The Throne Of Grace - [Hebrews 4:16]

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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?
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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?
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Well, if you knew better, you would be afraid. You would be very frightened.
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Can you imagine the chills that would intensify as you got closer and closer to the throne?
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I'm sure people would give you etiquette and advise you how to stand before the king.
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Can you imagine being quickly rushed to the foot of the throne and told this?
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State your crimes before the king. I wonder how you would act. I wonder how you would think.
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If you'll take your Bibles and turn to the book of Hebrews, we're going to talk about approaching a throne today.
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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.
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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.
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But because of the work of Christ Jesus, because of the Son, Christ Jesus the
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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.
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Do we sing about that song? At least I think Wesley used to sing about it. Bold I approach the eternal throne.
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Who would approach the throne of a man who has power and we've committed sins against him, let alone a thrice holy
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God who's powerful? Who could approach such a throne? And we know we can't do it on our own.
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But because of our mediator, our advocate, the Lord Jesus, we can. You could put it this way.
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What Jesus has done is turned the no trespassing sign of God into a welcome mat.
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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
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God's throne. You've probably memorized the verse, maybe in a couple different translations.
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Hebrews chapter four, verse 16. I'm sure this verse has gotten you through the night on several rough nights.
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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.
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This is that doctrine. This is that verse that Christians run to regularly for help.
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God, I need help. And they come to the Lord Jesus Christ through his word, especially with this verse in mind.
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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,
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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.
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And that's what I like to do, is to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. One day you'll bury me.
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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.
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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.
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And the more you like me, you bury me closer to the front. And if you really love me, you'd bury me under the pulpit.
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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?
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What makes a good shepherd? Well, as far as I can tell, is one that will tell you about the
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Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd, the good shepherd. And this is what this pastor of the book of Hebrews is doing.
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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,
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I want you to think about who Jesus is. That's the remedy each and every week. Remember chapter three, verse one, what does he say?
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Consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. He says, I want you to give serious attention to this subject matter.
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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.
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Those are fine, but they're not deeper things. They're the result of considering. They're the result of earnest, careful study.
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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
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Christ and his work and then the evidence or the overflow or the fruit is service and love.
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So he says, I want you to think about the one who was sent. See that in verse one of chapter three, consider
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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.
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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.
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This writer wants you to know, if you're tempted to go back to anything in your life, specifically here it was
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Judaism, don't go back. It's not going to be as good. Say, well, I used to be in a different kind of religion and it had some good things.
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He's saying, don't go back to all these works, righteousness, things. Jesus is the one and the just shall live by faith.
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Christians walk by faith and not by sight. And that faith has an object. And that's the
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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.
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The just shall live by faith in Christ Jesus. And when I study this passage, when I study the book of Hebrews, it should serve as kind of a thing that stirs me up.
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I'm kind of full of lethargy. I'm struggling with tiredness and laziness or sin or anything.
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And it kind of is stirring things up. Maybe the best illustration, it 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.
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What time zone am I in? You know when you get good peanut butter that has oil on the top?
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I don't mean jiffy. Choosy mothers choose jiff.
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I mean the good kind. What do you have to do? You've got to stir that oil in. Because if you just pour the oil off the top,
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I thought I used... That's what I used to do, just pour the oil off the top, it'd be less calories. But then it's just like, you cannot eat that thing.
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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...
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You should see your eyes. You're all following me. Yeah, that's right. It starts going better. It's getting better for you.
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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
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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.
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I met somebody in the last week. He's a general, a retired general in the military. And he was thinking about, do
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I follow Christ or don't I? And I said, listen, your problem, friend, is not unrighteousness.
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Doing sinful things and you're immoral. You've been with the same wife for 40 years or 60 years, all these...
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I said, your problem, friend, is self -righteousness. You think you don't need Jesus. By the way, at the end of the
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Israel trip, of course, he's had his family pray for him and preached 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
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Lord taught me this week here in Israel. And this man got that microphone and he sat down and he said,
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I don't know really what to say, but during this trip, I've offered myself to Jesus.
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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 onto the
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Lord Jesus. And this preacher in the book of Hebrews really helps us to do that very thing.
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He's dealing with issues that are true. And as we talked about in Israel for a long time, Christianity isn't
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Narnia land, kind of made up. It's real. Jesus was a real person.
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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.
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And it wasn't just that he was a man because lots of people died on crosses, but he was the
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God -man who was sent from the Father. He was existing in eternity past the sun and comes to rescue sinners.
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In a way that without revelation we would never know. How could we ever figure out? The wages of sin is death.
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God requires blood. God requires a sacrifice. Everything we're told about how
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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
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Lord Jesus. So now we move back to chapter 4 where we left off last time three
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Sundays ago. We're looking at Hebrews chapter 4, verses 14 through 16.
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And verses 14 and 15 talk about holding fast our confession. Let me just read that.
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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.
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Yes, we're united into another. Look at verses 14 and 15. Hold fast your confession.
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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.
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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.
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And now we move to that second exhortation. Let us draw near, verse 16.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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I could bridge it by being good. I could bridge it by having righteousness through ceremonies and religiosity.
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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.
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It's got a gap. And if the gap is too big, you've got to bend that thing back down.
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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.
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Holiness of God, sinfulness of man, there's no way. So this gap is too big for me to bridge.
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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.
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So for him to say, draw near to the throne of grace, that's pretty amazing because we're sinful.
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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.
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Because of the work of Christ, you can always go to the throne of grace. I hope
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I don't offend anybody, but I'm tired of being in California for the last week where everybody, you know, you can tell
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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
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I help you? I'm like, you want something. You've got a problem, pal.
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You stay back. It's going to take you 20 years to prove your faithfulness to me.
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Then I'll be nice to you. But when
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I first got here to the church, I would leave my office door open, and people would walk in.
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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.
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Because when that door opens, I'm thinking what? It's Haley, Maddie, Luke, Gracie, or Kim.
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They can come in anytime they want. The rest of you, you may not.
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Oh, side note, I was preaching Romans 8 last week in San Diego, and the spirit cries out,
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Abba, Father. And it's a crying out, not just of a little kid crying, but God, I'm hurting, help me.
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And that's a sign that you're a Christian, because when you're really hurting, you cry out to God the
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Father, God help me. And as I said, it's kind of a shriek. It's a cry out.
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A kid on cue started crying out. It was perfect. Second service, nobody cried out.
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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.
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And now, Christian, you can go to God anytime you want. It doesn't say if you're repentant enough.
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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?
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With confidence drawn near, it's present tense. Come as often as you need help.
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Do you need help? Come to God. If you need mercy, you need grace, come to the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Pray anytime you want. Isn't it amazing when you read the
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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 mikvahs.
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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.
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No, approaching God with confidence. Why? Because if you look back at 2 .17,
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God's compassionate. God is merciful. He had to be made like his brothers in every respect,
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Hebrews 2 .17, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest.
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So when you need help, come. This kind of approach is always used for coming to God in worship, cultic worship.
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So come. You're hurting? You can go to the Lord. Maybe you say to yourself, you know, sometimes when
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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
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I was younger is go to the throne before you go to the phone.
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And the good news is you can. You can go to the throne. This is very fascinating to me.
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Just God is saying, come anytime you need help, anything you need. He doesn't say if it's a great need.
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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.
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I need help. That's a lot different than remember three weeks ago when you've got
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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
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Holy of Holies that one time per year, he's got bells on. And if the bell stopped ringing, that means
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God has killed him because God is a consuming fire and he dies. The bell stopped ringing and you pull the guy out because you don't want to go in there.
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Can you just imagine? What if I was your high priest? And once a year for your sins,
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I had to go in to the special room upstairs by the IBS room.
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Nobody could enter at any time except once a year. And I would go up there and it would be right now and I would say, let's just pray before I go up there.
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God, cleanse me. God, make this sacrifice appropriate. In Jesus' name, amen. And now
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I walk upstairs. What would you be thinking? Well, if you knew me, you'd be thinking, we're smoked.
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We're done. And you could hear the bells. He's still alive. He's still alive.
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He's still alive. I'd have to put on the right clothes. I'd have to have the right washings.
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I'd have to do the right thing. Will the sacrifice be acceptable? You'd be on the edge of your seats.
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It's similar to this. When God manifests Himself on top of Mount Sinai, what were the people told?
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Don't even let your animals come near the bottom of the mountain because they'll be dead. What about the
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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.
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That's exactly what happened to Uzzah. Stay away, the Old Covenant said.
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Keep your distance. The priest will be your intercessor. He might make it, he might not.
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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.
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I have no worthiness to approach God and neither do you, but Jesus is worthy and Jesus says, based on my worthiness, come.
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I've heard people say, I'm not worthy enough to come to God to make a sacrifice. I'm not worthy enough to pray because my sins are so bad.
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You were right at the beginning. You're not worthy enough to come to Jesus, but because your sins are so bad,
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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.
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So what did we do with those signs? We just got our shotguns and shot them. Those are just like targets.
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No trespassing. If you tried to get close to the temple,
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Solomon's temple, the Old Testament temple, everything was cordoned off.
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No trespassing. Gentiles, don't cross this point or you're dead. Women, don't cross this point.
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Non -priests, don't cross this point. Great high priests, only great high priests cross this point only one time a year.
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And what's the text say now? You have access. You have entree. Come as often as you need help.
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Romans 5, two, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.
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We have access to the Father through Christ by the Spirit. Jesus said to him,
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I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. And we come to the
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Father through him. Gladly, he tells us to. Let me give you three aspects of this drawing near.
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This is our outline for today. Three aspects of drawing near. I've told you what it is. You can just approach
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God in prayer any time 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.
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Aspect number one, draw near with confidence. Draw near with confidence. Do you see it in verse 16?
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Let us then with confidence draw near. Debt's been paid.
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Sins have been paid. Come with confidence. One man translates it, come with bald frankness.
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Now, sometimes people, you know, just, what's that old hymn? Just as I am without one plea, you know, come as you are.
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Well, we could argue, do you come as you are to the Lord Jesus Christ? I think that's an interesting argument.
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But for a Christian, certainly you come as you are with confidence.
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Psalm 116, upon the wicked, he will rain snares, fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.
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For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright will behold his face.
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The confidence people have to behold the face of God is based on the work of another.
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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
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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.
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See, I said it dogmatically enough. I was trying to get you to agree with me. False.
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The veil was torn in two from top to bottom. This 80 foot huge curtain, torn from top to bottom, showing
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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.
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No longer stay away. Don't get too close. The radiation will kill you spiritually.
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No. So now, here's the big picture. These Christians were struggling.
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They're getting persecuted. There's difficulties. And it might make you wanna draw back a little bit.
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It might make you think, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't. And maybe God's really, you know, not in this. And maybe
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God is punishing me and God's disciplining me. And I have to kind of run backwards a little bit.
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And I'm not sure if I can approach God. So he says the opposite.
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In spite of these issues that are going on in your life, Hebrew Christians and Bethlehem Bible Church boldly approach.
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Free access. In the military,
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I watch shows. I've never been in the military. Once, close, but then no. Don't they say something like this?
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You know, they're standing in attention and then the officer says to the person under him, permission to speak what?
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Freely. When I was first saved, I thought
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I had to talk to God in King James English. I thought there was some kind of formula.
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If you want to use the acts formula to pray, that's fine. But you don't need to. If you want to say,
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God, I adore you. You're beautiful. You're wonderful. You're compassionate. You're a deliverer. You're eternal.
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And now I move to see and I confess. I'm none of those things and I'm sinful. But I thank you for Jesus.
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And now I come with a supplication. That's fine and that's wonderful. And that gets you away from the default of,
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God, I need help. But this verse right here, there's nothing before it. It's, you need help?
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Speak freely. This is
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God saying to the Christian. I'd like to hear. You don't have to clean yourself up first.
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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 gonna do it again.
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Do you need help, Christian? About anything? Speak freely. Draw near with confidence.
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Number two, the second aspect. Draw near to the throne of grace. Oh, this is amazing.
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Let us then with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace. Guess what comes out of a throne of grace?
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Judgment. No, what comes out? Grace. Who wants grace?
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I do. Like with my kids, you know, when they were little. Now that the statute of limitations is gone,
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I can tell the story. When I would give them discipline, I would say, you broke God's rule. You broke dad's rule.
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Now you're gonna get judgment. You're gonna get justice. Daddy loves you, but you're gonna get justice. And then they would get it.
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Once in a while, I would say to them, I'm not gonna give you punishment. Even though you deserve it,
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I'm gonna give you mercy. And that means no judgment. Next time
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I'd go to discipline the kids, guess what they would all say? I want mercy dad, I want mercy,
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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,
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I said, you deserve judgment. I'm not gonna give it to you, that's mercy. But here in this, my little illustration, here's grace.
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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.
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I'll take grace, dad. I did it twice in their lives. I know,
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I know, amen. I want you to give her some judgment now after that.
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Justice, unlike me, God gives grace every single time to the Christian because the judgment's been put out on who
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Jesus is. Walking around, is God gonna whack me again? Christian, God does discipline us, that is true.
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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.
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Who needs grace? I do, you do. The throne of grace to find help and mercy, time of need.
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Now, here's what you need to understand to make this more effective in your mind and then more worshipful in your hearts.
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Why don't you turn to 1 Kings chapter seven? And I want to show you a little bit about thrones in the Old Testament.
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And I'll just tell you ahead of time, thrones were always thrones of judgment. Thrones were always judgment thrones.
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Thrones were never thrones of grace. This is the only time in Hebrews four, it's a throne of grace. Every time you said throne, the knee jerk would be,
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I gotta 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.
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So you can just see it. And then when you put yourself in the place of the
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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.
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1 Kings 7, 7, and he made the hall of the throne where he was to, what?
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Judge the hall of judgment. And it was paneled with cedar from floor to floor.
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These would be small places. So all the focus went to who God is. Proverbs 20 says, the king who sits on the throne of justice disperses evil with all his eyes.
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Well, what do you have in the throne hall of judgment? The throne of judgment hall.
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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.
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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.
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But back in the old days, you didn't use chairs very often. You squatted down, you sat on the ground or you reclined.
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You know, Jesus had the disciple put his head kind of on his bosom, kind of certain way to kind of halfway lay down.
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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.
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Very, very important. 1 Kings 10, 18. Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.
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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.
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12 lions were standing there on the six steps of the one side and on the other.
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Nothing like it was made for any other kingdom. No wonder
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Solomon said, a king's wrath is like the roaring of a lion.
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Up the steps you go to go get judged. Kings sit on their throne of justice.
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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 set to dispense his judgment.
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But then this is not a great deal. This is not a regular king. This is God Himself. Listen to Isaiah 6.
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I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with the train of His robe filling the temple.
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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.
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Daniel 7. I kept looking until thrones were set up and the ancient of days took a seat.
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His vesture was like white snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames.
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Its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him.
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Thousands upon thousands were attending him and myriads upon myriads were standing before him.
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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.
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To show you more about a throne, go to Revelation chapter four please to see God's throne.
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This throne without a mediator is frightening and it should be.
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Everything in Romans four evolves around a throne. 11 out of the 13 uses of throne in this chapter are referring to God's throne,
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His dominion, His rule. You want to call this chapter something, you should call it the chapter of God's throne.
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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?
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After this I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven and first voice which
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I heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, come up here and I will show you what must take place after this.
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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.
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Look at all these images that just keep piling up. How much could a finite sinful human being even bear?
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So holy, so awful. And you sat there had the appearance of Jasper and carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
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Around the throne were 24 thrones and seated on the thrones were 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads.
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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.
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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
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God upon a sinful world. And before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass like crystal.
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And around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures. Forget the lions full of eyes in front and behind.
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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.
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And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within day and night.
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They never cease to say, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come.
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And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who was seated on the throne who lives forever and ever.
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And the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever.
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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.
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How could you approach such a throne? How can you have a permission to go to such a throne?
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Isn't it a sure recipe for destruction knowing my sins I can come to such a throne of judgment?
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Except Hebrews calls it a throne of what? Grace, why? Because instead of judgment coming out,
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God doesn't believe in double jeopardy. He judges the son so now he gives to his children grace.
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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?
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Pleads for me. Do you think Jesus' sacrifice for you is completely sufficient?
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Yet his intercessory work as priest is insufficient? That's the point.
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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?
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Remember what priests do. They sacrifice, they intercede. My name is graven on his hands.
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My name is written on his heart. I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.
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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.
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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.
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Because a sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.
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The song goes, the original, hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the one risen son of God.
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Behold him there, the risen lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness, the great unchangeable
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I am, the king of glory and grace. One in himself
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I cannot die, my soul is purchased by his blood. My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my
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Savior am I. Therefore, Christian, boldly approach the throne of grace.
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Come, God's not going to reject you because he has not rejected his high priest. God says,
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Christian, come with confidence and approach me and pray, not just annually in the
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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.
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No wonder Brown says, then we dare not be prayerless. Psalm 76, thou even thou art to be feared.
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Who may stand in the presence when once thou art angry? But Christian, you can stand because someone has stood in your place.
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And then we end with, going back to Hebrews chapter four, 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.
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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.
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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.
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Jesus is the merciful high priest, he gives mercy and he gives grace.
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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.
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Do you see that at the end of the verse? Time of need. In Greek, it literally means good time.
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It doesn't mean like we're having a good time. It means at the right time when
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I need assistance, pray. Pray. This would be a good time, God, I need help.
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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.
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But could that really be? I've committed some sins and therefore access is barred.
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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.
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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.
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You've probably, along with me, broken hundreds. We just have a few laws we broke and now we can't approach
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God. No, how about a lot more? Under further scrutiny, I've sinned a lot more.
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Can I still come? The answer is yes, because it's a good time. I'm helpless.
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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.
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And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.
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My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But He did not answer her word.
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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 worshipper, get her away.
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Jesus answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You're not Jewish.
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But she came and knelt before Him. She needed help. She needed grace. She needed mercy.
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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,
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Gentiles. And she said, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
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Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire.
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And her daughter was healed instantly. Christian, take
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God at His word. Bring your temptations to Him. Bring your trials to Him. Bring your sins to Him.
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Come as you are, no matter what you've done, no matter what you're doing, you bring those to Him. And you say,
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God, I ask forgiveness. I ask that You grant me repentance. I need help.
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I need You. And then for us as Christians too, who maybe sometimes don't struggle with those things, we can come and praise
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Him anyway. It's not only for coming to God when it's sin and temptation and trials, but in anything you need.
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Anytime you want to praise Him, extol Him, worship Him, come as you are.
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In light of that, I think we should pray. Father in heaven, unlike those men atop of Mount Carmel, they've got to get their
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God's attention by yelling and cutting and screaming. We already have
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Your attention because we're in Christ Jesus. And so therefore we say, Father, You forgive us for not coming as we ought to.
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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.
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And so there's many things at this church I know people, and couples and singles,
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I know they need. And so I pray that You would help them boldly approach. Father, we are not worthy to do that.
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There's no amount of self -restraint or reformation or repentance we can do to make us worthy.
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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, and ways that they could say no to sin and yes to righteousness.
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Father, I pray that You would convict them and help them realize their need of divine assistance that only
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You bring. And You say, come to me and I will give it to You. No wonder the
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Lord Jesus said, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I'll give You rest. And now what's more,
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You give us help and mercy and grace in time of need. Father, meet us at our needs as we approach