Prerequisites for Approaching God — J.C. Hibbard

I was guilty with nothing to say and take God's son's rusty nuts and my salvation.

Speak to your heart, if you know your heart. I want you to raise your hand with me and I ask God to anoint the word and to anoint you to receive what God has for you. And would you put your hand up and believe God.

Father, we come boldly to the throne of grace and we pray that the anointing of the Holy Ghost shall rest upon thy servant and I pray that you'll quicken the word to the hearts of every man in this building and you'll quicken it to the hearts of every woman and every young boy and girl and every child.

Let thy word live in their heart and anoint thy servant to bring the words from your very bosom so they can feast upon thy word. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Don't forget the TV program at 2 to 2 .30.

Everyone be sure to get home, tune in 2 to 2 .30. And don't forget the morning service in the morning beginning at 10, another week of revival and come every morning you possibly can. I have about a half a dozen texts that I'd like to use.

Christ Suffered to Bring Sinners to God

Now they say if you have a lot of texts you preach real quick or if you have one short you preach a long time. I don't know how this is going to work out, but I have got several scriptures that I'd like to give to you, and I believe that we will use a scripture here found in 1 Peter 3 and the 18th verse.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Now in this portion of scripture it says that Christ once suffered for sins.

He once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. And he did this, he suffered for sins, what for? That he might bring us to God. Because had he not come to this world and suffered for sins, we wouldn't have been able to come to God.

Because man would have been shut out, Job it was in the Old Testament. He said, Oh, that there was a daisman, days and nights seem long to Job, and he was trying to get through to God. And everywhere he looked it looked like the hand of God was against him.

And he cried out and he said, Oh, that there was a daisman that I could go to and pour out my supplications. What is a daisman? A daisman is someone that you go to and open your heart and tell them what you want them to go to somebody else and tell them that you're not capable of contacting.

Meaning I want to get the message to this one, but I've got to have a daisman to do it. I've got to get this fellow, I can go to him, I have access to him, and he can have access to this other one. Now that's what a daisman is.

Christ as the One Mediator

Now we have Jesus Christ as our daisman. There's one God and one mediator between God and man. Don't ever try to detour around Jesus and lay him aside and say, Wait a minute, I want to come right straight to God.

Then is when everything blows up, brother, and you're through. Nobody has ever pushed Jesus Christ aside and said, Just a minute, I want to go right on to God. I don't need you, Jesus. I'll go right on myself.

Wait a minute. No man cometh to the Father but by me. And if anybody ever manages to get there, they will walk up and say, God, I come to make your liar. I got here and I detoured around and I didn't come through your son.

We have got to approach God through Christ. Now, the reason I'm bringing this message is this. We Pentecostal people sometimes just get in the habit of getting blessed and having a good time. We just think that all we've got to do any time we want to is just fall down on our face and start praying and God's right there and he'll hear our prayer.

But there's one thing, two things we ought to always keep in mind, the privilege of coming boldly to the throne of grace. The privilege of coming boldly to the throne of grace. Now we can do that. But don't ever forget it.

The Prerequisites for Approaching God

Just any and every person can't come boldly to the throne of grace. Any time anybody ever goes to God and comes to the throne of grace and makes it and they start off and you'll say, just a minute, are you a Christian?

And they'd say, no, I don't believe in Christianity. Then they've never made it to the throne of grace. It's impossible. I'll prove to you with a number of scriptures. So whenever we approach God and approach the throne of God, it has got to be by Jesus Christ.

Now it says in Hebrews 9 .22, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. There had to be somebody to shed the blood so there could be a remission of sin. Then we find in St. John 14 and 1 through 6, I am the way and no man cometh to the Father but by me.

That's in 1 John 14, 1 through 6. And we find that Jesus Christ is the only access we have to God. And so many times we take it for granted and think, well, now all I've got to do is just kneel down here and start praying.

But before we begin to pray and talk to God, it'd be a good thing sometime to stop and say, Lord, is my prayer going to reach heaven? You say, well, oh, if you're saved, then all you've got to do is in time you ought to just get down and start praying.

Wait a minute. Every time we come into the presence of God, God tells you something to do. He said, first, let there be a cleansing and say, Lord, I want you to forgive me my trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against me.

Jesus said, this is the prayer. I'm giving you an outline for touching God and coming before God. You must come, not only ask for your daily bread, but I want you to come and say, forgive us our trespasses.

Forgiveness and Effective Prayer

Now Jesus explains and said, if you're saved, filled with the Spirit, on fire for God, the good Christian going along, and all at once somebody has a dealing with you and you get mad at them, and brother, you have something in your heart and you hold a grudge there and they may want you to forgive them, but you don't forgive them.

Now then, if you go to that altar and just kneel like you always have and just start praying, you're wasting your time. Why? Because your prayer, the effectual, it's the prayer that goes into effect. It's the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man that availeth much, meaning this, that one of the vital important things is for your prayer to go into effect.

God paid a tremendous price so your prayer could go into effect, and it's made it very simple and easy. Anything that would hinder your prayer from going before God could be straightened out by you in just a very few seconds' time, from your heart, if you'll do it, but if you don't think enough of God's Word and God's counseling and ignore that, then brother, God shuts the window and your prayer is not answered.

If we regard iniquity in our heart, God will not hear. He closes the window. Now pray all you want to, your prayer is not going to touch God, you're not going to be brought to God. Why? Why? Because your iniquity has kept you from the presence of God.

One place said your sins have separated you from your God, and they've hid God's face that he will not hear. So we find that if we regard iniquity in our heart, what do we mean, regard it? We know that it's wrong, but we haven't dealt with it.

If there is iniquity, something is wrong and it's there, undealt with, God is going to deal with it. How many believe that? God dealt with every sin and every iniquity in the body and the life of his own Son.

Do you know that Jesus Christ, taking care on the cross, every sin you committed this last week, if there's a shortcoming, no matter what it was, or a lie you told or something you stole or a vulgar thought or something you did, if you go up to God and say, God, is that right?

He said, no, it's not right. What is it, Lord? It's wrong. Then if it's wrong, what is it? Anything that's wrong is iniquity. Anything that's wrong is iniquity. That's what God's Bible says. Then if you have done something that God says is wrong, that needs to be dealt with.

That's the reason why. Not once when you get saved, but every day of your life, whenever you come before God, you must say, God, cleanse me. Forgive me my sins, forgive me my trespasses, as I forgive those who trespass against me.

Now, he says one place, if you stand and pray, and in your heart you forgive not your fellow man his trespass, he trespassed against you, but you don't forgive him, then your heavenly Father will not forgive you.

He will not hear your prayer. And if you bring your gift to the altar, and there you begin to offer your gift to the Lord, and you remember your brother has wrought against you, go get it straightened out.

Then come, offer your gift, and it'll be accepted unto God. Now, what I'm saying here for a few minutes is there's a way to approach God. And I announced my subject would be the prerequisites of approaching God.

Approaching God Under the Old Covenant

It is quite a problem to approach God under the Old Testament. God told him there that I'm going to have an ark, I'm going to have the holy of holy, I'm going to have the outer court, and he said, I'm going to come down and I'm going to commune with you over the mercy seat.

Now, the priest can go in ever so often to the first tabernacle, but the inner tabernacle that has the heavy veil, the high priest only goes in to the presence of God. Now, God himself there is on the inside.

And they could take Aaron's rod and put it in there, and he said, I'll show you what it'll do. They put it in there, and that old dead stick that he used for many years, it bloomed and blossomed and bore almonds.

They took the manna that could only last overnight. It would spoil the next day. They put a pot of manna into the presence of God and kept it there for many, many years, and when they'd take it out, it was as fresh as the day they put it in, when if you left it out, it would spoil overnight.

What was the difference? Out here is just the ordinary place. But God said, this is my presence. I will come and commune with you. So when a priest comes in, he must come in with blood for himself, once a year with the sins of the people, with a rope around his leg, so when he steps in, if he has not sufficiently cleansed himself with the things that I've made and prepared there, just before he comes in the veil here, and if he comes in and he is not qualified and he has not cleansed himself, the minute he comes into my presence, I'll strike him dead, because sin cannot enter into my presence, and if he doesn't deal with it on this side of the curtain, I will on this side of the curtain.

The High Priest and the Holiness of God's Presence

Moses make everything according to the pattern. Make a long robe that hangs down almost to the floor. I want you to put a bell and have a little thing that it'll ring real good, and I want you to put a plum granite right close to it, that when he walks, it'll hit the bell.

Then I want another bell and a plum granite bell and a plum granite and put them all around the skirt of the high priest that goes in before me, and when he starts in with the sins of the people and he opens up the veil, they can hear it ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, and when he steps inside and the curtain comes to, if there's a loud noise and there's a silence, he's dead.

Then you'll have a rope around his leg and you can pull him out from the presence of God, because if you try to come in and get him, I'll kill you, because the high priest only can come in. Brother, I'm going to tell you, it says that Jesus Christ died and suffered the just for the unjust, that he might take us by the hand on the outside and bring us to God.

Brother, I'm going to tell you what a glorious privilege. Now, brethren, it said, let us come boldly to the throne of grace. But let's not use that promiscuously. Let's not be light when it comes to praying.

Sin, Confession, and Answered Prayer

Brother Frank Anderson was a powerful man of God, deep in the scriptures, prayed for the sick. Everyone knew him over the country, one of the greatest evangelists, one great man of God. Sister Hibberd got a miracle of her eyes healing under him.

He was praying for his daughter, and his daughter had raging high fever. And Brother Frank Anderson laid his hands upon the child. He prayed for three mornings and the child kept getting worse and worse.

And so he said, Lord, I don't understand. I pray for the sick everywhere, and he's Frank. That's his name, and that's where he was. He's Frank. Just that way. He's Frank with everybody, and got a little Frank with God.

He said, God, I pray for everybody. And now, Lord, I've searched my heart, but he said, now I've prayed for this child to be healed. God said to him, Frank, you need to pray. Well, he forgot the child, and Frank began to pray.

And as he began to pray, he said, well, Lord, what is it? He said, you spoke to your wife a few days ago in a way that's not becoming to a child of God. Go to her and ask her forgiveness, and I'll hear your prayer.

Frank Anderson from the pulpit said God checked him and said, you can't get your prayer through. You go and pray. When he began to pray and call out to God and ask God for mercy, God told him what the trouble was.

He had used his liberty in being a little too fresh. He spoke a little harsh to his wife, and God didn't like it, and it cut him off because it was sin, and what he did was wrong, and anything wrong is iniquity, and he is trying to pray and come into God's presence.

And God said before your prayers, I answered, you go to your wife and make it right. He got up crying and went over and hugged his wife and made it right. He went over to the baby and started to raise his hand, and God said, you don't need to pray for the child.

And in a few minutes' time, the child was up and well. Brother Frank Anderson said in a very few minutes' time, the child was up and well. But did God let him get by with it? No, neither will He let anybody else.

When sin is there, brother, the gate is closed on opportunity of a lifetime. It can be straightened out by you. When Noah landed, it said he wanted to get ahold of God. He just didn't need to say, now, Lord, thank you for taking care of the flood, because you don't get ahold of God that way.

There's only one way he gets ahold of God, to erect an altar. And the Bible says that when Noah landed, he erected an altar unto God and he prayed. And the Bible said when God spoke to Abraham, He said, Abraham, I want to commune with you, erect an altar.

And it says, Abraham erected an altar unto the Lord, and God heard him, and God made a covenant with him. And from the altar he erected. When Isaac came on the scene, Isaac looked to God. It said Isaac erected an altar unto the Lord and dug a well, and God blessed him.

Altars, Guidance, and Covenant Fellowship

When Jacob, the grandson, came along, it said Jacob erected an altar unto the Lord, and God honored that. And then Jacob said, I need God very badly, and I want to get some instructions from God, but you can't get down behind the kitchen door in our day.

You have to go to where you get ahold of God. He said, I want to find out if I'm to go down to Egypt to see my son Joseph. Now I'm ready to go, the wagons are all here, but forty, about forty-eight miles in this other direction is Bethel.

That's where I have an altar that I've erected unto God, and that's my contact place where the altar is. And he got in the wagons and didn't go toward Egypt where Joseph was. He hadn't seen him for many years.

His heart was wrapped up in his son Joseph. He now knows, after many years of thinking he's dead, he knows he's alive. Everything in him is pulling toward Egypt. But something else said, you can't go down there without getting God's will.

So he said, turn the horses and go this way, forty-eight miles, and let me stop. And they stopped the wagons, and Joseph got out and went over to the altar that he had erected. And there he knelt before the altar.

The old night flies got on the horses and they switched their tails. And I guess all the boys in the wagons, a great number of wagons, they were waiting for Papa. What was Papa doing down on his knees?

And after he waited a while, he heard a voice from heaven saying, Jacob. He said, yes, sir. He said, fear not to go down into Egypt to see Joseph, because I'll go down there with you. He said, whoo, praise God.

He jumped up, run back and got on the wagon and said, boys, let's go. I just heard from heaven. The Lord said, fear not to go down to Egypt. What did he do? He went forty-eight miles out of the way. That's not like in an automobile, brother.

That's like in an old wagon that goes very slow. He went forty-eight miles out of the way because he respected the contact he had with God. And when he went many miles into Egypt away, it said he went all the way back to the place where he first met God.

And he knelt and made his dedication. Brother, we'd better begin to take the privilege that God's given us through Christ a little more sacred. And when Moses approached God, the first thing God said to him said, Moses, erect an altar unto me.

And when the angel spoke to him, it says that he erected an altar and called out on the Lord. Remember, an altar has got to be erected. You come down the line, David, when the hand of the angel was slaying them by the hundreds of thousands and they were dying, it said David rushed in to where he saw the angel with a drawn sword.

And there he brought, and he said, bring me stones like God has described. Let me build an altar unto the Lord. And he built an altar and cried out unto God from the altar and it said God heard David from the altar in which he built and spared the angel's hand and the plague was stayed.

Joshua built an altar unto the Lord. And you go through any time that Solomon, that great Solomon, he built an altar unto the Lord. And as he built this special altar, he knelt upon the altar. And it said he cried out to God and prayed.

And God said, because thou hast built me this altar and thou hast put thyself upon it before my people, I will put my name in this place and I will bless it. And I will show you all the way down through that God says if man wants to get in touch with me, he must come through an altar.

The Tabernacle as a Type of Christ

So God says to Moses, build everything here for the Old Testament is a type of the reality in the New Testament. The Old Testament furnishes types. And he said, build everything according to the pattern because I know what the future holds and I want you to build it according to the pattern.

So when he built it, he said, build the tabernacle. And I want you to put out here before you go in to the first court, I want you to put out here and you can't enter in before you come to the great big square brazen altar.

And that altar is for sacrifice. That altar is for sin offerings. He said, make it not of gold. Everything just inside was gold. The candlesticks were gold, the table overlaid with gold, and the altar of incense was all solid gold.

Everything was gold, but not this. Brother, brass is judgment. Before you enter in to partake of these other, the laver and the vessels in which you wash your hands and your feet and all those vessels were gold.

They were on the inside. But before you come in, I want you to deal with the sin question. I want the sin question taken care of. He said, I want you to place the brazen altar here and see that everything is made exactly according to the pattern.

So when we find the way that he laid everything out, when you go in, there's a certain place where the golden candlestick on the inside. And over here is another table, and on this table, pure gold, and it had the showbread.

It had the bread there cut in pieces, and there they were upon the table. And then he had this other altar, and it was gold, and it had incense. And it said, I want this incense to be offered when the praises of the people go up.

And it shall, this incense shall burn before me continually, because it's just before they go in to the holy of holy. And over here, I want the lamps to be burning. I want all these lamps to be burning.

And then I want this offering here, like it mentioned, the incense that must go up before God. Now, each thing had its place, and when it was lined out, it made a perfect cross. But these things had to be taken into consideration.

A priest had to have everything just right before he entered into the presence of God. Then when he entered into the presence of God, it must be accepted with God. Everything in this place speaks of Christ.

The candlestick, it said that I am come, I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Jesus Christ is the one that throws light on how to approach God. It was inky dark on the inside, because the curtains were very thick and heavy, and there could be nothing seen had these lamps not been burning.

But there they could see the lever, how to wash and all. So we find that everything here was made according to the true pattern. But the main thing is this, before any of the priests come in, now many of the priests could come in the first tabernacle, but only the high priest once a year, and the second in the holy of holy.

But Christ entered into the holiest of all. Now let me give you just a scripture here found in Hebrews the 10th chapter. Here you are. The 10th chapter and the 19th verse. Let me read right here. The 10th chapter, and here we are.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now what is the holiest? The holiest is where God come down, and that was called the holy of holy, and only the high priest could go in.

Now having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest, how? By the blood of Jesus Christ, by a new and a living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is the flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

What does the water mean? Does that mean earthly water? Of course not. A million times no. It's said that he cleans and sanctifies the church by the washing of water. By the washing of water, how? The next verse says, by the washing of water, by the word.

He takes the word and it's like washing of water. Now it said don't come into the presence of God, let's not come in until our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies are washed, meaning this, that there is a, I pray God, your whole spirit, soul, and what else, your body be preserved blameless under the coming of the Lord.

I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Now let's turn to Hebrews 4 and 16. 4 and 16, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that you might obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.

Christ as Light, Bread, and Access to God

And as you look at these wonderful scriptures, one by one, and each one of them tells you, now notice here, he is the light, and then on this certain table, there's the bread. Jesus said, I am the bread that come down from heaven.

My father sent me down as the bread of life, and if any man eat of me, he shall never hunger. And if he drinks of me, he'll never thirst. And if any man eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, he shall never die, meaning this, that when he comes to separate from the body, he'll go to be with the Lord Jesus and live forever and ever.

We'll have eternal life if we accept him. So we find Jesus in John 14 says, no man can come to the Father but by me. And in closing, here is the thought that God has laid upon my heart. Before anybody ever entered in to approach the presence of God, the first thing they must always meet God at the altar outside, not made of gold, made of brass.

That's where the sin question is settled. I just had it put out here, and I'll give you the scripture of it. It says here that in John 7 and 8 and 9, it says that, Behold, God's Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

The Once-for-All Sacrifice of Christ

Now, what we're speaking about, we've got to approach God and have the sin question taken care of. Let me ask you, do you think that it's possible for any of you that you have sin in your life, unconfessed, that you can just get a hold of God and start praying for just anything, ask God to bless the service, and, oh God, I've got a son I'd like for you to watch over him?

You're wasting your time. Do you think if you have sin in your life, your petition is going to be answered? You can come to God only on one term. You come to God to confess your sins. When you come to that altar, it is to offer a sin offering to take care of your sins.

Now, under the law, it says that blood of bull and goat could not take away sin. It was only a type of the blood of Christ. But John said, and I'll just quote in John there, John said, Behold, God's Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

Now, when Christ is to give Himself an offering, He made His soul an offering for sin. When Christ offered Himself, it was not for the sins of the people of that generation. It answered for every sin that was ever committed back to Adam.

It also included every man's sin from the cross clear to the last man that will ever live. Had He not dealt with our sin, then, my friend, how shall we approach God? How will our sin be taken care of?

He came as a Lamb, and God said, God laid on Him the iniquity of not one generation. It said He laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and John said, Behold, God's Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

Every sin that I have ever committed in my life was taken by Jesus before I was ever born, and it was taken away, and there He offered Himself to God, and God accepted that sacrifice and accepted forgiveness for me if I'd ask Him, and every sin that I might commit from now to the grave was taken care of there.

But any sin I commit, and I try to detour around Jesus, and I don't deal with that sin, it's going to keep me from touching God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us. Why? Because He's already dealt with it.

Examining the Heart Before Prayer

My friend, before, we come to the holiest of holy, which back there they had to have a rope on their leg to come. When you come into the presence of God, it said, Now let us come boldly to the throne of grace.

You can't say, I'm going to come out here somewhere, I'm not quite good enough. When you come to God and talk to God, you're going to come boldly to the throne of grace. Now it says we come into the holiest by Jesus Christ.

Again, He died for the just, for the unjust, that He might do what? Bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh. Now, before we go to God in prayer, the first thing we should always do is this. Lord, have I passed that first altar?

Have I detoured that first altar? Have I come into your presence? And there may be sin in my life. There may be things I've said that were wrong. There may be things that I should have done and I've neglected.

And he that knoweth to do good, doeth it not to him that is sin. So many ways that we can grieve God. There are times in my life that I go down to pray and I said, Oh God, search me. I was seeking God, praying, laying hands on the sick.

I was really getting a hold of God and going right on in a ritual in a form. And I knelt at the end of the altar, and I'll never forget. I'm talking to you now. I was a preacher. And right over there on Ewing.

And as I knelt at that altar, not on Ewing, on Morrell. And as I knelt at the end of that altar, I said, God, the joy of my heart has left. And I said for several days, I've been dry. Now, if there's anything in my heart, I want you to forgive me.

Had I just said, Lord, if there is anything, please forgive me. You'd have done it, but I hadn't done that. And when I said, Lord, if there's anything in my heart that's wrong, I want you to forgive me.

And God spoke to me as clear as a bell. And he said, you have spoken against my servant, Ott. And if you'll go to brother Ott, he didn't say brother Ott. If you'll go to my servant, Ott, and tell him that you've spoken against him and you're sorry.

And you want him to forgive you. You can have the joy back in your heart. Do you believe that God told me that? Do you believe that you can get by with it yourself? Do you believe Frank Anderson could get by with it?

There's a lot of times you think you may be getting by. You're not getting by with anything. God paid too much price for your blood and your sins to be taken care of. And made it so easy that it'll come to pass that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, brother, if you'll come through Jesus Christ.

And brother, He is the whole thing. All those things, the furnishings of the tabernacle, they, everyone, speak of Christ. That brazen altar speaks of Christ. Christ went to judgment for us. And the Bible says to me, judgment begins at the house of God.

Before I touch God and have Christ enter into the holiest and He brings me to the very presence of God, I must see to it that my sin question has been taken care of. Can you hold something in your life?

Let it become a shadow. There's something that God's put His finger on. Brother, we need to move that out of the way. I want you to bow your head in a word of prayer. It's early, it's barely after twelve.

The Call to Repentance and Salvation

I want you to bow your head. God laid this on my heart. There's somebody here this morning, and I suppose there's many, many, many in this audience, that we need to search our heart. If we regard iniquity in our heart, God will not hear us.

There are things that will come from within and defile you. But oh, so easy we can say, Jesus, forgive me of any sin I've committed. I want you to stand to your feet together. I don't want anyone moving or leaving the building until I'm through.

Lord, I want you to speak to every heart while they're standing on their feet. I want you right now to let them realize that as impossible as it would have been for a street man to have come into the holiest of holy, opened up the veil, and walked into where God was without being put to death, there was no way, a chance in a hundred million, they could not do it, had everyone been killed.

And God, the holiest of holy is heaven itself where you are. And we're not going to leave this world and come into heaven where you are, unless we have met God at the brazen altar and taken care of the sin question.