Where to Go When in Need

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, December 4th. Believers always have access to God's immeasurable grace and mercy. Today's podcast brings an important lesson on where to go when in need. When you feel depressed, rejected, lonely, insecure, mistreated, talked about, when you feel so uncertain, so ostracized by others, when you feel deep down inside that nobody really cares, where do you turn? In this fourth chapter of Hebrews, the writer is talking about the rest that God has provided for us, and then he comes to talk about the power of the Word of God.

It's like a sharp, two-edged sword. And then beginning in the thirteenth verse, he begins what we want to talk about, and that is where to go when in need. He says in verse 13, 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 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. Now, there are two things I want us to see in this passage that are very important, because all of us find ourselves at times in those situations and circumstances where our first response may be.

What should I do now? Why do I turn now? And he tells us exactly in this passage where to turn.

Listen to what he says. He says, Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now, God says that when you and I face some need in our life, some temptation, some trial, some difficulty, he says we are to go to the throne of grace. Now, what in the world is the throne of grace? It is certainly a place of rule and authority and power and majesty and light and brilliance and radiance. But most of all, it is the place where God the Father sits upon the throne ruling over this universe and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is seated at his right hand. It is a place where love and goodness and mercy are overflowing to those who come to him.

It is a place of hope and assurance and of confidence. It is not a throne of judgment. It is not a throne of condemnation. It is a throne of grace. You and I are living in the day of the grace of God, whereby he is extending his love of forgiveness and kindness and goodness to all mankind, no matter who they are and where they are.

Now, the next big question is this. Who has access? Those who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, who had accepted the fact that their sins have separated them from God, who have believed in their heart the testimony of the Word of God, that when Jesus Christ went to Calvary, he paid their sin debt in full, and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they become a child of God. Those and those only can come to the throne of grace with this exception.

When a person recognizes their sinfulness, humbles themselves before Almighty God, acknowledges that they cannot forgive themselves, they cannot help themselves, that they need God and are willing to cry out to the Lord Jesus Christ to save them, that person receives the forgiveness of God and the gift of salvation the moment they are willing to humble themselves and cry out to God, believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior. He says, Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find help, may find grace to help in time of need. Now, we said, Where is it we go? We go to the throne of grace.

To whom shall we go? We go to the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father who sits upon the throne, the throne of God and of the Lamb, the Scripture says, seated at the Father's right hand making in a session for us. He says, We're to go to this throne. Now, when we come to this throne, we ask this question. Why are we to come to Him? Because, listen, because of His understanding of us, He understands you and me absolutely perfectly. Go back, if you will, to the thirteenth verse. Now, we say that we know that He is omniscient, He knows all things, but listen to His description of that here.

He says in verse thirteen, 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. Now, think about this. When you and I come to the throne of God's grace, this throne of acceptance and mercy and goodness and kindness and generosity and overwhelming blessing and poured out blessing upon us, we come to this throne. He says, Here's what we can expect. We can expect to come before one who knows us absolutely perfectly.

Now, you think about this. How many times have you and I come to the Lord in prayer and we've had to say to Him, God, I don't even know how to pray. Lord, I don't even know what to ask. God, I've prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing's happened. Or, Lord, in this situation, circumstance, I don't even know what to ask you for. One of the wonderful comforts you and I have is this, that He who sits upon the throne knows exactly what we're to ask. You recall, He said in the Sermon on the Mount, right before the Lord's prayer, as we call it, our Father, which art in heaven, He says, Don't you know that your Father knows what you have need of even before you ask Him?

Knowing that you and I come to a Father, a loving Father, a righteous, holy, wonderful Savior who knows exactly what you and I need. And listen, sometime we say, Lord, here's what I need. Now, sometimes what we tell Him we need is what we need. Sometimes what we tell Him we need, we don't need.

So what does He do? Does God get upset? Absolutely not. He knows that in our ignorance, in our frailty, in our weakness, in our humanness, He knows that we oftentimes, we think we're asking for the right thing. We're not. Does He get upset?

Absolutely not. You know what He does? Here's what He does. Knowing exactly what we need is He does.

And knowing perfectly that if we knew what to ask for, we would. What does He do? He answers what we ought to be asking for, because He's a loving Father. We come to the throne of grace, and at the throne of grace, here is one who has an absolute perfect understanding of us. He knows us perfectly. Now, sometimes we wish He didn't, don't we?

But He does. And the wonderful thing about it is, listen, He says, you come and at the time of need, your specific needs are going to get met. So He's understanding of us. But the second thing that's important here, He's understanding with us. Now, look at this passage. The two passages I want you to notice. Turn back over, if you will, to verse 17 of the second chapter of Hebrews, verse 17. He says, Therefore, this is very important. You listen, say amen. Therefore, He, that is Jesus, had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make sacrifice for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He's able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. Now, this is very important.

Now, watch this. He says, it was absolutely essential. Had to, He had to be made, had to be made like what?

Here's what happened. When God the Father and God the Son, God the Holy Spirit agreed, when the Godhead chose redemption plan, what did they decide? That the Lord Jesus, His Son, would come into this world. Now, He could, listen, He could have come out of the sky, the divine Son of God, in all of His radiance and glory and majesty and power. But He didn't do that. Because if He had, and you and I talked about Jesus, we'd say, yeah, but He's God.

He would understand. Look at what this verse says. He had to be made like His brethren. That is, He, He as a man, He as a son had to be made like us. The incarnation, in essence, is simply this, that God, God the Son took upon human flesh and became a man. While He remained God, He took upon Himself everything that is within man except His sinful nature.

And so God the Son is exactly that. He is the Son who took upon Himself human flesh, born in the womb of the Virgin Mary, born like any other child was born except conceived by the Holy Spirit, grew up like any other child except without a sinful nature. Among His friends, growing into adulthood, what did He do? He experienced in His home whatever child experiences, except He was sinless. He experienced as a teenager whatever experience teenager does, except He was without sin.

As a young man, the same without sin. So He says He had to be made like us. Now why did He have to be made like us? In order that you and I would understand that when we come to Him, we're coming to someone who, listen, who is not only understanding of us, but who's understanding with us. That word is, He says, sympathizes with us. That is, He can get into your experience and mind and feel what we feel and hurt the way we hurt and suffer with us. And you say, well, He could never have experienced what I have experienced. Listen, He may not have experienced your exact experience, but what He did experience in His years on this earth were those things like the things that we experienced and, listen, so that there's not a single feeling, no matter what the cause, there's not a single solitary feeling that a person can have that he has not felt and experienced.

It may not be for the same reason, but its effect was the same. And so if you'll notice what this passage says, He says that He, He had to be made like us, that He might become a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make sacrifice for the sins of the people, for since He Himself was tempted, tested, tried in every possible way, in that which He suffered, now He's able to come to the aid of us. You know why He came to our aid?

Because He's been there. And He says it was necessary. In order to come to your aid and mind, we needed to know that the person we're talking to genuinely understands from a human perspective why we hurt and why we feel and why we're weak and why we react the way we do. And He understands and you know what, He doesn't get upset. That's the kind of Savior we have.

And then, of course, in this fifteenth verse He says, we have one who sympathizes with our weaknesses, but one who's been tempted in all things such as we, and yet He says absolutely without sin. Now, we said here's one who's understanding of us, who's understanding with us, but one who is also encouraging us. Listen to what He says. He says now, He says I want you to draw near with confidence at the throne of grace. He wants us to come seeking guidance. He wants us to come asking for our needs to be met. He desires, He says draw near because God does not want to be seen as a God who is distant.

And listen, even though He is transcendent above all the earth, because of our relationship to Jesus Christ, we can have a wonderful warm intimate relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit that makes our life worth living. And so He says here's what you can expect. How do we bring our needs? He says you can expect mercy and grace. How do we bring our needs to Him?

Well, here's what He says. He says we're to come with confidence boldly, which means you and I don't have to come begging. We don't have to come like beggars. Oh God, I know I don't deserve it.

Please dear Lord. We don't have to come like that. We come as His children, loved unconditionally, to tell Him Father, here's what I'm going through. Lord, here's what I need. I know You understand me fully. You know my weakness is my prey. Listen, don't come to God and tell Him how good you are.

What a waste. You come to God, listen, you come to God in your weakness, in your frailties. Listen, He loves to hear it.

You know why? Because He loves to hear the truth. And so we come to Him in our weakness and our frailties and our sinfulness and saying, God, I desperately need you. Lord, I desperately need you to deliver me, strengthen me, encourage my heart. And you say that sounds like a prayer of defeat.

No, it's not. It is a prayer of absolute honesty. And you are coming to the throne of God to the person of Jesus Christ and saying, Lord, I know you understand me and I know you have understanding of me and I know you sympathize with me and I know you've been here and so I'm coming to you because I believe you understand where I am and you're gonna hear and answer my prayer. We have a right to come boldly, trusting God. And you will not come boldly if you're coming in unbelief.

He says we're to come boldly to the throne and we can come boldly to the throne. You say, but suppose I have sin in my heart. You have sin in your heart, you remember, for the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody else has to tell you that because you see the Holy Spirit is there to convict us. Listen, when you and I come in the presence of Holy God, there will be conviction over sin and confession of sin.

But you remember what He said? He said, as we walk in the light, as He is night, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son is continually cleansing us from sin. We've been made the righteousness of Christ. He has made us right with Himself, eternally secured us forever and ever, living on the inside of us and understands we are growing children who in our weakness and our failings, we stumble and fall, but He's there to pick us up every single time. That's the kind of God He is now.

So we don't have to hesitate. We don't have to wonder, is this a God of judgment and condemnation? No, that's not the kind of God as you say, but don't. Doesn't God judge the world? He will judge the world. Listen, what you and I see happening today is not so much the judgment of God as it is, listen, God has set in motion the principles that govern this universe. And when a person or a nation sins against God, the judgment of God that is built into the consequences of sin is what we experience. But God isn't in heaven judging and condemning us because we sin against Him. Disciplining us, yes, but that's not judgment. That's not punishment. God doesn't punish His children.

He disciplines His children and punishes the wicked. And this is not a time of judgment. This is a time of the grace of God.

This is an age of grace that you and I are living in. Does sin have its consequences? Absolutely. Will God judge nations? Absolutely. Will He judge the wicked?

Yes. What does He do to the believer? He chastises the believer. He disciplines the believer. He transforms the believer. He grows the believer, but He does not judge nor does He condemn the believer. And you see, even in the judgment seat of Christ, and I stand before Him, it won't be judgment of whether we're saved or lost. The judgment seat of Christ is what the Bible calls the bema seat, which is a seat of rewards.

We will understand at that moment more than likely what we've lost, but it is the matter of judgment. It is a time of rewards because you see, when Jesus went to the cross, He paid our sin debt in full and His blood covered our sin. It is covered by the grace and the goodness and the love and mercy of God. We have access to our Father. He says in this passage, We may with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. And notice what He says. He says we may find grace to help in time of need.

Here's what that means. And this is very important. Every single word in the Bible is important. He says when you and I come, we are there by the mercy of God.

Jesus Christ died on the cross, paid our sin penalty. He says that we're going to find grace to help. Now grace to help means His goodness and kindness to help me specifically in that given moment for that need. He didn't say to find grace to help, period. Well, grace to help when? Listen, if I'm hurting now, I don't want something tomorrow. If I'm struggling today, it's difficult in hardship and trials and temptations.

Don't tell me that out yonder in the glorious future somewhere I'm going to die and go to heaven, praise God. Man, I want it now. I need help now. I need strength now. I need forgiveness now.

I need wisdom and guidance and direction now, not some other time. He says you and I have the right to come and we'll find mercy and grace to help. Listen, grace to help when? In the time of my need, not somewhere out yonder in the ethereal, somewhere on the calendar of time.

This is the goodness and the grace and the mercy and the love and the genuineness and the intimacy of God. He says when you come to me, you're going to get what you're looking for. I'm going to help you in your time of need. I'm going to help you now. Now I may not always see the manifestation of that help immediately.

I may not always experience it immediately. But He says when you come, you're going to find grace to help in time of need. And here's what that means, that Almighty God and all of His sovereign power, all of His omnipotence and all of His glory and all of His majesty and all of His absolutely immeasurable resources. Here's what He says. He says I am going to help you right now. I'm hearing you. I'm answering you. I'm listening to you. I am concerned.

I am intimately becoming involved in this moment in what concerns you. Listen, all of heaven and all the promises of God, all get kept soon in that brief moment to help you and me in our time of need. Now how foolish, my friend, how foolish to go to someone else when you can go to the throne of God. God isn't stingy. God isn't greedy. God isn't tight. He is a loving Father.

Here's what He says. You have a need. He says the door is open. He says draw near to my throne, my throne of mercy and of grace, and I will help you in your time of need. You can't beat that for a great God.

Amen. Thank you for listening to Where to Go When in Need. 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.