as a family, and the
weight of it began to settle in on
me that night.
I couldn't sleep.
I went back to the chapel and spent
the night in the chapel.
By the time morning was there, the distress
was upon me in such a way that
I was beginning to feel paralysis.
And I realized it was a demonic attack,
but there was not any way I could
get myself out of it.
There was no way I could think my
way out of it.
I could hardly breathe at that point.
I called Terri over when the sun rose
and said, could you come over and help?
She came to the office and I said,
Terri, you may be the only one that
can help me because you know me and
you know the situation.
And I'm telling you how we do need
sympathy, but infinitely more.
Think of the Lord Jesus.
It says He can sympathize with us.
He can identify with us.
We find Him weeping, sighing, crying, in tears,
enduring.
And so we're invited in Peter to cast
all of our cares upon Him.
Cast them.
Cast our cares upon Him for He cares
for you.
The Old Testament priest, he wore the names
of Israel on the shoulder and he wore
the names of Israel on the chest.
He wore them on the shoulder to show
that He cares.
He bears us.
And on the chest to show that He
cares for us.
Why can the Lord be so sympathizing?
The next phrase tells us.
It says He can sympathize with our weaknesses
because He has been tempted in all things
as we are.
Tempted just like us.
He felt it.
If you were a farmer, who would you
like to have representing you in Washington, D
.C.? A doctor or another farmer?
And so it says here the Lord can
sympathize with us.
He went through all the adversity that we
go through.
He was tempted to presume upon His Sonship.
If you're the Son of God, if you're
a Christian, just go ahead.
He was tempted to eat out of the
will of God.
He was tempted to accept a promotion prematurely.
He was tempted to take unnecessary risks, risks
out of the will of God.
And so all of these things, unmarried and
so on.
You know He was tempted with unrighteous anger.
He looked upon the Pharisees with anger.
All of these things the Lord was tempted
like we are, and yet without sin.
It says He was tempted in all things
like we are.
That means there is no area that He
does not understand about what you're going through.
And moreover, He was tempted to the Supreme,
to the utmost, because He never did give
in.
He never did sin and knuckle under.
He never did give in to that sin.
You think of two swimmers going across the
English Channel.
Which one is exercised the most?
The one that gives in and calls for
help halfway across, or the one who swims
all the way across and makes it to
the end.
And so the Lord never did give in
to sin.
He felt the full pressure of the devilish
devices and yet did not give in.
A real humanity.
Real humanity.
The Lord Jesus possesses real humanity.
As a man, He won a real victory.
Do I believe in the doctrine of impeccability,
that is, that the Lord could not sin?
I do not believe in the doctrine of
impeccability.
As deity, the Lord could not have sinned.
But as humanity, He could have sinned, but
He did not.
As a man, He won the victory.
He, for example, He said, Not my will,
but yours be done.
I mean, the Lord Jesus wanted out.
If it's possible, take this cup from Me.
He wanted out.
He had a will and He wanted out.
But He kept His will, submitted to the
will of the Father, and never did sin.
He came through it in victory.
And that's the point that is made in
the next phrase.
Tempted in all things like we are, and
yet no sin.
Knew no sin, did no sin, in Him
there was no sin.
Which of you convicts me of sin?
A spotless lamb, a spotless lamb of God.
Would you want a financial counselor that was
always bankrupt?
It says, The Lord, He did not sin.
He came through perfectly.
I lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless
lamb of God.
And so the invitation has come boldly to
the throne.
Now let's look last at this exhortation.
We've looked at their exigency.
We've looked at these encouragements.
Now let's look at this exhortation that is
given us here.
He says, Let us come boldly to the
throne of grace to obtain mercy and find
grace to help in our time of need.
We're invited to come for more grace.
More grace.
More grace on top of the grace that
we've already been receiving, that we've already received.
James knew that, and he says he gives
more grace.
Peter knew that, and he said, growing grace.
The psalmist knew that, and he said, God
gives grace and glory.
Moses knew that, and he said, if I
have found grace in your sight, show me
now your way that I may know you
and find grace in your sight.
There is grace on top of grace.
The invitation is to come for yet more
grace.
When I was growing up, my parents had
a milk dispenser sitting right by the kitchen
table.
And we could just turn around and pull
the lever and get another glass of milk.
A milk dispenser.
It was so handy.
We drank a lot of milk.
And so here is the throne of grace
where grace is dispensed for you can come
and get more grace to help in your
time of need.
New portions of grace.
More grace.
In 1974, I was in Canada with Brother
Keith McLeod.
That would be Bill's brother.
For eight months, I was there with him.
And in the middle of those months, he
received an invitation to preach at a large
evangelical Mennonite church in Weimar, Saskatchewan.
I think I've shared this before.
Let me tell it again.
And so we prayed every day.
There were four of us.
Every day we meant for prayer.
And it was an open-ended time of
prayer, and there was just a sense of
daily going and getting fresh portions of grace.
More grace.
We prayed repeatedly for these meetings that were
coming up.
And so the meetings began from Sunday through
Sunday.
And on the very first meeting, and every
meeting, God was there.
There were 20 to 40 people that were
at the front looking for help, looking for
mercy, under conviction of sin, under the grip
of God, and some of them in a
terrible way.
Keith never did give any invitation, but there
were people who came sometimes before the preaching
was done under such conviction of sin that
there were strong cries and tears, confessions of
sin being made across the aisle even before
the preaching was done, so loud that he
had to stop sometimes.
And I couldn't help but think of those
times of prayer when we went back for
grace and more grace.
Think of the men of God that down
through history have obtained more grace, obtained help
from above.
There's Isaac.
He was in a barren situation, and he
cried out to God for his wife and
obtained help from above.
Jacob had a man that was mad at
him, but he obtained help from above.
There was Joshua, long in battle.
He cried out to God and obtained help
from above.
The sun stood still, and there was never
a day like it before or after when
God listened to the voice of a man.
David says, my adversaries have increased.
He was all bowed down.
He said, more in number than the hairs
of my head.
And he cried out to God with his
voice, and God heard him and was his
glory and the lifter of his head.
There was a case of Samuel, and the
Philistines were attacking them, and they said, don't
stop praying for us.
Cry to God for us.
And Samuel cried out to God mightily, and
God came, and they routed the Philistines, and
they named that place what?
Ebenezer.
Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
Joshua had arrows pointed at him in every
direction, and it says he cried out to
God, and God heard him and helped him
and moved the enemies away.
Elijah cried out to God.
He found help from above.
A fire came down, and the dead came
up, and the heavens were shut and opened
again.
This is help.
Help in time of need.
The other day I locked myself up, went
out north of town to the country to
pray, and got out of the car and
locked my keys in the car.
I had to call home for help.
Terry came out with another set of keys,
and as she left I thought, this is
help.
It says, help in time of need.
Here we are in our struggle against sin.
That's the language of Hebrews 12.
Our struggle, our striving against sin.
What do we do with these Goliaths?
What do we do with these long-standing
enemies?
It says here we can come and find
grace to help in our time of need.
We ought to come and cry mightily for
grace.
Grace upon this throne.
It says a throne of grace.
We ought to think in terms of sovereign
grace, mighty, marvelous, matchless, infinite grace that is
greater than all of our sins.
What sin is too big for the sovereign
grace of God?
What Goliath can stand against this throne of
grace?
Grace that teaches us to deny ungodliness and
worldly lust.
Some of the lessons are hard, but he
teaches us to deny these things, to deny
self and live soberly, righteously, and godly in
this present world.
Sovereign grace, the reign of grace.
Grace to subdues our iniquities.
It says, come and obtain grace.
I know of a fellow one time, he
was about two or three years old in
the Lord and troubled by a longstanding, a
besetting sin, and he cried out to God
from the bottom of his heart, Lord, if
I cannot have victory over this sin, put
me in hell right now.
That was the end of that sin.
It was broken forever.
It also says here that we can come
to this throne and obtain mercy.
Here we are under the spotlight of God,
under the eye of God, and we know
our heart, we know the depravity and the
infuriation, how we come short of the glory
of God.
Can I come?
Can I come back to God again?
Can I come like that again?
I failed Him again?
Yes, come and obtain mercy to help in
our time of need.
Mercy.
Let me at my throne of mercy find
a sweet relief.
Manasseh was, it says that he sinned more
than all the other kings that had gone
before him.
And there we find him in Babylon with
a hook in his nose, and it says
that he cried out to God, he entreated
God, and God heard him and restored him.
Manasseh found mercy at the throne.
Moses pled for mercy for a nation, and
they were spared.
The church pled for mercy for Peter, and
he escaped the edge of the sword.
How should we come?
We've talked about what we should come.
We come for grace, we come for mercy.
How should we come to this throne?
First of all, we should come humbly.
It is a throne.
Kneeling there in deep contrition, absolute surrender to
the King of kings, yielding all our plans,
ambitions, and wishes, getting weighed down there.
Grace is like water.
It flows to the lowest spot.
Down before the throne of God, here I
am, Lord, shipwrecked.
But shipwrecked on God and stranded on omnipotence.
We come humbly.
Also, it says we ought to come boldly.
We ought to come with confidence.
It's interesting, that Greek word there helps us.
It says that that means to speak out.
Not cocky.
It's not talking about that.
It's talking about being open, talking about speaking
all.
That's what the word means.
And so here we are in our miserable
condition, overwhelmed, defeated, ruined, incredible odds it seems,
and yet we are invited to come and
pour out our hearts, speak it all out
just as we are.
Here I am, Lord, honestly pouring it all
out, my wondering, my wondering, my wishy-washy
condition.
And that's what God wants to hear.
He wants to hear us come boldly like
that.
Speak it all out.
Tell it like it is, you see.
Don't hide anything.
He wants honesty.
Speak it all right out there.
Jesse Penn Lewis says that it is a
device of the enemy to keep us from
pouring out our heart, pouring out our heart
and uttering our words and unloading our burden.
A device of the devil.
When you come to meet for prayer singly,
I mean privately or whether it is in
a church prayer meeting, that is a secret,
I believe, and having a real meeting with
God, pouring out, coming boldly, speaking all, forgetting
about the ears of man, and coming boldly.
Bold I approach the eternal throne, knowing that
we are accepted and to be loved and
can commune as friend with friend, a friend
who can heal our wounds and restore our
joy and make peace in our borders, sufficient
for every thorny trial.
We are coming to a king, a throne.
Large petitions with he bring.
His grace and power are such that one
can never ask too much beyond all that
we ask or think.
Most earthly thrones are occupied by mean, selfish,
ruthless men.
This throne is a throne of grace and
mercy.
A gracious king is reigning there.
We should come humbly.
We should come confidently.
And it says here that we should come
continually.
I am told that that is the tense
of this word.
Peter says, coming to him as to a
living stone.
Not just once, but a life of coming.
A life of coming back, back to him.
It seems like the Lord creates needs to
keep us coming back even.
And so we pray morning, noon, and night.
Jonathan Edwards says, it was my manner to
sing forth my contemplation.
I was in ejaculatory prayer wherever I was.
Andrew Bonner says, I see that unless I
keep up short prayer every day, throughout the
whole day, I lose the spirit of prayer,
continually coming to the throne.
If you have an injury, you may not
be able to get it healed with one
application of ointment.
You come back again and again and again
for another treatment.
You want to heat up a rod, you've
got to keep putting it back on the
fire to keep it hot, to keep it
red, to keep it pliable.
Keep coming to the throne of grace.
And last, how should we come?
We should come honestly.
It says in Hebrews chapter 10, Draw near
with a true heart.
Draw near with a true heart.
An honest heart.
You know, if you're a carpenter and you
show up on the job without your hammer,
the boss says, what?
You left your hammer?
That's the very thing you need.
And so it is here in the business
with God.
You've got to come with an honest heart.
No idle sins, no pet sins, no darling
sins hidden back in the closet for a
day of future use.
Utter honesty before the throne.
I remember reading about the Hebrides revival.
They were praying in a barn and this
one man stands up and he says, Oh
God, it is so much humbug for us
to be praying as we are if we
are not rightly related to God ourselves.
And he lifted up his hands before God
and said, Oh Lord, are my hands clean?
Is my heart pure?
And he fell on his knees and went
into a trance.
And the Spirit of God fell.
Let us draw near with an honest heart.
If you're not a Christian, if you've never
come, why not?
The way is wide open.
Come on to the throne of grace.
Come as a subject of the throne.
Everything yielded.
You know, pride is always going to be
the number one obstacle between you and God.
The number one obstacle between you and heaven
is your pride.
That's why the Lord Jesus says, If any
man will come after me, let him deny
himself, take up his cross daily and follow
me.
Everything, run up the white flag.
It's just that simple.
Absolute, unconditional surrender to the King of Kings
before the throne.
Come.
Call upon Him.
You know, it says, Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It's not a call like a phone call.
It's talking about a desperate call, like a
drowning swimmer.
If you are a Christian, oh, the thousand
needs that are with the Christian.
Bitterness, envy, jealousy, strife, all of these things
that trouble us.
Come boldly to the throne of grace like
a sheep to the shepherd, like a woman
to her man.
Leaving all others, as we come back again
and again and again.
What do we have except the nearness of
the Lord?
It says the nearness of God is our
good.
The nearness of the shepherd is the only
safety the sheep does have.
My daughter, she has some geese.
A while back we heard a ruckus out
there and she ran out.
And as she came up over the ridge,
there was a fox.
Had one of her geese.
And as soon as that fox saw her,
he took off.
The nearness of God is our good.
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to
Thy precious bleeding side.
Let us come boldly to the throne of
grace for grace and mercy to help in
our time of need.
You know, if we keep coming to that
throne, we'll end up on the throne.
It says in Revelation 3, He who overcomes,
I will grant to him to sit with
me on my throne as I overcame and
sit on my Father's throne.
What a thing!