I was thinking while I was listening
to the words of that song, I really do glory in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and
I unto the world. Would you turn to Hebrews chapter
1? entitled this message, The Throne
of the King. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 8. But unto the Son, He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. Now this is the father speaking
to the son. In verse 5, he speaks to angels. For unto which of the angels
said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee and again I will be to him a father and he shall be to me
a son. And again, when he bringeth the
first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels
of God worship him. Now he's speaking to angels.
And to the angels, he saith, who maketh his angel spirits
and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son, he saith,
this is God the Father speaking, and here's what he says to the
Son. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of blackness above thy felons. Now think of God the Father speaking
to God the Son, saying, thy throne, O God, is forever. What dignity, what excellency
the father speaks of his blessed son when he says to him, Thy
throne, O God. This is God the father speaking. And he says to his son, Thy throne,
O God, is forever. You see, as Revelation 11, 16
so beautifully states, he is the king of kings. In Psalm 5, verse 2, David cries
to him and says, my king and my God. Five times in the 24th
Psalm, he's called the king of glory. In Psalm 29, verse 10,
the Lord said King forever. Psalm 47, too, says he's a great
king. over all the earth. And Psalm
74, 12 says, for God is my king of old. Psalm 84, 3 says, the
Lord of hosts, my king and my God. Now, king has a throne,
doesn't he? A throne represents something.
It's just a chair until the king sits on it. And when the king
sets on it, this chair becomes a throne. Now the throne that
we're speaking of tonight, God, the father says to God, the son,
thy throne, Oh God is forever. The throne we're speaking of
tonight is utterly unique. There is no throne like this
throne. Now, The throne represents honor,
power, sovereignty, control, authority, rule. You know, the Kings in the scripture
were very powerful. Whether you prospered or were
brought to poverty, whether you lived or whether you died was
up to the King. If he wanted to get rid of you,
you were gone. What power these kings had. Kings could exercise great power
until somebody more powerful than them came and took over
the throne. Now they would exercise great
power, but if some king came along that was more powerful
than them, they would take away his power and they would become
king. But the king of kings, is omnipotent. He has all power. He has all power. He is the only sovereign. No one is able to remove him
from his throne. He is the all powerful king and
his will is always done. Now that's the king we're speaking
of. He's utterly unique. And if I ever see the Lord, here's
how I'll see him. I'll see him the way Isaiah did.
Isaiah said, in the year the king Uzziah died, I also saw
the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. And if that's not how I see Him,
it's because I have never seen Him. Even the Father says to
the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. Now, His throne is an eternal
throne. Remember, the throne represents
who He is. His throne is an eternal throne. He said, the father said to the
son, thy throne, oh God, is forever and ever. It never began to be. There wasn't a time when he began
to rule. He's always ruled. And there
will never be a time when his rule ceases. His throne is immutable. It is what it always was and
always will be. It is an eternal throne. I love
what David says when they say, where's your God, David? He said,
our God is in the heavens. He's where he's always been.
He hath done whatsoever He had pleased. His throne is an eternal
throne. His throne is a throne of absolute
sovereignty. And let me show you that from
the Scripture. Turn to Psalm 93. It is a joy to me to think of
the Lord as my King. I like to think of Him as my
Savior. Yes, I do. I love to think of Him as my
Redeemer. I love to think of him as my husband. I love to
think of him as my Lord and Master. I love to think of him as my
King. He is my King. Psalm 93 verse 1. The Lord reigneth. That's what sovereign means.
The Lord reigneth. He's sovereign. He is clothed
with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength,
wherewith He hath girded Himself. The world also is established
that it cannot be moved. Thy throne, the throne where
He reigns from, is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. Now, to say the Lord reigneth
means He's sovereign. Now, what does that mean? This
is very important for me to understand this. To say that the Lord Jesus
Christ is sovereign means, first of all, He has a will. he has
a definite will. And secondly, he has the power
to make sure his will always comes to pass. And third, he
has the right to use that power to make sure his will always
comes to pass. And fourth, his will does in
fact always come to pass. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
He giveth no account of his matters. He does his will. He is sovereign. There's no round table discussion
around his throne. His will is done. Listen to this scripture from
Romans chapter 11 verses 34 through 36. For who hath known the mind
of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Does he ever ask you for advice?
Does he ever ask you for any help? Or who hath first given to him,
and it shall be recompensed to him again? Does he owe you anything?
Did you ever help him out? For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Can you say amen to that?
from the very depths of your heart. His throne is a sovereign
throne. That means His will is always
done. And His throne is a throne of
holiness. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever a scepter of righteousness. It's the scepter of Thy kingdom.
Thou hast He loved righteousness. That's who He is. He loves righteousness
and He hates iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. We read in Psalm 47 verse 8,
God reigneth over the heathen. Isn't that wonderful to think
about? All these, wherever it is, He reigns. Whether they know
Him or not, He reigns. You know, regarding every country
in the world, You know who the person in power is? The one the
Lord put there according to His purpose. You see, He reigns in
all things. He reigneth over the heathen.
He sitteth on the throne of His holiness. And here is the awesome
majesty of His throne. It's a holy throne. I love that
song we sing, holy, holy, holy. Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see. You know,
if nobody sees his glory, that's okay, isn't it? Still true, only
thou art holy. There is none beside thee perfect
in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints
adore thee. casting down their golden crowns
beyond the glassy sea, cherubims and seraphims falling down before
thee, which work and art and evermore shall be. His throne
is a holy throne. Aren't you glad? He's utterly
holy. And his throne is a throne of
glory. We read in Matthew 19, verse 28, Christ spake of the
time of regeneration when the son of man shall sit on the throne
of his glory. We read in Matthew 25, verse
31, where all nations will be gathered before him. And the
Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels
with Him. Then shall He sit upon the throne
of His glory. Now the throne of His glory, I think it's Interesting is not
the right word. The natural man doesn't find
any rejoicing in this throne of sovereignty and glory and
holiness and so on. The natural man's response is,
we'll not have this man to reign over us. That's what every natural
man says. We'll not have this man to reign
over us. And I find that so amusing. You don't have any choice. He
does reign over you. I don't believe that. Well, he's
in control of that too. He's in control of everything.
I think of His words, people offended by His words. These
are hard sayings. We don't like hard sayings, John
chapter 6. We like soft words that we can
agree with. And He said, Does this offend
you? Are you offended by what I've said? What, Nephew, shall
see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? If you're
offended now, oh, you're really going to be offended then when
you see Me set on the throne of My glory, the throne where
He gets all the glory. Now, this throne of the great
King Jesus is a throne of absolute independence. It's an independent
throne. You know, all other thrones have
some other throne that set them up, but not this throne. It's
a throne of absolute independence. Listen to this scripture from
Isaiah chapter 66, verses 1 and 2, Thus saith the Lord, the Lord,
Heaven is my throne. And earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build
me? And where is the place of my rest? For all these things
have mine hand made." It's an independent throne. He says,
if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. The cattle on a thousand
hills are mine. You see, He's not worshipped
with men's hands as though He needed anything. He's utterly
independent. That's so hard for us to even
think of that concept, but it's true because we're totally dependent. We're completely dependent. We're
completely dependent on an absolutely independent God. That's who He
is. It's a throne of complete independence. He gives no account of His matters.
I love it when they come up to the Lord and they say, who gave
you the authority to do these things? He drove those people
out of the temple with a whip and they said, who gave you this
authority? And he said, well, let me ask you a question. The
baptism of John, was it from heaven or was it of men? And they scratched their head
and they said, well, if we say from heaven, he'll say, why didn't
you believe him? And if we say simply of men, there wasn't anything
to it, we're afraid we'll get stoned because everybody thinks
he's a prophet. So here's the way we'll answer
this. I don't know. I don't know. He
said, neither I tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Now, here's the point I want to make. His authority is such
that he doesn't have to give us a reason. You know, my dad,
it always aggravated me when he did it. But he said, when
he told me to do something, I didn't say, well, I said once or twice,
I learned not to say it. Why should I do that? If he said
it, do it. No other reason is needed because
I said. Now that's authority, but that's,
here's true authority. When God says it, that's it. That's the authority of God.
this throne. It's a throne of absolute independence. His throne is a throne of judgment. Listen to this scripture, Psalm
9.4. Thou settest on thy throne judging right. Psalm 89.14 says
justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. Turn
with me to Revelation chapter 20. I want you to read this with
me. Revelation chapter 20. Verse 11. And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away. And there was found no place
for them, and I saw the dead. That one sitting on that great
white throne is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I saw the dead, small
and great, big shots, little shots, people who thought they
were somebody, people who didn't. Think of themselves that way,
but they're all standing before God, and the books were opened,
and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and
the dead were judged out of the things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up their
dead which was in it, and the death and hell delivered up the
dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according
to their works. No favoritism here. No favoritism. Absolute justice meted out. And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death and whosoever was not found written in the book
of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now I want you to think
about this throne of absolute justice. Everybody, without any
exception to this rule, everybody is going to be given exactly
what they deserve. Now, I wish it wasn't like this, but
we have a hard time with the concept of hell, thinking about
hell, thinking about eternal destruction. When God sends somebody to hell,
they're getting precisely, exactly what they deserve. And that's so. Listen to this
also. When Christ saves somebody from
this throne, He gives them precisely, exactly what they deserve. If I'm in heaven, it's going
to be because I deserve to be in heaven. And the only way that
can be so, is me being united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Does
Christ deserve to be in heaven? Then I do too, because I'm united
to Him. You see, this throne is a throne
of absolute, complete justice. The sheep deserve to go to heaven,
and the goats deserve to go to hell. We read in Matthew 25,
32, And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them one from another, as the shepherd divided his sheep from
the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, and
the goats on his left. Then shall the king say to them
on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And this same king
shall say to the goats, depart, depart ye cursed into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil. and his angels. This is a throne
of absolute justice. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Yes, he will. But turn to Zechariah chapter
6. This is a scripture I don't think I'd ever seen before until
preparing this message. That's the next to the last book
in the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 6, verse 12. And speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is
the branch. He shall grow up out of his place,
and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build
the temple of the Lord. And he shall bear the glory,
and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And he shall be a what? A priest on his throne. He shall be a priest on His throne.
Now, these things I've been saying about what the Word of God says
about the throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're awesome,
they're glorious, they're scary. But here's something so... A
priest, what's a priest for? A priest represents men to God. And this One who is so glorious,
so just, is also a priest. who sits upon this throne. This
king we're talking about is also a priest. He's the priest king,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this throne of eternal immutability,
this throne of absolute sovereignty, this throne of holiness, this
throne of glory, this throne of absolute independence, this
throne of judgment is also a throne of grace. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 4. Beginning in verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest. Now, upon this throne is one
sitting, ruling and reigning, who is a priest representing
every single believer. He sits on his throne as a priest. And I love to think of the priesthood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The place of his priesthood is
not some dark, creepy confessional booth. He's in the very presence
of God, sitting on a throne. Now, what a priest that is. A
priest sitting on a throne, passed into the heavens, sitting on
a throne, sitting because his work of salvation's finished.
He's already paid the debt. Now, when he represents me, I've
said this several times in the last several weeks, but it's
such a wonderful thought to think about. When he represents me,
it's not like I sin, And he says, Father, let him go this time.
And I sin again. And he says, Oh, Father, forgive
him again. I'm asking you, forgive him again. And I sin again. And
he says, Oh, let him get by again. That's not the way his intercession
works. He sits on a throne before his Father and he presents himself
perfectly righteous and everybody he represents is perfectly righteous. That's how he represents me.
as a king-priest setting upon the throne. Who is this priest? Jesus, the Son of God. Now, seeing
then that we have a great high priest that's passed into the
heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Now, that word profession is
confession. Confession. Well, what is our confession?
What is it we confess? Well, look over, keep your finger
there and turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Let us hold fast the profession
or confession of our faith. Now, I'm not real sure why the
translators chose to use the word faith here, because it's
the word that's generally translated hope. Hope. Let us hold fast the confession.
The confession is what we freely confess. We publicly confess
the confession of our hope. Well, what's my hope? What's
my hope? My hope is that when Jesus Christ
the Lord said, it is finished, all my sin was taken away. We
just heard about it in that song that Matt sang. My hope is that
all my sin is gone. I have no sin because of what
he did. That's my hope and I hold fast
to that. My hope for Judgment Day is that
I'm perfect in Christ Jesus. Isn't that a glorious hope? That's
a blessed hope. Now he says you hold fast. Let's
go back to Hebrews 4. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of
God, let us hold fast our confession, the confession of our hope for
here's why we have not a high priest which cannot be touched. Touched with the feeling. Of our infirmities. But was in all points tempted
like as we are yet without sin. How is it that he can be touched,
moved to sympathy by the feeling of my infirmities and he never sinned? How can
that be? I mean, you can't really sympathize
with something much that you haven't experienced. How is it
that he can actually be touched with the feelings of my infirmities?
Now, what is meant by infirmities? It means powerlessness, weakness,
worse than weakness. It means without strength, where
you feel so, oh, the feeling of my sinfulness, the feeling
of my... And yet, the Lord Jesus Christ
is touched by that? How can that be? And the only
way to understand that is the cross. The feeling of my infirmities,
they feel bad, but they felt a whole lot worse to Him. He
has felt that much more acutely than I've ever felt. I talk about
feeling sinful, and I do feel sinful, but on the cross, the
Lord Jesus Christ, was made sin, and he felt all the horror and
the shame and the guilt of sin. And so when he sees me moaning
and groaning under my weaknesses, I'm weak, I'm weak. When he sees me groaning under
my weaknesses, the scripture says he's touched, moved to sympathy
by the feeling of our infirmities. He's moved to sympathy. Now,
sympathy, verse 16. Now, let us therefore, since
this is true, 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, this throne that I've been talking about is a
throne of grace. Now, let us come boldly to the
throne of grace. Now, who's the us? I wanna know
if I'm in this group. Who's the us? Is everybody called
upon to come boldly to the throne of grace? Well, everybody who
has this priest, even all who believe, all the elect of God,
all those Christ died for, they're called upon to come boldly to
the throne of grace. Now, am I in this? This is what
I want to know. Am I in this? Now, I can answer
that question. And you can determine whether
or not you're included in this if you listen real carefully.
God's pleased to bless this. Am I in this? Well, do I have infirmities? Do I have weaknesses? The word means powerlessness,
impotence. People who are more than weak,
they're strengthless. I have no spiritual strength in and
of myself. None. None. Infirmities. When we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. People with infirmities are who
is included. And look what he says, let us
therefore come boldly into the throne of grace that we may obtain
mercy. Folks who need mercy. I flat knead. mercy. I need God to not give me what
I deserve. I need mercy. Now, with regard
to me and my sin, it's all my fault. I'm not a victim. It's all my fault. Can't blame anybody else. Can't
blame my circumstances. Can't blame my environment. My
sin is all my fault. So I need mercy. Let us come boldly under the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. I need grace. I need God to actually give me
what I don't deserve. Yes, I need for Him to not give
me what I do deserve, but I also need for Him to give me what
I don't deserve. I need Him to give me righteousness
and love and faith and perseverance and all those things. Now, that's
how I can determine if this means me. If you're a person of infirmities
who needs mercy and needs grace, if that is you, I don't care
what else could be said of you, if you're weak, powerless and
you need mercy and you need grace, this is for you. I guarantee it. Let us come boldly,
with all confidence, boldly to the throne of grace that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now, if
this doesn't describe you, You don't want it. You don't need
it. That's fine. But if this describes you. This is for you. Look in Hebrews chapter 10. Having verse 19. Having therefore
brethren boldness to enter into the holiest. By the blood of Jesus. Now my
boldness to enter into the holiness is for one reason, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I really believe His blood washes
away my sin. And when I come into the very
presence of God through the blood of Christ, I come without sin. Hence, my boldness. And I'm coming
boldly right now by the grace of God. I'm coming into His presence
believing I'm His child, believing I'm accepted for Christ's sake.
And I come with boldness. Now, if I start thinking about
my boldness, I start losing it. But when I think of Him, I come
with boldness. Having boldness to enter the
holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. Now,
if you're powerless and you need mercy, Come to this throne with this
glorious priest-king sitting upon it and you'll get what you
came for. Mercy and grace. Come on. In your heart, even
now. I'm coming for mercy and I'm
coming for grace. And we're going to observe the
Lord's table now. Broken body and shed blood, our
Lord said this due in remembrance of me. I want to make a couple
of comments about the Lord's table. Who should take the Lord's
table? Everybody who believes the gospel. Period. If you believe, you're
to take the Lord's table. Now I've heard it said, well,
you shouldn't take the Lord's table unless you've been baptized. If you haven't been baptized,
you're walking in disobedience. There's no question in my mind
about that. Baptism is our confession of Christ. But baptism isn't
the requirement for the Lord's table. What is the requirement
for the Lord's table? Faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and this table is for you. This broken body and shed blood
is for you. Makes you clean before God. And
the Lord's table is a celebration. It's not a means of discipline. A lot of people look at the Lord's
table and they say, well, this is how we discipline the church.
If somebody's not living right, acting right, we withhold the
Lord's table from them. Man, how anybody can do that? Let a man judge himself, not
somebody else. I'm not gonna give it to you.
Oh my, let a man judge himself. And so not let him not eat, but
let him eat. If you're not fit to take the
Lord's table, you're not fit to die. It's not like there's
worthiness involved. Not at all. I take the Lord's
table. needing His mercy, needing His
grace, celebrating the preciousness of His blood. It makes me cling
before God. And I love doing this in remembrance
of Him. Who's the Lord's table for? Everybody
who believes. He says, this do in remembrance
of me. Let's pass out the bread and
wine.