FBC Morning Light – June 20, 2022

Well, a good Monday morning to you. I hope your week is getting off to a good start today. I hope it actually got off to a good start yesterday, as you were able to gather with God's people and hear from God, from his word, and to worship him.

I trust that your worship of him was sweet. You had good fellowship with God's people. Well, as we get off to a good start in this new week, today we're in Ephesians chapter three, and there's this wonderful couple of verses that highlight one of the significant differences between Old Testament saints and New Testament saints.

And this is brought out in chapter three, Ephesians 3, and in verses 11 and 12. I want to pick up the reading in verse 10, and it's in the middle of a sentence that Paul, a rather lengthy sentence that Paul is writing here, and he says, "...to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he, God, accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.".

So it's that last verse and a half that I want to focus on that highlights one of our great privileges as the people of God in this New Testament era, with Jesus Christ as our great high priest. He says that God accomplished his work in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom, in Christ, we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.

Boldness and access with confidence. The writer of Hebrews picked up on that same idea when he exhorted us, he said, let us come boldly into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Let us come boldly into the throne of grace. And here Paul says that we can come with boldness and confidence of access. I think about this and I try to imagine to put this into physicality, and it's not.

We don't actually approach a physical throne room. But think with me for a minute about those throne rooms you have seen where the supplicant who comes before the king has to approach in a very humble and a very demure way.

He can't come just waltzing in. In some cases, for example, the person coming before the king, he has to come bowed over at the hips, and he's bowed down as he walks in. He has to just look up like this with his eyes to be able to see where he's going.

In other cases, the supplicant can't walk in face first. He's got to walk in backwards because he can't be looking the king in the face when he approaches. But this isn't the case for the believer in Christ.

We can come in with boldness to the throne of grace. And then we can also come in, we have access with confidence. You think about how many times you've written. Have you ever written, for example, to your state senator, your state representative, to your congressman or senator in Washington?

Have you ever written appealing to them to make a certain decision, asking them, please, I implore you to vote in this particular way? How much confidence did you have that you would get a response that says, oh, thank you for your letter or for your suggestion.

I will certainly do that because of your request. No, you know better than that. In fact, in our area, you can probably figure, at least as far as our state senators, you're going to write and ask him to vote in a particular way.

Forget about it. It isn't going to happen. You have no confidence whatsoever. But that's not the case when you approach the throne of grace. You have access with confidence. You have confidence that your Heavenly Father will hear you.

You have confidence that our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is interceding in our behalf. You have confidence that the Holy Spirit, who is dwelling within you, will perfect that which you ask so that it will be in accordance with God's will.

You can approach with confidence. This is something that is a stark contrast to the Old Testament saints and their limitations. For example, they couldn't go into the Holy of Holies ever, ever. The only person who ever could was the high priest, and he could only do it once a year.

So think about that. If a man became a high priest when he was, say, 30 years of age and he could only serve for 20 years, there are only 20 times that that high priest could actually enter into the Holy of Holies.

One time, once a year, on the Day of Atonement. The everyday person, the non-priest, and the priests who weren't the high priest, they could never enter into that holy place. There was no boldness of entering into the throne room of God, if you will, and there was no confidence of access either.

None whatsoever. There's good reason for that. That high priest in the Old Testament was a picture, an image, of our great high priest who ever lives to make intercession for us. We can come with boldness and we can have access with confidence, but notice it requires faith.

It is through faith that we have that boldness and access with confidence, and not just a generic kind of a faith, you know, I believe in the spiritual realm, that kind of thing. No, it's through faith in him, through faith in Christ.

The person who says, I believe in God, I just don't believe in this Jesus thing, and all you guys are saying about Jesus and all that stuff, I don't believe that. I pray to God, but Jesus, no. Well, no, the one who believes like that, thinks like that, has no access.

We only have access with confidence and can come boldly to the throne of grace when we come through faith in Christ. My friend, if you're a believer in Christ, if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, he is also your intercessor, he is your great high priest, interceding in your behalf at the right hand of the throne on high, and because of that, you, my friend, you can approach with confidence and you can enter with boldness, and I trust that we shall.

Father and God, we thank you for this encouraging word from Ephesians 3, and I pray that as we, by faith in Christ, through faith in Christ, have access with confidence and can come boldly before your throne, I pray that we shall, and we ask this in Jesus' name and for his sake.

All right, well, have a good rest of your Monday, and I hope your week gets off to a great start. Good day.