The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! Thou the resolve by God and King, thou triumphs of his grace!
This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Born in the morning, thou shalt hear my voice ascending high. To Thee will I turn, Thee will I turn, To Thee lift up, To Thee lift up my mind! To Thee will I direct, To Thee lift up my mind! Up to the hills where Christ is gone, To plead for all mistakes, Presenting at His presence, our complaints, Presenting at His presence, our complaints, Presenting at His presence, our complaints, Presenting at His presence, our complaints, O may Thy Spirit guide my feet In ways of righteousness! Make every path, Make every path, like dirty sweat, And frame me for my face!
Make every path, Like dirty sweat, And frame me for my face! I'm glad you've joined us for the broadcast today and pray that the message will be a blessing to you. We're talking about a scripture today that has been a great blessing to me and I hope that it will be to you. And I want to thank all of you who have helped to support the program by your regular contributions that we're now able to stay on the air on your station.
But the needs are great and so maybe if you're one that never has contributed but you're blessed with the program, I hope you will consider supporting this effort. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. And you can visit our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. O God, our health in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. Under the shadow of life from still may we dwell secure, Sufficiently tied arm alone, And our defense is sure.
Before the hills in order stood for her, Preceded her frame. From everlasting, the Lord God, To endless years God stayed. O God, our health in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be thou my guide while life shall last, And our eternal home. As you well know, prayer is a vital part of the Christian's life. And so we find so much about it throughout scriptures. We're encouraged to pray by command, by example, by promise.
As with all scripture, the passage that I want us to look at was inspired by the Holy Spirit. And so we can receive it as a word directly to us from the Spirit of God. The title of my message, Come to the Throne. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. First we think about the throne. The throne speaks of sovereignty, of majesty, of power. Psalm 93 verse 1 says, The Lord reigneth.
Just that expression is something we ought to always keep in our minds and hearts. When the troubles of life come and difficulties assail us from every side to know the Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty and strength, wherewith he hath girded himself, the world also is established and it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old, thou art from everlasting. So when you think about the throne, you think about the Lord reigning and that he is clothed with majesty.
It certainly elevates our thoughts as to the importance of what we are reading about. The throne furthermore speaks of his holiness. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 says, In the year the king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims.
Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. Now what was the response of the prophet? Certainly he admired what he saw.
He was greatly impressed with it. But here is the effect, verse 5, Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. And if we get the right view of God, we will have the same kind of response. I am a sinner. I am one of unclean lips. I am deserving nothing. So the holiness of God, as we would think about it, as he reigns sovereignly upon his throne, brings us to realize our great need because we are sinners. So when you think of his holiness, you feel fear at the thought of coming to his throne.
If there was nothing else to be said here but just come to the throne of God and you know that he is holy, you could say how could I possibly come? I am a guilty sinner. I am undeserving.
I am unworthy. I can't come to the throne of God. Now in Old Testament times, Exodus chapter 20 verse 18, it says, And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of trumpet, this is at Sinai, when the law was being given to the people, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they were moved and sort of far off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. So the reaction to this display of the power of God and his holiness struck fear in the hearts of the people. Oh, don't let God speak to us or we'll die.
You, Moses, are our leader and you can speak to us. And so we would all tremble at the thought of coming to the throne of God if indeed we look at it as the throne of justice. So we're not encouraged to come to the bar of justice, but to the throne of grace. We read here then, not of a throne that is to be avoided, not one where we would dread and tremble, but the throne of grace. By Christ's sacrifice, God's throne of judgment becomes the throne of grace for those who trust him. Yes, God the sovereign, the king, occupies the throne, and yet he is our father. What a remarkable thing to think that this God, in all of his greatness, his power, and his sovereignty, is yet our Heavenly Father.
And we can approach him with that thought in mind. So grace, grace, is a marvelous thing. That's the throne we're talking about. We come to the throne of grace. I want to read a few scriptures and I want you to pay close attention to the word grace. You say, well, we hear grace all the time. Well, yeah, and I hope you'll hear it many more times because it's a marvelous theme in the word of God and one that should certainly be treasured by his people, knowing that apart from grace, we'd be ruined and destroyed. Ephesians 1-4 says, According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before human love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. So when we start reading about the covenants and about God's purpose and saving of people, grace is the theme that immediately comes into view.
Verse 7, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. That's a remarkable blessing. Are there not many times in your life when you've said something and you wish you could take it back? I wish I'd never said that.
Or you've done something and say, I wish I'd never done that. I'd just like to mark that from the record. But you know, it's impossible to retrace your steps and remove it. It's a deed that is done. But there is good news in that through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, our sins are covered. We can't eliminate them.
We can't change the past. But we have through his redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Grace is involved then. So we're redeemed because of the grace of God and giving his son and his son going to the cross, shedding his blood, suffering in our place, that now we can have the great blessing of sin forgiven. Chapter 2, verse 7, That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ. He's bestowed his grace upon us.
We have some understanding of it now, but there's more to come. In the ages to come, he's going to show the exceeding riches of his grace. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Grace is unmerited favor.
We deserve nothing. We're rebels by nature, but grace rescues us. We needed to be rescued because as we stood related to Adam, we were condemned, justly condemned because of our sin. But now we're told to come to the throne of grace. We're invited to this throne.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Now, ancient rulers would not allow anyone to come before them but their closest advisors and only then with their permission. You remember the story when Esther, who was married to the king, wanted very much to come into his presence and speak a word that he might be able to intervene and rescue the Jews from Haman whose intent was to destroy them. Well, even though she was married to the king, she didn't have the right to come into his presence unless he invited her. And if she came and didn't have this invitation, she could be put to death.
So she was risking her life, but she was so concerned for the welfare of her people, she presented herself to her husband and thankfully he received her and there were no dire consequences. Well, if the kings of ancient times considered their position on the throne to be of such significance that a person would be slain if they came without the permission and invitation of the king. We see that the very thought of coming to the throne is something that's a serious matter. Well, even if there was a king on earth somewhere today with whom you would like to have an audience, if you had a loved one that was maybe imprisoned in some foreign country and you said, I want to go to the top to try to get them out. I want an audience with the king. You probably couldn't get it.
You wouldn't have the ability to gain that entrance. But here you're invited to come to the throne of the king of heaven, the king of heaven. You say, well, we know that. That's not news.
No, you've heard it many times. But how often do we forget about it and how often do we fail to realize what a marvelous privilege it is to come to the throne of the one who is king of kings and lord of lords. And we're to come with expectation.
There is no limit to what this king can give. The psalmist says, open that mouth wide. That means as we come, we're not praying with little hope, with no expectation, but we're expecting great things.
He is able to do for us great and mighty things that we know not. So you're to come confidently. You are to come expecting that God is going to hear and you can ask for big things because he is a great king. Certainly you're not going to come and ask selfishly and for something that you know is directly contrary to the instruction that's in his word. But if it's something that's for your good and the good of others and the glory of God, ask for big things.
Yes. Come boldly to the throne of grace. And we could spend the rest of the day looking at various promises in scriptures.
But let's look at this one which stands out greatly. Romans eight thirty two. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with all with him also freely give us all things? God has proven his willingness to give us great things because he's given us the greatest thing. He gave his son Jesus Christ. So since he spared not his son, but delivered him up for us all.
Is it not reasonable to consider that he will give you freely all things, such things as you have need of? So you have a loving invitation. Come to the throne.
Come to the throne. Now, you contrast that with the Old Testament order. We already talked about how the people were fearful at Mount Sinai with the display of God's power and the realization of his holiness. But we think about the days of the old order and the Holy of Holies was the place where the mercy seat rested atop the Ark of the Covenant. And the seraphims were at each end and in the midst, the Shekinah glory, the very presence of God. This was the Holy of Holies. And the only person that had the right to enter was the high priest. And he could only go once a year. And when he went into that place, he had to have on the right garment and he had to bring the blood of the sacrificial lamb that was slain.
If he didn't, he'd be struck dead. On the bottom of the priestly road, there were pomegranates and bells. And so when he was busy about his duty, people outside could hear those bells ringing. They were listening because they wanted to know that the priest was accomplishing what needed to be done. And this which represented the forgiveness of their sins was taking place. If there were no ringing of the bells, that meant the priest had failed in his duty and was struck dead. But they rejoiced to hear the sound of his activity in the Holy of Holies. And yet here today, you are invited to come. The people in that day could not come.
Anybody entering the Holy of Holies would have been struck dead on the spot. But now you are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace. And it's not a limit of one time a year on the great day of atonement. You can come every day, several times a day, as many times a day as you want to come to the throne of grace.
Now let's notice the word therefore in the text. Verse 14 says, The reason we can come boldly to the throne of grace is because our great high priest has pleaded our case. We come in his name.
Oh, how wonderful to know that. We have a great high priest. He's passed into the heavens and there he ever lives to make intercession for us. And he's not one that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He, as a man, was tempted. He understands what we go through. And so we can come to him with expectation of receiving the help that we desperately need. We are to come boldly. Certainly we must come reverently. But to come boldly literally means to come saying all. To come full with full open speech. I'm not trying to hold anything back.
I'm not trying to put together some fancy words. I'm coming directly to God to pour out my heart and just tell him everything that concerns me. You can speak freely. You come and confess your sins, your wandering thoughts, your doubts, your fears. And you come with perseverance. You don't just come one time and back away. Let us come boldly means you come humbly, but you continue to come. You come to the throne of grace. So we're encouraged to come by the Holy Spirit of God who inspired these words. Hebrews 10 21 says, And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Because we have this great high priest, we can draw near. We can draw near with full assurance because our hearts have been sprinkled from an evil conscience. Yes, come boldly to the throne of grace. And we come, it says, we come to obtain mercy, come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy.
We come because we know we need mercy. Romans 3 10 says, There is none righteous, no, not one. There's not one person that can say, well, no, I didn't come under the same condemnation as others.
I've just done right all my life. No, there's none that doeth righteousness, not one. Verse 12. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. So what we need is mercy. Jacob said, I'm not worthy of the least of my mercies. So if the mercies of God could be calculated, then we decided here's the least mercy. I'm not worthy of that.
So we don't come demanding as though I'm expecting this because I'm superior to others and I deserve something. We come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. Salvation itself is by mercy. We read Titus chapter three, verse three.
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God, our savior towards man, appeared not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing the Holy Ghost. How are we saved? We're saved by his mercy. Well, the mercy of God is a wonderful thing. We're saved according to this text we just looked at, according to his mercy. But in the verse we're exploring in the book of Hebrews, we're reminded we need mercy on an ongoing basis. Aren't you glad that his mercy goes unto the heavens and his mercy endures forever? We can find hope in him and obtain the mercy and help that we so desperately need. I hope that you will write us and until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. In faith and justice stood in view to Sinai's fiery mount I flew, but justice cried with frowning fakes, this mountain is no hiding place.
Ere long the heavenly voice I heard, and mercy... The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Should storms of thundering vengeance roll and shake the earth from pole to pole, no reigning gold shall don my praise, for Jesus is my hiding place. From here more rolling suns and moans will badly save on Canaan's coast, where I shall sing the song of grace and see my glorious hiding place.
