Bold Approach
Notes
Transcript
Do you like to receive invitations to events or to go out for a meal with someone? I do enjoy getting invited to stop in to someone’s house for a visit or to go out for lunch with someone.
Have you ever received an open invitation before? Pastors often receive them from people in their congregations. It’s usually an invitation to stop by anytime for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie or just to talk. There have been some people who have intersected with our lives over the years who have offered us open invitation to stop by anytime. There was a family in our church in Virginia that we had a standing invitation to stop by anytime with the kids so that they could go swimming. Their youngest son was our kids age. We took advantage of that invitation several times and they never failed to genuinely welcome us. The swim time always included a meal and a great time of fellowship. Those times were never planned, they just happened.
In the Bible there are several open invitations from God. The greatest invitation from God is that one that is found in John 3:16 where we are invited to receive eternal life through belief in Jesus.
Here in verse 16 of chapter 4 of Hebrews there is a great invitation for us. The author writes this:
16 Finally, let’s draw near to the throne of favor with confidence so that we can receive mercy and find grace when we need help.
Or as the King James Version states: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
The writing urges to approach God’s throne of grace with confidence or boldness. Can we do that based on our own goodness or our own righteousness? The answer is no. We can only approach God because of Jesus.
The writer says that “we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven”. Here he is talking about Jesus. For a lot of people their idea of a Priest is what they’ve experienced in the Roman Catholic Church. There is the concept that is taught that we go to the local priest to confess our sins, to receive forgiveness, to receive grace. There is some validity to those teachings, but it’s not enough. Jesus is the great High Priest, there is only one and Jesus is it. Pastors serve a priestly role and in fact all Christians are part of the Royal Priesthood which Peter described in 1 Peter chapter 2 when he wrote:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light.
10 Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you hadn’t received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
When you were in school, did you ever get called to the Principles office? What was the first thought that ran through your mind? What was the first thought that ran through the mind of your classmates? Uh oh…someone is in trouble! You begin running through your mind anything that you might have possibly done wrong, trying to get a story in your mind before you get there. It’s usually never a pleasant experience.
In one of my all-time favorite movies there is that scene where Dorothy and the gang are invited into the Wizards throne room and they are scared. The lion is shaking and stuttering with fear. The tin man is shaking and rattling, the scarecrow is scared and afraid of the fire. All of them are afraid as they approach the wizard’s throne. Initially as they were skipping down the yellow brick road they are excited to see the wizard but when they finally get there they are scared to death. You can thank me later for getting that song stuck in your head this morning!
We often have that picture of God. The writer of the Hebrews invites to come boldly before God’s throne. We’re not going to come boldly before God who we’re afraid of. To fear God doesn’t mean that we are afraid of him. It means that we respect Him, we honor Him, we give Him the glory that is rightly His. It’s not a fear that if I step out of line that He’s going to zap me.
We could never approach the Throne of God if we were afraid of Him. We can boldly approach the Throne of God because of Jesus. Jesus has made the way possible for us by his death and resurrection. We can approach the Throne of God with confidence.
What does it mean to have confidence as we approach the Throne of God? According to the dictionary, confidence means “full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing”.
It’s a confidence or trust in someone or something beyond ourselves. This confidence is not in ourselves, that is self-confidence, trusting ourselves and our abilities. In this case we can approach the throne of God in complete trust because of Jesus.
There seems to be a big relief that it’s not about me, that I don’t have to try harder to approach God. I have the confidence and the boldness to approach God because of what Jesus has done.
Jesus said in
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
We can approach the Father because Jesus is the way, the only way. How reassuring is that?
But, and there is a caveat to this boldness and that is sin. If we are willfully living in sin and disobedience, then God is not going to hear us. They only prayer that He’ll answer is a prayer for forgiveness.
I have people say to me that God doesn’t answer their prayers. Ever had anyone say that to you?
They live their day to day life like God doesn’t exist. They live in rebellion to God and disobedience to God but when some crisis comes or there is some need they cry out to God and expect Him to solve their problem. They treat God like he’s some 911 operator or someone that they can keep in a box on a shelf and only let him out of the box when that crisis comes. That’s not the way God operates.
The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 66 these words:
18 If I had cherished evil in my heart, my Lord would not have listened.
What does I mean to cherish something? It means to hold dear, to protect and care for. To cherish sin in my heart means that I hold onto it, it’s important to me. It’s willfully being disobedient to God. If I do that then God is not going to hear me because that sin is more important to me than my relationship with God.
The Psalmist didn’t stop there, he went on and wrote:
19 But God definitely listened. He heard the sound of my prayer.
20 Bless God! He didn’t reject my prayer; he didn’t withhold his faithful love from me.
God listened and heard him. He didn’t reject or withhold from him. Praise God. Why? Because the Psalmist wasn’t cherishing sin in his heart. God wants to bless you and I. We miss out on so much that God wants to do for you and I because we’re not being obedient to Him.
The writer here to the Hebrews wrote this in chapter 12:
1 So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up,
2 and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. He endured the cross, ignoring the shame, for the sake of the joy that was laid out in front of him, and sat down at the right side of God’s throne.
3 Think about the one who endured such opposition from sinners so that you won’t be discouraged and you won’t give up.
He says to throw off throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up. Sin hinders us, it entangles us.
Have you ever gotten tangled up in something? The older I get the more I worry about getting my feet tangled in something. I don’t want to fall and hurt myself, but it is easy to get your feet tangled up in something.
That is what sin in the life of Christian does. It tangles you up, it hinders you and you will fall flat on your face. The writer says to thow it off, get rid of it. Stop doing it.
Is it easy? No, not always. Sin can bring joy and pleasure. If it didn’t then people wouldn’t want to sin. The writer to the Hebrews wrote about Moses by saying:
25 He chose to be mistreated with God’s people instead of having the temporary pleasures of sin.
You can be set free from sin. Sometimes sin can progress to the point of it becoming an obsession or addiction in our life. Jesus recognized that. Jesus said that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. That sin that may exist in your life is your master. You are a slave to it. But, do you know what else Jesus said about that issue?
Jesus said:
36 Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you really will be free.
Isn’t that awesome? If the Son, Jesus sets you free, you will be free indeed! There is hope, you can live a life without sin.
Just a few verses before Jesus said:
31 Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching.
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
That freedom comes from Jesus. He is the one who sets us free as we live in obedience to Him. It is because of what Jesus has done for use that we can boldly approach the throne of grace. Praise God!
Over in the next chapter, verse 7 we read:
7 During his days on earth, Christ offered prayers and requests with loud cries and tears as his sacrifices to the one who was able to save him from death. He was heard because of his godly devotion.
There are a couple of things that I want to point out about coming boldly before the throne of grace from this. The first is there in first part of verse 7 where it says: “Christ offered prayers and requests with loud cries and tears as his sacrifices to the one who was able to save him from death.”
Jesus prayed because it was a life and death situation. Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane these words:
Matthew 26:42 (TPT)
He said to God, “My Father, if there is not a way that you can deliver me from this suffering, then your will must be done.”
He didn’t pray that prayer just once, he prayed it three times.
I really love this translation as it says “your will must be done.” It is not about us, it is about God.
Don’t you think that if it was important for Jesus to spend time in prayer, literally life and death prayer that we should spend time in prayer?
We are involved in a life and death struggle when it comes to the salvation of our family and friends. When we offer the invitation during the service to come to the altar to pray during our prayer time, this altar should be lined with people that are crying out to God that their family members, that their co-workers, that their friends would come to salvation.
This is real folks. There is a real hell that people are going to. We need to be on our face before God for their salvation. James wrote in in letter these words:
13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing.
14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.
Prayer is powerful, it is our greatest weapon because “We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens.”
Prayer should be the first thing we do, it should be the last thing that we do and it should bathe everything that we do. We need God, we must be desperate for Him to work in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The second thing is there in latter part of verse 7 where it says “He was heard because of his godly devotion.”
This teaches how we are to come to God. Jesus is our example. Jesus was God but he came to the Father in godly devotion. It’s all about God’s will and not ours is what that means. When Jesus prayed in the Garden he prayed that “your will must be done.”
When we pray we pray asking that God’s will be done. For some things we can know God’s will for that situation. When we pray for someone to be saved we know that God’s will is that they be saved. Peter wrote in his second letter these words:
9 This means that, contrary to man’s perspective, the Lord is not late with his promise to return, as some measure lateness. But rather, his “delay” simply reveals his loving patience toward you, because he does not want any to perish but all to come to repentance.
When we come boldly before the throne of grace we come in reverent submission asking that above all that God’s will be done.
The third thing we can learn is in verse 8 of chapter 5 where it says
8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.
We have to learn that as well. Sometimes it’s hard, but God calls us to lead lives of obedience to Him.
In verse 9 we see the fourth thing about Jesus and it’s that
9 After he had been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him.
There is a belief in the church by some that eventually that with the exception of the really bad people that everyone will be saved.
Yes Jesus died for everyone, salvation is for everyone. But, it’s only for those who believe. The writer here says that it’s for all who obey him.
God offers us an amazing invitation. An invitation to come to Him. Oh how much He loves us that He wants to hear from us.
The invitation is open. The invitation is to
16 Finally, let’s draw near to the throne of favor with confidence so that we can receive mercy and find grace when we need help.
What do you need today from the Father? Do you need some mercy today? Mercy is receiving from God what you don’t deserve. Do you need to confess some sin? Do you need forgiveness? You don’t deserve it, but God’s mercy says you can have it. Do you need some grace today? Grace, God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
Are you struggling with a sin, are you tangled up in sin this morning? Come and pray and seek forgiveness and allow the Son, Jesus to set you free.
Do you need healing this morning? Are you hurting emotionally, psychologically or physically? Come to the great physician for healing!
What do you need today from the Father? Do you have someone on your heart this morning that needs Jesus? We all do! Is there one of your kids that isn’t living for Jesus today? Come and pray for them. Got a grandchild that’s not a Christian this morning come and pray for them. Got a friend or co-worker that’s not a Christian, pray for them.
Need a name to pray for, I’ve got a long list of adults, teens and kids that are somehow affiliated with this church that need Jesus this morning. Come and pray for them.
I’m just a little old fashioned enough to think that there is a number of you who believe in prayer and believe that God answers prayer. Won’t you come this morning and pray for the Church, to pray for the lost, those that if they were to die today would step out into eternity separated from Jesus.
This is a life or death situation, lets pray, let’s make it a priority. The invitation is for us to boldly approach the throne of grace. Don’t hesitate, don’t be afraid. Because of Jesus you can boldly approach the throne of grace this morning. Won’t you come this morning.