The Throne Of Grace Hebrews 4:16

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on

the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for

even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for

you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial.

Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and

glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

I wonder if you ever thought about approaching the throne of a king.

How would you act if you had to go before a king�s throne and the king himself?

Not just any king, but a Near Eastern king 2 ,000 years ago.

What would the ramifications be when you approach such a powerful monarch?

Well, if you knew better, you would be afraid.

You would be very frightened.

Can you imagine the chills that would intensify as you got closer and closer to the throne?

I�m sure people would give you etiquette and advise you how to stand before the

king.

Can you imagine being quickly rushed to the foot of the throne and told this,

�State your crimes before the king.

� I wonder how you would act.

I wonder how you would think.

If you�ll take your Bibles and turn to the book of Hebrews, we�re going to talk about approaching a throne today.

But hallelujah, praise the Lord, it�s not a throne of judgment, it�s a throne of grace.

Coming before God who has a throne of grace.

Approaching God is not something we have a right to do.

We are sinful and wicked and we just in and of ourselves can�t saunter on into God.

But because of the work of Christ Jesus, because of the Son, Christ Jesus the Lord, we

have His righteousness.

We have been adopted into the family and because of His work and His work alone, we can boldly

approach the throne of grace.

Do we sing about that song?

At least I think Wesley used to sing about it, �Bold I approach the eternal throne.

Who would approach the throne of a man who has power and we�ve committed sins against him let

alone a thrice holy God who�s powerful?

Who could approach such a throne?

And we know we can�t do it on our own but because of our mediator, our advocate the Lord Jesus, we can.

You could put it this way, what Jesus has done is turned the no trespassing sign of

God into a welcome mat.

Instead of not approaching God, not coming near Him, God as Father

wants us as children, believers in Christ Jesus, not to be treated like Adam

vomited out of Eden, not to be treated like Cain taken out of the land of Nod,

but to approach, to approach God�s throne.

You probably memorized the verse, maybe in a couple of different translations, Hebrews chapter 4 verse

16, I�m sure this verse has gotten you through the night on several

rough nights.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive

mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

This is that doctrine, this is that verse that Christians run to regularly for help,

God I need help and they come to the Lord Jesus Christ through His word,

especially, especially with this verse in mind.

Now the book of Hebrews is all about Jesus, that�s why I like talking about it.

My son when he introduced me at the Master�s University, he said I know Dad�s going to talk about Jesus today

and I was glad for that and it�s really easy when you�re in the book of Hebrews and that�s

what I like to do is to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ.

One day you�ll bury me, remember what they used to do with pastors back in the old days, if they didn�t

really like you too much, they buried you out at the

adjacent cemetery in back of the church, probably down by that little water pond back there, that overflow,

that�s where you would put me and if you kind of like me, you would bury me in the church sanctuary kind of in the

back and the more you like me, you�ll bury me closer to the front and if you really love

me, you�d bury me under the pulpit.

So I�ll let you choose later after I die, but it�s kind of hollow up

here just saying, well what makes a good pastor, what makes a

good shepherd, well as far as I can tell is one that will tell you about the Lord Jesus

Christ, the great shepherd, the good shepherd and this is what this pastor of the book of Hebrews is doing,

he wants to tell them in spite of their circumstances which makes them look in, in spite of their trials which makes them

look in, in spite of the persecution that makes them look without, he wants them to look up and he says I want you to think

about who Jesus is, that�s the remedy each and every week.

Remember chapter 3 verse 1, what does he say?

Consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession.

He says I want you to give serious attention to this subject matter, I want you to think about him a lot,

not oh yeah we believe in Jesus, oh yeah we believe the gospel when we first got saved but now we need to get to deeper things

like communication and service, those are fine but they�re not deeper things,

they�re the result of considering, they�re the result of earnest careful study, they�re the overflow, they�re the

fruit, the ground of everything, the foundation of everything, the condition for everything in terms of standing before God

has to be Christ and his work and then the evidence or the overflow or the fruit is

service and love.

So he says I want you to think about the one who was sent, see that in verse 1 of chapter 3, consider Jesus

the apostle, the sent one, this is the God who is sent by the father

for your good, has your best in mind, who has your needs in

mind.

Chapter 12 of Hebrews it says fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith

who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down at the

right hand of the throne of God.

This writer wants you to know if you�re tempted to go back to anything in your life,

specifically here it was Judaism, don�t go back, it�s not going to be as good.

Say well I used to believe in a different kind of religion and it had some good things.

He�s saying don�t go back to all these works righteousness things.

Jesus is the one and the just shall live by faith.

Christians walk by faith and not by sight and that faith has an object and

that�s the Lord Jesus.

When I say the just shall live by faith I mean the just shall live by faith in Jesus.

The just shall live by faith is just shorthand.

The just shall live by faith in Christ Jesus.

When I study this passage, when I study the book of Hebrews it should serve

as kind of a thing that stirs me up.

I�m kind of full of lethargy, I�m struggling with tiredness and laziness or sin

or anything and it kind of is stirring things up.

Maybe the best illustration just popped in my mind by the way when things just pop in your mind after three hours sleep you should

be very careful but I think this one will work.

What time zone am I in?

You know when you get good peanut butter that has oil on the top?

I don�t mean jiffy, choosy mothers choose jiff.

I mean the good kind.

What do you have to do?

You got to stir that oil in.

If you just pour the oil off the top, I thought I used, that�s what I used to do, just pour the oil off the top it would be less calories but then it�s just like

and you cannot eat that thing.

So you have to stir it up and you know what?

You start to stir and it�s hard to stir at the beginning but as you get some, you should see your eyes, you�re all

following me, yeah that�s right, it starts going better.

It�s getting better for you.

It�s the same thing.

The deeper you get into Hebrews you�re thinking you know the more I�m thinking about Jesus the more I�m thinking about myself?

No, the less I�m thinking about myself and the more I�m thinking about Jesus the better it is.

I met somebody in the last week, he�s a general, a retired general in the military and he was thinking about do

I follow Christ or don�t I?

And I said listen, your problem friend is not unrighteousness,

doing sinful things and you�re immoral, you�ve been with the same wife for 40 years or 60 years,

all these, I said your problem friend is self -righteousness.

You think you don�t need Jesus.

By the way at the end of the Israel trip, of course he�s had his family pray for him and preach to him for years and years and

years, but you could all go to the microphone at the bus and sit at the front of the bus and say this is what the Lord

taught me this week here in Israel and this man got that microphone and he

sat down and he said I don�t know really what to say but during this trip I�ve offered myself to

Jesus.

That�s what he said, I�ve offered myself to Jesus.

So for those of us that struggle with unrighteousness or self -righteousness, the goal, the

key, the solution is to get our eyes off of ourselves which is default

and on to the Lord Jesus and this preacher in the book of Hebrews really helps us to do that

very thing.

He�s dealing with issues that are true and as we talked about in Israel for a long time,

Christianity isn�t Narnia land, kind of made up.

It�s real.

Jesus was a real person.

He walked in a real place, got real dust on his feet, was really raised up on a cross,

was really crucified by soldiers, was really put in a tomb and was really raised from the dead

and it wasn�t just that he was a man because lots of people died on crosses, but he was

the God man who was sent from the Father.

He was existing in eternity past the sun and comes to rescue sinners

in a way that without revelation we would never know.

How could we ever figure out?

The wages of sin is death.

God requires blood.

God requires a sacrifice.

Everything we�re told about how God accepts sinners is found here and the highlight

is not with lambs, not with bulls, not with goats, not with pigeons being sacrificed, but with the

Lord Jesus.

So now we move back to chapter four where we left off last time three Sundays ago.

We�re looking at Hebrews chapter four verses 14 through 16 and

verses 14 and 15 talk about holding fast our confession.

Let me just read that.

We need to hold fast our confession because otherwise we�re going to have the word of God examine

us and he will find us full of fault unless we rest in another.

Yes, we�re united into another.

Look at verses 14 and 15.

Hold fast your confession.

Since then we have a great high priest who�s passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold

fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been

tempted as we are yet without sin.

And now we move to that second exhortation.

Let us draw near, verse 16.

I�ll read the verse again.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we might receive

mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Now if you don�t think you�re sinful, then you wouldn�t think to yourself, well, how difficult would it be to

draw near?

If we realize how sinful we are and how holy God is, then it�s going to be difficult

to comprehend how could we ever draw near to God?

I like to think about it this way.

If I don�t really think I�m that sinful and God�s really not that holy, the gap

between God�s holiness and my sinfulness is easy to bridge.

I could bridge it by being good.

I could bridge it by having righteousness through ceremonies and religiosity.

I could bridge it by being good to my neighbor.

I could be bridging it by lots of different things.

It�s like a spark plug.

It�s got a gap.

And if the gap is too big, you�ve got to bend that thing back down.

And so how do I bend it back down to kind of make that thing gap?

Well, I don�t want to do that because here�s the gap.

Holiness of God, sinfulness of man, there�s no way.

So this gap is too big for me to bridge.

That�s why I need the person who steps in the gap as fully God, as fully man, yet

not sinful, and he is the mediator.

So for him to say, �Draw near to the throne of grace that�s pretty amazing because we�re sinful, Jesus

forgave us our sins, we�re adopted in the family, and now we can draw near.

It�s a present tense, by the way, and that just means you can always draw near.

Because of the work of Christ, you can always go to the throne of grace.

I hope I don�t offend anybody, but I�m tired of being in California for the last week where everybody, you know,

�You can tell I�m a New Englander.

Not by the way I dress usually, but now when I�m around California people, they�re all happy and nice and,

�Can I help you

� I�m like, �You want something.

You�ve got a problem, pal.

You stay back.

It�s going to take you 20 years to prove your faithfulness to me, then I�ll be nice to you.

� But when I first got here to the church, I would leave my office door open, and people would walk in.

Some of you sitting here would just walk in without knocking.

And I�m thinking, �Who does that ?

� By the way, if you still do that, stop that.

Because when that door opens, I�m thinking what?

It�s Haley, Maddie, Luke, Gracie, or Kim.

They can come in anytime they want.

The rest of you, you may not.

Oh, side note, I was preaching Romans 8 last week in San Diego, and the Spirit cries out,

�Abba, Father

� And it�s a crying out, not just of a little kid crying, but, �God, I�m hurting.

Help me !

And that�s a sign that you�re a Christian, because when you�re really hurting, you cry out to

God the Father, �God, help me

� And as I said, it�s kind of a shriek.

It�s a cry out.

A kid on cue started crying out.

It�s perfect.

Second service, nobody cried out.

Because of the work of Christ, because He�s eternal man, eternal God, He cloaks Himself

with humanity.

He becomes fully man.

He adds human nature.

He becomes the mediator, the arbitrator, the go -between.

And now, Christian, you can go to God anytime you want.

It doesn�t say if you�re repentant enough.

It doesn�t say if you�ve been sinless the last week.

It doesn�t say unless you haven�t blown it too much.

It says, what�s it say?

With confidence, draw near.

It�s present tense.

Come as often as you need help.

Do you need help?

Come to God.

If you need mercy, you need grace, come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray anytime you want.

Isn�t it amazing when you read the New Testament, it doesn�t say these are all the things you have to do before you can cry out to God.

In Israel, we would go see these ritual baths, these cleansing baths.

They�re called mitvahs.

And so you�ve got to cleanse yourself.

And so, can you imagine?

God says, well, make sure you have enough cleansing baths before you come to me in prayer.

No.

Approaching God with confidence.

Why?

Because if you look back at 2 .17, God�s compassionate.

God is merciful.

He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, Hebrews 2 .17, so that He might become a merciful

and faithful high priest.

So when you need help, come.

This kind of approach is always used for coming to God in

worship, cultic worship.

So come.

You�re hurting?

You can go to the Lord.

Maybe you say to yourself, you know, sometimes when I�m hurting, I want to get a hold of other people and talk to them first.

Well, you could do that, but I remember there was one thing that I always was taught when I was younger, is go to the throne before you

go to the phone.

There you go.

And the good news is, you can.

You can go to the throne.

This is very fascinating to me.

Just God is saying, come anytime you need help, anything you need.

He doesn�t say if it�s a great need.

He doesn�t say if it�s a medium need.

He doesn�t say if it�s a trivial thing.

Just like a little son goes to a father, a daughter to a mother, or vice versa.

I need help.

That�s a lot different than remember three weeks ago when you�ve got Leviticus 16 and the Holy of Holies.

And by tradition, there�s a rope around the leg of the high priest and he goes into the Holy of Holies that

one time per year.

He�s got bells on and if the bells stop ringing, that means God has killed him because God is a

consuming fire and he dies.

The bells stop ringing and you pull the guy out because you don�t want to go in there.

Can you just imagine, what if I was your high priest?

And once a year for your sins, I had to go into the special room upstairs by the

IBS room.

Nobody could enter at any time except once a year.

And I would go up there.

It would be right now and I would say, let�s just pray before I go up there.

God cleanse me.

God make this sacrifice appropriate.

In Jesus� name, amen.

And now I walk upstairs.

What would you be thinking?

Well, if you knew me, you�d be thinking we�re smoked.

We�re done.

And you could hear the bells.

He�s still alive.

He�s still alive.

He�s still alive.

I�d have to put on the right clothes.

I�d have to have the right washings.

I�d have to do the right thing.

Will the sacrifice be acceptable?

You�d be on the edge of your seats.

It�s similar to this.

When God manifests himself on top of Mount Sinai, what were the people told?

Don�t even let your animals come near the bottom of the mountain because they�ll be dead.

What about the Levitic priest, the special kind of priest who could carry the Ark of the Covenant

not with his hands but with poles properly because if he touches it, he�s dead.

That�s exactly what happened to Uzzah.

Stay away, the Old Covenant said.

Keep your distance.

The priest will be your intercessor.

He might make it.

He might not.

But now there�s a high priest.

There�s a great high priest.

He�s the kind of high priest that�s not just here but he�s passed through the heavens.

And you can trust in him so much that you can just come to God anytime you want without fear of getting

killed.

I have no worthiness to approach God and neither do you.

But Jesus is worthy and Jesus says, �Based on my worthiness,

come.

� I�ve heard people say, �I�m not worthy enough to come to God to pray because my sins are so bad.

� You were right at the beginning.

You�re not worthy enough to come to Jesus.

But because your sins are so bad, Jesus has borne those sins.

Now come to the Lord.

I used to go

hunting with my father and we would see these signs, �No trespassing.

� So what did we do with those signs?

We just got our shotguns and shot them.

Those are just like targets.

No trespassing.

If you tried to get close to the temple, Solomon�s temple,

the Old Testament temple, everything was cordoned off.

No trespassing.

Gentiles, don�t cross this point or you�re dead.

Women, don�t cross this point.

Non -priests, don�t cross this point.

Great high priests, only great high priests cross this point only one time a year.

And what does the text say now?

You have access.

You have entree.

Come as often as you need help.

Romans 5, �To through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith

into this grace in which we stand.

� We have access to the Father through Christ by the Spirit.

Jesus said to him, �I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through Me.

� And we come to the Father through Him.

Gladly.

He tells us to.

Let me give you three aspects of this drawing near.

This is our outline for today.

Three aspects of drawing near.

I�ve told you what it is.

You can just approach God in prayer anytime you would like based on the work of another, your Savior, Christ Jesus.

And here�s three aspects that will help you learn it better and should increase your thanksgiving and joy and praise.

Aspect number one, draw near with confidence.

Draw near with confidence.

Do you see it in verse 16?

�Let us then with confidence draw near.

� Debt�s been paid.

Sins have been paid.

Come with confidence.

One man translates it, �Come with bald frankness.

� Now sometimes people, you know, just, what�s that old hymn?

�Just as I am without one plea.

� You know, come as you are.

Well, we could argue, do you come as you are to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I think that�s an interesting argument.

But for a Christian, certainly you come as you are, with confidence.

Psalm 116, �Upon the wicked he will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and burning wind will be the

portion of their cup.

For the Lord is righteous.

He loves righteousness.

The upright will behold his face.

� The confidence people have to behold the face of God is based on the work of another.

Access for all, not just the high priest, not just for the priest, not just for the men,

not just for the women, not just for the Gentiles, but for all of them.

True or false?

�When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn in two from bottom to top.

� See, I said it dogmatically enough.

I was trying to get you to agree with me.

False.

The veil was torn in two from top to bottom.

This 80 -foot huge curtain, torn from top to bottom, showing God�s the one

who tore it.

You just don�t stand at the bottom and rip.

No, God had to do it.

Why?

Access for everyone.

No longer stay away.

Don�t get too close.

The radiation will kill you spiritually.

No.

So now, here�s the big picture.

These Christians were struggling.

They�re getting persecuted.

There�s difficulties.

And it might make you want to draw back a little bit.

It might make you think, �You know what?

Maybe I shouldn�t.

And maybe God�s really, you know, not in this.

And maybe God is punishing me and God�s disciplining me and I have to kind of run backwards a little bit and

I�m not sure if I can approach God.

� So he says the opposite.

In spite of these issues that are going on in your life, Hebrew Christians and Bethlehem Bible Church

boldly approach free access

in the military.

I watch shows.

I�ve never been in the military.

Once, close, but then no.

Don�t they say something like this?

You know, they�re standing in attention and then the officer says to the person under

him, �Permission to speak what

� �Freely.

� When I was first saved, I thought I had to talk to God in King James English.

I thought there was some kind of formula.

If you want to use the Acts formula to pray, that�s fine, but you don�t need to.

If you want to say, �God, I adore you.

You�re beautiful.

You�re wonderful.

You�re compassionate.

You�re a deliverer.

You�re eternal.

And now I move to see and I confess I am none of those things and I�m sinful, but I thank you for Jesus and now I

come with a supplication.

� That�s fine and that�s wonderful and that gets you away from the default of, �God, I need help.

� But this verse right here, there�s nothing before that.

It�s, �You need help?

Speak freely.

� This is God saying to the Christian, �I�d like to hear from you.

You can talk to me.

You don�t have to clean yourself up first.

You can just talk.

What�s on your mind?

Speak freely.

I love you.

This is everything opposite of you see the dog that�s been kicked one too many

times and it just walks by and it�s just got that look like you�re going to do it again.

Do you need help, Christian?

About anything?

Speak freely.

Draw near with confidence.

Number two, the second aspect, draw near to the throne of grace.

Oh, this is amazing.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace.

Guess what comes out of a throne of grace?

Judgment.

No.

What comes out?

Grace.

Who wants grace?

I do.

Like with my kids, you know, when they were little.

Now that the statute of limitations is gone, I can tell the story.

When I would give them discipline, I would say, �You broke God�s rule.

You broke Dad�s rule.

Now you�re going to get judgment.

You�re going to get justice.

Daddy loves you, but you�re going to get justice.

� And then they would get it.

Once in a while, I would say to them, �I�m not going to give you punishment.

Even though you deserve it, I�m going to give you mercy.

� And that means no judgment.

Next time I go to discipline the kids, guess what they would all say?

�I want mercy, Dad.

I want mercy.

I want mercy.

� And I, unlike God, only give mercy once in a while.

And then on those few occasions, maybe two in their life, I said, �You deserve judgment.

I�m not going to give it to you.

That�s mercy.

But here in this, my little illustration, here�s grace.

I know you�re supposed to get punished, but I�m not going to.

If you�d like grace, let�s go have an ice cream and call it a day.

I�ll take grace, Dad.

� I did it twice in their lives.

I know.

I know.

Amen.

I want you to give her some judgment now after that.

Justice.

Unlike me, God gives grace every single time to the Christian, because the judgment�s been

put out on who Jesus is.

�Walking around, is God going to whack me again ?

� Christian, God does discipline us.

That is true.

But it�s a discipline of a father who loves.

And even in that discipline, the exhortation is, �With confidence, draw near to the throne of grace.

� Who needs grace?

I do.

You do.

The throne of grace to find help

and mercy in a time of need.

Now, here�s what you need to understand to make this more effective in your mind and then

more worshipful in your hearts.

Why don�t you turn to 1 Kings chapter 7, and I want to show you a little bit about thrones in the Old Testament.

And I�ll just tell you ahead of time, thrones were always thrones of judgment.

Thrones were always judgment thrones.

Thrones were never thrones of grace.

This is the only time in Hebrews 4 it�s a throne of grace.

Every time you said �throne ,� the knee -jerk would be, �I got to go before the king, confess my crimes, and he gives me judgment.

And so I want to give you a picture of what these throne halls, these halls of judgment, these halls of justices, where

the king governed were like.

So you can just see it.

And then when you put yourself in the place of the Hebrew recipients

of that letter, when they hear, �Let us boldly approach with confidence the throne of they were thinking judgment.

But it�s not.

1 Kings 7, 7, �And he made the hall of the throne where he was to, what,

judge the hall of judgment, and it was paneled with cedar from floor to

floor.

� These would be small places, so all the focus went to who God is.

Proverbs 20 says, �A king who sits on the throne of justice disperses evil with all his eyes.

� Well what do you have in the throne hall of judgment, the throne of judgment hall?

Well you have the throne itself.

Why don�t you turn to 1 Kings 10 and let�s see what we see about that throne.

So in the judgment hall you�ve got a throne.

What�s that throne like?

And by the way, for us, thrones are like a chair.

And that�s fine, but back in the old days, you didn�t use chairs very often.

You squatted down, you sat on the ground, or you reclined.

Jesus had the disciple put his head kind of on his bosom, a certain way to kind of

halfway lay down.

That�s what you would do.

But a chair is a big deal.

When Elisha comes to town, you give that man a chair

because it�s for honor, it�s for majesty, it�s for power.

Very, very important.

1 Kings 10 .18, �Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and

overlaid it with refined gold.

There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear and arms on each

side of the seat and two lions standing beside the arms.

Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps of the one side and on the other.

Nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.

� No wonder Solomon said, �A king�s wrath is like the roaring of a lion.

Up the steps you go to go get judged.

Kings sit on their throne of justice.

And so what would happen is you�ve got this small room, it�s a hall of judgment, and then

elevated up you�ve got the throne, the throne of judgment where the king would sit

to dispense his judgment.

But then this is not a regular king, this is God himself.

Listen to Isaiah 6, �I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His

robe filling the temple.

Listen to Ezekiel 1, �Now the expanse that was over their heads, there was something resembling a throne

like lapis lazuli in appearance and on that which resembled a throne high up was a figure with the appearance of

a man.

� Daniel 7, �I kept looking until thrones were set up and the ancient of days took a seat.

His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool.

His throne was ablaze with flames.

Its wheels were a burning fire.

A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him.

Thousands upon thousands were attending Him and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him.

The court sat and the books were opened.

The whole idea should be frightening to anyone for a human king, let alone the sovereign king, let

alone those who have committed treason against the sovereign king by sin.

To show you more about a throne, go to Revelation chapter 4 please to see God's throne.

This throne without a mediator is frightening

and it should be.

Everything in Romans 4 evolves around a throne.

11 out of the 13 uses of throne in this chapter are referring to God's throne, His dominion, His

rule.

You want to call this chapter something, you should call it the chapter of God's throne.

My ESV Bible says the throne in heaven, but it's God's throne, it's not a man's throne.

What happens at thrones?

�After this I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and first voice which I heard speaking to me

like a trumpet said, �Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this.

� You see God's sovereignty and faithfulness on display now.

�At once I was in the spirit and behold a throne stood in heaven with one seated

on the throne.

� Look at all these images that just keep piling up.

How much could a finite sinful human being even bear?

So holy, so awful.

And you sat there and had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the

appearance of an emerald.

Around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with

golden crowns on their heads.

From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder and before the throne

were burning seven torches of fire which are the seven spirits of God.

Just like the fury of it all.

One man said not the fury of nature but the firestorm of fury about to come from an awesome

powerful God upon a sinful world.

And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal.

And around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures.

Forget the lions full of eyes in front and behind.

The first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man

and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.

And the four living creatures each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within

day and night they never cease to say holy, holy, holy is the Lord

God Almighty who was and is and is to come.

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne who lives forever and

ever.

And the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever.

And they cast their crowns before the throne saying worthy are you our Lord and God to receive

glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created.

How could you approach such a throne?

How can you have a permission to go to such a throne?

Isn't it a sure recipe for destruction knowing my sins I can come to such a throne of

judgment?

Except Hebrews calls it a throne of what?

Grace.

Why?

Because instead of judgment coming out God doesn't believe in double jeopardy he judges the son so now he gives

to his children grace.

Before the throne of God Bancroft wrote in 1863 I have a strong and

perfect plea a great high priest whose name is love whoever lives and what

pleads for me.

Do you think Jesus' sacrifice for you is completely sufficient yet his intercessory

work as priest is insufficient?

That's the point if Jesus' death for you is sufficient and adequate and complete and it was

will not his priestly work of intercession be just as adequate?

Remember what priests do they sacrifice they intercede.

My name is graven on his hands my name is written on his heart I know that while in heaven he stands

no tongue can bid me fence depart.

Why did the writer say that?

Because you can imagine the king has someone who has spit in his face several times and he says away from my

presence.

When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within upward I look and see him

there who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless savior died my sinful soul is counted free for God

the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.

The song goes the original hallelujah hallelujah praise the one risen son of

God.

Behold him there the risen lamb my perfect spotless righteousness the great unchangeable I

am the king of glory and grace.

One in himself I cannot die my soul is purchased by his blood my life is hid with Christ on

high with Christ my savior and my God.

Therefore Christian boldly approach the throne of grace come God's not going to reject you

because he has not rejected his high priest.

God says Christian come with confidence and approach me and pray

not just annually in the holy of holies but as many times per day as you want not with fear not

with blood not with a sacrifice but you can pray.

No wonder Brown says then we dare not be prayerless.

Psalm 76 thou even thou art to be feared who may stand in the presence when

once thou art angry.

But Christian you can stand because someone has stood in your place.

And then we end with going back to Hebrews chapter 4.

You draw near with confidence you draw near to the throne of grace and you draw near to

receive mercy and grace to help in time of need.

We'll pick this up a little bit next week as well but just briefly now.

You draw near with confidence to the throne of grace and to receive mercy.

Psalm 103 says God is plenteous in mercy.

And here it says that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Jesus is the merciful high priest he gives mercy and he gives grace.

I have a trial I have a temptation I have a difficulty God's there and he gives.

I find it fascinating this set of words time of need you see that at the end of the verse time of

need.

In Greek it literally means good time.

It doesn't mean like we're having a good time.

It means at the right time when I need assistance pray.

This would be a good time God I need help.

That's what it means.

Good time right time.

In times of weakness in times of temptation in times of sin.

You are going to think access to God is barred.

But could that really be?

I've committed some sins and therefore access is barred.

Now I might feel far from God but access isn't barred.

Actually I could make it worse for you if I wanted to make it worse.

If you think you've committed a couple sins or a handful of sins and now you can't come to the throne of grace you're not thinking

about the law adequately enough.

Because you haven't just broke two or three you've probably along with me broken hundreds.

We just have a few laws we broke and now we can't approach God.

No.

How about a lot more?

Under further scrutiny I've sinned a lot more.

Can I still come?

The answer is yes.

Because it's a good time.

I'm helpless.

I need help.

I'm sinning.

I'm in temptation.

I'm in weakness.

Come.

Jesus went away from there and withdrew to a district of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me O Lord, son of

David.

My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

But he did not answer her a word.

And his disciples came and begged him saying, send her away.

She's crying out after us.

I mean this Gentile, this pagan woman, some idol worshiper.

Get her away.

Jesus answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

You're not Jewish.

But she came and knelt before him.

She needed help.

She needed grace.

She needed mercy.

Lord, help me.

What do you think the Lord Jesus did?

He answered, it's not right to take the children's bread for Israel and throw it to the dogs, Gentiles.

And she said, yes Lord.

Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.

Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith.

Be it done for you as you desire.

And her daughter was healed instantly.

Christian, take God at his word.

Bring your temptations to him.

Bring your trials to him.

Bring your sins to him.

Come as you are.

No matter what you've done, no matter what you're doing, you bring those to him.

And you say, God, I ask forgiveness.

I ask that you grant me repentance.

I need help.

I need you.

And then for us as Christians too, who maybe sometimes don't struggle with those things, we can come and praise him anyway.

It's not only for coming to God when it's sin and temptation and trials, but in anything you

need.

Anytime you want to praise him, extol him, worship him,

come as you are.

In light of that, I think we should pray.

Bow with me.

Father in heaven, unlike

those men atop of Mount Carmel, they've got to get their God's attention by yelling and cutting and

screaming.

We already have your attention because we're in Christ Jesus.

And so therefore we say, Father, if you forgive us for not coming as we ought to,

we don't boldly approach the throne of grace when we need mercy and help.

We're thankful we stand in Christ Jesus.

And he was the great intercessor, not only just on earth, but in heaven.

And so there's many things at this church.

I know people and couples and singles.

I know they need.

And so I pray that you would help them boldly approach.

Father, we are not worthy to do that.

There's no amount of self -reformation or repentance we can do to make us worthy.

But since we're your sons, you've told us to come anyway, based on the worth of another.

For all the different to -do lists, for getting people help in ways that they could say no to sin and

yes to righteousness, Father, I pray that you would convict them and help them realize their

need of divine assistance that only you bring and you say, come to me and I will give it to

you.

No wonder the Lord Jesus said, come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.

And now what's more, you give us help and mercy and grace in time of need.

Father, meet us at our needs as we approach your throne in Jesus' name.

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