Well, we pray the Lord to be
gracious to us and bless us together this evening as we continue our
meditation in the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians in chapter
3. And I don't know if any of you realized, but in fact, we
missed out verse 12. We went on to verse 13. And then,
of course, last time, 14, 15, and 16. So tonight we'll go back
to verse 12, which is, of course, a very encouraging and a very
beautiful word. And it reads like this, in whom
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. And the apostle is really referring,
without any doubts, to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, because
in the previous verse, verse 11, we read, according to the
eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then it goes on, in whom we have
boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Now, it
is a very wonderful thing to realize that God has blessed
us with this wonderful favour of being able to come to our
God boldly and with confidence and by faith, believing that
we do come to a God who hears and a God who answers prayer.
And we should not come, therefore, doubting that we have such a
God. But we should therefore come
in this way. The verses we've just read in
that chapter in the fourth of Hebrews is very wonderful. From verse 14, we're told, seeing
then that we have a great high priest, a great high priest. Take your mind back to the Old
Testament, how necessary it was to have that high priest to enter
in to the holy place. not without blood. And so seeing
then that we have, we do have, it's not something which is not
true, we do have a great high priest that is passed into the
heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. Let's not let it go. Let's believe
we do have a prayer hearing and a prayer answer in God. And then
we're told this, for we have not an high priest which cannot
be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. How gloriously
comprehensive that is. And it couldn't have applied
to all those high priests previously, because they were mortal men.
And they may have been touched by some points, but not tempted
in all points. And so we can think, in our little
life today, there is nothing that we are tempted by, but the
Blessed Saviour has not been also. The great difference is,
yet without sin. We come tonight through this
Blessed Saviour, and we are then encouraged, you see, let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need. It's wonderfully encouraging,
I'm sure, and I hope we all feel it is, that we as sinners on
the earth can come to the majesty on high, the great God who is
our intercessor, who is our great high priest, who is indeed our
mediator, who is our advocate, that great and glorious one who
pleads for us, And what a favour it is then to be able to come
in this right way, in this strong way, in this positive way, not
doubting that we have a God who does hear and who does answer
our prayer. Don't forget, He knows all about
us. He knows what we are. He knows
the opposition we feel sometimes when we endeavour to come to
pray. He knows all these things. And
so we should be thankful for it. And in the 11th chapter of
Paul's epistle to the Hebrews, we are told this, but without
faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. This is the Word of God, and
it's not my words. This is the gracious Word of
God to encourage us to realise the blessing that it is, and
therefore to be granted that faith to believe we do come to
our Heavenly Father through the merits of His Son and our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us be encouraged tonight
as we gather together here for prayer. the Lord pour out that
spirit of prayer upon us, the grace of supplication, and that
we may therefore be blessed with that humble boldness to come
to our God in that right way. The God's servant, James, in
his little epistle, he tells us in the first chapter, and
from verses six to eight, He tells us then, but let him ask
in faith. Nothing wavering. You know, you
might say, well, it's easy to read. Well, it is easy to read. And it's not as easy to carry
out. But we should be encouraged by the truth of God's word. Because it is true. And may we
be blessed with that faith to come to our great God, who gloriously
condescends to look upon us. He knows our weakness. He knows
all about us. But we should come, nothing wavering. And then he tells us, for he
that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind
and tossed. For let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man
is unstable in all his ways. So it's really very gracious
instruction. It's very gracious encouragement
to us as we come to our God in prayer, again to be blessed with
that boldness. In whom we have boldness, not
in ourselves, but through him. In him we have boldness to come
in this way and to realize that God gives us the blessed faith. It is his gift, not something
we produce. It's his faith, and the Apostle
Paul said when he wrote to the Romans, therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a wonderful experience,
to be able to come to God, casting all our care upon him, pouring
out our heart before him in prayer. and to realise that by his favour
and by his grace, our prayers enter in to the holy place and
there is then that wonderful peace which God gives to us because
we realise it's his grace and it's his mercy and it's his faith
And therefore to realize God has granted it to us so that
we may come in this way. So this verse then that we missed
out is really a very wonderful verse. And I'm glad we, I didn't,
but James told me I missed it out. And I'm just thankful for
that. In whom we have boldness. and access with confidence by
the faith of Him. So just to recap, it's by the
faith of Him. God gives us that faith. And
to come humbly and yet with a humble confidence, an assurance that
we are coming to a God who can and does and will answer prayer. and then to be blessed with this
boldness. It's amazing when we think of
it. We who are so sinful can come boldly through the merits
of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well may the Lord be
with us tonight and help our brethren to lead us in prayer. Well let's now sing together
hymn 377.