I was standing on the second
row there while we were singing and Gabe motioned for me to come
on up and I shut my head no. He acted like he was just a little
bit startled. Preaching scares me to death. I thought Friday as we came here
to worship that if someone would give me the choice to lay me
down and beat me with a whip or send me to the pulpit, I would
say, beat me. And yet it's the most delightful
thing to tell of the Savior, what he teaches you, to open
his word and try to encourage his people, humble flesh, and
bring honor to his name. And that's what preaching is
about, isn't it? Telling what we've seen, what the Lord has
showed us, I want you to look in Hebrews
chapter four with me for my text. Verses 13 through verse 16. I want to give us some encouragement
to pray. Hebrews chapter four and verse
13. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight. But all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. 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. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Maybe one of the things that's
more difficult than preaching is praying. It's a very difficult
thing to pray. It's a very difficult thing to
continue in prayer. The Lord Jesus, when he came
to this earth, one of the things that he spent some time teaching
us to do is pray. He was praying one day and his
apostles came to him and said, teach us to pray. He has to teach
us to pray. He has to encourage us to pray.
He spoke a whole parable to this end that men should always pray
and not lose heart. Don't be discouraged in praying. And he spends time encouraging
his people to pray because we need encouragement to pray. It's
a difficult thing to pray. And yet it's so profitable, isn't
it? There was a man who prayed that
it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain for three years and a half.
He went and prayed to the Lord again that it would rain, and
the heavens gave abundance of rain. The effectual, firmament
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I don't think we need any
better preaching. I've heard some wonderful preaching,
not just mine, but some wonderful preaching. I sat here with all
you dear brethren. I sat here Saturday morning as
Brother Angus dealt with McPhibosheth and how many times have I heard
McPhibosheth and what a blessing it was to my heart. We've got
wonderful preaching. You know what we need? We need
God's people to spend time in prayer, time before the throne
of grace. And I would say this, the wellbeing
of our souls as we go through this sin-cursed world, much of
it is determined by our prayer unto the Lord. He honors prayer. He hears prayer. O thou that
hearest prayer." I would say much depends upon the well-being
of this local church here to the time you members spend in
time for your pastor. In time that you spend before
his throne praying, Lord give our pastor the message. Give
us hearts to hear what he has to say. Some of you know, you're a young
congregation for the most part, but some of you know what it
is to face trials and temptations. But it's not going to get any
better. There's been congregations just
like this that continued for a while, then blew up. It fails. The best thing you can do is
spend time before the throne of grace in prayer, asking the
Lord to uphold his work here. And that's what I want to encourage
us to do. Me and all of us gathered here
this morning, just encourage us to pray. And I find some encouragement
for that for myself in this passage of scripture that I read to you.
And the first thing I want to draw your attention to is prayer
reminds us of something. When you go to prayer, you're
reminded of something, and we see it here in this verse 15,
and that's our infirmities. We have a high priest which can
be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. I was looking
this word infirmities up and it's translated different ways
in our Bibles. In other places, it's translated
sickness. He's touched with our sickness. He healed all manner of sickness. That's the same word. Another
place it's translated weakness. I was with you and weakness and
fear and much trembling. Another place it's translated
disease. They brought to him all that
were diseased and he healed them. We know not what to pray for
as we ought, but the Spirit helps our diseased. He helps our weaknesses. He helps our sicknesses. Did
you ever go to prayer and you feel the plague of your heart? You feel how weak you are in
approaching to the Lord? You feel your disease? Well,
you're in a perfect condition to pray. Don't let that discourage
you from praying. The Lord knows your infirmities. And here's another one, tempted
as we are. He was in all points tempted
as we are. We're tempted people. Satan tempts
us to despair. The world tempts us with its
allurement, its temporal advantages. Flesh tempts us to sin. God tries us. He proves our faith. He gives us faith and he proves
our faith. This is a world of trials, isn't
it? It's a world of temptation. It's
a world of testing. I attended a welding class when
I was young. And we had to put two pieces
of metal together. bevel them out, then run a bead
down, then they would take that and put it in vices. And they're
saying, we're going to test this well. And they would bend it
double to test it, to see how good a welder you are. This is
a place of testing, of temptation. And when we come to prayer, we're
reminded of that, aren't we? We're tempted in all points. as our Lord Jesus Christ was. Tempted as we are, prayer reminds
us of something else. Here in verse 16, he says this,
let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help. Prayer reminds us that we are
in need of help. I need help. David went to the
Lord in prayer one day. I don't know what he was going
through. I don't know what he was feeling.
His heart must have been very, very heavy. And he began his
prayer this way, Lord, help me. Now, I don't recommend that we
begin a prayer that way. I've always encouraged people
when you go into the presence of the Lord, acknowledge who
He is. Acknowledge who you're praying
to, reverence Him, give Him thanksgiving. Don't just rush into His presence
and say, Lord, help me. But I tell you, sometimes we
get so shut up, we get so anxious, we feel our need to the point
that we can't help it. We're just like David, Lord,
help me. Well, that's what prayer is about,
isn't it? Lord, I need you. I need you. That Canaanite woman came to
the Lord Jesus. He just seemingly brushed her
off. The disciples said, would you please send her away? She's
disturbing us. And the Lord Jesus wouldn't speak
to her, sort of ignored her. And finally she was reduced to
this, Lord help me. If you feel your need of help That's the condition you need
to feel to come here to pray to the one who can help you.
Lord, help me. And sort of somewhat like that,
he says, in time of need, need. I have a plaque that a dear couple
in my congregation bought me years and years ago, just five
little words, but I got it sitting right across in front of my desk
and often I look at it and it says, every hour I need thee. Come to him in prayer because
you need him. You need his help. I need a father. I need a heavenly
father. I need a savior to save me from
my sins. I need a king to reign over me
and subdue my iniquities. I need a prophet to teach me.
I need a high priest to represent me before God. I need the Holy
Spirit to seal me and bear witness to me that I'm His child. Do you have need? That's what
prayer is about. Come boldly to the throne of
grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the
time of need. But what are we seeing then about
prayer? Prayer is not for strong people.
Prayer is for weak people. Prayer's not for independent,
secure people. It's for sick, straying, insecure
people. It's not for those who've got
it all figured out. It's for those who need help. It's for those who are in trouble.
Can't make it another step without the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
the perfect candidate. You're in the perfect condition
to come to the throne of grace. You mentioned something else
here in verse 16, that we may obtain mercy. Who's mercy for? Needy. Who's mercy for? The miserable. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not interested in soliciting
an offering from you. I've come to have mercy. Go learn
what that means. You need a mercy. How often we're
burdened with our sins, with our trials, with unbelief that
grieves us. We labor some time and seemingly
it's in vain. There's broken friendships and
sometimes we absolutely feel miserable. I've had times in
my life For one reason or another, I have gone to the Lord and said,
Lord, I am miserable. I'm looking within and all I
see is death. I'm looking around me and all
I see is confusion. And all I see is my utter failures
and loss and unbelief. Lord, I'm miserable. Well, you
know who the throne of mercy is for? Those who are miserable. Our misery draws out mercy from
the Savior's heart. Wasn't always that way, was it? Things have changed. If the Lord
has saved you, things have changed. It's different than it used to
be when you lived in nature, when you were dead in trespasses
and sins. The Lord comes to us and he gives
us life. He speaks to us, the son of God,
and he gives us his life, a holy life, eternal life. But that
reveals the death that's there. He gives us His Holy Spirit of
promise to bear witness to us and to help our infirmities and
enable us to pray. But that reveals this body of
death, this opposition, the flesh lusting against the Spirit and
the Spirit warring against the flesh. No, it wasn't always like it
is now. I am so thankful, brothers and
sisters, for this warfare. Though sometimes it's tough.
But that's a good indication that the Lord has begun a work
in you. When he gives you light, it exposes
the darkness of your awful nature. And it's one of the things that
keeps you coming back to Him. If we ever get to the place that
we can live without Him, we can live without His strength, we
can live without His mercy. If we ever get to that place,
we're in trouble for sure. Out of this great misery that
we sometimes feel, it draws great mercy out of our Savior's heart. I've heard Reformed people, Fundamentalist
people preach on prayer, and I went away discouraged to death
because it was always dependent upon how I felt. and how holy
I had lived and how I had obeyed God. It was nothing about coming
for mercy. Great is thy mercy toward me. Thou hast delivered me from the
lowest hell. I don't think a man could sink
any lower than that, could he? But mercy has a long arm. And
it wretched down in the lowest hell and brought David up. That's the mercy I'm talking
about. Come to the throne of grace to
obtain mercy. Our Lord gives faint, gives power
to who? The faint. and them that have
no might, he increases strength. In the day that I cried unto
you, you answered me and you strengthened me with strength
in my soul." Mercy. I love it, don't you? I love the word. It just has
this pleasant ring in your heart and your spirit. Mercy. Aren't you glad for mercy? Is
there anybody here this morning that thinks somebody else deserves
to be in hell more than you? Why aren't all of us in hell
this morning? Mercy. Mercy. Come boldly to the throne
of grace that you may obtain mercy. I wonder if any rank Armenians
or proud Calvinists ever pray. One boasts in the power of his
free will and the other brags about his intellect. And here
you got a bunch of poor, desperate, needy sinners coming to the throne
of grace. And I'm telling you, that's the
only kind of people who come. And look at this one, that you
may find grace to help in time of need. This isn't an encouragement
to pray. finding grace thy grace is sufficient
for me what is grace well it's god giving us what we don't deserve
grace is god's unmerited favor giving spiritual gifts giving
help and all kinds of blessings in a most undeserving way god
gives without any obligation He has no debts to pay. Grace
is God acting freely according to His own sovereign will and
good pleasure, supplying all our needs according to His riches
and glory. You and I got out of bed this
morning and we got dressed and we're here because we obtained
grace. We're here and we've got ears
to hear what's being said because we've obtained grace. We'll go
downstairs and we'll eat a meal and our system will digest it
because we've obtained grace. We'll live the rest of this day
and tonight before we go to bed, we'll say, Lord, forgive me today
of my transgressions and grace will forgive us. Next week we'll go on about our
business, and we'll live a life in this world. And someday our
heads will be pillared for the last time. They'll suck the blood
out of our bodies, and they'll put a suit of clothes on us,
and they'll put us in the ground. But our spirits will take its
fight to glory, and we'll behold the glory of the Son of God.
Why? The cause of grace. was grace that brought me safe
this far and grace will lead me home. Do you believe that? Then let that encourage you to
come to the throne of grace. There was an old preacher somewhere
in England and he was dying. And a man went to see him to
encourage him And the old man opened his eyes
and looked up at him and he said, my ship is sinking. But I have thrown everything
overboard. I have thrown all my preaching
overboard, all my praying overboard, all my giving, I've thrown it
overboard. And I intend to sail to shore
on the plank of free grace. That's our hope, isn't it? That's
what prayer is about. Coming to obtain grace, free
and sovereign grace. Our text suggests something else
to our mind here. The necessity of faith. Did you
notice in verse 16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of
grace. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. Prayer must be prayed in faith. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Those two are the same thing,
aren't they? Comin' to him and believin' on
him is the same thing. Verily I say unto you, if you
have faith, you shall say to this mountain, be removed and
be cast into the sea, and it shall be done unto you, and all
things Whatsoever you shall ask in faith, believe him, it shall
be done unto you. There's mountains, brothers and
sisters, that can only be removed by faith. There's valleys, you're
not gonna get through them, only by faith. There's anxiety, there's
doubts, there's fears. and they're never going to be
dispelled except you believe in what God has told you. Do you believe this morning,
dear brothers and sisters, that you're more than conquerors through
him that loved you? Do you believe that? Do you believe mercy and grace
is enough to get you through this world until the next? Do
you believe that? There's two blind men following
the Lord Jesus. He turned to them and said, what
do you want me to do for you? They said, Lord, that we'd receive
our sight. He said, do you believe I'm able to do this? Do you believe
I'm able? Much of our problem is our unbelief,
isn't it? There's people who believe that
if they take a whip and beat their back until blood runs,
they'll be saved. Their sins will be pardoned.
Heaven's door will open to them. If you told some people if you'd
get on your hands and knees and crawl across this country, you'd
be saved. God will have mercy upon you.
They would try that. Do you believe this morning that
mercy can save you? Mercy had saved me or else? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Do you believe that mercy can
save you? Apart from anything you know
and do or say, mercy can save you. Do you believe that? Do you believe that grace can
save you? His pure, free, and sovereign
grace that's revealed in Jesus Christ. Do you actually believe
in your heart of hearts that grace can save you and take you
to glory? Do you believe that? I used to be a Free Will Baptist.
My dad was a Free Will Baptist preacher. And I know what Free
Will Baptists preach. And I know what they believe.
And you talk to them about grace. Oh, I believe you're saved by
grace, but... Oh, I believe mercy can reach
you, but... Do you believe grace can save
you? Do you believe that? There can
be no doubt you're brothers and sisters. It's not grace plus
something else. It's not mercy in what you do.
Do you believe mercy and grace can save you? Absolutely. There can be no doubt about this.
Mercy had saved me or else. By grace are you saved? Do you
believe that? You must believe that. Men cannot
be saved not believing that. Is your faith in your strength?
Is it in your ability? Is it in your wisdom? Or is it
in mercy? Is it in your merit? Is it in
what you do? Is it in different frames of
mind that you have? Or is it in His grace? The Father in Heaven has filled
His Son. He's filled His heart. His big heart. The heart of Jesus
Christ cannot be measured. It's so immense. The universe
is in his heart and the Father has filled his heart with grace. He doesn't need him for himself. He gives it to those who come
to him in need of it. And he saves them by it. He don't
help them to save themselves. doesn't encourage them to do
something to be saved by His grace, He saves them by His grace. One man said here's the difference
in free will and sovereign grace. You have a man out in the lake
and he's drowning And free will says the lifeguard jumps in the
water and he swims out to him and he swims along beside of
him and encourages him. Just a few more strokes and you've
got it. Keep your head above water. Don't be discouraged.
Keep paddling. And he hopes to get him to shore.
But that's not grace, is it? Grace says the lifeguard jumps
in the water and he swims out. And he takes the drowning man
by the neck and he turns him over and he pulls him to shore
and he takes him out on dry land. That's grace. Brother Henry Mahan used to come
up and preach for us. And I had a, I had a, a Buick
at that time and Henry had a nicer Buick than I had, and I had a
Buick that had a trunk on it, and if you would help it a little
bit, it would come right up. But you had to help it. It was
very easy to do if you helped it. And Henry said, watch my trunk.
He pushed a button and it just flew up. And you know what he
told me? He said, Bruce, that's the difference
between works and grace. Just a little bit of help, a
little bit of help, or grace comes and saves you. Come boldly
to the throne of grace. That's what we come to. Grace
does everything. Grace doesn't just help, it does
everything. I'm about finished, so be patient.
I want you to notice this about prayer. Where do we come to when
we pray? Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne. When we pray, we come to the
throne. We're studying at home through
the book of Revelations, and we just finished chapter four.
And John heard a voice saying, come up here, and he saw a throne. And then he saw one set upon
that throne. And he never said a throne again. When he saw the one seated upon
that throne, every time, 33 times, he uses that word throne. And
from then on, every time, it was the throne. There's just one. And it's a
throne, an absolute sovereign rule over everything in this
world. And we learn here now that it's
a throne of grace. You and I live in a representative
government. We have no idea what it would
be to see our king seated on a throne up in DC or wherever. After we had fought the Revolutionary
War and King George had died, boy,
there was enmity between the colonies and Britain. But George
Washington and some of the senators and representatives wanted to
reestablish relationship with Britain. And they wanted John Adams to
go and negotiate with them. And John Adams said, I'll never
bow. I bowed to King George once and
I'm not going to go bow to his son. And they finally talked
him into going to Britain and meeting with King George's son.
And he walked there to the room and the room had a, the door
was cracked and he looked in the room and he saw, he saw King
George's son standing by his throne in his royal apparel. And he said his countenance almost
glowed when he saw him. And he looked so approachable.
And John Adams was overwhelmed and he pushed the door back and
he made a few statements and he stopped and he said, Your
Majesty, when we come to the throne of
grace, we come to our majesty. We approach our majesty. Boy, the scripture talks a lot
about that, doesn't it? Gird thy sword upon thy thigh,
O most majest, O most glorious Lord, because of thy majesty. The Lord reigneth, he is clothed
with majesty. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works." We come to the
majesty on high. Have you ever went into the restroom
and you saw the name of the Lord Jesus Christ written on the walls? People wouldn't put their grandmothers
there, but they'll put his majesty's name there. If you wear those t-shirts that's
got Jesus this and Jesus that, please take it off. We worship the majesty. Four times in the New Testament,
this word is used. We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. When He by Himself had purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high. So the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty and dominion forever. We don't come flippantly, brothers
and sisters. Be aware of who you're coming
to. He's the majesty. Prayer suggests something else
to our minds. It's the communion. Is it not
this? Is it not the communion of these
two parties, one with another? The triune God that's in heaven,
and a poor sinner that's upon this earth. Doesn't he say that
here in our text? Sin being that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of
God, therefore let us come boldly to him. How can we come to him when we're
poor sinners? Because he's our high priest.
I love the way the apostle introduces the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter
one. He talked about him being the
expressed image of God. He's not just like God, he is
God, isn't he? And he made the worlds and he
upholds the world. He upholds all things by the
word of his power. And then he made this wonderful
statement, when he had by himself, without anybody's help, without
anybody's encouragement, by himself purged our sins. He sat down, it's finished. He sat down on the right hand
of God. And now you and I can come to
God Him because He's taken our sins. He has punished our sins. He has reconciled us to God. And now God comes down and we
come to Him. How is it that old song says,
mercy crowns, glory crowns the mercy seat. The Father comes
down, the Son comes down, the Holy Spirit comes down, and He
meets with us at this throne of mercy, and we have friendship
and fellowship one with another. Octavius Winslow said, Jesus
Christ has put me and my Father in one another's arms. That's
what it means to come to the throne of grace. We come in our
utter weakness. We come feeling the work of sin
within us. And we come knowing that he's
the majesty on high. But in Jesus Christ, we're in
the Father's arms. And we're helped. We're helped. Have you ever gone to the Lord
in prayer and you feel the plague of your heart? You know what
you are. And he comes down and he visits you in prayer. And
how do you feel? Oh, you're strengthened, aren't
you? You're humble about it all. But you're so strengthened in
your soul. because you've come to the throne of grace, and you've
obtained mercy. There on eagles' wings we soar,
and sin and sense molest no more, and heaven comes down, our souls
to greet, and glory crowns the mercy seat. I must have run out
of anything to say, because that's the last page of notes I've got. Oh, brothers and sisters, if
I had one thing to leave you with, it would be this. Seek
the Lord. He desires that you do it. And though it's difficult sometimes
as it may be, fight your way through it. Ask him to give you
mercy and grace to get through it. and pray to him who loves
you. You may be here this morning,
you're without the Lord. My advice to you would, while
there's time, seek him. And where do you seek
him? The same place his children seeks
him, at the throne of grace and mercy. Don't try to put on any
front to Him. His eye sees you. He knows you
better than you know Himself. Don't try to deceive Him. You
can't deceive Him. You come telling Him what you
are. That you've been His enemy all your life. But you've heard
that He's full of grace. You've heard that He delights
in mercy. And you've come to see if He'll
show you mercy. And I just about bet he will.
Just about bank on it, he will. Been a wonderful place to be,
hasn't it? Thank the Lord for you. God bless all of you and
keep you. Angus, the Lord be merciful to
you as you travel and as you go on. Be merciful to the pastor
of this church and his dear wife and kids. I prayed for those
two girls this morning. or do a work in their hearts. You think there's no use to pray? Oh, there's profit in prayer,
isn't there? Bless you, pastor.