The Throne of Grace

Q: What does the Bible say about the throne of grace?

The Bible describes the throne of grace as a place where we can boldly seek mercy and find help in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). The throne of grace, as described in Hebrews 4:16, represents God's willingness to receive us with mercy and assistance. It is where believers can approach God confidently, knowing they will not only find grace but also mercy in their struggles. This throne emphasizes God's character of grace, contrasting with His holiness and justice, allowing sinners to come before Him without fear of judgment.

Q: How do we know that God's grace is sufficient?

God's grace is sufficient because it is offered at the throne of grace, and His mercy meets our needs (Hebrews 4:16). God’s grace is not only abundant but also specifically designed to meet our needs. In Hebrews 4:16, we are encouraged to approach the throne of grace with confidence, where we can find mercy and grace to help in our time of need. This assurance is rooted in the character of God, who is both just and merciful, allowing us to draw near despite our unworthiness, knowing that His grace is sufficient for all circumstances.

Q: Why is understanding God's throne of grace important for Christians?

Understanding God’s throne of grace is crucial for Christians because it assures us of His mercy despite our sinfulness. Grasping the concept of the throne of grace is essential for Christians as it highlights the heart of the gospel: God's willingness to forgive and help those who are undeserving. The throne of grace signifies that, while God is holy and just, He is also gracious and merciful through Jesus Christ. This understanding fosters humility, encourages reliance on God’s mercy, and strengthens faith amidst struggles, reminding us that we can approach Him without fear.

I'm speaking to you today from
the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16. Now, the title of the message
is, The Throne of Grace, The Throne of Grace. In Hebrews chapter
4, I'm going to be using three verses for text. I'll just read
one right now. But Hebrews 4, 14, 15, and 16.
But here's verse 16. Listen to it. the throne of grace. Let us,
therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need." Now, the Scriptures have a lot to say about the throne
of God. I took down a concordance a few
weeks ago and read all the Scriptures in the Word of God on the throne
of God. The Bible has a lot to say about
the throne of God, the throne of God. Let me just briefly give
you a few things that are written in the Scriptures concerning
God's throne. First of all, His throne is a
throne of glory, great glory and majesty. In Isaiah chapter
6, Isaiah said, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His glory, His
glory filled the temple. The throne of God is a throne
of glory. Can you imagine what Isaiah saw
here? I saw the Lord sitting on a throne,
high and lifted up, and His glory filled the temple. Paul wrote
in I Timothy 6, verse 15, He shall show, He shall show who
is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, the Lord of
lords, listen, who dwells in a light, who dwells in a light,
sits on a throne which no man can approach, whom no man hath
seen nor can see. That's the glory of God. God
even said to Moses, he said, no man, not even you Moses, can
look on God and live. God's throne is a throne of glory,
majesty. I'd like to just dwell there
a while. I'd like to talk about the greatness of God. I get a
little disappointed in this day that more preachers don't talk
about the glory and the majesty and the greatness of God. I think sometimes that scripture
which condemns us, it says there's no fear of God before their eyes. And I think I know why. Because
the God of glory and majesty is not preached. Awesome, the
presence of God. Secondly, His throne is a throne
of holiness. Immaculate, infinite holiness. In that scripture in Isaiah,
he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. His glory filled
the temple. And he said the seraphims were
about the throne. They covered their faces. They
covered their feet. They did fly. And they cried,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is
full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy. Psalm 47, 8
says, God sitteth on the throne of holiness. Holy and reverend
is His name. I'm talking about holiness. I'm not talking about a professed
morality. I'm talking about that essence
of God's nature, holiness, truth, righteousness. And then His throne. I found this out. His throne
is a throne of justice. That's right, justice. Justice
and righteousness. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Psalm 9, verse 7 says, God hath
prepared his throne for judgment. He will judge this world in righteousness. Exact. Psalm 97, 2 said, Righteousness
and judgment are the habitation of his throne. God's throne is
the throne of justice. God will by no means clear the
guilty. He cannot and be God. His throne
is a throne of justice and righteousness. That's the reason David cried,
Lord, don't bring me into judgment with thee. There's no human being,
no son of Adam who ever wants to stand before the throne of
God's justice and righteousness. No, no. Never, never, never.
Martin Luther said one time, I want nothing to do with an
absolute God. I want nothing to do with that
God of majesty and glory and holiness and righteousness and
justice. I want nothing to do with Him
without a mediator who can meet every demand of that throne.
That's a wise man. There's too much familiarity
in this day with God. And then, fourthly, his throne
is a throne of sovereignty. Can I not do with my own, he
said, what I will? Is anything too hard for God?
The Scripture says the Lord rules over all. He declares the end
from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. I will do all my
pleasure. Hath he not spoken? Shall he
not bring it to pass? And then Nebuchadnezzar, the
wicked king, he found that out. He said in Daniel 4, God's dominion. What is a dominion? Rule, power. God's rule, God's dominion is
an everlasting dominion. And all the inhabitants of the
earth put together are reputed as nothing. Isaiah said, as a
drop in the bucket. as the dust on the balance. It
doesn't affect the weight. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing, dust, a drop of water left at the bottom
of the bucket. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand. None can say unto him,
what are you doing? God is sovereign. He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. And that's in
creation, and that's in providence, and that's in salvation. That's
the God of the Bible. He said to Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. None can stay God's hand. If
God sets out to save, He'll save. If He sets out to damn, He'll
damn. He has the keys of hell and death. And the one that carries
the keys is the one in charge. And then His throne is not only
a throne of sovereignty, but His throne is an eternal throne.
David wrote in Psalm 45, Thy throne, O God, is forever and
forever. Psalm 93, too, he wrote, Thy
throne, O God, is established of old. Thou art from everlasting. He's the same yesterday, today
and forever. Change and decay in all around
I see. O Thou that changest not, abide
with me." And then His throne is a throne of wisdom. Wisdom. In Psalm 104, He said, O Lord,
how manifold are Thy works in wisdom. Thou hast made them all. Psalm 136, 5, Give thanks unto
the Lord, to Him that by wisdom made the heavens. That's the
God of the Bible. That's the God of creation. That's
the living God. That's the God of the universe.
That's my God. They said, David, where's your
God? Oh, the heathen and pagan talked about their little peanut
gods, you know, the gods they'd whittled out of their own imagination,
the gods that they had little idols and so forth. And they
said, David, where's your God? He said, my God's in the heavens.
What's he like, David? He had done whatsoever he pleased.
Whatsoever my God pleases, that's what he does in heaven, earth,
and the seas, and all deep places. There's a young man down in Mexico
who was brought to knowledge of the gospel and the grace of
God. And his parents were both killed.
And he had to move in with his grandfather. And his grandfather
was a devout, devout worshiper of idols and statues. He had
a statue of Mary and a statue of St. Jude and a statue of St. Peter and a statue of some of
the popes and all these candles and statues all around his house. And candles burning everywhere.
And the boy kept trying to tell him, Grandpa, he said, Christ
is the Lord. We worship Christ. We don't worship
idols. But the old man loved his idols.
His faith was in his idols. And the boy kept trying to tell
him. Finally, the boy, when the grandfather was gone one day,
he kept telling his grandfather, these idols are nothing. God
has power. Christ has power. These idols
have no power. And while the grandfather was
gone one day, the boy took a hammer and broke every one of them.
He broke every idol in the house except one. He left an idol of
St. Jude sitting on the table, just
one idol. He left him sitting on the table.
and laid the hammer down beside the idol. And the grandfather
came back. And when he walked in the door,
he saw this, this, what had happened, this mess. All his idols were
broken. And he screamed, who broke my
idols? And the boy pointed there at
the table, at that little idol sitting there, St. Jude, and
the hammer was laying right beside him. And the boy said, he did
it, grandpa. He's got the hammer. He did it.
And the grandpa said, silly boy, silly boy, he can't do anything. And the boy said, grandpa, that's
what I've been trying to tell you. These idols can't do anything. You see what I'm saying? Our
God is God. Glorious, magnificent, majestic,
eternal, sovereign, just. holy, righteous, wise. Great God, how infinite art Thou! How infinite art Thou! What worthless
worms are we! Let the whole race of creatures
bow and worship only Thee. Thy throne, O God, eternal ages
stood ere seas and stars were made. Thou art the ever-living
God where all the nations did. Eternity, with all its years,
stands present in thy view. To thee nothing old appears,
and, great God, there's nothing new." The throne of God. Well, it's a throne of majesty,
a throne of glory and holiness and justice, righteousness, sovereignty,
everlasting throne of wisdom. Is that all? If that's all, if that's the
only character revealed of our God, then we'll bow down and
die and perish and be damned. That's right. If that's all you've
got, if that's all the character that's revealed in this Bible
about God, He's majestic and glorious and sovereign and righteous
and just and holy, then there's no hope for sinners like you
and me. will remain, as Paul said, aliens, strangers, foreigners,
without help and without God in this world. But wait a minute. Here's good news. Here's good
news. That's what the gospel is. That's
what gospel means. Good news. The Apostle Paul,
in our text, Hebrews 4, 16, calls the throne of God a throne of
grace. I love these other attributes,
don't you? Because I tell you this, if he's
not almighty, he can't be gracious. If he's not sovereign and glorious,
then he can't be gracious. If he's not holy, he cannot make
us holy. What is grace? Well, grace is
not justice. Grace is free, unmerited, unearned,
undeserved mercy. Grace is God giving us what we
don't deserve, and mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. The throne of grace. Let us come
boldly before the throne of grace. You don't want to come to the
throne of justice. You don't want to come to the throne of
glory. It's a light to which no man can approach. You don't
want to come to the throne of Righteousness? You don't want
to come to the throne of judgment, but you want to come to the throne
of grace. Well, how can a throne of righteousness and holiness
be a throne of grace? How can a throne of justice and
truth be a throne of mercy? How? It's spelled C-H-R-I-S-T. It's spelled what? C-H-R-I-S-T. Jesus Christ. That's the difference. In Him, mercy and truth are met
together. Mercy and truth. God's going
to deal truthfully with us and mercifully with us. How can He? If He deals truthfully with me,
He'll damn me. If He deals mercifully with me,
He'll save me. How can He deal both ways in
Christ? Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Folks don't kiss unless they're
friends. And righteousness and peace can't be friendly toward
me. If God deals with me in righteousness,
I'm a goner. But if God deals with me in peace,
I'm saved. Well, how's He gonna deal with
me both ways? C-H-R-I-S-T, Christ. In Christ Mercy and truth are
met together. Righteousness and peace kiss
each other. God set forth His Son to be a
propitiation, a covering, a sacrifice, an atonement that He might be
just and justifier of all who believe. You see, if you only
perceive God on His throne of glory, His throne of holiness,
His throne of justice and righteousness, you can entertain no hope at
all. But if you see God on the throne
of grace, grace, free, unmerited, unearned, undeserved grace, then
you can entertain some hope. What is the throne of grace?
Let me give it to you. I've got about 10 minutes left.
Let me tell you what about this throne of grace. Let us come
wholly before the throne of grace. First of all, this throne of
grace originated with God. Not with men. In other words,
it's a throne of God in His own covenant mercies. In His own
covenant mercies. He said in Hebrews 10, this is
the covenant that I'll make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my law in their hearts. I'll write my law on their minds. And their sins and iniquities,
I'll remember no more. It started with God. He loved
us first. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Christ is the surety of God's
covenant. Christ's blood is the blood of
the everlasting covenant. Christ's death and resurrection
is the assurance of God's covenant. God said, I'm going to save them.
I'm going to show mercy to them. This all originated before the
foundation of the world. Christ was a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. That covenant's called the everlasting
covenant. He's the great shepherd of the
sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. It originated
with God. This throne of grace is old,
old, old. This throne of grace is as old
as the throne of justice. It is from the beginning. God
has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Then secondly,
this throne of grace is God-reconciled. God reconciled. God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself. In other words, Jesus Christ
obeyed the law. The law has been fully honored.
When God saves a sinner, He doesn't have to do it at the expense
of His law. God can save a sinner, and the
law will be perfectly honored if He saves that sinner in Christ. And not only is the law honored,
but justice. I said His throne is a throne
of justice and righteousness. Well, justice has been completely
satisfied. How was justice satisfied? When
was justice satisfied? When our Savior, when our substitute,
when our Redeemer died on the cross under the weight of our
sins. He died just for the unjust that
He might bring us to God. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
So God is glorified in it all. God, I can come to the throne
of God now because I'm coming as one who has obeyed His law. Oh, you didn't obey God's law.
Christ did for me. I'm coming as one against whom
justice has no charge. The Scripture says, Who can lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Who can condemn me? Christ has died. So I can come
boldly before the throne of grace, the throne of God, because I
obeyed His law. And justice is satisfied. I died. I don't owe justice anything.
Christ paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. You
see what I'm saying? God is reconciled. God hasn't
got anything to be angry about. There's no sin. There's no guilt. There's no charge. There's no
judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now
no judgment, no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
He's reconciled. The war is over. The debt's paid.
Law is honored. Justice satisfied. There's no
quarrel. Christ Jesus paid it all. You
see what I'm saying? That's the reason it's the throne
of grace. It's spelled C-H-R-I-S-T, Christ. And the throne of grace is God
receiving sinners. Receive, that's right, sinners.
Like you, like me, sinners. Guilty. There's no law we haven't
broken. There's no sin we haven't committed.
either in word or thought or deed or imagination or potential. The throne of grace is God receiving
sinners, real, bona fide, genuine sinners in Christ. Now, that's
the only way He can receive them, the only way He will receive
them. But that is the way He must receive them. Jesus Christ
said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man
cometh to the Father but by me. See, those are the three things
Adam lost in the garden. He lost the way to God. He was
put out. He lost the truth of God. He believed a lie. And he
lost his life, spiritual life. And in Christ, all three are
restored. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. Hebrews 7.25 says, Wherefore, because he is a high priest,
because he gave his life, he is able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God. by Him, only by Him, not by the
church, not by the priest, not by the preacher, not by the altar,
by Christ. I Timothy 2.5, there's one God,
there's one mediator between God and me, and that's the man
Christ Jesus. I John 5.11, this is the record. God hath given us eternal life,
this life's in His Son. He that hath the Son of God hath
life. See, the message of the gospel is twofold. It's substitution
and satisfaction. Christ bore our sins and paid
our debt. Now, let's look closely at my
text. I've got four more minutes. Now, listen to it. Now, Hebrews
4, you have the Bible there? Verse 14. Look at it carefully
with me now. This is God's Word. This is what
it says. Listen. Seeing then, Hebrews
4, 14, that we have a great high priest, We do. We have a high
priest. We have an advocate. We have
a mediator. We have one to represent us to God in all things. We have
a high priest who is passed into the heavens. Now, he doesn't
minister here on this earth. He's not in a temple or a tabernacle
or a cathedral or a church. He's in heaven. He's passed into
the heavens. There you go. He is Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. He's Jesus man, Christ anointed,
Son of God, equal in the Trinity, Jesus Christ, Son of God. Therefore, seeing we have such
a high priest, let's hold fast our profession. Let's hold fast
to this good hope. Let's hold fast to this sure
hope. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Now, listen to the next verse.
He's not a high priest who does not know us, who cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. He was in flesh and blood and
bones like you and me. He was a man tempted in all points
as we are, yet without sin. He knows us. He knows us. Our high priest in the heavens,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, one time was a man just like
you and me, walked on this earth and was tempted in every point
as we are, yet without sin. So, then, verse 16, Let us, folks
like you and me, up the holly there, on the mountain, by the
river, folks like you and me, let us, us, us, come boldly,
come just like you are. Come boldly, confidently, come
with liberty, come with sincerity, come in faith, come at all times. Come, where? To the throne. Oh, no, no. I heard you talking about that
throne of grace. come to the throne of grace,
not to an earthly altar, not to the front of the church, not
to the hand of the preacher, come to the throne of grace,
that you may obtain mercy, mercy, mercy, just like the publican
in the temple, mercy, like the thief on the cross, mercy, like
blind Bartimaeus, mercy for which David prayed in Psalm 51, that
thy loving kindness and tender mercy be upon me. That's what
I want, mercy. God's plenteous in mercy. Come
to obtain mercy and find grace to help. I need help, preacher,
I do too, in time of need. Sufficient grace, saving grace,
sovereign grace, free grace, redeeming grace, in time of need. When's your time of need? All
the time. I need grace to forgive. I need
grace to worship. I need grace to preach. I need
grace to pray. I need grace to forgive and grace
to give and grace to live and grace to die. I need grace in
prosperity and grace in poverty, grace in sickness and grace in
health. I need grace in old age and grace in death. And I know
where it's found, at the throne of grace, before the God of all
grace. Write for this message, the throne
of grace. I'll send it to you. And also
on the other side is a message I preached last week on lessons
learned in trouble. I'd like you to have both of
these messages. They'll be on the same tape. Here's the address.
Till next week, God bless you.

The Throne of Grace

What does the Bible say about the throne of grace?

How do we know that God's grace is sufficient?

Why is understanding God's throne of grace important for Christians?

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About Henry Mahan

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The Throne of Grace

What does the Bible say about the throne of grace?

How do we know that God's grace is sufficient?

Why is understanding God's throne of grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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