Ushered by Faith into the Throne of Grace (Hebrews Sermon 18)

So, I can scarcely imagine at this moment, this incredible moment of redemptive history, recorded for us in the biblical book of Esther, Queen Esther standing outside the throne room of her husband King Xerxes, the most powerful man on earth. What it must have been like to be there, to see her? Perhaps her heart rate elevated, short of breath as she’s just about to walk into the throne room of this, the most powerful man on earth, her husband, yes. But still the most powerful man on earth, the emperor of Persia, 127 provinces stretching from east to west, sitting on an exalted throne reflective of his great power surrounded by dozens of counselors doing the business of the empire, surrounded by many soldiers who would at any moment been willing to lay down their lives for the Emperor or to take life if he commanded it as well. And the circumstances that had driven Esther to take her very life into her hands are recorded in the pages of that book.

You remember how the king had been duped, had been tricked into issuing an edict amounting to the genocide, the annihilation of the Jewish people. And how Esther had been approached, persuaded to go into the throne room of the king and beg for the lives of her people. But there was a problem and she said in Esther 4:11, “All the kings officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned by the king, the king has but one law: That he be put to death. The only exception to this, is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” Esther though with incredible boldness, incredible courage was willing to risk her life, and go in and speak to her husband on behalf of her people, to go uninvited into the throne room of the King of Persia. And she said, “If I perish, I perish.” A great moment of courage. And so with that boldness, she walked uninvited into the throne room of King Xerxes, the king saw her. And says in Esther 5:2-3 “When he saw a Queen Esther, standing in the court, he was pleased with her. And he held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. Then the king asked, ‘What is it Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half of my kingdom, it will be given to you.'”

Friends, this amazing story from the Old Testament is a picture of a bold access into a throne room of power, the golden scepter extended to her as a picture of a welcome of grace into that throne room and an invitation that she should make her request known to the king. Amazingly, I find this a picture of what’s extended to us in Hebrews 4:16, a picture of the grace that flows like a vast river into our lives from the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence. So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Now, my goal in this sermon is to give you a sense of the immense privilege that Jesus is won for us, pictured by Queen Esther’s approach to her husband King Xerxes as he sat on the throne.

Access, however to the throne room of Almighty God, not merely that of a temporary earthly potent-y who would some day die. Access granted continually to that throne room, not just on one particular occasion. Whenever is our time of need. An access that actually comes with a command that we should do so that we should approach. A command to draw near to the throne of God. An access that is paid for and granted to us not merely by the extension of a golden scepter, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed for us on the cross. I want to unfold therefore Hebrews 4:14-16, because I just want you to pray more. I want you to saturate your lives in prayer, I want you to pray and pray and pray. I want you to pray without ceasing because I’m going to make a case this morning, that there is no such time as a time that’s not a time of need. Every moment is a time of need. And so we have this invitation to come right into the throne room of grace.

I. First… A Word About Faith

Now before I do that, I want to speak briefly a word about faith. A word about faith, faith is the eyesight of the soul, that enables us to see invisible spiritual realities. The Word of God is the food of faith. It opens your eyes to this vast spiritual world that we would not see if God didn’t grant us the gift of faith. The basic building blocks of this passage can only be perceived by faith, Almighty God, the Holy One seated on His throne, Jesus the Son of God, our great High Priest, ourselves as sinners in need of grace, as children of God, who are welcome in His presence, our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, our situation, that naturally we were separated from God because of our sins, with an infinite gap between us and the Holy One, Jesus the Son of God has worked for us, a great salvation on the cross. By faith, now we are children of God, the completely forgiven of our sins, but we are in immense danger. Jesus, our great high priest, has gone through the heavens and is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. We must hold fast to our confession of faith, we must hold fast and this we cannot do without an ongoing supply of grace.

Every moment as I said a moment ago, is a time of need. We must see our great need, and our great privilege. In order to hold fast, we must draw near to the throne of grace. Now, this is the basic spiritual lay of the land. This is what is true invisibly and spiritually and we cannot perceive it except by faith. So, my desire is to strengthen your faith. I’m not going to urge you to go on a pilgrimage. There’s no physical place on Earth, more holy than another. The throne room of grace is an invisible spiritual reality.

And so I’m going to urge you to be strong in faith and believe and step into that throne room of a grace. Now, I want to talk about greatness and I’m going to just lay out this passage with three senses of the greatness of the issues here. I want to talk about Jesus, our great High Priest, I want to talk about the greatness of our need, and I want to talk about the greatness of the privilege that Jesus is one for us. So the word great, is going to appear a lot in this sermon, because these are great issues. These are immense issues.

II. The Greatness of Our High Priest Jesus

So I want to begin by talking about the greatness of our High Priest, Jesus. Now, what do we mean by High Priest? Well a priest is an intermediary between God and man. The first time that a priest is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 14:18, “Then Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.” That’s the first time the word priest appears in the Bible. Now we’re going to get to know Melchizedek very well when we get to Hebrew 7. We’re going to talk much about him.

Now, the Book of Hebrews summarizes the calling of a priest plainly in the very next verse, that we’re going to study God willing, next week, Hebrews 5:1, “Every priest is selected from among men, and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, and to offer gifts and sacrifices.” Now in the Old Covenant Aaron, the brother of Moses, was chosen as the first high priest. And then his sons, his descendants after him, took that office in the Old Covenant. High Priest, represented the people before God and God before the people. Now in Latin the word for priest as “pontifex”, which means bridge builder. And I think that gives a good sense of that mediator role of a priest as a go-between, in some way between God and man. For example, Ezekiel the prophet was also a priest and God said to him, in Ezekiel 22:30, “I looked for a man among them who would stand in the gap on behalf of the land, to stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.”

So, a priest is one who is qualified by God to stand in the gap. Now, the gap gives a sense of a breach like a tear in cloth or a breach in the wall. That’s what the Hebrew word means, there in Ezekiel 22:30, there is a breach or a gap. Well, between what and what? Well, I think it’s pretty clear, between God and man, between a Holy God and sinful human beings, and that gap, that breach is wider than the Grand Canyon, is wider than the gap between us and and the edge of the Milky Way or the edge of the universe. It’s an infinite gap because of the infinite holiness of God, and a priest, then stands in the gap between a Holy God and sinful man, and seeks to build a bridge.

Now how then is Jesus a High Priest? Friends, we’re not going to plumb the depths of that this morning. We have actually six chapters to study that theme. Hebrews 5-10, just meditates on and on about the greatness of Jesus’s ministry as High Priest. So I don’t need to go into any great detail, but very soon we’re going to be looking at these profound concepts from Psalm 110 in verse 4, “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” Simply put, then Jesus is a High Priest because He represents us sinners to God by offering His blood, as a perfect sacrifice, and praying for us based on that blood and He represents God to us sinners by displaying the perfect image of God.

And by teaching us the very words of God, Jesus is the Great High Priest. Now, what is the greatness of Jesus as our High Priest? Well, we’ve already seen in many respects, the greatness of Jesus Christ, right from the very beginning of the book, Jesus is greater than all the prophets in the past, God spoke through all the prophets. But in these last days, He’s spoken to us by His son Jesus is God’s final Word to the human race, Jesus is greater than all the prophets. In that same chapter, and then on into chapter 2, we saw that Jesus is greater than all the angels. They are merely servants, they are merely winds and flames of fire. But Jesus is the Son of God. And then again in Hebrews 3, Jesus is greater than Moses. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, but Jesus is faithful as a Son over God’s house. And so Jesus is greater than Moses. And we saw that Jesus in Hebrews 4 is greater than Joshua in that, the promised land He brings us to, is a greater promised land. The rest of God, that perfect final Sabbath rest, is heaven, it’s eternal not a temporary lodging in an earthly Promised Land, but rather the eternal lodging in heaven, and so Jesus is greater than Joshua. And now from Hebrews 5 through 7, we’re going to be comparing Jesus to Aron and we’re going to find that Jesus is a greater high priest than Aaron. The greatness of Jesus as our High Priest.

Well, why is he great? Why is Jesus greater?

Well, first and foremost Jesus is greater because of his person-hood. Just who He is even before He became our High Priest. In Hebrews 4:14, it says, “We have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.” Jesus is a great high priest because He is great in and of Himself. Now, there are some times men who fill great offices, but they’re not great men. Significant offices, great offices of leadership worthy of great honor because God ordains that office, but they’re not great men. And we see this again and again in the Bible, kings are to be held in honor, because they’re kings with their wicked people. But Jesus is great in and of Himself. He is the Son of God, or God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. And it says in Hebrews 1:3, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Jesus is our great high priest, because he’s the Son of God, because of the greatness that He has in and of Himself.

And since Jesus is the Son of God, He has a special in with His Father, the judge of all the earth. The Father loves the Son. He delights in the Son. Think about the Mount of Transfiguration, and Jesus is up there with Peter and James, and John, and His face and His clothes, and His whole being is transformed before them and He becomes radiant, bright shining with light. His heavenly glory, for a brief moment, partially restored to Him. And then a bright cloud envelops them all there on that mountain. And a voice from the cloud says, “This is My Son whom I love, with Him I am well pleased.” Aren’t you glad Jesus is your Great High Priest? Aren’t you glad that that’s the love that the Father has for our Intercessor? He is great, because He is the Son of God.

Also in the text, He is great because of the journey He traveled, because of the journey He travelled. Look at verse 14, again, “Therefore since we have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God.” It’s an incredible thing. In the old covenant, the ironic priest took the blood of the animal from the sacrifices that were done in the holy place and carried them and brought them into the most holy place, or the Holy of Holies. But I tell you that Jesus went on an infinitely greater journey to bring His blood before Almighty God. It says he passed through, or moved through, or went through the heavens themselves. He went right through the heavens to the other side. Well this bends even breaks my mind. This is where your circuit breakers start to trip. Jesus has gone through the heavens. Friends, the heavens are a created realm. In the beginning, God created them. But our God is infinitely above any created realm, and so the Scripture repeatedly presents God as above the heavens. So it says in Psalm 8, and verse 1, “Oh Lord, our Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” Or again, in Psalm 57:5, “Be exalted, Oh God above the heavens, let Your glory be over all the Earth.” So Jesus goes through all created realms visible and invisible to a place that only He as God could go. The place where the Creator where Almighty God is and there He presents His blood. So, Jesus is great because of this infinite journey, he has traveled. And so Hebrews picks up on this, again, in chapter 7:26, “Such a High Priest meets our needs, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” There our great High priest, exists with His Heavenly Father. And He has offered his own blood for us right before the throne of Almighty God.

Thirdly, Jesus is great in his sympathy toward us as sinners. He is a great High Priest because He’s great in sympathy. Look at verse 15, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us in our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.”  This is one of the most incredible themes in this passage may be in the whole Bible. Jesus the perfectly holy one is perfectly sympathetic to us as sinners. He sympathize with us, even us sinners. The Greek word is literally sympatheia, from which we get the English word. It means to feel with, to link my feelings, my passions with someone else, very related to the word compassion. They’re completely related. And so the idea of sympathy or compassion is a union of one person’s heart with another. We’re supposed to do that when we rejoice with those who rejoice in one with those who mourn. We have genuine compassion for each other.

Jesus has a genuine compassion to Himself, in Himself, with us sinners. And specifically with people who feel that they are sinners that they need His ministry as a great High Priest. And what’s interesting, how Jesus here uses a double negative, as if to strengthen the assurance in our minds. We ought to be strongly motivated to come to Jesus as our Great High Priest, because listen, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize. The word unable shows a limitation on Jesus, a limitation, that would be on Jesus’s character.

It would be a limitation on him as a high priest. But He doesn’t suffer from this limitation. Like, when some people thinking they’re being humble, say that God is too busy, spinning the planets, to look after my little needs. They don’t realize, by this false humility they’re really limiting God. We serve a God who is unable to both spin the planets and look after your little needs, so therefore, we’ll let him spin the planets and you look after your own little needs. No friends. We serve a God who can do both, he can spin the planets and He can look after your little needs. And so, it’s a dishonor to God to say that kind of thing.

So it would be a dishonor to Jesus to say, he’s unable to sympathize with you. That he doesn’t know what it feels like to go through what you’re going through. It’s a dishonor. And so the author uses this double negative to jar yourself out of thinking that you have a high priest who doesn’t know what it feels like what you’re going through right now. Jesus is actually infinitely great in his sympathies toward us as sinners, he is moved deeply with compassion toward us, as we struggle with the effects of our own sins, and those of others to us. Deeply sympathetic.

Jesus watches us struggle with temptations linked to our flesh and as He does that, He knows exactly what it’s like to be tempted. He is mild and gentle, and faithful as a loving priest who will welcome us warmly into the throne room of grace. He’s not standing like a guard at the door saying, you’re not getting in here. But he is warmly welcoming you into this throne room of grace. He is moved with compassion for us. As Xerxes was moved with love for his wife, Esther, as she stood there in her beautiful queenly robes. And he loved her, and he extended his golden scepter to her, just right from his heart, flowed right through him and he loved her. But his love for Esther is just nothing compared to the love that Jesus has for his bride, the church. He loves his church and he’s moved with love for her and extends a warm welcome to her, to come any time.

And why is He so moved with compassion because Jesus is fourthly, great in his temptations. He is great, he was great, in his temptations in his time on earth, Hebrews 4:14, “for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.” Jesus ‘s compassion for us and our temptations and trials is certainly linked to his incarnation. He took on flesh and blood so that he could sympathize, so that he could experience those same things that we do. He shared our flesh and blood. He lived a life in the flesh, he felt its pulls, its desires, its weaknesses, its afflictions. He knows by experience what it is to be hungry. He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and was tempted in the desert.

He knows by experience what it is to be poor, he said, “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Women were supporting him out of their means, He and his disciples are walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath, plucking them and eating them like all the other poor people. Jesus knows what it’s like to be poor, he knows by experience what it’s like to be weary to the bone. Fell asleep in the back of a boat on a cushion in the middle of this storm and had to be awakened. He was exhausted. He knows by experience what it’s like to be rejected by people who ought to love Him, but instead hate him. Who twist up their faces in anger, he had to look at that for three years. And He saw the hatred in them, and He knew that they wanted to kill him. He knows by experience what it’s like to be hated and rejected and despised, and He knows what it’s like to feel physical pain, and death. He’s been through all these experiences. He knows what that’s like. He’s been tempted in every way. Just as we are.

Now here friends I tell you, we come to infinite mystery, and this is a mystery to me, and it ought to be a mystery to you too. Meditate on this with me. Our temptations are not merely linked to our bodily nature, our physical drives, but also linked to our sin nature which we inherited from Adam. We were born sinners in Adam with a tendency to rebel against God and then we rebelled against God and in so doing, we built up habits of sin. That form a strong pull on us, and make it very difficult for us to live upright, lives.

We develop addictive habits of sin, of lusts and jealousies and pride and overeating and other things, addictive habits, just by transgression. And so James describes our temptations in this way, in James 1:14-15. “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed, to then after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death.” Friends, these words cannot be ascribed to Jesus. He had nothing inside Him dragging him away from the Father. He had no habits of sin that he had to battle all of his life. How then can we say that Jesus’s temptations were real temptations. How were they not like the pull of a magnet on a block of wood and that there was nothing inside Jesus, responding to the temptation.

My answer to you is, I have no idea. It’s good for a theologian and a pastor, to know his limitations. I have no idea, I just know the text says that He was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. I know that. I know He had no habits of sin to battle against but I think it was a real battle, he was fighting in Gethsemane, when he was deciding what to do. Isn’t the evidence there that that was a battle for him, to obey his father? It was real temptation. And so the bottom line is, Jesus is a great high priest for us because he is so compassionate on us in our weakness and our temptations and because he’s experienced it all himself, no not every single temptation there’s some temptations that He never has to go through. He never has to tell a second lie to cover the first lie.

But I think what the author means here is he understands all the categories of struggles, we have in our lives, because he went through them too. But in all of Jesus ‘ temptation, I hope you notice there’s a key difference as well. He was tempted in every way, just as we are, but there’s a big difference. He never sinned, He never gave in, not once.

And therefore He is great in his holiness. We have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin, Jesus never sinned. It’s just, it boggles my mind to consider 30 plus years of life in this earth. Tempted every day and never once sinned in any way. And this makes him a perfect high priest for us. It qualifies him to be our high priest because he was perfectly holy in every way. And therefore He was acceptable to God.

And if you go back in your mind to Hebrew 7:26, again, such a high priest meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners exalted above the heavens. Jesus, I contend, I’ve said this in this pulpit before, and I say it again now, is the most tempted man in history. More tempted than any of you have ever been. You know why, because he ran all of his temptations into the ground. Jesus and his temptation without a foot raised, Jesus won. Temptation drops in exhaustion, Jesus is still strong. He wrestled all of his temptations to the ground and stood in triumph over every one of them, he felt every temptation to the maximum level, and defeated everyone. We sinners, cave in at some point. And you know it’s true.

Take for example a man with a temper. He’s got a problem with anger, gets up resolves in the Lord that he’s not going to get angry once that day. Says it out loud and Satan says, “Okay, now we know what we’re working on today.” Okay? And so he goes to breakfast, and his wife may say something that he doesn’t like, but he’s not going to get angry today, so yeah, but there’s a little heat that’s rising. Some memories. You know what I’m saying? Some things, but nothing comes out. Kids may do something etcetera. This is not autobiographical. I hope you know that. You understand that.

I’m not speaking auto-biographical, but these experiences happen. He goes to work, his boss criticizes him at a conference in front of other people, and he’s embarrassed by that and tempted to do a lash back but he doesn’t, for good reason. And on his way home, there’s some incidents with another driver who’s in a bit more of a rush than him, and who honks at him and makes a gesture and is, but I’m not going to get angry today. Yeah, but he’s close, isn’t he? I mean, he’s like ripe fruit, ready to drop. And so he comes home and I don’t know what it is, but there is that straw that breaks the camel’s back, you know what I’m talking about? And so the camel’s back breaks, and he lashes out. He congratulates himself, that he made it that far in the day. Friends, look, he cut out at 62% of the temptation, he didn’t feel the whole thing, there were still more Satan could have done. There was more things that could have come, he just cut out he kicked out. Pushed the red eject button, the canopy went and he went out of the flaming jet.

He’s out, he’s done Jesus never did it. He felt every single temptation right to the end, 100%. 30 plus years he took on those temptations one at a time, like Samson with the jawbone of a donkey until all of those Philistines were laying dead at his feet. That’s Jesus our perfect High Priest and therefore He is qualified to be our high priest. See then dear friends, the greatness of our high priest, great in his person as the son of God. Great in his journey through the heavens to the right-hand of God. Great in his sympathy toward us as sinners, great in his experience of temptation and great in his personal holiness. We have a great high priest. But we are also great in our need.

III. The Greatness of Our Need

Look at the greatness of our need, and look at verse 16, it says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Verse 16 speaks very clearly of us as needy people. It uses the word help so that we can find help. We can find grace, to help. The Word which we could say assistance to gain assistance implies we can’t make it on our own. The Greek word was a nautical term it’s used during the shipwreck of Paul’s ship in Acts 27, of the cables that are passed under the hull of the ship to keep it from falling apart. And so the idea is that the hull is going to fall apart if it doesn’t receive the help of these cables and so it is with us, we need help, Amen. We need help. We’re going to fall apart if we don’t have help, we can’t make it on our own.

What cursed independence, we have. And how we express that in prayerlessness. We don’t need to pray because we’re fine on our own. Really, we need help. We are greatly in need of help, And it says to receive help in time of need, the image, there is of timely help, help that comes just when you need it. Like Calvary, over the hill. And the horses come just at that moment. And the text also speaks of our weakness in verse 15, “We do not have a high priest who was unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.” These weaknesses are moral infirmities. We are feeble as we battle temptation. We’re not strong, we’re not Samson’s, we’re like little children we’re weak and sick as we try to battle. The whole context, I think, of Hebrews 4:14-16 is one of the temptation. These Jewish professors of faith in Christ, were being tempted to turn their back on Jesus because of these external temptations and they were, they were dropping like flies. And so the author is saying, don’t drop run to Jesus when you’re being tempted.

Don’t fight on your own, it’s too strong for you. You need help, you’re weak. And why is that? Well, we’ve got an infinite journey ahead of us. We’d speak often of the two infinite journeys. One of those two infinite journeys is that internal journey of personal holiness. We were predestined to be conformed to Jesus, to be just like Jesus in Hebrews… Sorry, in Matthew 5:48. It says, “Be perfect therefore as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” We’re called then to be perfect like God. Hebrews 12:1 says that we are to throw off everything that hinders in the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Christian life then is portrayed not only as a long distance race, but also as a battle like a warfare that we have to fight and these two images come together in 2nd Timothy 4:7, when Paul says, “I fought the good fight, I finished the race.”

It’s a fighting race. And we have these enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil that are just assaulting us all the time and get the image of World War One and no man’s land. You can imagine just barbed wire on the left and barbed wire on the right. The Germans and the allies and there’s just… It’s like… It’s looks like a moon scape nothing living and just artillery fire and all kinds of grenades and machine gun-ness, and you have to run 10 miles along no man’s land to make it to the other side. Think, well, that’s an overstatement. No, it isn’t. Spiritually, that’s what you’re trying to do here. Every day, lusts and Satan, with his demons, assault us and try to pull us from Jesus every day. If you didn’t have great assistance, you would have fallen long time ago. Now, I say to you some of that assistance comes whether you pray for it or not, but this text is telling you to pray for it.

To get the help you need as you run this perilous, race. It says, we need mercy, and grace for our time of need. Mercy and grace are almost, in some cases, interchangeable terms hard to distinguish between the two. Some theologians say that mercy is God’s goodness to us in times of suffering, when we’re hurting. Somebody blind by the road and says, “Have mercy on me son, of David.” He’s suffering, he’s in pain, he’s struggling. And then grace is just going right for your sins, the thing that makes you defile before God, it covers your past sins. It helps you not sin in the future, mercy and grace. And that’s what you need in this time of need. Our needs are great.

IV. The Greatness of Our Privilege: Full Access to the Throne of Grace

Thirdly, look at the greatness of our privilege. We have a great high priest and we are greatly needy. Look at the greatness of our privilege. Full access to the throne of grace. We needy sinners, needy sinners. Who are we? We are great sinners friends, one Puritan said our sins are as many as they are great and there are as great as they are many.

Our sins are great, like the mountains, not like little ant hills, they’re great because God is infinitely Holy. And our sins are many, they’re not occasional. King David said, there are as many as the hairs on my head. And so how can it be that sinners like us would actually be welcomed into the throne of grace, how could it be? But look what it says in verse 16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” Now, when you think of a throne, don’t you think of a place of sovereign power, where a king is seated. He’s seated on his throne. And ordinarily for us as sinners, it would be a place of sheer terror. Think of a throne of righteousness where God Almighty, God displays His righteousness, the throne of righteousness.

Or think of a throne of justice where God dispenses his justice against those who have violated his transgressions in his laws. Or think of a throne of omnipotence. Where God can do anything He chooses to do and nothing can thwart him and nothing can stop his mighty hand. But for us as sinners these are terrifying concepts. Absolutely terrifying the throne of God. But see the value of what Jesus has done for us. He has transformed it, and made it a throne of Grace. And I’m not going to say it’s not a throne of justice, it’s not a throne of righteousness, it’s not a throne of omnipotence. No, it’s a throne of grace. I’m not going to say that, that wouldn’t be true. But now God’s justice is helping you get saved, God’s righteousness is on your side. It is just and righteous for God to forgive you your sins in Jesus. His powers unleashed to get you to Heaven. It’s a throne of grace. And all of God’s attributes are working together to bring you to your final end in the new Heaven and in the new earth.

Friends, the Old Covenant was all about restrictions. We weren’t welcome, we were left on the outside. If you weren’t a Levite you couldn’t come into the holy place. If you weren’t a high priest, son of Aaron you couldn’t come into the most holy place, or else you would die. But the new covenant is all about access. Amen. It’s about a doorway. Jesus is the door of the sheep. It says, in Ephesians 2:18, “For through Him, we [both Jew and Gentile] have access to the Father by one spirit.” In Hebrews 10, it says, “Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, open for us through the curtain, that is His body, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Do you not see the great privilege we have here? We have a great privilege, we are invited right into the throne room of Almighty God. God is opening wide the door to his presence and not only that, He is commanding you, a believer in Jesus, He’s commanding you to come in. Now, I said in a sermon, years ago, I don’t really know the difference between God’s commands and His invitations, and His invitations and His commands. Well, command is something. Well, kind of negative and invitation is like to a party. So that’s something positive. Friends, are any of God’s commands burden, some are negative? No, they’re all wonderful. And you are commanded to come to the throne of grace. Or if you like better, you’re invited to come to the throne of grace, but you need to come.

V. Application #1: Let Us Hold Fast to Our Faith

Application number one. Therefore, let us hold fast to our confession of faith. And I want to just start by saying, “Have you made a confession of faith?” I mean you’re here today, it’s Sunday morning, you’re in church, maybe because you’re invited or you think you should be in church or something like that, but have you made a profession of faith in Christ? Have you testified that Jesus is your savior? Have you cried out to Jesus to save you from your sins? Have you asked that his blood shed on the cross would be a cleansing river for you? Have you made a profession of faith? The goal of Hebrews is not only that you would make some initial profession of faith in Christ, but you would hold fast to your profession of faith. That you would hold it just as firmly now as the day that you with tears trusted in Jesus and asked Him to be your savior.

Hold on to it fast and in order for you to hold fast to your confession, you need to come regularly to the throne of grace. You need to come again and again, you need rivers of grace, you know that throne, that throne of justice and righteousness, and holiness, and power? Do you know that throne in Revelation 22:1, is the source of the river of life flowing clear as crystal from the lamb, from the throne of God, of the lamb? That throne has become for you a river of grace. Stand in that river and let it cleanse you. Come near to the throne of grace. Let us draw near to get help in time of need.

VI. Application #2: Let Us Draw Near to Get Help

Now I already said at the beginning and now here I say at the end, there are all times of need. There’s never a moment which you can say Jesus I got this one, I got it. You can go help somebody who’s more needy. I’m doing just fine. Friends you’re really in need, then. That’s when you’re neediest, when you don’t think you need Jesus. We need him at every moment, we need him every hour.

You need them in the morning when you first get up. That’s a time of need, when you first get up in the morning, you get down on your knees and you anticipate your day, you think about what’s coming. Maybe you’re going to school, you’ve got a test or you going to have… You’re meeting with some other students for a project, maybe you’re working at a company, maybe you’re raising your kids, you’re a mom that’s raising her kids, maybe… You know, who knows the situation, but you know what your day holds, you don’t know for sure, but you have an idea. Bring those things before God in prayer, say, “God I need your help today. Satan’s planning some things. I don’t know where he’s coming from, I know this, he wants me to sin. So I ask You for grace and mercy to help me in this time of need.”

Times of temptation are a time of need. I think that’s the home base of these three verses. When you’re tempted, go. Now for the longest time in my Christian life, I would use these after I’ve sinned. We’ll get to that in a moment, but like a mop and a bucket, you know, to come clean it up. And it is that, friends. But better not to sin, Amen. And so, times of temptation are times of need, when you’re being tempted go to the throne of grace, say Jesus I’m being tempted right now, I’m being tempted. This same old lust has hold of my mind, in my imagination and I don’t want to sin but I know that I will unless you help me. Will you please help me? This temptation to slander or gossip has come over me, I want to lay this person low but I ought not to do it, it’s a bad habit. Help me. The individual earlier, in my sermon, he’s struggling with anger. He’s going and he is saying, “I just want to… ” He needs to bring it and just douse it in the ocean of grace, so he’s not heated anymore. Times of temptation are times of need.

And so are times of sin. We all sin, we all stumble in many ways. When you have violated your conscience, when you have done what is shameful, when you have experimented again with those things of which you are ashamed. And you think through insanity, it’s going to have a different outcome this time than it did the last. And you have been duped, you have been tricked and you have sinned. You need to come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help you in your time of need. What is the time of need? Well, that you’ll add a second sin on to the first one and a third on to the second and develop a new habit of wickedness that will be even harder to break later. Nip it in the bag. You sinned, go admit it, confess it, and He is faithful and just and He will forgive you, your wickedness, and He’ll cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Bring it to the throne of grace in times of sin. Times of trial are times of need, God is marshaling trials at you. He’s bringing them to you to train you and prepare you and build up your faith. You may be going through an economic trial, you may be unemployed, you may be struggling financially, having trouble making ends meet. It’s a trial, the Lord has brought it on you.

Bring it to him, he’s the one that brought it to you bring it back to him and say, “Lord I need grace to not curse your name or to question your love for me in the trial, I want to stand up and rejoice in this trial.” It could be physical, it could be a health problem, a very serious diagnosis of cancer or diabetes or heart disease, for yourself or a loved one. It’s a trial. Bring it to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in your time of need, to stand under the trial and to not give in to the temptation to question God or murmur, or to lose your faith.

Times of prosperity are times of need. You may not think they are and that’s your danger. When you’re doing well, you get the promotion, you get accepted to grad school, you get a raise, something good happens it’s a time of need. You know what you ought to do, you got to recognize every blessing that ever comes to me comes from… Well, it comes from the throne of grace. I might as well bring it back to the throne of grace and say, thank you Jesus. What do you want me to do now with this blessing? I’ve got some extra money. How do you want me to invest it in your kingdom? I’ve got a little bit easing of my circumstances here, I’m healthier now. How do you want… I’m healed. How do you want me to use my strength now for you?”

You’re bringing it back to the throne of grace, lest you forget that God gave you the blessing, lest you forget to be compassionate to other people who aren’t blessed like you, lest you forget to use every blessing for His kingdom and for His glory, lest you forget to thank him simply thank him for the good things he’s given you. Times of weariness are times of need. Weary, tired, fatigued, burdened, just bring it to Jesus, say, “Renew my strength, dear Lord.” And finally ordinary, boring everyday life-ness, are times of need. I don’t know how to call it, just regular life. That makes up 85% of your life, and if it’s only these other times then what, you got it on your own these other times? No, when you’re sitting behind the wheel and you’re about to put it in drive, pray.

It’s a time of need and he may tell you, you don’t need to put it in drive you should put it in reverse. You’ll hit that car if you put in drive, that happened to me. I prayed and I put it in drive and the Lord, showed me, you need to be in reverse, right now. What it is, is we think we got it. We don’t need any help. When you’re making that same meal you’ve made a hundred times ask Jesus for help. When you’re about to sit down and eat that meal, thank him and bring it to him, and say, “Thank you Lord for this food. Help me to eat it to your glory.” There is no time, that is not a time of need. Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for your mercy, we thank you for your grace, we thank you for the river of life flowing clear as crystal from the throne of grace. And we’re drinking from it now, oh Lord, I pray, teach me, teach all of us to pray more than we do. Teach us to pray throughout the day, pray in quiet times, pray while driving, pray right before meeting with somebody, pray in the middle of conversations quietly in our minds, pray when we’re tempted, pray when we’ve sinned. God teach us to pray consistently, not just for ourselves, but for others as we go through this difficult journey, this battle, some quarrelsome way as we’re trying to make it to heaven Lord, just help us we pray. Thank you for Jesus, thank you for His death on the cross. In his name we pray, Amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

I can hardly imagine what it must have been like to have been Queen Esther as she stood outside the throne room of her husband, King Xerxes; her heart must have been beating wildly, her breaths short, her thoughts scrambling wildly…

Her husband was the most powerful man on the face of the earth, ruler of a vast empire of 127 provinces. On the other side of the door, Xerxes sat on the exalted throne of the Persian Empire, surrounded by dozens of counselors and powerful soldiers who were willing to die to save the king or to kill at the king’s command.

The circumstances had driven Esther to take her very life into her hands; she had found out that the King had been tricked into issuing an edict to destroy her people, the Jews. Esther wanted to go into the throne room to rescue her people… BUT she knew the mortal danger:

Esther 4:11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

Esther was willing, however, to risk her life… to risk that she would be put to death, coming UNINVITED into the throne room of the King

“If I perish, I perish.”

So with boldness she walked UNINVITED into the throne room of King Xerxes; and the King saw her:

Esther 5:2-3 When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. 3 Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.”

Friends, this is an amazing story of a bold access into a throne room… the golden scepter extended to her represented her welcome there; but it did not imply a free pass to come constantly into Xerxes’s throne room.

Amazingly, this little scene is a picture of the grace that flows to us from the truths in Hebrews 4:16

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

My goal is to give you a sense of the immense privilege Jesus has won for us pictured by Queen Esther’s approach to Xerxes’ throne:

·        Access to the throne room of Almighty God… not merely a human emperor like Xerxes

·        Access granted CONTINUALLY, not just on one occasion… WHENEVER is our time of need

·        Access that actually comes with a COMMAND to approach, a COMMAND to draw near to God

·        Access that is granted not merely by the extension of a golden scepter, but by the precious blood of Christ

I want to unfold Hebrews 4:14-16 and give you a sense of the immense GREATNESS implied in these verses

I.   First… A Word About Faith

A.  Faith is the Eyesight of the Soul

B.  The Word of God is the Food of Faith… it Opens Your Eyes to a Vast Spiritual World

C.  Basic Building Blocks of this Passage

1.  God: the Holy One

2.  Jesus: The Son of God, Our High Priest

3.  Ourselves: As sinners in need of grace; as children of God, welcome in His presence

4.  Our enemies: the world, the flesh, the devil

5.  Our situation

a.  Naturally separated from God b/c of our sins… with an infinite gap between us and the Holy One

b.  Jesus, the Son of God, has worked a great salvation for us

c.  By faith, we are now the children of God… completely forgiven of our sins

d.  BUT we are still in immense danger, surrounded by our enemies: the world, the flesh, the devil

e.  Jesus is our Great High Priest, who has gone into heaven to the very presence of God

f.  We must hold fast to our confession… and we cannot do it without God’s ongoing grace

g.  Every moment is a time of need, and we must see our great need and our great privilege… in order to hold fast, we MUST draw near to the throne of grace

6.  This is the basic lay of the land… we know all these things… nothing is new… but the purpose of clear teaching from the word of God is to make all these things more vivid than ever… to increase our faith

7.  Goal: to so build up your faith that you consistently 1) see the greatness of God, seated on the throne of the universe; 2) see the greatness of Christ as your High Priest; 3) see the greatness of your danger in enemy territory; 4) see the greatness of your privilege as a child of God to have free access to God any time; AND 5) consistently draw near to God in great boldness to receive the help you require to finish your Christian journey

II.   The Greatness of Our High Priest Jesus

A.  What is a High Priest?

1.  The first priest mentioned in the Bible is Melchizedek, in Genesis 14

Genesis 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High

We will get to know Melchizedek thoroughly in Hebrews 7

2.  The Book of Hebrews summarizes the calling of a priest plainly:

Hebrews 5:1 Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

3.  Aaron, the brother of Moses, was chosen as the first High Priest… his descendents after him were to follow in this sacred office

a.  The High Priest represented the people before God, and God before the people

b.  In Latin, the word “priest” = pontifex… bridge builder

c.  Ezekiel was a priest… and the calling came in his prophecy:

Ezekiel 22:30 I looked for a man among them who would … stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.

The word “gap” speaks of that infinite space between God the Holy One and us as sinners… a breach, like a severe tear in cloth, or the breach in a city wall… it speaks of a wide separation between us and God

Wider than the Grand Canyon… wider than the distance between us and the edge of the Milky Way… it is an INFINITE GAP because of our sins

d.  A priest stands in the gap between a Holy God and sinful man and seeks to build a bridge

B.  How is Jesus a High Priest?

1.  That will be the focus of this book for the next six chapters… we will be swimming in the sea of truth established by this one statement

Psalm 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

2.  Simply put, Jesus is a High Priest because He represents US SINNERS to God by offering His blood as a perfect sacrifice, and praying for us based on that blood… AND He represents God to us sinners by displaying the perfect image of God and by speaking the truth of God as God’s final word to the human race

C.  What is the Greatness of Jesus as High Priest?

The author of Hebrews has been establishing the greatness of Jesus Christ again and again… especially by comparing Him to the greatest of the great in the Old Testament

Hebrews 1: Jesus is greater than all the Prophets… God’s final word to the human race Hebrews 1-2: Jesus is greater than all the angels… they are merely servants, winds, flames of fire Hebrews 3: Jesus is greater than Moses… he is a servant in God’s house, He is a Son over it Hebrews 4: Jesus is greater than Joshua… the rest Joshua gave was merely temporary

Hebrews 5-7: Jesus is greater than Aaron… they are sinful High Priests, He is perfect and final

1.  Great in His Person

Hebrews 4:14 … we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God

a.  Jesus is a great High Priest because He was great in and of Himself, long before He became a High Priest

b.  He is great because He is God the Son… the second person of the Trinity

c.  We have already meditated on this theme in Hebrews 1

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

d.  Since Jesus is the Son of God, everything He does as our High Priest will be perfectly acceptable to God

On the Mount of Transfiguration, the pleasure of God in the Son is clearly expressed… Jesus in perfectly radiant robes, shining with the glory of God

Matthew 17:5 a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.

How could we have a greater High Priest than that??

2.  Great in His Journey

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God

a.  In the Old Covenant, the Aaronic priests took the blood of the animal sacrifices into the Holy of Holies as a symbolic covering for sin

b.  Jesus went on a vastly greater journey after His sacrifice… He passed through the heavens up to the throne of God itself

c.  The word “heavens” gives a sense of the circles of existence above us… Paul speaks of being caught up to the third heaven

d.  The heavens are a created realm

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

e.  Jesus’ infinite journey goes beyond heaven, because God lives ABOVE the heavens

Psalm 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

Psalm 57:5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

f.  Jesus goes ABOVE ALL CREATED REALMS right to the throne of God itself to save us from our sins

Hebrews 7:26 Such a high priest meets our need– one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

There our Great High Priest has offered His own blood for us… right before the throne of Almighty God

3.  Great in His Sympathy Toward Us as Sinners

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

a.  This is one of the most incredible themes in this passage… indeed in the whole Bible

b.  Jesus, the perfectly Holy One, is perfectly sympathetic to us as sinners

c.  The Greek word is literally, sumpatheo… the English word sympathize comes directly from its letters… it means to unite your own feelings with someone else’s

d.  He is inviting, gentle, meek, lowly, easy to approach for anyone who KNOWS HIMSELF to be a sinner

e.  The verse uses a DOUBLE NEGATIVE as if to strengthen the assurance in our minds… we ought to be strongly motivated to come to Jesus as our Great High Priest because WE DO NOT HAVE A HIGH PRIEST WHO IS UNABLE to sympathize

i)  The word “unable” shows the limitation it would be on the character of Jesus

ii)  Like when some people, thinking they are being humble, say ridiculous things about God like this

“God is too busy spinning the planets and running the universe to care about my little problems.”

iii)  What a DISHONOR to the omnipotent God!!! God is powerful enough BOTH to spin the planets/run the universe AS WELL AS to care about your little problems

iv)  So also this verse shows what a dishonor it would be to Christ to say He is INCAPABLE of being sympathetic to us as tempted sinners

f.  Jesus is GREAT in His sympathies toward us… moved deeply with compassion toward us as we struggle with the effects of our own sins and those of others

g.  As Jesus watches us struggle with temptations linked to our flesh, He knows exactly what it is like to be tempted; He is a mild, gentle, faithful, loving priest who will welcome us warmly into the throne room of grace

h.  He will not stand powerful in the doorway with His arms across His chest, scowling at you when you bring your weak, tempted, distressed, harassed soul to the throne room of grace for the twentieth time today

i.  He is MOVED with compassion for us all

j.  Why? …

4.  Great in His Temptations

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

a.  Jesus’ compassion for us in our temptations and trials is certainly linked to His incarnation…

i)  He shared our flesh… He lived a life in the flesh, feeling its pulls, its desires, its weaknesses, its afflictions

ii)  He knows BY EXPERIENCE what it is to be hungry… He was tempted in the desert by the devil when He had not eaten for forty days

iii)  He knows BY EXPERIENCE what it is to be poor… He had no place to lay His head, but went about from place supported by financial contributions from some wealthy women; eating free grain plucked by hand from people’s harvests

iv)  He knows BY EXPERIENCE what it is to be weary to the bone… He fell asleep in the back of a boat, laying on a cushion, and was so exhausted that even a storm did not wake Him

v)  He knows BY EXPERIENCE what it is to be rejected by people who should love Him and embrace Him… His own Jewish people despised and rejected Him, and handed Him over to the Romans

vi)  He knows BY EXPERIENCE what it is to suffer pain and death… none of us will ever experience the level of torture, humiliation, and degradation… who can speak of what it is like to be mocked, spat upon, flogged, tried publicly, rejected by a mob, condemned to death, and then crucified

vii)  Jesus has been tempted in every way just as we are…

b.  Infinite mystery: the temptation of Jesus cannot be fathomed by our minds

i)  Our temptations are linked not merely to our flesh—our physical drives—but also to our sin nature

ii)  We were born sinners in Adam, born with a tendency to rebel against God

iii)  We also build up temptations for ourselves by developing HABITS of sin through past rebellions… we become ADDICTED to sin through past actions… Jesus NEVER was addicted to sin

iv)  James describes our temptations in this way

James 1:14-15 each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

v)  These words can not be ascribed to Jesus… He had NOTHING INSIDE HIM dragging Him away from loving obedience to His Father

vi)  How then can we say that Jesus’ temptations were REAL TEMPTATIONS? Was it not like the pull of a magnet on wood? No real attraction? No real compulsion??

vii) Friends, I cannot lay open for you and resolve this INFINITE MYSTERY… all I can do is say “Jesus was God… as such He could not be tempted by evil or dragged away or enticed; but Jesus was also human; as such He was tempted in every way just as we are…”

c.  Bottom line: Jesus is a GREAT High Priest for us because He is so compassionate on us in our weakness, our temptations… because He experienced it all Himself

d.  BUT there is a key difference as well…

5.  Great in His Holiness

Hebrews 4:15 we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are– yet was without sin.

a.  Jesus NEVER sinned!! This makes Him a perfect High Priest for us… because He was perfectly holy, and therefore acceptable to God in every way

Hebrews 7:26 Such a high priest meets our need– one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

b.  Jesus is the most tempted man in history… He met every temptation to its MAXIMUM LEVEL and defeated each one… we sinners cave in at some point, all of us

c.  For example: a man with a temper may resolve to get through a day without any anger at all; Satan begins to work on him… his wife may say something that hurts his pride; his children may annoy him with constant requests; his boss may embarrass him in front of others at a staff meeting; a driver may cut him off and then honk at him and gesture at him; when he gets home, he is like a ticking time bomb; someone says something that becomes the straw that broke the camel’s back… he explodes in rage as Satan cackles with delight… BUT THAT MAN DID NOT FEEL THE MAXIMUM LEVEL OF TEMPTATION because he gave in eventually!!

d.  Jesus felt 30 plus years of temptations, day after day, and never gave in to a single one… he was like Samson killing one thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey: ONE AT A TIME, and not one of those Philistines defeated Samson; Jesus was mightier than Samson, because he took on over thirty years of the most powerful temptations Satan could muster and he never once sinned

e.  This makes Jesus not only a perfect High Priest to represent us to God, but also the perfect Captain to help us defeat our own temptations

Summary: See then the greatness of our High Priest: Great in His person as the Son of God, great in His journey through the heavens to the throne of God, great in His sympathy toward us as sinners, great in His experience in temptations, and great in His perfect holiness

This is the greatness of our High Priest… now let’s consider:

III.   The Greatness of Our Need

A.  “Time of Need”

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

1.  Verse 16 clearly speaks of our time of need

a.  “help” = assistance… we can’t make it on our own; Greek word was a nautical term, used in Acts 27 during Paul’s shipwreck, speaking of cables passed under the ship to keep it from coming apart

b.  “time of need” = timely help, like cavalry over the hill at the key moment of battle

2.  Our “weakness” (vs. 15)

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses

a.  The weaknesses are moral… our infirmities… our double-mindedness… our tendency to be tempted and to fall into sin; our HABITS of sin

b.  The whole context here is TEMPTATION and the fierce battle with sin

c.  We are CONSTANTLY in a time of need

d.  There is never a time in which we are not assaulted, under siege, fighting sin; some times are worse than others… but it is ALWAYS a time of need

B.  Our Need Described

1.  The infinite journey before us

Romans 8:29 [we are] to be conformed to the likeness of his Son

Matthew 5:48 [we are] to be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect Hebrews 12:1 [we are to] throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and [to] run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

The Christian life is portrayed as a long-distance race that will take every ounce of strength you have, ever fiber of your being stretched taut, every moment of concentration in order to finish

It is also portrayed as a battle:

Philippians 2:12 continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling

Thus Paul speaks of both in his final words to Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2.  The combined power of our enemies:  the devil, the world, our flesh

These three enemies—Satan and the world on the outside, the sinful nature on the inside— conspire to make every step of your salvation journey as perilous as walking through no- man’s land in World War I, thirty feet from the enemy lines with four machine-gun nests spitting bullets all around you, the air thick with lead

We have GREAT NEEDS

C.  What We Need: Mercy and Grace

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

1.  Mercy and Grace are almost interchangeable terms in NT theology… very difficult to separate them or draw distinctions

2.  Mercy: God’s actions to alleviate suffering… especially the suffering caused by sin

3.  Grace: God’s actions to cover our past sins and give us strength to avoid future sins

IV.   The Greatness of Our Privilege: Full Access to the Throne of Grace

A.  Incalculable Privilege!! Full Access to God

KJV Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace

1.  Throne = place of God’s sovereign power… where God rules supreme

2.  Ordinarily for us sinners… a place of sheer terror

a.  Throne of righteousness… where God shows Himself righteous by destroying all evil

b.  Throne of justice… where God punishes all transgressors of His Holy Law

c.  Throne of omnipotence… where God displays His awesome power to destroy all His enemies and render them like mud under His feet

3.  But for us in CHRIST… this is the Throne of Grace

a.  Where God by His sovereign power extends grace to us sinners in Christ

b.  Because Jesus has shed His blood on the cross, and as our Great High Priest has gone through the heavens into God’s presence… the throne of God is now for us a RIVER OF GRACE

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

B.  Old Covenant: All About Restrictions

1.  There was a barrier around Mount Sinai, saying “Thus far you may come, and no further!”

2.  The Tabernacle was all about barriers: courtyards barring access to the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place

3.  The Law of Moses was all about barriers and restrictions: only the Levites could come into the Holy Place and touch the holy things; AND only the High Priests, the descendents of Aaron could enter the Most Holy Place, and that only once a year

4.  This Old Covenant was about YOU MAY NOT ENTER or YOU WILL DIE

5.  The boldness needed to come into the Holy Place was evident by the number of times God threatened with death those who approached Him

Exodus 28:35 Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and when he comes out, so that he will not die.

Exodus 28:42-43 “Make linen undergarments as a covering for the body, reaching from the waist to the thigh. 43 Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die.

Exodus 30:20-21 Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the LORD by fire, 21 they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die.

6.  When Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, arrogantly offered unauthorized fire to the Lord contrary to His command, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them; Aaron was warned not to show any outward forms of grief or mourning for his dead sons or he would DIE… and,

Leviticus 10:7 Do not leave the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or you will die, because the LORD’s anointing oil is on you.” So they did as Moses said.

Friends, does this give you a sense of the BOLDNESS we must have to enter the presence of such a HOLY GOD

But because of the blood of Jesus, we are commanded to have BOLDNESS to enter

C.  New Covenant: All About Freedom of Access

Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

1.  God is opening WIDE the door into His presence…

2.  He is commanding us to come in as often as we want, as often as we need

3.  The time of restriction is OVER!!!

V.   Application #1: Let Us Hold Fast to Our Faith

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

A.  The Goal of Hebrews: the Ongoing Life of Faith

B.  The Exhortation Here: Hold Firmly to the faith we profess

1.  Our original confession to Jesus: “I am a sinner, Lord… apart from you, I am eternally lost! I have violated your holy laws and sinned greatly against you. Lord, I believe you are the Son of God who took on a human body and died on the cross for my sins. I trust in you to be my Savior and Lord!”

2.  That was our original profession of faith

3.  Here, as over and over again in Hebrews, we’re being exhorted to hold firmly onto that original profession

C.  We Have Not Yet Finished Our Race; We Need to Keep Trusting in Jesus, Keep Confessing His Name

D.  We MUST Have Continual Help from God’s grace to hold firmly our confession of Christ

VI.   Application #2: Let Us Draw Near to Get Help

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

A.  Come to Christ for Salvation!!!

B.  HOW? By Prayer!!!!… the “Throne of Grace” we presently access by faith through prayer

C.  Come to Christ in Time of Need

D.  Recognize that EVERY MOMENT is a “time of need”

“I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord”

We can never say to the Lord, “I got this one, Lord… I can handle this one on my own!!”

EVERY MOMENT we are in need… every moment we are in danger… every moment, we need to draw near to the throne of grace and receive mercy and grace to help us

1.  Early mornings are times of NEED

As you are having your quiet time and the day hasn’t even happened yet, get on your knees and draw near the throne of grace… ask for mercy, plead for grace to help you as you face the challenges you assume will happen that day. Picture your day… think about it: you are a student, you are taking this course or having that test or meeting with other students for a certain purpose: HELP ME, LORD! I NEED YOUR MERCY!! I NEED YOUR GRACE OR I AM LOST!! Think about how Satan is going to marshal spiritual attacks on you; put on the armor of God, standing in the throne room of grace; put on each element with prayer to God that they be effective in your struggle against the temptations you will face that day.

2.  Times of Temptation are times of NEED

Some particular lust is assaulting your soul; it is waging war on your peace of mind; perhaps it is a sexual lust, perhaps it is a prideful attitude, a dark cloud of unforgiveness, a pull toward anxiety over money or health or some other problem; TEMPTATIONS DREADFUL MAGNETIC PULL IS UPON YOU… it is dragging you to sin… to sin sexually, to sin in complaining or slandering some person, to sin by laziness or procrastination, to sin by anxiety saying “O no! What will we do? What will happen to me?” You are in the thick of the battle… DRAW NEAR TO THE THRONE OF GRACE… go to your merciful and faithful High Priest, and plead with Him, saying “Lord, I don’t want to sin… I NEED YOUR GRACE RIGHT NOW!!!”

I think this is the home base of verse 16… but often we look at it as a mop to clean up AFTER we’ve sinned

3.  Times of sin are times of NEED

You have yielded to some temptation; you are guilty, you are unclean in God’s holy sight; you have sinned and done what is displeasing to your loving Father… you feel ashamed, you don’t WANT to pray at all because you feel so guilty. Hebrews 4:16 beckons to you to come to the throne of grace with BOLDNESS and get the mercy and grace you need to be restored. You know that if you stay away, if you stay feeling guilty, your conscience accusing you, your eyes cast downwards, your heart ashamed—all that will happen is Satan will accuse you and sideline you and lead you even deeper into more sin; the single instance of lust or greed or laziness will give birth to a second one, then a third… then soon you’re in the grip of some evil habit; so when you sin you should run IMMEDIATELY into the throne room of grace and plead with Jesus, “O Lord, FORGIVE ME; I have sinned!! You know what I have done, but I ask you to cleanse me by your mercy and grace, by the blood you shed on the cross!!”

4.  Times of Trials are times of NEED

There are trials of many kinds—physical health problems large and small—pain, sickness, a serious diagnosis (cancer, diabetes, heart disease)… or a small issue—a stomach virus, a touch of the flu, a sprained ankle… any physical trial is a time of need: TAKE IT TO THE THRONE ROOM OF GRACE; financial trials are times of need; so also relationship problems: if you’re married, troubles with your spouse; if you’re single, troubles finding a spouse or discontent in your singleness; friends, ANYTHING THAT CAUSES YOU TROUBLE is a trial… Hebrews 4:16 says to approach the throne of grace with boldness so that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need

5.  Times of Prosperity are times of NEED

You may not think you need to take this to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace to help, but you do; prosperity can tempt you to be INDEPENDENT from God, to FORGET God, to think pridefully that you have achieved this success through your own brilliant intellect or sharp business acumen; you may forget that the extra money that is now flowing into your bank account is all God’s; you may forget that you will have to give God an account for all your money, all your success; your promotion at work could be a danger to you, tempting you to give your soul to your company or your career and forget your obligations to God and to your family; above all, you may simply forget to THANK GOD for all your prosperity and forget to be SYMPATHETIC to others who are not so prosperous as you. TAKE ALL YOUR SUCCESS AND PROSPERITY BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF IT… WHERE IT CAME FROM!!! TAKE IT BACK TO THE THRONE ROOM OF GRACE SO THAT YOU MAY RECEIVE THE MERCY AND GRACE OF A TRULY HUMBLE ATTITUDE

6.  Times of Weariness are times of NEED

Take your weariness to the throne room of grace… ask Jesus to renew you and give you strength… take it to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help

7.  Times of Ordinariness and boredom when it seems NOTHING is going on are times of NEED

When you sit behind the wheel and are about to drive… ask God for mercy and grace to help; when you are cooking a dinner you’ve cooked a thousand times before, ask God for mercy and grace to do it for His glory; when you are about to go to sleep at the end of an ordinary day, ask God for mercy and grace to fall asleep

BASICALLY, there is NO TIME that is not a time of need