This morning I'm going to begin
here with just three verses or just deal with three verses beginning
with verse 14 something passage you're very familiar with and
I've had this and another passage on my mind then I'm gonna preach
on the other passage in the next message and It has has to do
with the intercession of Christ now the title of this message
is God's throne of grace and God's throne of grace. We're
going to talk about approaching God. Approaching God. And the issue of a sinner. Sinners
like us approaching God. And look what it says 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 feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted or tested 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." God's throne of grace. The first thing I want us to
understand is what is this throne of grace and what it means to
come boldly to the throne of grace. This throne of grace,
what is it? Well, it's the throne of God
Almighty. It's the throne of salvation.
For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works. lest any man should boast."
This throne of grace tells us something about who God is. In other passages of scripture
speaking of God's throne, it describes God's throne as a throne
of righteousness. God's throne is a throne of righteousness,
a righteous throne. So grace, and that's not, this
is not two different thrones. It's not a throne of grace and
a throne of righteousness as if it's two, it's the same throne,
same God upon this throne. And that tells us that in order
to understand the reality of grace, now everybody talks about
grace. A lot of people say they believe
salvation by grace. I know I did that for years.
Many of you did that for years. But I didn't really understand
the reality of grace and what it meant. To put it simply, basically
the grace that I professed in false religion was really a grace
that just gave a little boost or a little help to people who
would do their part. And that's not grace. That's
a false gospel. That's false. That's a clever,
as one old writer said, that's a cleverly disguised system of
works. But to really understand the
reality of grace, you have to understand the reality of righteousness. The Bible says in Romans 5 and
verse 21 that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. In another place, it's called
a throne of justice. And then here it's called the
throne of grace. Another place it's called the
throne of mercy and truth. Psalm 89.4, that's a covenant
psalm, speaks of the covenant of grace, speaks of the covenant
of redemption that is solely conditioned on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it says this in verse four,
it says, justice and judgment are the habitation of God's throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. So when we talk about grace,
we're also talking about righteousness. We're talking about justice as
well as mercy and salvation. This throne of grace certainly
sets forth the sovereignty of God. God is in control. God is
working all things after the counsel of his own will. God
is the determinant God by whose foreknowledge all things come
into existence. and God is all-powerful. God
says, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I'll
have compassion upon whom I will have compassion. So then it's
not of him that willeth. You see, this throne of grace,
that's this throne of salvation, is not conditioned on the will
of men. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth. The word run there is representative
of the workings, the activities of man in religion. So it's not
of him that willeth, nor is it of him that runneth. Not of man's
works, but of God that showeth mercy. Sovereign mercy, sovereign
grace. This describes the saving character
and power of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. For if you're going
to understand righteousness, then you have to understand God's
standard, God's requirement of righteousness, not man's. You
have to leave man's totally behind. You know, that's true in every
realm of salvation. If you're going to understand,
for example, goodness, what is good? You know, we talk about,
well, he's a good person or she's a good person. And normally what
we're talking about there is in comparison with other people.
But if we're going to understand goodness, holiness, righteousness,
perfection according to God's standard, then how are we to
understand that? Where are we to go? I was watching
the TV program this morning and the message was on the judgment
there in Act 17. where it says that God has commanded
all men everywhere to repent because he has promised or he
has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. That's the standard of judgment.
Righteousness is the standard of judgment. And he says the
standard of righteousness there, he's going to judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. There's
a man whom God has appointed who is in himself the judge and
also the standard of righteousness. And who is that man? He says
by whom he hath ordained that in that he hath given assurance
unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. Now
that's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ in his death, burial and
resurrection. and he is the standard of righteousness. So then when it comes to judgment
and justice and righteousness and even grace and mercy, the
issue is, is how do I compare to Christ? In Isaiah chapter
64 and verse six, there's a very graphic verse of scripture that
says this, that says, in comparison with Christ, basically, all our
righteousnesses are as what? Filthy rags. Romans chapter 3
in verse 10, there's none righteous. No, not one. What are you talking
about? Does that mean that everybody is a raving lunatic pervert out
here trying to break the law? No, it means that none of us
Have a righteousness that measures up to the standard that God requires
Now how am I going to measure up? Well, here's that throne
of grace. I Grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life because you're such a good person, no. Or because
you joined the church, no. Or because you made a decision
for Christ, no. It's because it's by, unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the righteousness of God
upon, that is the establishment of this throne of grace. It's
the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ as the substitute
and surety and representative of his people. And that's what
he did. God is a just God and a savior. That's what this throne of grace
speaks of. God is a just God and a savior. He's a righteous judge who judges
according to truth. Still he's a Savior. He's a merciful
God a loving father. How can he be both? That's the
issue of the gospel That's the heart of it. Now. That's what
people are not hearing today This is this is ignored because
people most people are ignorant of it even preachers How can
God be a just God and a Savior? That's what this throne of grace
speaks of well here's the answer verse 14 seeing them that we
have a great high priest and Now this high priest, who is
this great high priest? It's Jesus Christ. This throne
of grace is established not upon the greatness and goodness of
men and women, for we're sinners. It's established upon the greatness
and the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God in human
flesh, who is the Lord our righteousness, who is the substitute and surety,
who died for the sins of his people. Now this expression,
look here, it says in verse 14, seeing then that we have a great
high priest, there's the foundation, that is passed into the heavens.
Now that literally in the original language would read this way,
seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed through
the heavens. Now, what is that talking about,
passing through the heavens? Well, he's speaking of the ascension
of Jesus Christ as he went unto the Father. Now, how did he go
unto the Father? Well, look over at John chapter
16. Turn with me to John 16. Here, the Lord is speaking to
his disciples about what we call Holy Spirit conviction. The Holy
Spirit, you know, you've heard people say, well, I believe I'm
under conviction, or I believe they're under conviction. Well,
who brings people under conviction? God does, not the preacher now.
Now, he may use a preacher preaching the gospel, he always does, but
it's God, the Holy Spirit, who brings people under conviction.
A conviction is something you're convinced of that you didn't
see before. In other words, I was blind,
now I see. What were you blind to? What
do you see now that you didn't see before? You've been convinced
of this. It's been open to your understanding.
It's been revealed to you. Now you see something you didn't
see before and you're convinced that it's true. Now who does
that? God does. Man doesn't do that. You see,
that's the problem with people in salvation as they see it today. They have family members who
convince them of things, preachers who convince them of things,
emotional experiences, but it has nothing to do with salvation
as it's related in the Bible, in God's word. Well, listen to
what he says in verse eight of John 16. When he has come, that
is the Holy Spirit whom he calls the comforter. He will reprove. Now that word reprove means to
convince or convict the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. That the word world there doesn't
mean everybody without exception. Because I want to tell you something,
everybody without exception is not going to be convinced of
sin and of righteousness and of judgment. That's the new birth
that he's talking about here. That's being born again by the
spirit. And he says, of sin, verse nine, because they believe
not on me. There's the gospel doctrine of
sin. The gospel doctrine of sin doesn't just speak to the immoral
and the perverted, the crooks and the perverted ones of this
world. The gospel doctrine of sin speaks
to the best of the best of the best and says this, we don't
measure up. We always fall short, all have
sinned and come short of the mark, the glory of God. The best
that I can do, the best that I can be does not equal the righteousness
that I must have in order to approach God. That's what the
gospel doctrine of sin says. And that's what the Holy Spirit
convicts you of. Somebody says, you mean that
all the hard work that I've done in religion, all the dedication,
all the sincerity, baptism, joining the church, giving money, attending
services, helping the poor, you mean all of that means nothing
when it comes to making a sinner righteousness? Now listen to
me. You know, you listen to all those things and you say, well,
those things are good things. Listen, when it comes to making
a sinner righteous before holy God, they mean absolutely nothing. That's what I'm saying. Because
they still fall short. Whether you fall one inch short
or a hundred million feet short, they still fall short. And that's
that conviction of sin. You cannot work your way into
God's favor. You cannot work your way unto
salvation. You cannot work your way to the
throne of grace. If you work your way to it, it's
not a throne of grace. Grace means you don't earn it
and you don't deserve it. That's what it means about me.
I don't earn it and I don't deserve it. It's a free gift. And I mean
really free. It's not based on your cooperation
or your decision. It's totally an act of God. It's
a throne of grace. But now look at verse 10. He
says, of righteousness because I go to my father and you see
me no more. Now that's, how did Christ go to the father? He went
unto the father in his ascension as the one who was crucified,
who died, was buried and rose again the third day because of
the justification of his people. He established in his obedience
unto death the only righteousness whereby God could be gracious
and just and save his people. Jesus Christ is our righteousness
if we're saved, if we're one of God's own. And he convicts
us of this. And then he says in verse 11,
of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. It's
talking about Satan's accusations. You see, the sins of God's elect
have already been judged on the cross. Christ took them. They were charged to him. The
debt of our sins was charged, imputed, accounted to him. And
he paid the debt. So therefore, and I'm gonna talk
about this in the next message, nobody can lay anything to the
charge of God's elect. Nobody can accuse them before
the throne of, oh, we're still sinners. But our sins are not
imputed to us. They were imputed to Christ.
And his righteousness is imputed, charged to us. Now, look back
at Hebrews 4. Now he says, In verse 16, now
we have this great high priest who's passed through in the heavens.
Well, look at verse 14. Jesus, the son of God, he's the
Messiah, he's the God-man. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. The word was made flesh. That's
who he is, that's the glory of his person. What a great high
priest we have. He's not just a, he's a man,
but not a mere man. He's a God, he's the God-man.
God in human flesh. You see, to deny his deity is
to deny his priesthood. To deny his humanity is to deny
his priesthood. To deny his deity or humanity
and to deny his priesthood is to deny the work that he did.
And it's to deny salvation. It's to deny grace. So he says,
let us hold fast our profession. Now, what is our profession?
Well, back when I was 12 years old, I went to a revival meeting
and blah, blah, blah. Now, is that your profession?
No, you know what the profession of a child of God is? Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's my profession. I have
nothing to save me or recommend me unto God except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. What Christ, God forbid, here's
the believer's confession, profession. God forbid that I should glory,
have confidence, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the profession of a child of God. And then he says in verse
15, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. Now what are our infirmities?
That's our weaknesses. That's our limitations. Now as
God, the Lord Jesus Christ had no human limitations. He's God
in every attribute of his nature. But as man, he had the infirmities
of the flesh. For example, he got hungry and
he had to eat. He worked and he grew tired and
he had to sleep, he had to rest. He sorrowed, he cried, just like
you and I do. Listen, when he went to that
cross, And they tortured him, the sinful humanity tortured
him and they drove the nails into the palm. He hurt just like
you'd hurt. There was no fake there, there
was no hoax there. I mean, it was real. When he
died, he died. It wasn't just him acting like
he died. And he was touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He was in all points tested like
as we are. We're tested, tempted in this
life. But there was a difference. And it's an important difference.
It's a vital difference. He says, but was in all points
tested or tempted like we are, yet without sin. Now when I'm
tempted, it's not without sin. You remember the Lord told his
disciples about the prince of the world talking about Satan
coming? And he made this statement, and
I didn't write down this verse, so I don't have the reference,
but you can look it up, or I'll look it up for you. But he said,
the prince of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. In other words, he has no ally
in me. And even in his humanity, he
was sinlessly perfect in every way, had to be. He had to be
in order to be a great high priest, a proper substitute, a sacrifice. If there was any sin in him or
any sin contaminating him, he would have been totally disqualified
to be our great high priest, to be our substitute, to be our
sin bearer, our lamb. The lamb had to be what? Without
blemish and without spot. So there was no sin in him. But
now when Satan tempts us, we have an ally, the flesh. He has
an ally in us, the flesh. And that's why we have to withstand
the wiles of the devil. That's why we have to fight the
warfare of the flesh, not in our own power, but in the power
of God. That's what the scripture teaches.
but Christ was without sin. That's the greatness of our high
priest. So he says in verse 16, let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. Now this expression,
let us come, in some translations it's translated draw near. You
hear that language all the time. Draw near unto God, draw nigh
unto God. And you know what that is? It's
a priestly expression used in the Old Testament, a priest in
approaching God. Now let me show you something.
I want you to turn to an Old Testament passage, Leviticus chapter 21.
I want to show you a picture and a type of what the writer
is talking about in Hebrews 4. It has to do with the Old Testament
priesthood. In Leviticus 21, look down at
verse 17. This is Moses instructing Aaron. Aaron was the first high priest
of Israel under the old covenant. And he's instructing Aaron in
the way that, in the qualifications of a priest to approach unto
God. And listen to what he says in
verse 17. He says, speak unto Aaron, saying, whoever he be
of thy seed, that is of your offspring, of your children,
in their generations that hath any blemish. Now he's talking
about physically here, physical blemishes. Let him not approach
to offer the bread of his God, the food of his God. If he's
got any blemish, he's disqualified. He says, for whatsoever man he
be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach. He says, a blind
man or a lame or he that hath a flat nose. I mean, think about
this. He says, or anything superfluous,
anything that is obvious to the eye. That's what he's talking
about. Verse 19, or a man that is broken footed or broken handed,
or a crooked back, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his
eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken, no
man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron of the priest shall
come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by thee. And he says, made by fire rather
and he hath a blemish he shall not come nigh to offer the bread
of his God. You read that. Now does that
sound cruel and mean to you? That God would reject anyone
who had any physical deformity or blemish? Well it's not meanness
and it's not cruelty. And this has, listen, this has
nothing to do with the salvation of a sinner before God as far
as physical things. This doesn't mean, you know,
I know people, they take these old covenant things and they'll
project them into the new covenant and to the church. This is not
saying that a person who has any physical blemish or deformity
cannot be saved. It has nothing to do with that.
This is a picture. This is a type. And what is he
saying here? He's simply saying that in order
to approach God and be accepted, we must be perfect. That's the lesson of this. He's
not saying that we're to be mean to anybody with blemishes or
anything like that. He's just simply saying this
is a disqualification to approach God in a priestly way. You must
be perfect. Now go back to Hebrews 4. Listen to it. We have a great
high priest. And we're told to come boldly
to the throne of grace. And in order to approach that
throne of grace, we must be perfect If we approach God for acceptance, you want to be
accepted with God. You see, that's the problem with
a lot of people. It's not necessarily being accepted with God. They
want to be accepted with men. But do you want to be accepted
with God? Do you want to worship God? Do you want to come to God
in prayer? That's the focus of this passage
here, coming to God in prayer. Well, in order to do that, you
must be perfect. Now, how is that possible? A
lot of people say, well, I can't go to church or I can't pray
to God until I'm better than I am today. Well, my friend,
you're just fighting a losing battle. Because if you think
you can approach the throne of God because you're better, That's
a time you shouldn't approach God. That's self-righteousness.
What is it that qualifies a sinner like me to come before holy God? Well, here it is, seeing then
that we have a great high priest. And who is this great high priest?
He's Jesus Christ, the righteous, 1 John 2. He is without sin. You see, he says here in verse
16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. That
word boldly means with confidence. In the ancient Greek world, this
word was used to describe the right of a citizen of Greece
to speak his mind on any subject in the town assembly. Listen, if you didn't have the
right of a citizen of that nation, you didn't have any right to
speak in the town assembly. But he says only those who are
full citizens have this right. Slaves didn't have this right.
Foreigners didn't have this right. Here it's freedom to approach
God. Now how am I a sinner going to approach God and find acceptance
with God? Well, there's not but one way.
And that is in the person and work of my great high priest. You see, In the Lord Jesus Christ,
legally, I am sinlessly perfect. He bore away my sins. He gave me his righteousness.
Now in myself, morally, I am not perfect. I'm a sinner saved
by grace. And that's why he says in verse
16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. I don't
earn it. I don't deserve it. But in Christ,
I have it. I possess it. I'm not qualified
in myself, but I'm qualified in Christ. I'm washed in his
blood and clothed in his righteousness. That I may obtain mercy. Where
am I going to find mercy? In Christ, the mercy seat. And
find grace to help in time of need. I'm in need all the time.
A needy person. Why should we come boldly to
the throne of grace? Because we have such a great
high priest. who's done such a great work. He's passed through
into the heavens. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10. Listen to this, verse 19. Hebrews 10 and verse 19. He says,
having therefore brethren, boldness. Now it's a derivative of the
same word. Come boldly, boldness. Confidence. You might have in your concordance
liberty. That means the way is clear. You're free to go. to enter into the holiest. Now,
upon what basis and ground can I, a sinner, enter into the holiest?
We'll look at the next words. By the blood of Jesus. Not by my works, not by my efforts,
not by my self-qualifications, not because I had a good day
today, or what people call a holy day today. No, there's only one
ground upon which a sinner can approach God, and that's the
blood of Jesus. He says in verse 20, by a new
and living way which he hath consecrated for us. What that
is, it's a new and living way that Christ made for us. We didn't
make the way. Christ made the way. He is the
way. He is the way of forgiveness.
It's by his blood. He is the way of righteousness.
It's by his obedience unto death. He is the way of grace. He said,
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me, John 14, 6. And he says, through the veil,
that is to say his flesh, his flesh without sin, remember,
and having a high priest over the house of God. That's the
household, the family of God. Let us draw near with a true
heart. That's an honest heart, a sincere
heart. That's a convicted heart, a new
heart. In full assurance of faith. Now
the full assurance of faith doesn't mean in full assurance that I
have enough faith. The full assurance of faith is
the full assurance of looking to Christ as the author and finisher
of my faith. Resting in him pleading him and
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience that evil
conscience is a guilty conscience What removes the guilt of sin?
the blood of Christ Not anything I do if anything I if I think
anything I do removes the guilt of sin that's self-righteousness
That's salvation by works But if I look to the blood of Christ
to remove the guilt, and our bodies washed with pure water,
that's the cleansing of our whole persons by the blood of Christ. That's what qualifies us. We
come to the throne of grace because we have such a great high priest.
Don't ever take your mind off the greatness of the high priest.
And we come to the throne of grace because of our need of
mercy and grace. We need forgiveness of our sins.
Where are we gonna find it? through the blood of Christ.
We need to worship God and serve God, connect with God our Savior,
commune with him. How are we gonna do that? Through
the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
right.