When in Need, Remember - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, August 12th. Do you believe God can meet any need? Today, you'll see that the Bible supplies us with countless reasons to have confidence in God. There's one thing about this old book that you and I call the Bible, never outdated, always up to date. Anything we need to know about our Lord, it's in here.

And usually one of the reasons we struggle with some needs that God's so willing to provide is because we either forget or we don't realize that herein lies a guide whereby if I will follow its leadership, I will understand about my need and I will be able to find that need well met. So I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four, I want you to read verses thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen of the fourth chapter. Verse thirteen says, And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but rather one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. The Bible teaches us that God is omniscient. That is, He knows everything.

There is not anything that He does not know. He knows all things about all of us so that every single one of us, every moment of our life, are in God's sight. That is, He is not in heaven looking down upon us as a judge to see what He can find that's wrong, but rather He's looking down upon us as a protective Father. So what He's saying in this passage here is when He says, And there is no creature hidden from his sight. Everything and everybody is always in sight of, listen, the omniscient loving eyes of our Lord. Well, there's a second thing this passage teaches us here.

Notice, first of all, there is no creature hidden from his sight. All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. The second thing I want you to notice is this, and that is God is ready, willing, and able to help us with our needs.

Not only does God know all about our needs, but He's ready, willing, and able to help us meet our needs. Now, listen to what He says in verse 14, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. He says that you and I have a great high priest, not just a high priest, but a great high priest, great in His love, great in His power, great in His mercy, great in His goodness toward us. It's one thing for us to know a great high priest.

He didn't say all of us know a great high priest. He says, you and I have a great high priest. What is He saying to us?

Simply that there is a relationship that you and I have. And that relationship is this, when you and I confess their sins and repent of them and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ of the Holy Spirit came to indwell us so that now we are possessed by and possess the Lord Jesus Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He says we have been sealed by Him under the day of redemption. Look, if you will, in verse 15. He puts it in the negative and then let's put it in the positive. He says, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.

So let's put it like it is. For we have a high priest who sympathizes with our weaknesses, who has been tempted in all things as we are. Yet he never sinned. He says he's tender-hearted. Listen, two things in that verse. Number one, that he's tender in his heart.

And secondly, he's pure in his heart. Now why is that important? I'll show you in just a moment. Now think about this. Every time you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, remember this, wherever you are, he's already been there. In other words, he's already been there.

He said, now wait a minute. How can you tell me that God's already been there? I'm a woman and I'm a single parent. Jesus was never there. Well, you see, the exact situation is not the important thing, but how you feel where you are. Lonely, isolated, rejected by a husband who walked out on you.

You have material needs, emotional needs, hurts. You don't think Jesus understands that? I want you to think about him in the Garden of Gethsemane when he was isolated all alone at the most crucial moment in his life when all of the burden of the reality of the sinfulness of mankind came blustering down upon him.

And the Bible says he sweat as if it were drops of blood. You don't think he knows anything about loneliness, isolation, rejection, persecution, hurt? You don't think he understands what it means to be bearing a great responsibility?

These kids of mine, I don't know what I'm going to do with them. You don't think God understands that, the Lord Jesus? He says He sympathizes with us in our weaknesses.

Now, that means sins, but it also means every other weakness we have, because there's some weaknesses within us that are not necessarily sins. And he understands. Why do you think he wept when Lazarus died? Because he could feel what Mary and Martha were feeling.

This was their brother. They loved him dearly. He could feel that.

He knew he was going to resurrect him from the dead. Why did he cry? Why did he look over Jerusalem and weep? Because he could feel the frustration and the fears and the emptiness and the loneliness and the wandering thoughts of these people.

He knew how that was. You know why he came as a man? So he could feel what we feel and suffer what we suffer and touch us when we are hurting in areas that we think no one else understands. Sympathetic, pure in heart, he fully understands. The third thing I want you to jot down is this, and that is that God is waiting for us to come to Him with our needs. God is waiting for us to come to Him with our needs. God knows all about our needs. God is ready, willing and able to help us with our needs. God is waiting for us to come to Him with our needs.

Now look at what he says in this 16th verse. Therefore, that is based on the fact that He knows it all, based on the fact that He's our great High Priest, based on the fact that He's sympathetic and tender and pure in heart. Based on all that, he says, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive what? Mercy, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

And notice what he says. We're to draw near to the throne of grace. Who named it the throne of grace?

Notice what he didn't say. He didn't say it's the throne of pleading, the throne of judgment, the throne of condemnation, the throne of bargaining, the throne of evaluation, the throne of guilt, the throne of reminder, but he says it is the throne of grace. That is, it's the throne of God's favor. He says, I want you to come to my throne, which is defined as the throne of grace, God's undeserved loving favor toward us. He says, when you're in need, come to the throne of favor. Come to the throne of blessing. Come to the throne of benefit. Come to the throne where all of your needs are readily, availability, there waiting for you so that I can bless you. Come to the throne of grace. Now listen, how often we come to the throne of grace looking over our shoulder. Oh God, I hope you have forgotten what I brought to you last. Oh God, I hope you have forgiven me for my past sins for now, Lord, I'm coming and I have this great need in my life and I don't know what to do with it.

I'm just, I feel so empty, God, so hopeless, but Lord, I hope you haven't remembered the past. He did not say that it is a throne of guilt, condemnation, accusation. It's a throne of grace. He says, when you and I have a need, this is His command. He says, draw near to the throne of grace, God's place of blessing, God's place of favor, God's place of love. He said, draw near to the throne of grace. Now we say, for by grace you've been saved. What does grace mean? We say, well, it's God's unmerited, undeserved, unconditional loving favor toward us.

Well, He says, that's what He named His throne. It's a throne of grace and He invites us there and it's always available and it's always open. That is, God's never on vacation. Jesus is never on the phone. There's no sign at the door that says, busy, come back later.

Always available, anytime, anywhere, under any condition. He says, come to the throne of grace. Notice how He tells us to come. Let us therefore draw near.

You know what that means? That means, that speaks of intimacy. That is, He doesn't say there is a throne of grace in yonder heaven. He says, we're to come to the, He says, draw near. How do you draw near to the throne of grace if the throne of grace is in heaven?

You see, the Bible says the Holy Spirit came to live in your heart. And you and I can draw near to the throne of grace and never even get out of the bed. You never have to take a step. You don't even have to open your eyes in the morning when you awaken. You don't have to move a finger.

You don't even have to move a lip. You don't have to do anything to be immediately and instantaneously in the throne of grace. Draw near. That is, we are, He says, I want you to feel that you're in the presence of the Lord Jesus. I want you to feel that you're in the presence of God the Father. Draw near to the throne of grace.

Well, how fast can that be? All you have to do is say, Lord. You know one of the interesting things that you don't even have to come to Him in King James English? You don't have to say, our great and almighty wonderful heavenly Father in Jesus' name. There's nothing wrong with that.

We should all praise Him. But what I want you to see is this. There are no restrictions except that you be the child of God. Lost person can't get in the throne room. You've got to be saved by the grace of God to the shed blood of His Son Jesus.

Then it's all open to you. He says, we're to bring our needs. Draw near to the throne of God. He says, we're to draw near expectantly. But look at the term He uses. Let us draw near with confidence.

You know what that word in the Greek means? All spokenness. That means, I mean, just come and lay it all out. You don't have to come hesitating. You don't have to come having your speech made before God. You don't have to write your prayer out.

You don't have to make any preparation. With all spokenness means, openness, frankly. Just tell it like it is. He understands where you're coming from. Or sometimes on bended knee, you may want to come to Him in the spirit of worship and say, heavenly Father, with great gratitude and thanksgiving and praise to you for who you are. And then you may present your need. It doesn't make any difference how you come.

What He wants you to understand is this. Hey, it's all open. And you know the wonderful thing about it? Every single believer in the whole world could walk into the throne room all at one time and it wouldn't even be crowded. Isn't that great?

No crowd. You know why? Because the mind of God is greater than all of His creation, all of His people, and all of the substance of things He's ever created. His mind is bigger than all of that. He says, let us draw near with confidence. That is, don't come hanging back and saying, well, with doubts.

Think about this. If this is the throne of grace, the throne of God's favor, when you and I come with doubt, you know what we're saying? We're saying, Lord, I know what you said, but I'm not quite sure that you will do what you promised. Would God ever make a promise to you, my friend, and not keep it?

What He say to you? He would meet all of your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, if He didn't mean it. Could God afford to make you a promise that He didn't mean? When you and I come to Him with doubts and fears and reservations and wondering if He's going to answer us, what we're saying is, God, I know what you said, but I don't quite believe. Lord, if you just knew me, He does know you. Lord, if you just knew what I have done, He knows it perfectly.

Oh God, I, He knows all about it. So what does He simply say to us? He says, draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. You can bring your hangups, but don't bring hangups of doubt, because He wants to bless you.

You say, but my need doesn't make any difference what the need is. Doesn't make any difference how many times you've been there. We should be there every day, bringing our needs to Him. Then He says, here's what you'll find when you get there. Look, let us therefore draw near to, with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. He says, we're going to receive mercy. Now, that's not the mercy of salvation. That's why we're there. We're already saved.

But here's what He's saying. Every time you and I come to the throne of grace, we meet a loving Savior who has already demonstrated the most profound demonstration of mercy anybody could ever know, and that is the cross, the shedding of His blood. You know what you'll find? You'll always find the open arms of Jesus saying, come on, I want to hear what you have to say. Tell me where you're hurting. Tell me what's bugging you. Tell me what's bothering you. Tell me what has your hurting on the inside.

Tell me why you're discouraged. He says, when you come to the throne, here's what you'll find. You'll find mercy. Not law, not condemnation, mercy.

Tender, loving, understanding, sympathetic mercy. And He says the second thing you'll find is this, grace to help, favor to help. That is, when you and I bring our need to Him no matter what it is, here's what He says.

Just tell me about it, because I am ready and willing and able to meet your need. He says you'll find grace to help. That means favor to help, love to help, power to help. You'll find God ready, willing, and able to help meet that need.

There's like the slightest indication that you're going to find rebuff, chastisement, condemnation. Now in the process of meeting that need, God oftentimes surfaces in our life things that we need to deal with. God oftentimes brings to our mind. But what He's saying is that when you come to Him, you don't come to Him like this saying, hold it, wait a minute, when you get a few things straightened out, then you come.

No, He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. So my friend, let me ask you a question. What is the greatest need that you're facing today in your life? Is it that you need to be loved? Is it that you need to be accepted? Is it that you need someone to care? Do you feel like you're unappreciated? Do you feel unworthy? That you don't belong?

That you're ostracized? What is it that you need? You may not even know what the need is, but here's what I want you to remember. You have a heavenly Father who knows all about your needs. You have a heavenly Father who is ready, willing, and able to meet that need. Ready, willing, and able to meet that need. You have a heavenly Father who's waiting for you to come to Him and present your need.

Heavenly Father in Jesus' name, how we do love you and praise you. I pray for those who are unsaved that right now they might be willing to ask for your forgiveness and to surrender their life to you and receive you as their Savior for the forgiveness of their sins, and then to approach you with boldness, asking you to help to meet their needs. I pray for those who are already weeping on the inside today because their needs are so overwhelming. Would you remind them in this simple truth, you're waiting, you're ready, you're able, you want to meet that need, that you would grow them up in the things of God so that they not only will have their needs met, but they will become vessels through whom others have their needs met as they share the Lord Jesus Christ is my prayer in His name.

Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of When in Need, Remember. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.