I have entitled this message,
Bold as a Lion. Now in Acts chapter 4 verse 13,
you don't need to turn there, I'll just read it to you. Now
when they saw, the religious clergy, when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men, They took knowledge of them that they had been with
Jesus. Now the religious clergy perceived
that Peter and John had a boldness, a confidence that did not come
from their education nor from their gifts. They were in fact
unlearned and ungifted men. as they perceived it, they had
none of the credentials of the flesh, but being with Jesus gave
them a supernatural boldness. Now this is the boldness I'm
interested in. Not a boldness of the flesh,
but that boldness which is the gift of God. I just read that
verse of scripture from Proverbs chapter 28 verse 1, the wicked
fleeth when no man pursueth. I was in a place preaching once
and I was jogging and somebody yelled out to me, the wicked
fleeth when no man pursueth. And I thought, oh, well, that's
a Did you get it? But this scripture, it's never
spoke to me like it has just a couple of days ago. The wicked
fleeth when no man pursueth. Paranoid, scared, afraid, but
the righteous are as bold as a lion. A lion has no enemies. He's not
afraid of other animals. He has a boldness. Now, where does this boldness
come from? I'm interested in having this
boldness, aren't you? Did you notice how he said, the righteous
are as bold as a lion? Boldness comes only from righteousness. Now, sin makes you afraid. You're
afraid. You flee when no man pursues. You're paranoid. Somebody's behind
your back. You don't know what's going to happen. You're scared.
But the righteous are as bold as a lion. Boldness is derived
from righteousness, and every child of God is righteous. I love that verse of scripture
in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, where it says, For he, God,
hath made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. Now the more clearly we understand
this, the more boldness and the more confidence, the more absence
of fear that we'll have. I want to come boldly to the
throne of grace, don't you? I don't want to come with fear
and trembling, although I do fear and tremble at the character
of God, but I want to have this holy boldness the scripture speaks
of. Now, in our text, would you turn
to Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16, Let us, therefore, come boldly
with confidence, with freedom of access, absence of fear. Let us come boldly under the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. Now, in that verse of Scripture,
every believer is commanded I don't care how timid their natural
personality is, every believer, without any exceptions, every
believer is commanded to come boldly unto the throne of grace. And that is an awesome thing.
Turn with me for a moment to Ephesians chapter 3, verse 12. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we
have, we possess boldness and access with confidence by the
faith of Him. Now, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
remember, the only true boldness there is, is that boldness that
comes from righteousness. The only way I can come into
God's presence with boldness, the only way I can come into
the throne of grace with boldness, is if I really believe I'm righteous. That's a hard thing to get hold
of, isn't it? To really believe you're righteous, that you're
righteous before God. But did you hear that verse of
Scripture? It said, In whom, in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and this is where our boldness is, in whom we have
boldness. In Christ, I have wisdom, I have righteousness, I have
sanctification, I have redemption, and I have boldness as well.
In whom we have, we possess. This is every believer. This
is not just talking about a select few. This is talking about every
single believer. This is our possession by the
grace of God in whom we have boldness. Read this verse with
me. In whom we have boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of Him. By His faith, I
have access into the very presence of God with confidence. You know,
when I'm back in my study and people are around, I generally
shut the door. And try to, while I'm trying
to study, because I don't like to hear the outside noises and
so on. And whenever somebody wants to
talk to me, what they do, they knock on the door. It's very
polite. Knock on the door. I say, come on in. They open
it up. And you know one person that never knocks on the door?
Lynn. I mean, whoop, there she is.
She has boldness to come in. And she would get really mad.
I've never said, why didn't you knock? No, she's always welcome. She's always welcome. Now, every
believer has boldness. Boldness to come into the very
presence of God. You're bold when you feel at
home, when you feel comfortable. You know, when I'm at home, I
can open every drawer. I can look in any closet. I can
go in any room and I'm not a bit bashful about it because I got
a right to. It's mine. That house belongs to me. Nothing's
off limits in my house. You all understand that, don't
you? Nothing's off limits. But this afternoon, we didn't
have any power. And I wanted to watch the Bengals
play, which I went over to my father-in-law's.
He's out of town. And I was in his house. And he was gone. And I sit there in that house.
And it's not my house. I mean, I'm sitting there on
the couch, but it's his couch. It's not mine. I didn't feel comfortable,
you know, I sure didn't go open any drawers or anything like
that. It's not my house. I don't have that boldness. The only
boldness I have is if I'm in a place where I have a right
to open every door. And that right only comes through
righteousness in whom we have boldness and access. That means freedom of entrance.
I'm always welcome. When I come into the presence
of the living God, and this is true of every believer, he says,
come and welcome. Not hold me off, but come and
welcome. I'm his child. I'm fit to come
into his presence. He's made us fit for the inheritance
of the saints and light. That's where this boldness comes
from. I'm fit in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have access with confidence. Let's look at a few other scriptures
concerning boldness. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. Now the only thing that would
prevent us from boldness is sin. That's what causes you to not
come boldly. If you realize that sin is taken
care of, that I really am righteous before God, I've got boldness
to come into His presence. Now, look at this passage of
Scripture in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 9. For if the ministration
of condemnation, let's talk about the law. If the ministration
of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of
righteousness exceeding glory. Now there's the two ministrations,
the ministration of the law, and all it does is condemn me.
The ministration of righteousness, oh, that's Christ's righteousness.
Every believer in Him united to Him. It exceeds in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had how much glory? How much? No glory. No glory. In this respect, by
reason of the glory that excelleth, that's the gospel, for that which
is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is
glorious, seeing then that we have such hope. We use great plainness of speech,
and that's the same word that's translated boldness. Seeing that
we have such hope. What a hope I have. I have a
hope. that when God sees me on judgment
day, He's going to actually see somebody not as forgiven, but
as somebody without sin, perfectly righteous. Now that's a hope,
isn't it? Seeing that we have such hope,
We use great boldness of speech. I don't think back on this. This
is the gospel. This is the children's bread.
Seeing that we have such a hope of perfect righteousness in Christ,
we use great blamelessness of speech. Look in Hebrews chapter
10, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest, the very presence of God, the Holy
of Holies, where the Shekinah glory dwells, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest. How? By the blood
of Jesus. Now there's my boldness. There's
my boldness. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. No boldness in myself. But oh,
what boldness, what freedom of access, what confidence we have
in His blood. I can come into His very presence. 1 John 2. And now, little children, verse
28, and now, little children, abide where? In Him. This is the one place I want
to be found. in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
by the grace of God, I'm not going anywhere else. I'm staying
right here. I love what Paul said, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now,
I'm staying right there. That's the only place I want
to be. Now, look what he says. And now, little children, abide in
Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence. Boldness
is the word. Same word. and not be ashamed
before him at his coming. We were driving somewhere in
the last day or two, I don't remember where we were going,
but I saw a sign on the road, Jesus is coming, are you ready?
And I know what they meant by that, are you good enough that
when he comes you're going to be ready? But I thought, yeah
I am ready, because I am in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that fellow
who wrote that, I don't believe he's going to be ready, I know
what he meant by that. But in Christ, I am ready. Look in 1 John chapter 4 verse
17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness, confidence in the day of judgment. Now can
you imagine standing before God with boldness? You know, on Judgment
Day, every believer is going to have this boldness. We're
not going to be trembling in fear. And here's why. Because
as He is, so are we in this world right now. Now, that's boldness. And this boldness doesn't have
anything to do with me. It has wholly to do with the
Lord Jesus Christ. and me being united to him. Now, let's go back to Hebrews
chapter 4. This is the text I want us to look at. Let us therefore, in verse 16,
let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. Now,
he gives some reasons as to why we can come boldly to the throne
of grace. Now, I'm interested in this thing
of coming boldly to the throne of grace. I want to do this. Now, up in verse 13, he says,
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight,
but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. And as we saw last week, that
word have to do means the one to whom we must give account. are naked and open with the one
to whom we must give account. He sees things as they really
are. And I'm going to have to give
an account of myself, the things done in this body, and it will
all be good. That seems too good to be true,
doesn't it? When I give account of the things done in this body,
it will all be good. I have kept God's law. I never did anything wrong and
I've always done that which is right. Literally? Literally. How can you say that? Did Christ literally become sin? Did my sin literally become His? Did He really die? Did He literally
die? Just as truly, As He literally
died, my sin literally became His and He became guilty of it. And the proof that He became
guilty of it is God killed Him. God wouldn't have killed Him
if He wasn't guilty. The reason He died is because He's guilty.
And just as literally and actually and truly as He was made sin,
I am made the very righteousness of God in Him. am righteous. Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
Son, I am as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
Son, I am as dear to God as he. Now, if God sees me as without
sin, this is the one in whom all things are naked and open.
He sees everything. He sees things as they really
are. If He sees me as without sin, you know why? It's because
I'm without sin. He sees things as they really
are. And we have some confidence in that, don't we? Let's go on
reading, verse 14. He said, 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, seeing then that
we have a great high priest." Now, what is a high priest? A
priest is a man who represents men to God. He can't be a priest
if he's not a man. He's a man who represents men
to God. And his work, the work of a priest
is summarized in Hebrews chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. For every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things
pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices
for sins. Who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way? Now, before I
go on, what good would a priest do you who wasn't compassionate
on the ignorant? And who wasn't compassionate
toward those that are out of the way? Didn't have that kind
of compassion wouldn't do me any good. He can have compassion
on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way for that he
himself also is compassed with infirmity. Now, oh, he is a great
high priest. He's great in his person. Jesus,
the Son of God, the uncreated, eternal God-man. He's great in
his character. He's not like these Men who masquerade
as priests who are filled with corruption and sinfulness and
wickedness and claim to be priests and they encourage men to confess
their sin to them and all it does is make them more filthy
than they already are. This priest is not like that.
This priest is a perfect character. Look in Hebrews chapter 7 verse
26, this description of our priest. For such a high priest became
us who is holy harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made
higher than the heavens. Who needed not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then
for the sins of the people? For this he did once when he
offered up himself. And in that passage of Scripture
I just read, we see his holiness, yet his compassion. Hebrews 5,
verse 2, Who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that
are out of the way? He's great in His gifts. His
gift is His own righteousness. He's great in His sacrifice.
He gave Himself for our sins. And you think of the greatness
of this sacrifice. Look in Hebrews chapter 9. I
love to think of the greatness of His sacrifice. Verse 11, the
Christ 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." What a great
sacrifice. He's grating his calling. Called
of God. Not a man-made priest, but a
God-called priest. And he's great in his place,
not in some creepy, dark, confessional booth, but he's in the very presence
of God right now as I speak, representing all of his people. Now seeing that we have, not
we will have if, but we have this great high priest. I mean,
I got him. When I feel it, when I'm aware
of it, when I'm not aware of it. I love that passage of Scripture
in 1 John chapter 2, verse 1 and 2. where he says, brethren, these
things write unto you that you sin not. That's what's God's
will for your life, to sin not. Make it your aim. Make it your
purpose to never sin again. Wouldn't that be wonderful to
never sin again? Now, when you do, we have an advocate with the
Father. We had this advocate before the
sin. We had this advocate during the sin. And we have this advocate
after the sin. And we're called upon to come
into His presence right now. Not waiting until you feel better.
Not waiting until you, well, I need to feel better. I just
feel too guilty and I need to do something to make up for what
I... No! Come right now with boldness because you have this
advocate, this high priest, this intercessor. And he's passed into the heavens.
Jesus, what a name. Jesus, the Son of God. That's
the name at which every knee is going to bow and every tongue
is going to confess. That's that name that Peter spoke
of whereby we must be saved. That's how powerful his name
is. I must be saved. That means it's necessary for
me to be saved. Jesus Christ died for my sins.
They're blotted out. I have perfect righteousness
before God. It is necessary that I be saved. That's the Son of God who's my
great high priest. Seeing we have this great high
priest, what's he say to do in our text in Hebrews chapter 4?
He's passed into the heavens. In the very presence of God,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession or our
confession. Now, what is our confession?
That's a very important question. What is our confession that we're
told to hold on to and not let go no matter what? We're going
to hold on to this by the grace of God? I'm not letting go. What
is our confession? Our confession is what we confess
in baptism. Baptism is the gospel. That's
our confession of faith. In baptism, I'm confessing that
my hope of salvation is that I'm united to Christ. That when
he lived, I lived. That's my personal law keeping. When he died, my sins were paid
for. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised too. I confess in baptism the very
heart of the gospel. That's my confession. That's
what I'm holding on to. Here's my hope. Here's the confession
of my hope that who Jesus Christ is and what he did. That's my
life before God. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His shed blood, that's my sin payment. His resurrection, that's
my justification before God. The fact that he's seated at
the right hand of God making intercession for me, that's my
hope that I'm going to persevere all the way to the end. I'm already
in heaven in the person of Christ. That's what I'm confessing in
baptism. Now you hold fast. Don't let go of that profession. Verse 15, 4, We have not an high priest which
cannot be touched moved to sympathy. More than that, moved to empathy
with the feeling of our infirmities. But was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Now here's the great mystery
of godliness. We have a high priest that's touched. that's moved
to sympathy, that's moved to empathy by the feeling of our
infirmities. Sinful weakness. Can anybody identify with that?
Sinful weakness. Paul put it this way. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Not that I was, but that I am
right now. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Now, we have a high priest who
has moved to sympathy. He empathizes. He has experienced those feelings,
yet without personal sin. He didn't say it. He never sinned. He didn't think a sin. He didn't
do a sin. He lived without sin. Yet my sin so truly became his
that from the cross, he said in Psalm 22 verse 6, and that's
the psalm of the cross when he said, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? He said, I am a maggot. That's the word for worm. I am
not even fit to be called a man. So truly did my sin become his. He said, my sins have gone over
my head as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for me. That's
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross. That's how truly
my sin became his. And he knows the feeling of my
infirmities more acutely than I do. Oh, when he was made sin,
his holy soul, I've never been, I've never experienced not sinning. That is His whole existence. How did He feel as He was made
sin on the cross and was made to bear the filth and the stench
and the vileness of my sin? So He was ashamed before His
Father. He was ashamed. He couldn't look
at His Father. He was so ashamed. So truly did
He take my sin upon Himself. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was in
all points tempted like as we are. Yet without sin. Let us therefore. The therefore
is therefore. Let us therefore. What do we
call upon to do? Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. Now notice first of all, it's
a throne. When I come boldly, I come boldly to the throne of
absolute sovereignty, and I come the same way that leopard did
every single time. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. I don't come in presumption.
I come knowing this is the throne of the High and Holy One, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He sits on a throne ruling and
reigning, so I don't come presumptuously. I come Understanding it's a throne,
but thank God it's a throne of grace. It's a throne of free
grace. Pure, free, unmerited favor. Now listen to this real carefully.
My good deeds, if I had any, don't help. And my sin does not hinder. Because it is, in fact, a throne
of grace. Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says, by grace
are you saved. Free, unmerited favor. Electing grace. Justifying grace. Redeeming grace. Regenerating
grace. Calling grace. Keeping grace.
Preserving grace. Glorifying grace. What part of
your salvation is not by grace? How much do you owe to the grace
of God? Now, that being said, my good, supposed good deeds
are not going to help me any. My sin is no hindrance. And the only thing that keeps
us from coming boldly is not really believing it's grace.
If you really believe it's grace, you're bold as a lion. If you
really believe that Jesus Christ is your righteousness before
God, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your personal law
keeping and so on. It's Jesus Christ is your righteousness
before God. If you really believe that, you'll
come boldly to the throne of grace with cheerful confidence,
freedom of access. Now, what do we come for? Look
what he says. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy. Now you want to know what I need?
Mercy. That's why I come to this throne.
That's why I come. To obtain mercy. Mercy is what I need because
I'm guilty. Who needs mercy? Folks that are
guilty. Guilty as charged. You can't make it dark enough
concerning me, what I am in and of myself. I'm guilty. What does that person need? Mercy. And everybody who needs mercy
gets mercy. No exceptions. I want to repeat
that. who needs mercy, gets mercy. And not many people need mercy.
That's seen in their rejection of Sovereign Grace. But everybody,
every guilty, self-condemned sinner that needs mercy, they
get mercy. You know, the Lord's merciful.
The Lord delights in showing mercy. That's His nature. We come to obtain mercy and to
find grace to help in time of need. You see, the whole need
not a physician, our Lord said, but they that are sick. I'm sick
and I need this great physician. Luke 9, 11 says, He healed them
that had need of healing. And I have that need. A lot of folks talk about needs. Well, I'm sure I got plenty of
needs. No doubt about it. But there's one thing I really
need. I need grace. I don't need health. The Lord
can take it away in a second. He's done it. I don't need wealth. But I need grace. Grace to help me. in time of
need. I need grace to help me to believe
because I can't believe by myself. I need grace to help me repent
because my heart will be as hard as a rock if God doesn't soften
it. I need grace to help me to love. I need grace to help me
to obey. I need grace to order my steps
in His Word and to not let any iniquity have dominion over me.
I need grace to help me do those things which I cannot do. Now believing the promise, we
have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
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 time of need. Now I want to look at two other
scriptures. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 35, cast not away, therefore, your
confidence. That word is the same word translated
boldness. Cast not away your boldness. You know, you're always going
to be tempted to. You know, it's hard to believe that you're perfectly
righteous. It's a temptation to cast that away.
This is too good to be true. Hold on to this. It's the only
hope you've got. And it has great recompense of
reward. Oh, there's great reward in this
boldness. Don't cast it away. Now turn to Acts chapter 4. Now, the apostles had been beaten
for preaching the gospel. And we read in verse 29 of Acts
chapter 4, And now, Lord, behold their threatenings. Oh, they're
threatening us and saying we can't preach in your name. And
grant unto thy servants that we might not be tried like this,
that we might be delivered from these trials. No. Grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth
thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done
by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed,
the place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And what did they
do? What they asked for. They spake the word of God. with boldness. The need for the hour is boldness. Boldness in coming to the throne
of grace and boldness to speak his word. May God grant us this
holy boldness. Let's pray together.