A few weeks ago, I told you in
the course of one of my messages about the best assignment I ever
had. I had a choice my junior year of college in taking an
elective class that was offered on prayer. I thought it a rather
unusual college class, but one I was interested in, so I signed
up to take it, and it was taught by a new professor, who happened
to be a good professor. We didn't have many good professors
who stayed around very long, but he happened to be a good
one, Dr. Jack Clackett. He said, I want you, without
consulting any commentary or other writings, over the course
of the next week, to write down everything you can think of that
comes to mind as you read and think about Hebrews chapter four,
verse 16. Now, that was without question
the best, most personally profitable assignment I ever had. After
telling you about it a few weeks ago, I know some of you decided
to take that as a personal assignment. So tonight, let's look at Hebrews
chapter four and verse 16 together. Our text gives us instruction
from God about the blessed, blessed privilege of prayer. And I can't tell you how utterly incapable I am, how utterly insufficient
I am to give you or anyone else any instruction about prayer.
I don't pretend to know much about the subject. I have dozens
of books in my office that I've read on the subject, some written
by men I highly esteem, but I haven't read one yet that really was
of any help, not one. Prayer is one of the most important
aspects of every believer's life, yet it's one with which all of
us struggle, I'm certain. It's a subject about which there's
enormous confusion, especially among God's elect. Unbelieving
religious folks aren't confused about much. Well, they're confused
about everything, but they don't know it. But I can't think of
a single text of scripture which gives more encouragement are
greater reason to pray than Hebrews chapter four, verse 16. So we'll stick pretty close to
this text tonight. Before I look at the text with
you, let me make a few general comments about prayer. Private
prayer. Our Lord teaches us to go to
our closets to pray. That doesn't mean literally that
you have a closet you get into to pray. It means make your business
with God your business with God. Speak to God privately from your
heart. speak to God personally, individually,
pray. Certainly it is advantageous
for each of us to have a given time through the day when we
pray. But private prayer involves much,
much more than a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes
in the evening speaking to God in prayer. I'm talking about
Going to God like you would go to your nearest friend sitting
beside you when something comes up that he needs to hear. He
can help. She can help. I'm talking about
private prayer, private prayer. Make it your business. Ask God
the Spirit to teach you. to ever come to God in prayer. Come to God in prayer. When you
lead your family in prayer, that's another thing altogether. Then
you're not speaking for yourself. You're not just confessing your
sin, but you're leading your family. And as you do, you lead
your family to God with reverence and teach your family by prayer
themselves to seek the Lord. You men who come here to lead
this congregation in public prayer, Always remember you're speaking
personally to God, praying, but you're leading God's people in
prayer. You lead them to the throne of
grace. And that's a responsibility not to be taken lightly, a privilege,
but a great responsibility to lead God's people, seeking God's
mercy and God's grace together with them and for them. Now,
let's look at our text, Hebrews chapter four, verse 16. Let us, therefore, come boldly
to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. First, we meet with the throne,
the throne of grace. It is referred to in scripture
and was throughout the Old Testament as the mercy seat, the propitiatory
place. In drawing near to God in prayer,
we come to God on his throne. No one approaches God except
as they approach God on his throne. He is God the mighty, the almighty,
the glorious monarch of the universe upon a throne of total absolute
sovereignty. The throne of God is spoken of
in different ways in scripture. It is spoken of as his throne
of glory. Oh, how little we know about that. The majesty, the
holiness, the glory of God, the greatness of God, the magnitude
of God. It's a throne of justice. There
at his throne of justice, the great white throne of judgment
shall one day stand. And everyone will receive from
the throne of justice exactly his due. Everyone will receive
from the throne of justice exactly his due. Yes, we're saved by
grace, but grace saves us in righteousness through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. So that by the blood and righteousness
of Christ, every saved sinner shall inherit everlasting glory
and bliss in heaven because he fully deserves everlasting glory
and bliss in heaven. That's called salvation. That's
called redemption. That's called grace. That's called
the work of Christ. And his throne is here called
the throne of grace. There on that throne, the man,
Christ Jesus, our forerunner and mediator sits. To this throne,
I boldly come. And here at this throne, I freely
confess my sin, my sins, my iniquity, my transgressions, what I am,
what I think, what I feel, what I do that's evil. I seek there to open my heart
before God. as I would not before my wife
or my children, as I would not before you, and hide nothing. It's called confessing our sin. When we come to this throne of
grace and confess our sin, we obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. William Jay made a comment with
regard to this throne and its various aspects that's worth
reading. He said, when God enacts laws,
he's on the throne of legislation. When he administers these laws,
he's on the throne of government. When he tries his creatures by
these laws, he's on the throne of judgment. but when he receives
petitions and dispenses favors, he's on a throne of grace. A throne, the idea of a throne
inspires all. It inspires reverence, reverence
bordering on terror. It repels rather than invites. Few, few of us would be comfortable
to approach anyone on a throne. even if we were just visiting
a land where there was a king and we were not citizens of the
land. But in our own land, if we had a royalty, we would not
be comfortable approaching the throne. And we come to the throne
of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who holds in his
hand a righteous scepter and holds the reins of universal
government over all things, a throne of absolute holiness and immutable
justice. Before this great king, the greatest
earthly monarch that ever wore a crown is but a worm. Before
him, All nations of men are less than nothing in vanity. How dares
any sinful man come before this throne of infinite majesty? Blessed be his name. We who come
to him upon his throne come to him because he sits upon a throne
of grace. The throne of God. The throne
that rules the universe. The throne that has determined
from eternity everything that comes to pass in time. The throne
that governs everything in heaven, earth, and hell. The throne that
governs the thoughts of every man's heart, as well as his deeds,
is a throne of grace. If we would come to God, we must
come to him as a king upon a throne, with reverence, with confidence,
with submission, faith in its essence, in all its exercises,
is surrender to God the Lord, our blessed Redeemer, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great King. We come to Him with reverence,
with confidence, with submission, gladly, because His throne is
a throne of grace. In prayer, we come to this great
King as to one who gives like a king. We come to God and ask great
things from a great king. We expect great things because
he is magnanimously good as he is great. We ask great things
because he is infinitely rich with grace and with power. He who is our God sits yonder
upon the throne. In the ease of absolute sovereignty,
the king sits on his throne specifically on purpose to dispense grace. It is his design, his object
in making himself known. It is God's design, God's object
in making himself known to dispense grace. It is in hearing the prayers
of the needy. dispensing grace to the needy
that our God and our King honors and glorifies himself. It is
in seeking his grace as needy sinners and bowing to his throne
as needy sinners that we honor and glorify our God upon his
throne. Isaiah describes that tremendous
experience, excuse me, when the Lord made
himself known to him in Isaiah six. He saw Christ having finished
his work having ascended into glory, seated upon the throne. He said, in the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. His train filled
the temple. He heard the seraphim, the cherubs
that were represented in the picture given in the Old Testament
of the mercy seat, crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord of hosts. And those seraphs, those cherubs
singing his praise and he bowed before the throne. And one took
with tongs live coals from off the altar and touched Isaiah's
lips and said, your iniquity is purged, it's taken away. This is the throne that we had
before us here. It was typified in that mercy
seat which set on top of the Ark of the Covenant in the Old
Testament Scriptures. There Aaron would come in once
a year on the day of atonement and sprinkle the blood of the
Passover lamb. And that blood covered God's
broken law. That blood was the blood of the
mercy seat where God said, I'll meet you there upon the mercy
seat. I'll commune with you there between
the cherubs. If you turn over to Revelation
5, and I want you to, Revelation chapter 4 and 5, this is what
John saw when he was in the spirit on the Lord's day. He saw God the Lamb on his throne. The chapter opens with John saying
there's a door open in heaven, and behold a throne. And around
the throne is a bow, a rainbow. Covenant everything that proceeds
from this throne from any direction Comes according to this covenant
that God Father Son and Holy Ghost made before the world was
on our behalf And then he sees a book written Sealed and that
book is the book of God's purpose God's decrees everything that
shall come to pass in time written in that book And then he saw
a lamb, a lamb as it had been slain and he takes the book and
he opens the book and proceeds to fulfill everything written
in the book. Look at verse nine of chapter
five, Revelation chapter five. And they sang a new song. This is how the song goes. Thou
art worthy, O Lamb of God, thou art worthy. O Son of God, my
Savior, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals
thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation, and has made us unto God kings and priests,
and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and
the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands of thousands. And this is what they said, saying
with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing and every creature. Every creature which is in heaven,
and every creature which is on the earth, and every creature
which is under the earth, that takes in everything and everybody.
And such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
say. Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the
four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. It is here
in Christ, the crucified Lamb of God, sitting upon the throne
that we behold God's majesty. His mercy, His justice, His grace,
His truth, and His greatness. We're bidden to come to the throne,
come to the throne. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
nine, Hebrews chapter nine. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine service. and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first, wherein was the candlestick and the table and the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, the most holy
place, which had the golden censer and the Ark of the Covenant,
overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that
had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy
seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now when
these things were thus ordained, the priest went always into the
first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without
blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people.
The Holy Ghost this signified. that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing. As long as that veil stood there,
the way wasn't open to God, which was not, or which was a figure
for the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience. which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ, this
lamb who now sits upon his throne. being come and high priest of
good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Go down a few verses to chapter
10, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace by a new and living way,
which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is
to say his flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near, draw near to God on his
throne in the holy of holies with a true heart in full assurance
of faith. How? How on this earth? having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, being
born again by the washing of regeneration and having the blood
of Christ sprinkled on our conscience so that now we come to God without
sin and without guilt on his throne of grace in his glory. The Lord God to whom we come. before whom we bow in prayer,
even in hearing prayer, acts as a sovereign. But he's a sovereign
whose sovereignty is the sovereignty of grace. To the throne of the
great God, poor sinners like us are bidden of God to come.
What a privilege. We who come to the throne of
grace have free audience with the king of grace. Hear me, children
of God. We have free audience all the
time with God on His throne. Free audience all the time with
God on His throne. Oh, God, teach me that. Teach
me that. I dare say none of us has free
audience all the time with anyone except God. Free audience, free audience. All right, here's the second
thing. Let us therefore come. Be sure you don't miss the therefore.
There's a reason why the exhortation is given. We are invited, urged,
bidden, commanded, exhorted to come to the throne of grace because
we fear that we might fall after the same example of unbelief
as others. I try to preach to you relentlessly
the blessed security of God's elect. Not one of God's elect
shall perish, no possibility. But you and I must always deal
with ourselves and with our God with a sense of responsibility,
lest we perish after their example of unbelief. We come to the throne
of grace because there is rest to be had at this throne. We
come to God The God with whom we had to do, who is a God who
knows all things. All things, we're told in verse
13, are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have
to do. And we come to God on his throne, because God on his
throne is our great high priest, who is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, the Lamb of God, our mediator, one who
is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But this coming
to God, I can't say this with sufficient
force, with sufficient clarity, is altogether spiritual. It is altogether spiritual. I
recall one of the first things I learned as a young believer,
I was taught that when we pray, we pray to the Father, through
the Son, by the Holy Ghost. And they would give us formulas
as to how to do it. I give you no rules. I give you
no instructions as to how you're to come to the throne of God.
It has nothing to do with your posture, nothing at all. Some
years ago, I was out playing golf with a fella in church pastor
who had been pastor at lookout before me, and something came
up. David, we're on the middle of
a golf course, on the middle of a golf course. And this insane
preacher, he said, let's pray. And he kneels down right in the
middle of the fairway and expected me to kneel down with him. I'd
have come nearer hitting him with the golf club. What insanity, what pompous,
arrogant pride to call attention like a Pharisee standing on the
street corners. No, we don't come to God with
posture. We don't come to God even with
our lips. Though certainly we may speak
audibly, certainly we do speak audibly. We come to God with
our hearts, by faith in the Son of God. We come to God in our
hearts. Prayer is altogether spiritual. I find it interesting when our
Lord's disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray like John told
his disciples to pray. The master didn't give him any
rules to follow. He didn't give him any rules at all. He just
gave him an example to follow. In prayer, affectation, pretense
is horrible. It's horrible, horrible. Whether
you're praying in private or praying in public. Pretense is
horrible. Prayer, like all other acts of
worship, is spiritual. It is more attitude than deed. And yet, it is an act. An act inspired by God. An act
by which we seek the will of God. An act motivated more by
the glory of God than even our need from the God of all grace. Who is it that's here urged to
prayer? Let us, let us. The one speaking is one who's
experienced in prayer himself, who spent time at the throne
of grace and obtained mercy and grace to help in time of need.
Those who are bid and come are those who need to come. Those who are bid and come are
those who need to come. Yes, we come to God to give him
praise, to give him thanks, to extol his name. We come to God
simply to speak forth his praise, to thank him for his goodness
and his grace. The reality is we come to God
in prayer when God puts us in need to pray. When God puts us in need to pray. And probably no more often than
that. Probably no more often than that.
The Spirit making intercession for us says, let us come. We come to God, not being indifferent
to his sympathetic call, but we draw near to God by the Spirit
of God who draws us to our God. And then there's a third thing.
Let us therefore come boldly. Boldly? Boldly? Boldly? What could that mean? It doesn't mean arrogantly. It
doesn't mean demandingly. It doesn't mean we come to God
and say, Lord, we command now. Or even in Jesus' name we command.
Oh no, no, no. That stuff fits well for the
TV preacher who's trying to get you to send you some money to
heal your toenail. That's not what it's about. Boldly,
it means speaking freely. Speaking freely. Do you remember
when your children just began to talk? You remember Rex when
they were just little tots and they just began to talk? They
didn't care what they said to you. They never guarded their
words. They just said what they wanted
to say. Whatever popped into mind, they said. What's that mean?
They spoke to you boldly with no dread or fear of disappointment. Wouldn't you love him to talk
to you like that now? Boldly, boldly, with no dread, no fear,
no apprehension, no discomfort, whatever, boldly. The word means
freely. Let us come to God with complete
liberty, without restraints, liberty to speak our minds freely. Read the Psalms. As you read the Psalms, put yourself
in the place of the psalmist. I realize that as you read the
Psalms, much written in the book of Psalms can only be strictly
interpreted as our Lord Jesus speaking. But even in Psalm 22,
Psalm 45, Psalm 69, as the psalmist speaks and speaks prophetically
of Christ, he's pouring out his own heart to God and speaks freely. He speaks freely. That means
he says exactly what's on his mind. He hides nothing. When he's hurting, he expresses
his hurt. When he's in need, he expresses
his need. When he's filled with joy, he
expresses his joy. When he's filled with sorrow,
he expresses his sorrow. When he's got grief, he expresses
his grief. He speaks to God freely. Oh, my God, teach me so to speak
to you. Teach me so to speak to you. I don't think he will mind me
sharing this with you. Many, many years ago now, the
day we found out Brother Todd Nybert was very, very sick with
cancer. Doctors actually didn't know
what it was, but we were all scheduled to be in Cherokee,
North Carolina for a meeting on Monday evening, and I got
a call early in the morning. Todd wanted to see me. His brother-in-law,
Paul, said, if you want to see him alive, you'll have to come
now. And we fully expected him to die. And Henry got the same
call. So we stopped by there. I didn't
know Henry was coming here, didn't know I was, but we visited for
a while. Shelby was with me. And we got down to the meeting
at Cherokee just a little bit late. Henry was first to preach,
of course, dealt with what was on everybody's mind. And he made
a statement that shocked me. It shocked me. I couldn't believe
it, I couldn't believe it. He said, I know you're thinking
to yourself, well, Brother Mahan's mad at God. He said, you're right,
I am. How can that be? Have you never
been? Have you never been? We come
to the throne of God boldly, with no fear of repercussion. with no fear of danger through
Jesus Christ our Lord and frankly speak our minds and pour out
our needs. That's a great need. If I've
got a controversy with God, that's a need. That's a great need.
Remember, we come to the throne of grace, not to Sinai's mount,
but to Zion's hill through the merits of Christ before our Father. We come that we may be forgiven.
We come knowing that our faults, even the faults of our prayers
will be overlooked. We come freely that our petitions
may be heard and heard properly. The Spirit making intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He takes our petitions to God.
We can't express them as we ought to. All we can do is what we
feel. He takes our petitions to God
and expresses them as they ought to be expressed. And God graciously
pities our miseries and supplies our needs. Boldly suggests the
idea of confidence. Come unreservedly. Come freely. Come to God hopefully. Come to
God frequently. Frequently. As often as you think
of a need. As often as you have reason,
come to God. Come to God. Here's the fourth
thing. Let us therefore come. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace. Not that we may utter good words,
but that we may obtain grace, the blessing we need. We must
come when we need mercy. We must come when we have little
grace. We must come when we're in great
need of more grace. And we have many reasons to come
with confidence that God, our Savior, will meet our needs. Our character urges us. We need mercy because we're sinners. We would be wise to come where
mercy can be had. The character of God urges us
to come boldly, and our relationship to him as children gives us that
freedom. Come to God like a little child,
freely, freely. Tell him what you want. Tell
him what you need. Tell him what you feel. Tell
him what you desire, freely. Come seeking the direction of
his spirit. God's promises invite us to do
so. Coming to God on the throne,
in the person of our Redeemer, Christ, the God-man, our mediator,
touched with the feeling of our infirmities, knowing full well
that He who gave us His Son will freely give us all things. Come to God in times of trouble,
temptation, trial, heartache, bereavement, knowing that there's
no temptation taking you, no trouble, no heartache, no bereavement,
no sorrow, but such as is common to man. It's just common to man. But God will with the temptation,
the sorrow, the conflict, the pain, the heartache, make a way
of escape that you may be able to bear it. and the way of escape
is seated yonder on the throne. The way of escape is Christ himself
on the throne of mercy, the throne of grace, who bid you come. Now, turn back to Matthew chapter
six. Matthew chapter six. Here our Lord Jesus gives us
very plain instruction about prayer. Verse five. When thou prayest. Not if you
pray, when you pray. If you're God, you will. When
thou prayest. Let me pause a minute. I'm not
saying when you say a prayer. Don't teach your children to
say their prayers. Don't teach them to memorize prayers and
say prayers. Say a prayer for me. No, I won't do that. I don't say prayers. If God will
enable me, I will pray for you. When thou prayest, thou shalt
not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they
may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they had
their reward. Somebody looked at him and said,
my, he got it. That's what he was looking for,
he got it. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet,
and when thou shalt thy door, pray to thy father. which is
in secret. And thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly. But when you pray, use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do. Hail Mary full of grace, that's
what he's talking about. Or our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, if you're just reciting the words. Use
not vain repetitions like the heathen do. But they think they
shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore
likened to them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need
of before ye ask them. After this manner therefore pray
ye. Pray like this. Our Father, which
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Number one concern of my heart. Hallowed be thy name. God, honor
yourself. Magnify your name. Sanctify your
name. Set your name apart as God. Hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come. God, save your
people. Save your people. Thy will be
done. Do what you purposed. exactly
what you purposed in earth as it is in heaven. Do your will
right here now with me in mind, just like you do your will right
here now in heaven with you and yours. Give me what I need. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, our sins. As we forgive our debtors, forgive
us freely. Forgive us for your namesake. Forgive us for Christ's sake,
as we forgive. And lead us not into temptation.
Oh God, keep us from the evil that would destroy us. Deliver
us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. Thine is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. God, so teach me to pray. And God, so teach you to pray,
for Christ's sake. Amen.