If you wanna follow along, I'm
gonna be in Hebrews chapter four, at the end of the chapter. I
wanna read verses 14 through 16. Hebrews chapter four, beginning
in verse 14. 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 the feelings 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. I'm gonna tell you a secret,
folks. I personally, I love grace. I really love grace. Now, let
me be clear, let me be specific. I love the grace of God. I'm not worried about or even
care about the grace of men. Or the grace of preachers. I love the grace of God. I love
the gracious God that saves. Because the grace of men, I can
live without. I did for 23 years. But I'm gonna
tell you something, you cannot live without the grace of God. Matter of fact, you're dead in
trespasses and in sins. Whether you know it or not, whether
you like it or not, whether you believe it or not, nobody lives
without the grace of God. I know what manner of man I am
in myself and I have suspicions about you. Okay? I know, because God has shown
me, just a little bit, just a touch of it, I know that in my flesh
dwells no good thing. Still, to this day. I love grace, though. I love grace. And I know something else. I
need, and you need, a throne of grace. And that's the title,
Paul, the throne of grace. But I gotta start in verse 14.
Seeing then we have a great high priest. You understand, folks? We don't just have a high priest. We've got the great high priest.
You understand? And you know how many great high
priests there have been in this world? One. That's Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. He tells us. Paul couldn't hold it in any
longer. We have a great high priest, who is it? He's passed
into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. That's who it is,
that's who it is. A great high priest who only
made in his whole career one sacrifice, for sin, forever. That's a great high priest. Now
the high priest in the Old Testament were necessary at the time. This
is what God had instructed Israel to do. But once a year, he had
to go back in and do it again. And they put the little bells
on the bottom of his uniform with the pomegranates so that
he kept moving. And as he moved, the bells tickled
and said, oh good, God hasn't struck him dead. Which, granted,
in this book, we are never told that that has happened. But I'm
gonna tell you this, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it did.
Especially when they went to that thing where they were changing
high priest every year instead of it being the job for life.
But be that as it may, we have, believers have, the great high
priest, the great high priest. And he passed into the heavens.
He ascended bodily. He ascended bodily. The disciples
watched him go. Angels told him, this same Jesus,
that guy right up there, disappearing out of your sight, this same
Jesus is coming back. But I'm gonna tell you this,
when he went up, he was the great high priest, and when he comes
back, he's still gonna be the great high priest. This is the
thing about Jesus Christ. He was prophet. and he is prophet. He was priest and he's king. No one else has ever been those
three things in one person. There are plenty who have been
prophets and priests. David was a prophet and a king,
but he wasn't a priest. Jesus Christ is all three. And
he's the only one, he's the great high priest, he's also, what? The great prophet that was gonna
follow like Moses. And he's the king of kings and
lord of lords. And when he comes back, he's
gonna be prophet, priest, and king. Oh, he went up into the
heavens. He passed up into the heavens.
And here it is. You understand what he says?
We have a great high priest. He's passed into the heavens,
but we still have him. We still have him. Oh, I like
that. I mean, how's that possible?
We're earthbound creatures. Well, he's not. He is not. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I, in the midst of them. That's what he said, and that's
what he meant. He can be there and here at the
same time. Now, he's not here bodily, but he is there bodily. But he's still here. He's still
here. What does it say? We who are
alive and remain, we remain. We're here right now. And we
still have a great high priest, a great high priest. And of course,
Paul says, he writes it, remember who the great high priest is?
Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of God. What? The only begotten,
well-beloved, highly favored God manifests in the flesh. is our great high priest. God himself, because Jesus Christ
is God, God himself is our high priest, our great high priest. Let us hold fast our profession.
Now I say it every time I read this, don't hold fast to your
profession, hold your profession. That's what he's talking about.
There's lots of people holding fast to back when I used to believe. Back when I made a profession.
Now granted, you did make a profession. But that's not what you hold
to. We have a great high priest. You hold to him. You hold to
him. You hold to your profession of him. Oh my. I know some people might
get mad if they do hear this on the TV or wherever, but let
them get mad. I can't help you. I can't help
you. Paul says, hold fast to your
profession, not to your profession, but hold fast your profession.
And your profession is of our great high priest, Jesus Christ,
the son of God. And if you don't believe him
now, you didn't believe him then. And that's just as plain as I
can make it. Because if you don't continue,
you're not his disciple. And if you're not his disciple,
you don't have a profession to hold to. Excuse me. For we have not a
high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. We have a high priest. Paul's
already said, a great high priest. but we have a high priest who
knows our circumstances, who knows our feelings, who knows
our infirmities, who knows what we go through. He was here himself
and he hungered and he thirsted. He had to have his belly filled
like we do. He got cold and he got hot. He
sweat, I'm assuming, Now, granted, it's an assumption, but I'm assuming
he worked in his father's carpenter shop for a while, and by gollies,
I've done woodwork. It's hot stuff, especially in
the Middle East. He knows our circumstances, he
knows our infirmities, and he's our great high priest. And he
is our advocate with the Father. Isn't that great? Our great high
priest whom we have is our advocate with the Father, wait a minute,
for us. For us. He doesn't need an advocate. He was without sin. And there's
no man or woman on this earth right now who can say they're
without sin from this minute to the next minute. Because I'm
gonna tell you something, and if you may not believe me, sin
is up here. Sin is in here. Now, it leaks
out to varying degrees. But listen, folks, even if you
think something evil, it's still evil whether you do it or not.
Now, don't do it. Please, don't do it. Go and sin
no more. That's what he told that woman
that was caught in adultery. And he meant it. Don't do this
anymore. But folks, I have more control,
and that's not saying a whole lot. I have more control over
what I do than what I can think, or what I feel in my heart. You
understand there's been times, I'll confess, and try not to
hold this against me, where I have been so mad that I've been glad
I didn't have a gun in my hand, or a knife, or anything else
for that matter. And I had to put my hands in my pocket. That's what I am still. But I have a great high priest.
I have a great high priest who knows my infirmities, who knows
my limitations. Matter of fact, in my circumstances
are where he put me. And your circumstances are where
he has put you. That's where you are is where
God put you. We'll get to that in a minute.
But he was tested just like we were. tempted of Satan, worse,
he was tempted of Satan in the desert. I have not been tempted
of Satan. I got enough problems dealing
with my own self. Now I know a lot of people, oh,
Satan was after me. Satan doesn't even know your
name. Get away from me, you know? You're the pastor of some little
podunk Pentecostal hole in this church somewhere in the middle
of nowhere. Trust me, Satan's already got you. because you
don't know Christ. It's not because you're an idiot
or not an idiot or you're intelligent. No, it's because if you don't
know Christ, Satan's already got you. You're already blinded. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to those that are lost. Whom the God of this world has
blinded their minds, lest the light of the glorious gospel
shine in. Understand, blind people can't
see the light. Blind people won't see the great
high priest. Why? Because they can't. They
can't. He was tested like we are. He
humbled himself. He came in the form of a servant.
As a matter of fact, he lived as we do, yet without self. I wish I could feel that just
once. Just once, but then I'd be so
obnoxious y'all couldn't stand me. I'd be so proud. I would. But Jesus knows where you are
because he put you there. He knows what you're going through
because he sent you through this trial. He never sinned and yet, He is
the one that pleads, wait a minute, I almost said our case, because
no, it's not our case. We don't have any case. He pleads
his case for us with the Father. Ain't that great? I don't need
him to plead my case. I don't have a case. You don't
have a case. His is the only case that matters
with God. I like that. And he pleads his case for us. Then we get here. Let us therefore
come boldly. Now I gotta break this down,
because too many people will get right to that point and then
they'll jump right to the word boldly. And jump in with, put
both feet in their mouth at the same time. I don't wanna do that. First of all, we gotta point
out, Paul says, let us. Now who is us? Well, it is Paul
and every other believer there is. Including us. Including us,
you understand? Paul is including himself in
this statement, let us. He didn't say let you go boldly
to the throne of grace, I don't need to go anymore. No, he said
let us. Let us go. And he's writing to those, and
I like this part, in verse two. where it says, for unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. The us is those who have profited
from the gospel being preached unto them, because it was mixed
with faith in them that heard it. That's who the us are. And it says, there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God, that's verse nine. For
he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his
own works as God did from his. What are you talking about? I'm
talking about people who didn't work for salvation. People whom the gospel profited,
being mixed with faith in them that heard it. You are to rest
from your own labors and rest in his. He's our great high priest. He
made the absolute, perfect, complete sacrifice for sin forever. And I may say that three or four
more times. I love saying that. Sacrifice for sin forever. One
offering made to God, and not to you, and not to me, made to
God for sin forever. Rest in him. Rest in him. Oh, I like that. That's the us.
And Paul includes himself in it. And then it says, come boldly. Come boldly. Let us, all who
know the great priest, great high priest, all who know Christ
Jesus, all who trust in Christ Jesus, including myself, come
boldly. I still don't want to get into
the word boldly yet because I want to look at that first word, come.
Notice very carefully, Paul didn't say go to the throne of grace. He said come. I like that, I
like that. I noticed that when I read something
an Armenian preacher wrote years ago. And I like it because it's
good. He might have been an Armenian,
but he told the truth to that once anyway. When God told Noah, He didn't
say, go into the ark. He said, come into the ark. Come
into the ark. You know why? That's where God
was. God was in the ark. And he said,
come in with me. What are we saying? Come boldly
to the throne of grace. Why? Because there's somebody
on that throne. Oh my. He's not, well, I'll tell
you. He's not so much telling you
to come to a place as he is telling you to come to a person. And that's just as plain as I
can be about that. I'll tell you a little bit more about it
later, but Paul's not telling us to go, he's telling us to
come. Believers are known as the called. The called. We are called to Christ, we are
to come to Christ, And now Paul's writing here, we are to come
to the throne. Come to the throne. And we are
to come to the throne and unto him who sits there upon. Come boldly. And it does say
boldly, that's what the English says here. But this is not, come
with confidence, not Overconfidence. You understand? The word means
come with assurance. Come boldly, come with assurance.
Not with boastfulness. Not with boastfulness. Come to this throne of grace
just exactly the same way you come to Christ. Now, you're gonna
come. only when he finds you, but you're
gonna come. And here's how you're gonna come.
You're gonna come humbly and meekly, but you are going to
be drawn to him. You're gonna have nowhere else
to go, and you're gonna come to him. Because he's gonna show
you, you have nowhere else to go. There is nowhere else to
go. Come boldly with the assurance
of Christ. Come to the throne as you've
come to Christ. You come trusting the one who calls. And then it
says, come unto, come boldly with assurance unto the throne
of grace. Now, first I'm gonna point out
a couple of negatives before I get to the positives. We are
not told, regardless of anything else you might hear, we are not
told to come to a throne of the law. We are not told to come to a
throne of law. We're told to come to a throne of grace. Now,
I want to tell you this. The law is there at that throne
of grace, but that law has been fulfilled. Not by you. but by him. The law's there,
but it's not a throne of the law. The law is there, but it's
been kept by Jesus Christ. And I will tell you this, the
law is holy and the commandment holy, just, and good, but at
that throne, the law cannot accuse you of anything. It's a throne
of grace. It's a throne of grace. It's
not a throne of law. And secondly, we are not And
this is a wonderful thing here. We're not told to come to the
throne of justice. Because I don't want justice,
I want mercy. Justice will see me in hell. Remember what I said, in my flesh
dwells no good thing? Well in your flesh dwells no
good thing either. It's not a throne of justice, but justice is there. because justice has been satisfied. Remember, he's our great high
priest. What does he offer? One sacrifice for sin forever. Forever. And guess what? Justice
is there, but justice has been satisfied. There is justice there,
but it has no claim on those that are in Christ Jesus. We are told to come boldly unto
the throne of grace. Now why is it called the throne
of grace? I give you the short answer if you want. Because it
is. Because it is a throne of grace.
But realize this before we get too carried away. It is a throne. This is a throne you are told
to come to. What's that mean? You are being
told to come to a seat of power. Absolute power. Absolute power. Because a throne is a place from
which a king reigns. A throne is the seat of a king's
power. Now, It's not to say that a king
doesn't have power no matter where he goes, but on that throne,
when he's on that throne, his power is absolute. If his power
is absolute there, it's absolute wherever he is, but that's just,
you know, the throne is the seat of his power. A throne is from
where the Lord rules. He rules from a seat, a seat
of power. and he rules justly and righteously. And this is a throne of grace. What's that mean? I can tell
you, folks, that grace in God's kingdom, grace reigns. Grace
reigns. You know why? Well, one more thing before I
go into why. Grace reigns, but here, let me not forget this,
because most of all, a throne is a place of supplication. What's that mean? A throne is
a place of submission to him that sits on the throne. You
understand how these people would approach the old king? They'd
approach it, and normally, most of the time, they made him get
on their knees before the throne when the king was sitting on
it. And I'm gonna tell you something,
when you come to a throne of grace, you're gonna come bowing to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Or you're not coming at all.
You are going to submit to him who sits upon the throne of grace. Or you're not going to know anything
about grace. You don't come, and this is what
most people when they talk about come boldly, and I've heard them
actually put it this way, Come as if you own the place.
That's not what it means. Yeah, that's exactly what it
is, blasphemy, basically. Heresy, whatever, it's tomfoolery. It's nonsense, it's a lie. That's
not what it means to come boldly to the throne. You're coming
to a place of supplication. You're coming to a place of bowing
down before God. What does it say? God is in his
holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence. Come, yes, to a throne of grace,
yes, and bow down to him, to Jesus Christ. What's it say? Psalms 103 verse
eight. You don't have to turn there.
I got three or four of these. Excuse me. The Lord is merciful
and gracious. Slow to anger and plenteous in
mercy. Psalms 111 verse four. He hath
made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious
and full of compassion. Psalms 116 and verse five says,
gracious is the Lord and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. Psalms 145 and verse eight says
this, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger
and of great mercy. You understand? It's a throne
of grace because a gracious God sits there. A gracious God sits
there. The Lord is gracious and this
gracious Lord reigns, rules. First Peter 5 and 10 says this,
but, and I love this, the God of all grace. the God of all
grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. The God of all grace sits on
the throne of grace. Because God has all grace. He
has all of it. If you got any, it's because
he gave it to you. If anybody has any grace, it's
because God gave it to you. He has all grace. There's no
grace without the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Because God has all the grace
and he gives it to whomsoever he will. Who's in the midst of the throne,
though? Walter, you read this a while back, and it stuck with
me. Revelations 5 and 6 says this,
and I beheld and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four
beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb. Stood a lamb. What? As it had
been slain. having seven horns and seven
eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the
earth. The Lamb of God is in the midst
of the throne. Oh, I like that. And I'm gonna
tell you something, any throne the Lamb of God's in the midst
of is a throne of grace. Because he's the Lamb of God
that has been slain before the foundation of the world and that
is the fountain He is the fountain of grace. Come to the throne. Come to him. Come to him. And bow down. And worship the king. Well then
it says, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. Mercy. loving kindness. Understand, grace and mercy,
and I've said this before, I'll say it again. Grace and mercy
are inextricably tied together. There is no mercy without grace.
But there's no grace without mercy. With grace there is mercy. Oh my. Our God is gracious and our
God is merciful. But he says, told Moses this,
he says, I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. You understand? It's up to God. It's never up to you. And thank
God it's not up to me. God shows mercy and grace to
whom he will. He is gracious to whom he will,
and whom he's gracious to, he shows mercy. To those God has given grace,
he is merciful. Full, full of mercy. Full of mercy. And find grace
to help in time of need. Grace is in Jesus Christ. He's
the God of all grace. There is no grace or mercy or
love without Jesus Christ. And it's his throne, the throne
of grace. Because here's the thing, the
Father, and I remember when Henry said this, I think he's quoting
somebody else, Earl said it, the Father will not hear or speak
to anyone without Jesus Christ. That's it, you understand? The
only way to approach the Father is through the Son. And the only
way to approach the Son is by his grace and mercy and love. What'd he say? This is my beloved
Son. Hear him, hear him, hear ye him. And if you won't hear him, You
don't know God. And that's just as plain as that
can be. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Yes, that's true, but this is
also true. Grace and truth still come by Jesus Christ. He hasn't stopped. Grace and
truth have never stopped, and grace and truth never will stop. Come to the throne of grace.
And come with assurance to the throne of grace. And you'll find
grace to help. What? In time of need. I said it last week. You probably
will not get what you want, but you will get what you need. And
he knows a lot better than you do. He knows a lot better than
I do about me. Hey, you're still here. That's
something. You still believe Christ? That's
the question. You understand? Don't ever stop
coming boldly to the throne of grace. That's where we need to
live if we could. Down at the feet of Jesus, I
come in humble prayer. I wish I did more often. And
I wish sometimes my prayers were more humble. that thank God the Holy Spirit
interprets. Yeah. Oh, he makes intercession. Come
to the throne of grace, because the throne of grace is where
a believer, a true believer, wants to be, wants to be. Because this is, the throne of
grace is the place of the Lamb of God. You understand? We're not talking
about coming to an unoccupied seat. We're not talking about
coming to a place. We're talking about coming to
a person. And wherever Jesus Christ is, he's ruling, he's
reigning, he's, oh, what's the word? Sovereign. Yes, I believe in sovereign grace.
You know why? Because I've got a sovereign
who's gracious. I believe in a sovereign God.
The throne of grace is where our Lord Jesus Christ is, in
the midst of the throne. The throne of grace is a place
of grace. The throne of grace is a person
of grace. The throne of grace is a person
of mercy. The throne of grace is a person
of peace, he is our peace. And the throne of grace is a
place of rest, resting from your labors and trusting in his. But most of all, that throne
of grace is a place of worship at the feet of Christ Jesus,
our Lord. That's what the throne of grace
means. Come, come boldly, come with assurance. You understand? He's told us he'd never leave
us nor forsake us. And I believe him. Come boldly to the throne of
grace and kneel before him. Ask him
for his blessings. and take what he gives you. Because he knows what you need,
when you need it, and where you need it. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful again, this time in this place, that we've set
aside to try to worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us,
Lord, to believe you more. to trust you more, to come boldly
to the throne of grace, humbly and seeking your favor. Be with Paul and Walter as they
come to preach your gospel. Apply it to our hearts, open
our ears and our minds and our hearts, and let us come to understand
a little of your gospel this day and every day. Amen.