You sit up. There you go. Well, everything that
Paul said about you, I agree with. It's been a blessing to
me, this congregation, and the visitors that's here. And I know
especially on you ladies, this is labor. It's a chore. Shirley was up cooking early
this morning. And so, I know it's a chore, but boy, it's worth
it. I don't know when I have been
so blessed to sit and worship, just worship the freedom that's
been here to worship and the messages. I thank the Lord for
his goodness, letting us gather here and visiting us with his
presence. It's amazing, I'm amazed by it. I want to leave you with a thought
this morning maybe, we've heard so much, and I want to leave
us with the thought of prayer. I think the best thing you and
I can do as God's children, as the church, would be to pray. Pray at home. Pray in the privacy
of your home. Pray here. Pray always. Pray without ceasing. When God sent His Son into this
world, He reminded Him, as it were,
when you go down there, my son, I want you to tell them this. you pray. God sent his son into this world
and he came to teach us to pray and he said don't you ever faint,
pray. Jeremiah riding under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit said the Lord spoke to me God did that in those
days. Spoke audibly, spoke to their
conscience, spoke directly to their hearts. And here's what
God said to this prophet. He said, call upon me and I will
answer thee. And I will show you great and
mighty things that you don't know. You know where he was when
God spoke that to him? He was in a dungeon. He's in
a prison. He's in trouble. And God spoke to him as it were
and said, that's no hindrance to me to show you great and mighty
things. Call upon me. I'm not talking to preachers.
I'm talking about to God's children. The least. Call upon Him. He can show you great and mighty
things that you don't know. And He can show you so easily
and so quickly great and mighty things. I love what Paul said. He said,
God grants you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit in the inner man. That was his prayer.
That was what he was praying for the believers there in that
church. Gabe, the other night when he
was preaching on God is able, he quoted this passage. Listen
to this again. unto him that is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above all that we ask or think. But that's not
all of that verse. According to His power that worketh
in us. That was still Paul's prayer.
That you be strengthened with might by His Spirit and God would
work in you to do these exceeding, wonderful, mighty things. He's
did a great work for us. And He can work in us. He can
work in us. Be strong in the Lord, in the
power of His might. I tell you, we've got things
to pray for. Haven't we? No wonder the Lord Jesus said,
pray and don't faint. Don't you dare faint. We're so weak and frail. But
boy, there's power working in us. And pray for that end. What is God able to do in us,
in you? He's able to increase the graces
in your heart. Faith and love and joy and peace
What is it that God can do in His children, in the weakest
of them? In you, in you, you nobodies,
the least of the saints. By His Spirit that dwells in
us. And you know how He does most
of this? By prayer. By answer to prayer. that men
should always pray and not to faint. I want Christ to dwell
in my heart. And if He ever comes in the heart,
He'll never leave the heart. But I want Him to dwell there,
and I want Him to manifest to me that He's there. He dwells
in my heart by faith. Most of the time, I can't discern
He's even there. He seems to hide Himself. I want
him to manifest this. Can he do that? Yeah, he can
do that. He can give you a peace that
passeth all understanding right in the midst of your trouble.
Can he do that? Yeah. And I'll tell you how he
usually does it, by prayer. By prayer. You know something? Prayer can
affect everything around us. There was a man who was just
like you and just like me, and he went to the Lord and said,
Lord, don't let it rain. It didn't rain for three and
a half years. He prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain. It didn't
rain. Then he went and prayed again, Lord send the rain, and
God gave abundance of rain. The heavens opened up. There
have been nations that have risen and established by prayer. There
have been armies that defeated their enemies through prayer.
And there have been nations pulled down and armies defeated through
prayer. I tell you, the best thing that
you and I, brothers and sisters, could do if we love this nation
that we live in, and I do, and I pray for it, the best thing
you could do is not to get involved in politics. The best thing you
could do is pray. That's the best thing you can
do. Pray for our leaders. Pray against the sins of this
wicked generation. Spurgeon said, when the church
prays, it's like sin in society is like this brush pile that's
on fire. When the saints quit praying,
the brush burns higher. When the saints seek the Lord
on behalf of the nation, the water comes, the rain comes,
and the fire dies down. The best thing you could do is
pray. The first thing we need to do is pray for our leaders. If we want to see the church
prosper, the best thing you can do is pray. If you want to see
this church and your church where you go grow in grace and knowledge,
the best thing you can do is pray. You want your pastor to
preach the gospel? You want him to be a blessing
to you, then spend time in prayer to him. Oh God bless our pastor. James said this, he said, confess
your faults one to another and pray for one another that you
may be healed. I tell you prayer, prayer will
affect you, it'll affect the church, it'll affect this world
when the saints pray. No one of the Lord Jesus said,
never faint. Pray. Before I read my text,
I want you to hold it there. There's a passage, just two verses
of scripture, over in the book of Psalms, and it's in chapter
65 of the Psalms. Look over there with me, and
we'll go back and read our text then. Psalm chapter 65. David described our God in so
many different ways. Right here is one of my favorite
things that David said about our Lord, our God. Look at it
in Psalms chapter 65. Praise waiteth for thee, O God
in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed, O thou
that hearest prayer. Isn't that wonderful? Here's
a God on His throne, and David says, here's what I love about
you, and here's what encourages me to pray, O thou that hearest
prayer. God hears the prayers of His
children. Why are we so backward then about
praying? We go to prayer and say, Our
Father which art in heaven, then we want to quit. We need encouragement
to pray, don't we? That's what I want us to look
at just for a few minutes this morning in our text in Hebrews
chapter 4. And I pray that the Lord will
use this to encourage you and to encourage me to pray. Hebrews
chapter 4 and I want to read verses 14 through verse 16. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is fastened to the heavens, Jesus, the Son
of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a
high priest which cannot be touched with the fillings of our infirmities,
but was at 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 the time of need. I want us to see in this
passage some of the things it suggests to our minds about prayer. And I hope this encourages you
to pray. First thing this passage suggests
to us is this. We're reminded of our utter weakness. When we come to prayer, we're
reminded of our utter weakness. Notice how he says it here in
verse 15. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the fillings of our what? Our infirmities. This word is translated different
ways in the New Testament. Sometimes this word is translated
sickness. Our sickness. He went about healing
all manner of sickness. We're sick. We're sick. Sometimes it's translated
weakness. I was with you in weakness and
fear and much trembling. Sometimes it's disease. He went
about healing all sorts of diseases, infirmities. You and I are infirm,
aren't we? We're sick. We're diseased. We're weak. Don't let your disease and your
weakness and your sickness stop you from coming to the Lord in
prayer. That's the first thing we're
reminded of. That's who we are. That's what
we are. That's why we should pray. We
know not what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helps
our sickness, our disease, our weaknesses. He helps our infirmities. First thing you're reminded of
when you go to the Lord in prayer, how utterly weak you are. You may get lifted up and feel
somewhat strong and proud in yourself when you're not praying.
But as soon as you bow before Him and seek His face, oh, you
begin to feel it, don't you? And then He uses this word, tempted.
Christ was at all points tempted like as we are. We are tempted. We're tried. We're tested. We're proved. I tell you, we're
tempted from every direction, aren't we? Satan tempts us because
he hates us. He wants to trip us up and destroy
us. The world tempts us to lust after
it. So we will appeal to our hearts,
our eyes. God tries us. God tempted Abraham. He tried Abraham. I used to be
in welding class years ago, and when we'd make a well, they'd
put it in this vise, and he said, we've got to prove it. And they'd
bend that piece of metal double to prove it. Sometimes we're
tempted double. We're bent over to try us. God gives faith, and then He
tries the faith. Tempted, you're tempted. Don't
let temptations, don't let what you're feeling in your heart
keep you from the thorn of grace. It's for people who are tempted,
tried, and tested, and bowed together. And notice how he says
this, I'm just saying these things suggest something to our minds
that would encourage us to pray because it tells us who we are
and how we feel. And sometimes because we feel
this way and experience it in our heart, it discourages us
from praying. I can't pray I'm too diseased. I can't pray I'm
too weak. I'm too infirm. I'm tempted. I'm bombarded with these temptations. That's the time to pray. That's
the time to pray. Then he mentions this word like
this. Find grace to help. When do we pray? When we need
help. Help Lord! David began his prayer
that way one time. King David. This is the way he
started his prayer. Help Lord! Help Lord! You remember that Canaanite woman
that came to the Lord Jesus Christ and begged for mercy. And the
Lord wouldn't even answer her. What did she say? All she could
say, Lord help me. Lord help me. You ever go to
the Lord in prayer and that's all you can mutter is, Lord help
me, Lord help me, Lord help me. And this, look at this. In the
time of need. See what this is suggesting to
our mind. In the time of need. That's when we pray our best. When I need Him. I need his grace. I need his strength. Lord, I
need you. I got a plaque a couple made
for me. It's about two foot long and so wide. I keep it right
in front of my desk. When I sit at my desk, I often
look up at it and I read this little plaque. I need thee every
hour. I need you, Lord. I need you. I need you. That's what He's
saying, isn't it? I need a Father. I need a Heavenly
Father that knows my need before I ask Him. I need a Savior to
save me from my sins. I need the Spirit to put His
graces in my heart to teach me, to comfort me. I need a King
to subdue me. I need a Prophet who can teach
me. A Priest to plead my cause with
God. I need the church. I need help. Where am I to go then? To God
in prayer. I'm to pray if I have a need. I'm to pray. Here's something else that's
suggested to our mind, the way he says this in verse 16. Come
boldly to the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy. Mercy. I don't come because I'm doing
well. I don't come because I'm feeling so good. I don't come
because I'm so full of joy and the peace of God reigns in my
heart. Sometimes I come because I'm outright miserable. I have come to the Lord and I
have told Him that Lord I am the most miserable man in this
world. And you know who mercy is for?
The miserable. You know what mercy is for? Misery. Great misery draws out great
mercy. I know we're a paradox. I know
we can have joy, but I know we can have sadness, too. I know
there's peace in the believer's heart, but there's turmoil there,
too. And there's time, brothers and
sisters, that we get miserable. And that's the time to go to
the throne of grace to obtain mercy. A believer is a paradox, isn't
he? There was a time you weren't a paradox. When you were dead
in your sins. You weren't two people then.
Now you're two people. You've got this old man and you've
got an inner man. When you were dead in sins, you
were in darkness. You were dead. But when Christ
gave you His life, now you're living and your conscience of
death You have this new life in the
inner man, but you're still carrying around this old body of death. You have light that's shined
into your heart, and you feel the darkness now more than you
ever did before. Boy, your whole being's changed.
Your inward man has changed. You don't think like you used
to. You think about God different now. You think about Christ different
now. You think about yourself. You
think about sin. You think about eternity. Everything's
different now with you. And it's because you've got the
Son. You've got the life of the Son. But sometimes you're miserable. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake with your likeness, but not until the end. And sometimes
you're utterly miserable. Come for mercy then. Let your
misery draw out great mercy. I remember Scott one time, he's
telling us about going to court with his son. And he said, Judge, let him say something. And he said, Judge, have mercy
on him. Judge said, you don't deserve
mercy. And Scott said, if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy.
Mercy means God is not going to give us what we deserve. You
don't want Him to give you what you deserve? Then come for mercy.
Merciful Lord. We start out that way, don't
we? That's the way the publican started out. Be merciful to me,
a sinner. And I bet you he prayed that
way the rest of his life. I need mercy is the sweetest
word in the Bible. Mercy, mercy, mercy. Come to Him in prayer then. Knock,
Paul quoted, knock on my door, I'll open it. You seek me, you'll
find me. You ask, and I'll give you. And what are you seeking? What
are you knocking for? What do you want? Mercy. God
has put a throne of mercy, and He set it there on purpose, brothers
and sisters, for you and me to come to. Come to the throne of
mercy. Don't let anything discourage
you. Don't let your utter weakness and sickness discourage you.
Don't let how you're feeling discourage you. It don't matter.
It don't matter. Just come. And what you need,
He'll give you. Mercy, and look at this, find
grace to help in the time of need. If mercy is not God, if
God not giving us what we deserve, grace is Him giving us what we
can never deserve. We deserve hell, don't we? Is
there anybody in hell this morning you think that deserves to be
there any more than you? Don't you deserve to be there?
Why isn't God giving that to you? Mercy. Why is He giving
you all these spiritual blessings, these heavenly blessings? Grace.
It's God's unmerited favor. We don't come to get something
that we earn. We come to get something that
God could never give us out of our merit. His unmerited favor,
His free favor, He has no debts to pay. He's under no obligation. He does it freely for His own
glory, out of His own wonderful, kind, and gracious heart. Therefore
come. It's not dependent upon you,
it's dependent upon Him. The heart of Jesus Christ, it's
so big, this universe is in it. And yet it's full of mercy and
grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And of His fullness,
of all we receive. Ain't it amazing how He's blessed
us in this meeting? And yet, He's not diminished
at all. His heart's still full of grace.
If we went on with this meeting all week, He could just keep
on pouring out His blessings on us, and never be diminished.
Why don't we come then? If that kind of grace is in the
heart of our Savior, then come to this throne of grace. You
and I got out of bed this morning because of His grace. We got
dressed. We ate. We came here because
of His grace. Grace did that to us. We're here
in prayer, reading, preaching because of His grace. You're
listening. You've got to hear and hear because of His grace.
We'll go back in a minute and read, or we'll go back and eat
because of His grace. We'll live our lives every day
because of His grace. And we'll come down to the river
of death because of His grace. And we will get over that river
up to the celestial city because of grace. Do you believe that? You believe grace is able to
save you. I got down one day. I get down,
boy, I tell you, you wouldn't believe how I get down sometimes.
If you saw some of the mental shape that I got myself in, you'd
say, I don't want to hear that guy preach. He don't even believe
what he's saying himself. I get down. Some days I don't
want to get out of bed. And I was in one of those dark
holes, and my wife had put a little plaque up over the door there. And I looked up at it. So five
little words and man he brought me up out of the darkness and
just tucked me up into heavenly places. Five little words, by
grace are ye saved. You believe grace is able to
save you? You believe grace is able to get you from this world
to the other one? Come to the throne of grace, God's unmerited
favor. There was some preacher dying
in London, I forgot his name, but one of the other preachers
went to see him just before he died and got down next to him
and said, preacher, how you doing? He said, my ship's sinking. My ship is sinking, he said.
And I'm throwing everything overboard. I'm throwing my preaching, my
worship, my service, everything I'm throwing overboard. And I'm
floating to shore on the plank of free grace. You believe grace
will get you there? Well, come to the throne of grace. And our text reminds us of that
here. In verse 16, let us come. Don't that suggest to our minds
faith? Believing? It's involved in prayer,
isn't it? It's unbelief that keeps us from
the throne of grace. So often it is. Unbelief will
turn our blessings to a curse. It'll bring a dark cloud over
your heart that you can't get out from under. Everybody else
will be walking in the sunshine and you're raining over your
head, just pouring the rain. What's the matter with me? Unbelief. When we come to the throne of
grace, we must come believing. Whatsoever you ask in prayer,
believing, you shall receive. Faith has something to do with
prayer. Coming to the throne of grace
is the same thing as saying believing. He that believeth in me shall
never hunger. He that cometh to me shall never
thirst. You and I have these mountains
of weaknesses and duties and enemies and fears and doubts.
You know how we get through them? By faith. By faith. Believe God. Brothers and sisters,
believe His naked Word. Don't trust in your feelings.
Don't look at them. Don't look at your circumstances.
Take God's naked word and just believe it and watch how it will
encourage your soul. Feelings come and feelings go
and feelings are deceiving. Our want is the word of God. All else is worth believing.
You can't trust your heart. You can't trust your feelings.
You can trust the word of the Lord. No matter what anybody
tells you, you go to His Word and trust His Word. And let me
say this. Could I say this? And please don't take me wrong
when I say this. I love sermon audio. I think
it's done so much good. But if you've got time, dear
soul, to listen to four or five preachers every day, you've got
time to open God's Word and read it. Stop listening to so many
different voices, even good voices. Those voices will leave you in
the time of trouble, but His Word won't. One man said, I'd
rather be in His Word as in heaven. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but Thy Word will never pass away. Read it, meditate it, get
it deep in your heart. Believe it. That's what coming
to the throne of grace means. You're coming. You believe in
Him. You believe in mercy. You believe in grace. Do you
really? You just said it. Or some profess
it, but they don't know what it is. Everybody talks about
grace. People talk about, God be merciful. That's become a
slang and a blasphemy. Do you really believe in grace? Do you really believe in the
old hymn writer that said, mercy hath saved me or else I must
die? There can be no doubt here. You're
saved by mercy. You're saved by mercy. Not by
works of righteousness which we've done, but according to
His mercy He saved us. Do you believe God saved you
by His mercy in Jesus Christ? Do you believe that? Do you believe
it's by His pure and free and sovereign grace that He saves
you? Do you believe that? That's what
He's telling us here. You come. You that believe in
mercy, come for mercy. You that believe in grace, come
for grace. But it's Bible mercy. My wife's
grandmother used to say, if we'll be good, He'll give us mercy.
That whole generation believed in that stuff. That's not mercy,
brothers and sisters. Mercy. Quickly, something else he said here.
Notice where we come to. Come boldly to what? The throne. Come boldly to the throne. In Revelations, I noticed this
one day, John, in the fourth chapter of the book of Revelations,
he said, I saw a throne. I saw a throne. And then he said,
him that sat on it, one sat on it. And he never did say a throne
again. Every time he mentioned throne,
then he said the throne. I saw a throne in heaven and
one sat on the throne. Where do you and I come to when
we pray? The throne. The throne. You and I don't know anything
about being under kings. We don't know anything about
approaching unto a king. We've got a representative government.
We don't want anything about approaching a majesty, do we?
I really don't want to either. John Adams. John Adams, he's
a character, one of our four founding fathers. After the Civil
War, King George died, and he hated King George. He called
him all kinds of arrogant. He's just an arrogant, pompous
king, and all of that. John Adams said, I'll never bow
again. Well, after King George died and his son was sent on
the throne, Congress got together and said, we need to restore
relationships with Britain, Great Britain. They said, we need a
man to go over there and represent us before King George's son,
who is now on the throne. And they said, get Adams to do
it. And they said, Adams, you go over. He said, I ain't going
over there. I'm not going over there and bowing. And they talked
him into it. He said, I'll go, but I'm not
bowing. and the young George was standing
next to his throne and man he was docked out he was docked
out standing there and Adam said even though he was there in his
majesty I saw some humility about him and Adam was peeping through
the crack of the door at him and his heart was smitten he
crept through the doors and crept up and said your majesty your
majesty You know where we come to when
we pray. This is what keeps us from coming flippantly, haphazardly. We're aware of where
we're coming. We're coming into the presence
of His Majesty. Listen to the book of Psalms.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with thy glory
and with thy majesty, ride prosperately because of thy truth. The Lord
reigneth, he is clothed with majesty, he is clothed with strength. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. Enter into the
rock and hide in the dust for the fear of the Lord and for
the glory of his majesty. every high look shall be humbled
and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. The word of majesty
is only used four times in the New Testament. Peter used it one time when he
was up on the Mount of Transfiguration and the majesty The divinity,
the glory of Jesus Christ broke through his humanity. And his
skin began to shine and his clothes were white. And Peter said, we
were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Who is Jesus Christ? He's our
majesty. That's why we don't talk about
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3,
when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. We have such a high priest who
has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. And Jude finished it up this
way. To the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty and
dominion and power now and forever. Amen. Prayer reminds us that
when we approach, we approach humbly. We bow. We bow before Him, our Majesty. We give up ourselves, our wills,
to Him and His will. Because we come into the presence
of His Majesty. And lastly, something else your
prayer suggests to us, and I'll close with this. Here in verse 13, Paul quoted this, neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, all things
are naked and open in the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Sin then, this is our high priest, that we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession. Prayer suggests something else
to us, that we approach through this one man, this one great
high priest who is seated there between us and our Father in
Heaven. Paul begins this book, I love
the way he begins in verses 1-3 when he's talking about our Lord.
that he's the brightness of God's glory. He's the expressed image
of His person. He is God. He's not like God. He is God. He's the expressed
image of God and when He had by Himself purged our sins, He
sat down on the right hand of God. And I think what He does
throughout the book of Hebrews, He's just a commentary on those
first three verses. And then in chapter 2 he talks
about Jesus taking our humanity. He stooped down lower than the
angels. He took our flesh and our blood.
Why did he do that? Our flesh and our bones, not
our blood. In verse 17, And all things that
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a faithful and merciful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. He made reconciliation. He's
a faithful and merciful high priest. He purged away all our
sins. And now he's seated at the right
hand of God, and he's touched with the feelings of our impermanence.
There he sets the majesty on high, and it is so willing and
able to condescend, to humble himself, to meet our awful need. And there's where we enter the
Father's presence in this sweet communion we share when we go
to Him in prayer. You that sometimes were alienated
and enemies in your mind by works, by your wicked works, yet now
are you reconciled. We can come to the Father through
Jesus Christ, our great high priest, and through him we have
continual access to God. Every moment of every day we
have continued access to the Father through our Great High
Priest. It ain't about our marriage or
how we feel, not even about the strength of our faith. Our access
is in Heaven. This Great High Priest who did
everything for us and sitting there now on the right hand of
God and says, Come my people. Come my people. Come and welcome. Here's your access to the Father.
It's me. And it never changes, never alters,
and it will never cease. Isn't that encouragement to pray?
Oh, I just feel so bad today. Has Christ changed? Do you still
have a priest there on the right hand of God? We come to Him in the hearts
of faith, hopefully gratitude, and He comes to us in mercy and
grace. and our two hearts meet together,
and commune one with another. 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. Jesus our Lord comes
down, and he meets with us, And he sees our awful need and our
sicknesses and our weakness and he said, child, I've got mercy
for you. And you say, Lord, I'm worthless.
I'm deserving of hell. And he said, I got a heart of
grace to save you. I got a spirit to comfort you
and to help you and strengthen you. This place is accessible. It's
approachable. Anybody who comes, come then. Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea. The great high priest whose name
is love, Whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is written on
his heart. My name is graven on his hands. I know that while in heaven he
stands, No tongue can bid me thence depart. No tongue can
bid me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of my guilt within, Upwards I look and see him there,
Who made man into all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free, For God the just is satisfied. to look on Him and pardon me,
to look on Him and pardon me. Behold Him there, the risen Lamb,
my perfect spotless righteousness, the great unchangeable Lamb,
the King of glory and of grace, the King of glory and of grace. One with Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood. My life is hid with Christ on
high. With Christ my Savior and my
God. With Christ my Savior and my
God. Thank you brothers and sisters.
God bless you.