DRAWING NEAR THE THRONE OF GRACE
Text: Hebrews 4:12-16
"To better understand the human body, in 1994, researchers made available a new computer tool called "The Visible Man." The Visible Man consists of almost two thousand computer images.
"To produce images, scientist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center took a man's body that had been willed to science and took CAT scans, X rays, and MRI images of it. The they embedded the body with gelatin. They froze it, sliced it crosswise into 1,800 millimeter thin sections, and digitally photographed each cross section.
"Medical students can look at The Visible Man from any angle, call up an image of any cross section they desire, rotate the images, and put them back together again.
"What The Visible Man does for the body, the Word of God does for the soul. God's Word pictures the inner person---our motives, priorities, thoughts and sins." (Craig Brian Larson. ed. Contemporary Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers & Writers. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996, p. 281). God's Word is living and active because it reveals who we really are to God in our hearts.
WE ARE JUDGED BY GOD'S WORD.
God's Word scrutinizes our character. God is omniscient (all knowing) and already knows everything that there is to know about us. God's Word which is living and active, convicts us when we go astray. It is those who have gone astray from God who are restless and remain "restless until they find their rest in God" as St. Augustine put it. It is those who do not believe who cannot enter God's rest (Hebrews 3:18-19). They will continue to fall short of entering God's rest and remain restless until they believe (Hebrews 4:1). It is the spiritual hardness of the human heart that causes people to turn deaf ears to God's pleading through His Word. There are those in every age who are God's witnesses who are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). Their message is not always received. It is unfortunate that there are some who will remain disobedient to God's calling to repentance until it is too late. It is then that the door will shut (Matthew 25:10) because the time for entering into God's rest has passed.
God's Word reveals to us who we are and where we are in relationship to God. No one can hide from God. God's Word will display the truth about both who we are and where we are in relation to God. God's Word will reveal our need of repentance and also where this need is neglected. Consider Ephesians 5:6-11: "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them, for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light. (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them" (RSV). We will always be tempted by the devil and his fellow fallen angels to participate in the "unfruitful works of darkness" because Satan wants to take away the joy of our salvation.
God's Word is like a sword and in fact sharper than any double-edged sword. Since God is omniscient (all knowing), there is nothing that can be hidden from God. God uses His Word to let us see how it is that God searches us, discerns our thoughts, knows us and is acquainted with all our ways (Psalm 139:1,2,3). God therefore knows our every weakness and all of the areas where we are vulnerable to temptation. As someone has wisely said, "The nature of our temptations will prove what we really are. The higher the moral and spiritual character is the higher and more subtle the temptations will be. Christ could never be tempted by the coarse and common forms of sin. The devil brought his tempting baits up to the level of the Son of God. Therefore, being tempted as a Son on all points like as we (sons) are, He is able to succor them that are tempted with the comfort wherewith He Himself was comforted of God." (James Smith. Handfulls On Purpose: IV. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997, pp. 247-248). Since Jesus was tempted as we ourselves have been, will be and sometimes are tempted, Jesus sympathizes with us.
God's Word reveals our level of obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes". This relates well to the ideal of what Charles Colson conveys on the same topic. That ideal is that belief and obedience go together: "For maturing faith---faith which deepens and grows as we live our Christian life---is not just knowledge, but knowledge acted upon. … Like learning to balance a bicycle or mastering a foreign language, faith is a state of mind that grows out of our action, just as it governs them". (Charles Colson. Loving God. Geand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2002, p. 34). Colson is right, obedience and belief go together and are reflected in our faith and growth in faith. It is obedience that enables us to enter God's rest (Hebrews 4:3,6).
WE HAVE GOD'S SON, JESUS AS OUR PRIEST.
Jesus was tempted as we are tempted. Jesus sympathizes with us because He encountered Satan face to face Himself when He Himself was being tempted. Even though Jesus was tempted to sin, He is the one and only person who never stumbled and sinned. Someone once said, "Temptation is to see the tempter standing outside the back door of your heart. Sin is to unlock the door so that he might have his desire. Victory is to open wide the front door of your heart, inviting the Savior to enter and give you the strength to bar tight the back door". (Roy B. Zuck. ed. The Speaker's Quote Book. [Illustration by E. Schuyler English]. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997, p. 376). The reason that this story is important is because Jesus never sinned even when He was tempted and we can therefore receive His strength because "His grace is sufficient for us, because His power is made perfect in weakness" (Philippians 12:10 RSV paraphrased). First Corinthians 10:13 reminds us that "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (RSV). And we cannot escape the lure and subtlety of temptation without the Lord's help. Jesus not only sympathizes with us in temptations but mediates for us as a priest.
Jesus is our High priest. Jesus, God's only begotten Son is also our priest---our high priest. A priest is a mediator between both God and man. What is unique about Jesus is that He is fully human and fully Divine as God in human flesh. In the Old Testament, it took a priest performing the ritual of a sacrifice to atone for sin so that the sinner could be reconciled to God. This process could only be done once a year on the Day of Atonement. And only the priest could enter the place where this sacrifice was carried out (Leviticus 16:17). Sacrifices had to be done over and over every year, until Jesus became our high priest. Jesus is both a high priest (Hebrews 4:14) as well as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Hebrews 10:10 tells us "… we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (RSV).
WE CAN APPROACH THE THRONE OF GRACE THROUGH JESUS.
What are the barriers that keep us from being able to approach the throne of grace? Satan is involved in the plotting of every barrier through his skillful cunning and slyness. Satan lies to us in hopes that he can make us stumble. Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44), an accuser (Zechariah 3:1-2), a tempter (Matthew 4:3), a destroyer (Revelation 9:11) and an "… enemy that prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (First Peter 5:8). It is Satan's intention to "… torment those he cannot destroy, to perplex and hinder them in running the race that is set before them … " (John Wesley. Sermon 42. "Satan's Devices"). Satan is always involved in "mixing truth and falsehood together … " (John Wesley. Sermon 57. "On The Fall Of Man") in the hopes that he can deceive us while "masquerading as an angel of light" (Second Corinthians 11:14). "Satan endeavors to destroy the first work of God in the soul, or at least hinder its increase … he endeavors to damp [stifle] our joy in the Lord" (John Wesley. Sermon 42. "Satan's Devices"). "… if he can damp [stifle] our joy, he will soon attack our peace (John Wesley. Sermon 42. "Satan's Devices"). All of these are reasons as to why we should become familiar with God's Word. God's Word tells us of God's promises and His grace, forgiveness, love and mercy as revealed in and through Jesus Christ who paid the price for our redemption so that we could be reconciled to God once and for all. That is why through Jesus Christ we are able to approach the throne of grace. Satan throws all the obstacles he can in our way to try to prevent us from drawing near the throne of God's grace!
Because of Jesus' Sacrifice for us, we have access to the throne of God's grace. Before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, priest had to atone for the people in expressing their remorse and asking for their forgiveness in conjunction with animal sacrifices that were done on the Day of Atonement only once a year. As mentioned before, only the priest could do this for people, only once a year in the place that only they could enter---the Most Holy place or Holy of Holies. This place was concealed by a curtain. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the temple curtain that concealed this Holy place was torn from top to bottom (Mark 15:38). What does this mean? It means that Jesus Christ who acted on our behalf as both our High Priest and our sacrificial lamb that took our sin away has enabled us to have access to God because His sacrifice was for once and all! As long as we are striving in obedience to God's Word which is living and active, we will be producing fruit that is in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8 NIV paraphrased). As long as we are striving to produce fruit that is in keeping with repentance, we will experience the satisfaction of God's rest.
