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 this is the father speaking to the son. In verse. Five, 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 under the sun, he saith,
this is God the Father speaking, and here's what he says to the
sun. 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 feathers."
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, a 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
sits 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, O 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, O 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 had 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 11, verses 34-36. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Do you ever ask Him 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?
Do 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
hope. Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever a scepter of righteousness. It's the scepter of thy kingdom.
Thou hast 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? 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. 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
worth and arts 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, chapter 19, verse 28, Christ spake at
the time of regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the
throne of his glory. We read in Matthew, chapter 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, it's
not the right word, but 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 lack soft words that we can
agree with. And he said, does this offend
you? Are you offended by what I've said? What if you should
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, 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, he always aggravated me when he did it. But he said,
when he told me to do something, I didn't say, well, I said it
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 when God says it. That's it. That's the authority
of 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 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 needed 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. But 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 in the 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
six. 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 the 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, 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. 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. 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 sitting 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 fingers
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. 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
back to Hebrews four. 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 want to
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? 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? 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. 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 need 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 unto 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, 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 holiest 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 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 Holies 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 do 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 going to 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 clean
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 red wine.