If you take your Bibles down,
turn with me to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. Our text will
be found in verse 16. I'm going to title this message,
How? Who? Where? What? And When? How? Who? where, what, and when. The scripture says, let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Here we have a joyful
exhortation, a very needful exhortation, that we should come to God boldly,
without fear of rejection. Let us come boldly before the
throne of grace. We are not only an invitation
here, but this is rather a wonderful command. Come boldly. This is given to every child
of God. In Thessalonians, the apostle Paul said to the church
there, pray, listen, without ceasing. Don't stop. Pray instantly,
pray often, pray continually without ceasing. Approach the
throne of God without ceasing. And so here in our text, true
prayer, that is exactly what prayer is. When we pray, I want
you to understand you are approaching the throne of God. That's what
prayer is. It is to approach the throne
of God. It is to present yourself humbly
at the feet of the father and make known your request and supplications. To take all your tears. all of
your sorrows, all of your griefs, all of your concerns, all of
your cares, all of your frustrations, all of your anxieties, and bring
them now before God. Boldly come and make them known. But my first question is, how? How is it that a sinner like
ourselves, unworthy, to even come close to approaching unto
a holy God. How is it that we are now commanded
to boldly come before the throne of grace? In Psalm chapter 24, Psalm chapter 24, this question
is asked, Psalm 24 and verse 3, Who shall ascend unto the
hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in this holy
place? Listen, He that hath clean hands,
look at your hands, are they clean of sin? He that hath a
pure heart, is your heart pure? Who hath not lifted up his soul
to vanity or sworn deceitfully? He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. So then seeing we are sinners,
how are we able? Well, the apostle here in this
text gives us the grounds. He doesn't just tell us to come
to God. He gives us the grounds by which we are able to come
to God. Look at this in your text. Look at this in verse 15. Four. This is the reason you should
come boldly. This is how you come to God. Four, we have an
high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. How
is it that we should come before the throne of God? We should
not come in our own merits? We dare not come in our own name
or our own worth? Why, for in our flesh dwelleth
no good thing? We know this. So how then are
we to come? For we have a high priest. Now
the law, in the law, the office of a high priest was absolutely
necessary. There was no way to worship God
without one. There was no way to be accepted of God. There
was no way to offer your prayers to God without a mediator, without
someone God ordained to stand between you and him. Now this
man was anointed of God for the intercession of the people. And
so why was he necessary? Because of sin. Sin had separated
us from God. We were no longer able to approach
unto God ourselves. Remember, Adam was able. Adam
could commune with God. But when Adam sinned, he of necessity
now needed someone to intercede. Therefore, God pictured this
separation by that veil in the temple in the Holy of Holies.
Remember, in the temple, all the priests went in that first
temple to deal with the furniture there, but there was a thick
veil. It wasn't a thin veil. It wasn't
a piece of cloth. Very thick piece of material. that separated us from God. And there was only one person
allowed into that veil once a year, the high priest. And he was not
supposed to come without an offering. So the high priest would make
an offering and he would approach unto God for the people, for
Israel. God demanded a sacrifice and
that priest offered that sacrifice year after year, after year,
after year, after year, after year, after year. He offered
the same sacrifices. In Hebrews 10, Paul says these
were only a shadow. These were only a picture of
good things to come, but not the real thing. He said why?
Because the blood of bulls and goats could not remove sin. Now what's the proof of that? Because they did it year after
year after year. If it worked, you wouldn't need
to do it next year. They did it year after year so
as to prove to you it was only a shadow. It was only a type. These offerings, these high priests
were a shadow of what? Of the high priest. How may we
approach unto God? boldly, for we have an high priest. An high priest is Jesus Christ. So when Jesus Christ came into
this world and offered himself to God, look at that in Hebrews
10. Go to Hebrews 10. He said those blood of bulls
and goats could not take away sin. He said in verse 6, In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Christ said, Lo, I come, in the volume the book
is written of me, to do thy will. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offering, and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither had pleasure therein, which were offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come, to do thy will, O God. What is this?
He taketh away the first. What was first? of time, the
law was first. He takes that away, that picture,
that shadow, he takes it away and he establishes the second,
the second covenant. I don't want to get you confused,
but actually that was the first. It was from eternity, but it's
all just speaking in order of time here. He'd take it away
the first to establish the second. By the which will? By the will
of God. Christ said what? I come to do thy will. And he
said by the which will? The will of God. We are, what's
the word? Sanctified. By the will of God we are made
holy. That's what the word is. Holiness. We are made holy. through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ. How many times? How many
times? Once. See the difference? The
old offerings, year after year after year could never make the
people allowed in. Those people were never allowed
in that place, the holy place. Why? Because those sacrifices
did nothing. But when Christ died, what happened
to the veil? What happened to it? Oh, the
scripture says it was rent. It was torn. Notice where it
started. From the top to the bottom. This thing was super high. This
veil was... I probably got a ladder in there
but I won't even reach it. It wasn't torn from the bottom.
It was torn from the top. In other words, God did it. God,
by the death of His Son, rent His flesh, and by His dying flesh,
we are now made accepted to enter into the very presence of God. How? By the offering of the body
of Christ once for all. For every priest, standard daily
ministering, often oft times the same sacrifices that never
take away sin. But this man's different. This
man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins, what'd he do? He sat
down. When you sat down, what's that mean? You're finished. When you work, you're standing.
You're doing. But when you're finished, there's
nothing else to do, what do you do? Sit down. Nothing else to
do. He sat down. Not just anywhere,
on the right hand of the majesty on high. From henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool for my one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So how may
you come boldly? There's only one way you're going
to ever be accepted with God, and that is in Christ. In Christ. He has made us accepted. Made us accepted in the beloved. Well, the second question is
who? We see how, but who? For whom did Christ die? Who are these now that are made
accepted by Him? What did Paul say? Look at your
text. Look at this. Let us, not everyone, just us. Well, who's that? Who's us? Look back at chapter 3. This
text begins back in chapter 3. Look at this. He calls out who
he's talking about. Wherefore, listen, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling. You holy brethren, you partakers
of the heavenly calling, let us come boldly. That's who he's
talking about. That is all who are called by
the Spirit of God to life and faith in Christ. This is the
elect of God who by nature were no different. How do you feel when I call you
holy brethren? Holy Brethren Eric. You laugh. How is that possible? We know this, the elect of God
were no different by nature than any of the children of Adam.
We were by nature haters of God, even as others. And what made
the difference, what made them holy brethren, was the grace
and power of God. Anyone who understands this,
you know this, it was by the sovereign, free grace of God
that we were chosen, Purposed to be holy like I said by the
which will we were sanctified when were you purposed to be
sanctified? When were you purposed to be
holy you were purposed when God? Purposed you to be holy in eternity
in eternity when he purposed I even have to use when I You
can't use when in eternity. There's no such word But yet
we have to it's only way we can understand it Before everything,
before anything, God purposed that you and I should be holy.
And then He purposed the means by the high priest. How? We just
discussed that. How should they be made holy?
By Jesus Christ. By His one offering for sin.
He made them accepted and then at the appointed time the Holy
Spirit in power gave us life by a heavenly calling. God created in us a new nature,
a holy nature, one that is created after God
in true holiness. This is the righteousness that
Christ merited. This is the holiness that He
made by His own obedience. And now, at the appointed time,
everyone God chose, everyone for whom Christ died, the Holy
Spirit will come to them and He will give them this holy nature. This is what we call the new
birth. Those who are born again are
made holy. Made holy. Look at 1 John. This is how Paul
called them holy brethren because this is what the Spirit of God
does. He does to everyone of his elect. 1 John 3 and verse 9. Whosoever is born of God. Are you born of God? Well, this
is talking about you. Whosoever is born of God, doth
not commit what? Sin. Now, is that your experience? We know, like Paul, that in us
dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me. But
how to perform that which is good I find not. O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Yet this is true, that which is born of God cometh not sin.
What is he talking about? He is talking about the nature
that God creates in us at the new birth. It cannot sin. It
cannot sin. He doubles down on it. Chapter
5. Same book. Chapter 5, verse 18. We know. This is something we
know. We know something. We know that
whatsoever is born of God, what? Sinneth not. Whatsoever is born of God doesn't
sin. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not. Are you
born again? Is this true of you? Because
when he says, let us, who is the us? Let us, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, one who has got a new and holy
nature in us. Who are they? Those are ones
that are born again. Now the question is, how do I
know if I'm born again? That's important, isn't it? We
know that's true of everyone born again. That's true of them.
This is what God says about everyone that's born and everyone that's
born again. He says, come boldly to me. Come boldly to my throne
of grace. Well, how do I know if that's
me? How does one know if they're
born again, acceptable unto God? Well, some say, well, you Some
look at outward evidences. They start looking at what you've
done. Well, some people actually believe that in order to be born
again, you've got to speak in tongues. You've got to speak
with some kind of spiritual language or something. That's so. That's a whole religion based
on that. Some religion is saying, well,
you've got to be baptized. That's the evidence. If you're
baptized, then you can confess, I'm born again. Some would say
you've got to eat the Lord's Supper. Some you've got to make
a personal decision. There's whatever you fill in
the blank. The only evidence of the new
birth is one thing. Here it is simple. I like to
be a simple preacher because I'm a simple minded man and that's
good. The scriptures are very simple. Faith in Jesus Christ
alone is the evidence of the new birth. That's it. That's
it. Do you believe on Jesus Christ alone as all
your merit before God? It's as simple as that. Those
who are born again rest all their acceptance on Him. All of it. We dare not take to ourselves
one stitch of this righteousness, not one. We dare not take to
ourselves one feeling or thought or prayer or anything we could
do. We totally depend on the success
and the victory of that one man, Jesus Christ. That's the evidence
of the new birth. John says this in the gospel
of John, the gospel of John chapter one, In verse 12 he says, As
many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. What is it to receive him? I'm
going to tell you what it's not. It's not to accept him. Not the
same thing. To accept is a superior accepting
something inferior. If you are given the choice of
either to accept or reject, then you are the superior. We never
say, accept Jesus. No. Because you're not the superior. You're the inferior. Therefore,
as the inferior, we receive We receive. You receive it simply
as it is. You don't change it. You're inferior. You can't change it. You wouldn't
change it. If you're dying of thirst and I give you water,
you would not want to change it. Why? What you need? You don't need
a Coke. You need water. Thirsty man. Water, nothing better,
nothing more satisfying. So what is it when a man is made
to feel the thirst of his soul, his need of righteousness, his
need of acceptance with God? And God gives him the water of
life. He receives it as he is. He dare not change it. He dare
not add anything to it. He receives it. Why? He needs
it. Who receives him? Not everybody
receives him. Who receives him? Look at the
next verse. Which were what? Worn. We're talking about that new
birth. Not of blood. I got children. I want my children
to believe. But you know what? They're not
going to believe because they're my children. Not accepted because of me. Nor the
will of the flesh. Not because of our own will.
We can't be born again because you will it. Nor of the will
of man. You can't be born again because
somebody else willed it. Here's the cause of the new birth,
but of God. So why is it that you have received
him and others have not? Because of the will of God. That's why. And the will of God
is this, that you believe on the only begotten Son of the
Father, that you trust in Him. And what do we believe about
Him? We believe that He is the only
high priest. He's the only one to intercede
for me and God. That's it. He's the only one who has made
peace between me and God by His death. He's the only one who
has stitched together my robe of righteousness and by his grace
and power has now given me life so that I may receive it. And
I do gladly receive it. Therefore, I come to God boldly
because I am a son. I often think of that picture,
I told you this before, John F. Kennedy Jr. sitting under
the desk of his dad, the president. Now, you suppose anybody else
could get there? I thought of maybe a general walks in. You
think he'd get under and play? He's sitting under that desk
just playing with his toys. Anybody else could get there? Only sons. You that believe, listen to this,
let us. You that are born again, let
us come boldly to the throne of grace. Why? because God hath
made us his children, his children. Therefore, all true believers
trust not in our experiences, but in the person and work of
Jesus Christ. And how do I know my faith is
real? That's important, isn't it? If I'm born again and faith
is the evidence, then how do I know my faith is not some deception
of my mind? How do I know that it's real
faith? Because there are many who have
been deceived to believe they had faith and had none. How do
I know that my faith is real? This one way. It is continual. True faith never ceases to believe. It is continual faith. It is continual faith in Christ. His faith in Christ solely rests
on Him and it never stops. Therefore, we are called to come
and rest in Christ, to cease from our works, even as God did
from His. Remember when God created the
world on the seventh day, He did what? He rested, He ceased
from His works. when Christ came into the world
and suffered for our sins and He died and rose again, He sat
down, He ceased from His work. Even so, let us continually by
faith cease from our work. Cease trusting in ourselves.
Aren't you often tempted to just trust in yourself? To trust in
your feelings? To trust in your thoughts? To
trust in your circumstance? We are tempted constantly. But
true faith constantly casts that off. True faith constantly, persistently
comes only in the name of Jesus Christ. Only resting in Him. We never return to the law. True
faith never returns to the law. Why? Because we know Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness for everyone that believeth. Therefore, let
us come because we who are bidden are holy brethren. So how do
we come? We come by Christ. Who comes? All who are born again of the
Spirit of God, the evidence of which is what? Faith in Christ. And faith never ceases, never
changes. It never morphs into faith in
Christ and faith in Christ in me. It never morphs into that. We never go from Christ to the
law. We go from grace to grace, from
faith to faith. We never go back to the law. That's true faith. And so where? Let us come. Where do we come?
We come to the throne of grace. He said, Let us come boldly to
the throne of grace. Now one day every man will come
to God to a throne, to the throne of judgment. Every man will come
before God to a throne of judgment. And everyone outside of Christ
in that day will surely die. Listen to this, it is a fearful
thing. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living
God. But believers in Christ, the
word of here is not come to the throne of judgment, but to the
throne of grace, to the throne of grace. Paul says this in Hebrews
chapter 12. He said Hebrews chapter 12 and
verse 22, he says, but you are come to Mount Sinai. unto the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
to the God, to God, to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits
of just men made perfect." He's saying, look, we have not come
to Mount Sinai. We have not come to Mount Sinai.
What did Moses find at Mount Sinai? What did the children
of Israel see when God came down in strict holiness? Paul said Moses, exceeding fear,
feared and quaked at it. The children of Israel, they
looked up and saw that and said, no, we ain't going there. You
go up for us. They knew they needed a mediator.
They need somebody to go up there for them. That's not how we come
to God. We come to God by Jesus Christ,
the mediator of the new covenant, to the sprinkling of blood that speaks better than that
of Abel. You know what the blood of Christ, now listen, the blood
of Abel, when his brother killed him, what did Abel's blood cry
to God for? Justice. Abel's blood demanded justice. We're not come to that blood.
We come to the blood of Christ. Christ who bore our sins in his
own body, who died and suffered for our sins. What does his blood
cry for? Pardon. Grace. So we come by his blood. We come
to a throne, not of judgment, but of grace. but of grace. We come by the finished and perfect
work of Jesus Christ. We come in his robe of righteousness. We come as the sons of God. And
listen, it don't appear what we shall be right now, does it?
When they say, let me come boldly to the throne of grace, I'm telling
you what, I am pulled in the opposite direction by my flesh.
Why do you think that scripture is there? I mean, it's a great
exhortation, isn't it? There's wonderful, it's beautiful.
Let us come before the throne of grace. Now, why do you have
to say that? Because our flesh is pulling us in the opposite
direction. We have this body of death, this sin nature that
pulls us to the ground. Yet even now the eyes of faith
look not to self or flesh, but to the grace of God. I am coming
to the throne of grace because that's what I need. I need the unmerited favor of
God. Every time I come before God,
I never come seeking justice or judgment or condemnation. What do I need? I need His unmerited
favor. I need you to hear me based on
nothing in me. How often do you deny prayer
because you don't feel like it? Well, I don't think God's going
to hear me because I don't feel holy. The root trouble with all our
prayers is unbelief. That's why you don't pray. That's why we fail to pray. Either because we believe God to be unkind or indifferent to
our cares and our needs. We don't come because we don't
think he's going to do anything. We don't go because we think
that we don't deserve it, so surely he's not going to listen. I think of all these people,
they get in these big stadiums and they try to cheerlead each
other up to feel like they're approaching God. And you know his disciples felt
that way. Remember when the storm came up and Jesus was asleep? What's the first thing they said?
Carest not that we perish? What do you mean I don't care?
What do you think I've come down to this world to do for you?
And I don't care? When his wise providence delays
in answering our prayers, Or he gives us the opposite of what
we ask. Instead of stopping trouble,
trouble increases. We go to Lord, we go to Lord,
please stop this trouble. And what happens? It increases. Or he gives us the opposite in
our warfare, the inner struggle that we have. We say, Lord, calm
this struggle within me. And all of a sudden it inflames
and rages hotter. We pray to keep us from sin and
the assaults of hell, but they become more and more. We pray
for health, we get sickness. We pray for our dying loved ones
and they die. Oh, believer, let us not doubt
the motive of our God. but rather believe his promise
that all things work together for our good. All things work
together for our good. You know what God said to Jeremiah?
He said, I know my thoughts toward you. Don't tell me my thoughts
toward you. My thoughts of peace and not of evil. That's his thoughts
toward us. Remember the death of Lazarus,
his friend? Mary Martha prayed for the They
went to the throne of grace. They said, Lord, he whom thou
lovest is sick, and he delayed. He did not come. Lazarus died. Things like that happen to you?
They do. But I want you to see this, that
no matter what, God intends it to work for our good. That situation
with Lazarus. Do you realize he meant that
he let Lazarus die for you and me? So that we might see his deity,
that we might see how sinners are actually saved by the resurrection
of the spirit. That was a gospel message he
was going to preach. And he had to let Lazarus die. Don't you
see then that all things work together for the good of God's
people. And when you go to the throne
of grace, you are receiving grace. Remember Newton, he prayed that
prayer. He went to the Lord and he said,
Lord, I pray that you'd deliver me, that you'd give me grace
and faith. Those are the two things he asked for, wasn't it?
Grace and faith. And he said, I thought that in
a moment all would be well, that my faith would increase and I
would feel the grace and power of the Spirit. But what happened?
He said he let the angry powers of hell assault my soul. When
you ask for grace and faith, what are you asking for? You're
asking for trouble. Because that's how God gives
grace and faith through trouble. And so when you go to the throne
of grace, what should you expect? You should expect grace, and
whatever he gives is grace. It's what you need. I've often thought, If I had money, what kind of
man would I be? Now I know why I don't have money.
The Lord is gracious in this. The Lord is gracious. He's not
doing anything harmful to me. He's doing something good for
me. And so when God brings these
things upon us, know this. It is still the throne of grace.
It is still the throne of mercy. And we approach it by the blood
and righteousness of Christ. And how are we to approach it
boldly? Not arrogantly. Jesus is not
our buddy. That's a common theme in the
world religion. Jesus is your buddy. Not your buddy. He's your friend. But he is your
God. And we come boldly to the throne
of grace like Esther. Remember Esther? She heard what
Haman was going to do to the people of Israel, and Mordecai
said, you need to go to the king. And she said, if I go to him
and he's not bidding me to come, then if he doesn't yield his
scepter to me, he'll kill me. And so there she is. She comes
before her husband, the king, and she's not invited to the
court. Yield a scepter, she'll die,
I don't care who she is. And she's afraid. She's fearful
her husband will not see her in love with justice. What happened? She walked into that place and
immediately he saw her scepter. Come here. Come here. And whatever
you want, He didn't even know what she wanted. He said, you
know, whatever you want, you can have it. She received grace. She received
grace. That's how we come to the Father,
we're going to receive grace. Now, the last thing, one of the
last things here, what are we to expect? What are we coming
for? When you come to the throne of
grace, you know how you come by Jesus Christ. You know who?
Those who are born again, those who are holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling. And now, what are you coming
for? What are you coming to this throne of grace? That's where
you go. What do you want? Look at the text again real quickly.
Look at the text. He said, Let us come boldly to
the throne of grace. that we may obtain, what's the
first thing? Mercy. What does every believer
need constantly? What is the consistent theme
of every prayer of the believer? Mercy. I don't care. Sometimes you're in need of physical
things. What grounds are you going to come for? Mercy. I'm
sick. Lord, heal me. Mercy. Families
in trouble, what do you do? You come to the throne of grace
asking for what? Mercy. Mercy. I remember that woman
who came to Napoleon. He came to Napoleon and her son
was guilty. Her son was, oh man, they had
caught him and he was about to be executed and they had him
dead to rocks. And she comes begging the poet,
mercy, mercy. And she says, ma'am, your son
is guilty. He deserves to die. And she said,
that's why I'm asking for mercy. Only the guilty need mercy. See,
what every believer, the theme of every prayer of every believer
is what? Mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. Listen, that you may obtain mercy. I got the idea of mercy, but
what do I really want? I really need to obtain it. I've got to have it. Every believer
comes for mercy and for help in time of need. We are a very weak and feeble
people. Our very breath is held in the
hands of God. And we cannot move without His
help, without His strength. I know this. I cannot continue
to believe on Christ except by His strength. I am absolutely, totally dependent
upon Christ for everything. So when are you to come then? The expression, let us come boldly,
has a very present sense. Come now. Let us come now boldly
in the blood of Christ to the throne of grace that we may obtain
mercy and find help in time of trouble. I'm always in trouble.
I don't know about you. I am really seriously all the time
in trouble. Whether I know it or not, I am
in trouble. Trouble is all around me. Trouble
is all in me, through me. Trouble. I'm so thankful for a throne
of grace. If I didn't have a throne of grace, how could I endure
these trials, these difficulties? I couldn't. Don't hesitate. You know, if you fail to come
to the throne of grace, it's your own fault. If you fail to obtain mercy,
it's your own fault. Why? He said, let us go. Why delay? Why wait till you, if we tarry
till we're better, what? We'll never come at all. Don't
wait to feel your need. Go now, presently, boldly in
the name of Jesus Christ to the throne of grace and you will
find help. You will find mercy. You will find forgiveness. I pray God will comfort this
to your heart.