In Isaiah 58:11, the prophet wrote, “The Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places.” The Apostle Paul declared in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” In this message, Dr. Stanley opens the Word of God and points believers to the one and only reliable place to go when you’re in need.
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Dr. Charles Stanley:
Everybody has needs in life.
Some of those needs could be
material or physical.
Or they could be
emotional needs,
or spiritual needs.
When you have a need
where do you go for the answer?
Well many people go to different
avenues for the answer
to their needs.
And oftentimes those avenues
leave them exactly where they
were in the beginning.
They don’t get their needs met.
Because there are many very
deceptive attitudes and very
deceptive avenues to walk in
order for a person to get their
needs met.
And especially is that true in
the area of people’s emotional
needs or spiritual needs.
But it’s true also in physical
and material.
Where do you go when you have a
need in your life?
Is there a place?
Are there many places?
For example, when you have some
emotional need, where do you go
for that?
When you have a spiritual need
where do you go for that?
Whatever the need may be you
have some place you attempt to
go in some way that you attempt
to fulfill that need.
What I’d like to do in this
message is to give you one place
you can go that I can guarantee
you without a shadow of a doubt,
you will get your need met.
Now when I tell you what it is
you’re going to say, “Oh it
couldn’t be that simple.”
That’s not the way it is.
Well just listen carefully.
Listen, be wise enough to listen
to the truth.
Because it may be that you’ve
never thought about it in this
light.
All I’m going to do is to
explain to you what the Bible
says, this is God’s eternal
Word.
This is the Word by which we’re
going to be judged.
It’s a Word of instruction and
motivation.
It’s a Word of–it’s a Word
of conviction and support
and comfort and direction
and all the rest.
It’s totally adequate
for everything.
So I want you to simply ask the
Lord to speak to your heart.
And to show you that maybe you
have some need or needs in your
life that you’ve been trying to
meet and somehow it’s just not
working right.
I want to show you how it can
work right.
So if you’ll turn to Hebrews
chapter four.
And I want us to read just a few
verses of this chapter.
And ah while you’re turning
there I want to look
at the twelfth verse.
Just to give you a word
to preface our regular Scripture
we’re going to read.
He says in the twelfth verse,
“For the word of God, the Bible
is living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword, and
piercing as far as the division
of soul and spirit, of both
joints and marrow, and able to
judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart.”
Which is His way of saying, when
you open the Word of God and you
begin to read the Word of God,
what you’ll do is this, you’ll
discover God’s perspective and
His view of what your real
thoughts are.
What you really feel.
What your real desires are,
the secret desires, the open
desires, what your hurt,
your pains.
In other words,
what the Word of God does,
it helps us to understand and
to see ourselves as God sees us.
So in light of that then here’s
what He says beginning in verse
thirteen, “And there is no
creature hidden from the sight,
from His sight, but all things
are open and laid bare to the
eyes of Him with whom we have to
do.
Therefore, since we have a great
high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus the
Son of God, let us hold fast our
confidence, our confession.
For we do not have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with us in
our weaknesses, but One who has
been tempted in all things as we
are, yet without sin.
Therefore let us draw near with
confidence to the throne of
grace, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in
time of need.
Now so we ask the question,
where do you go to get your
needs met?
Now, watch this, or the devil
will just trick you right up.
There is one place you can go
that you never have to worry
about getting a wrong answer,
that He’ll always give you
the right answer.
And He’s willing to give you
the answer,
willing to meet your need.
And that is to one person
and that’s Jesus.
Now for the rest of this message
I want to show you why that’s
true.
So whatever your hang-ups may be
about Jesus and so forth, I want
you to be honest enough to
listen carefully to what the
Word of God says.
And why we would say that Jesus
is the person to whom we’re
to go–listen, for our needs
no matter what they may be.
You say, “But suppose
it’s some financial needs?”
He knows exactly how to give you
guidance to meet that need.
Suppose it’s some health need?
He is the Great Physician.
Well you say, “Suppose it’s some
emotional need, I’m depressed.”
He is the answer to every single
need we have.
All I ask you to do is to be
honest enough and open enough to
consider what the Word of God
says.
So look what He says in this
thirteenth verse.
Because He makes it
so crystal clear that Jesus
knows all about our needs.
We think we do sometimes.
We think for example
that we know exactly
what our needs are and Lord
here’s what I want You to do.
Sometimes we don’t know
what they are.
So notice what He said,
He said
in this particular passage
and He says in different ways.
But He says,
“There is no creature
hidden from His sight.”
That is,
“God sees every single person.”
He knows all about us.
“No creature hidden
from His sight,
but all things are open–”
And, listen, “laid bare.
“That means uncovered,
“to the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do.”
Which means, the One
to whom we’re accountable.
He sees every single thing.
He knows every need we have
every day and every hour of
the day and every moment of it.
He knows it.
So you say, “Well,
why do you say, ‘go to Jesus’?”
Well let me ask you this,
who else knows you so perfectly?
You can go to the physician,
they can take a health
stethoscope all this, all over
you, take your blood and this,
that and the other.
And all these things and come
back and give you a report.
They know very little about you.
As honest and as intent as
they would be to discover
what’s going on inside of you.
God knows all about it.
He created these human bodies.
He knows how you think.
He knows why you get depressed.
He knows why you’re afraid.
He knows why you’re lonely.
He knows why you’re discouraged.
He knows what you’re concerned
about and worried about
and fretting about.
He knows all about–
listen, He doesn’t only know
what’s going on, He knows
why it’s going on and He knows
the solution to solve that.
And when I think about that,
I think about when He says,
nothing is hidden, everything is
laid bare, everything is open.
And you’ll recall for example
in one of the most
familiar Psalms,
the hundred and thirty ninth
Psalm.
Listen to these
first four verses here.
He says, “O Lord, You have
searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and
when I rise up, You understand
my thoughts from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my
lying down, and are intimately
acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on
my tongue, behold, O Lord,
You know it all.”
So why would we come to Jesus?
Because He is the only person.
He is the only person in
existence that knows everything
about us, inside, outside, what
we think, how we think, why we
do, what we do, our actions, our
motives, our desires, the secret
sins of our life, the open
things that going.
He’s the only one who knows.
So why would I not come to Him?
He knows for example– He says
in Matthew chapter six
in the Sermon on the Mount.
You remember what He says
in this sixth chapter
and eighth verse?
He says, “Do not be like them
that is the unbeliever, for your
Father knows what you need
before you ask Him.
The reason we come to Him is
because He is the only one
who perfectly knows everything
there is about us.
He said, nothing’s covered from
His eyes, every single thing.
No secrets with God.
You and I can fool each other
maybe or somebody else
but the Father knows it all.
Jesus is the One to whom we
should go for all our needs
no matter who
and what the need may be.
Now there’s a second thing
I want you to notice here.
And that’s this, He mentions
here, listen, Jesus is our High
Priest before the throne of God.
Now listen very carefully
because somebody says,
“Well, High Priest–
I’m not too interested in that.”
You ought to be.
And here’s the reason why,
in the Old Testament
for example,
God set up the whole system
for the nation of Israel to grow
this nation and send a Messiah.
And so He began all the way back
in the Garden.
And all through the Scriptures
there are sacrifices and in this
system which God set up among
His people there was a great
high priest, who was the one who
went into the holy of holies.
Where no one could go without
losing their life except the
high priest once a year, to
place the atoning blood of the
lamb at that time, to
acknowledge the sinfulness of
their nation.
Now that great high priest was a
symbol of many things.
But most of all he was a
foreshadowing of the Great High
Priest who would come.
Whom John the Baptist identified
down by the Jordan as the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of
the world.
Now watch this carefully because
this is something that
oftentimes causes people
disagreement or sometimes anger
and animosity.
Or what oftentimes say, “Well,
you folks are just are
narrow-minded and you’re not
loving, you’re not
understanding.
God’s God would not be so
narrow-minded as that.”
But I want you to listen to what
this passage says.
Because He says here,
“Therefore, since we have a
great high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus the
Son of God, let us hold fast our
confession.
That is, Jesus who died on the
cross, was buried, resurrected,
back to heaven.
And the tenth chapter says He is
now seated at the right hand of
the Father making intercession
for us.
Now what is all that about and
what does that have to do with
God meeting my needs?
Well the throne of God is where
He sits beside the Father.
And that throne is a very,
very important place.
And in the Scriptures
for example, there are
many references to the throne.
There is the throne of grace in
this chapter.
The throne of God in Matthew.
The throne of God and the Lamb.
The Glorious Throne.
The Great White Throne.
The eternal throne.
It is a word that suggests
royalty, power, authority,
ruling and reigning.
Jesus is the ruling, reigning
Lord who sits at the Father’s
right hand making intercession
for us.
Now what does that have to do
with God meeting my needs?
Simply this, the Bible says,
“For all of us have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.”
Listen very carefully.
“All of us have sinned and come
short of the glory of God.
The Scripture says, that our
sins have separated us from God.
So therefore, the truth about
our relationship to Him before
there is a salvation experience
is, that we are sinners.
That we’ve sinned against God.
We live as we please.
We do as we want to do.
And our sins have separated
us from God.
And so, we have to ask
the question.
Now listen carefully, because
I want to repeat something
about four or five times.
Ask yourself this question,
all of us know that
we’ve sinned against Him.
Upon what basis can you go to
Holy God, who has no sin in His
presence.
God is light, there is no
darkness in Him at all, the
Scripture says.
On what basis can you go to God
the Father and pray and expect
God to hear and answer your
prayer?
And you see the word holy is not
a very popular word anymore.
Let me ask you this question,
when is the last time you heard
anybody even mention holy?
What about your friends?
What about people you go to
church with?
What about people you work with?
When is the last time you–
anybody mentioned holy?
Holiness is a characteristic of
Almighty God.
Sinless, perfect, holy.
Now, listen, I ask you this
question, on what basis can you
go to Him to answer your
prayers, your petitions, to have
your needs met?
Well one or two.
You say,
“Well, I haven’t been too bad.
I’ve been doing pretty good.
I’m not a bad person.
And therefore being as good
as I am, even though I’m not
perfect and the fact
that He said I could come.
Therefore, I can come
and He will answer my prayer.”
And the answer is,
absolutely not.
Now here’s the reason,
the Scripture says your sins
have separated you from God.
So you have to ask yourself the
question, on what basis can you
as a sinner come to Holy God and
expect Him to hear and answer
your petition?
Only on the basis of how good
you think you are.
Things that you haven’t done.
And He should accept you on that
basis.
Do you recognize how
absolutely–
well you won’t recognize it
unless you understand holiness.
You recognize how prideful
that is, that you, a sinner,
separated by your sins from
absolutely Holy God and you’re
expecting Him to hear you on the
basis that that you have not
been too bad and you’ve been
pretty good?
Now you may not like the way
I say this but it’s the truth,
it is an act of pure pride.
And deception and ignorance
and misunderstanding.
Because here’s what
the great high priest did in
the Old Testament, presented
the presented the blood
of a sacrifice to atone
for the sins
of the nation of Israel.
When Jesus came, He came
as the Great High Priest.
When Jesus came, He came as
the Father’s final and ultimate
sacrifice for the sin
of all mankind.
When Jesus Christ went to
the cross, He went to the cross
as a Lamb, the Lamb of God.
He came into this world,
not just to teach and preach
and heal,
though He did those things.
He came primarily in order
to die and shed His blood
at Calvary.
And the shedding of His blood
at Calvary, atoned for,
paid the sin debt of all mankind
in full in one act in
one moment of time.
So that you and I would have
access to Holy God.
If and when we accept Jesus
Christ as our personal Savior,
which means that we accept Him
as our atoning sacrifice for our
sins.
And receive Him as our Savior
through the death of His Son,
the Son of God.
Now that’s how we have access.
Because now our sins have been
atoned for.
It is the blood of Jesus that
makes it possible for us to
approach Holy God.
Now I know that many people
would say, “Are you saying to me
that Jesus Christ
is the only way?”
I’m simply saying to you,
there is only one
Great High Priest
and He is Jesus.
And without the shedding of the
blood of Jesus Christ there is
no access to Holy God.
I know you may have
many other beliefs.
But I want you to answer
the question.
If you disagree answer the
question, how does sinful man
approach Holy God apart from the
covering of the blood of Jesus
Christ?
There is no answer.
And for example,
I think about this passage
in the thirty second Psalm,
and there are many of them.
But on the thirty second Psalm
and the very first verse.
Listen to what He says, He says,
“How blessed is he
whose transgression,” listen,
“whose sins are forgiven,
whose sin is covered!”
It is the blood of Jesus Christ
that covers our sin.”
This is how you and I,
sinful human beings,
can approach Holy God
and be accepted in His sight.
And heard by Him to answer
our needs because our sins
have been atoned for.
Forgiven.
That is, we’ve been pardoned.
Now when you reject the Lord
Jesus Christ, what you do is you
do this, you reject the only
thing that covers your sin.
When you reject
the Lord Jesus Christ,
you reject the only way that
has access to God the Father.
When you reject
the Lord Jesus Christ,
you reject His blood as a waste.
His crucifixion was a waste.
Because you’re saying
that you can go
to the Father without Him.
And what you’re saying is,
there’s something in you, sinful
human being, having been
separated from God by your sins
that somehow there is something
in you that’s good enough
to be made acceptable
in the eyes of God.
And there’s not a single verse
in the Scripture to prove that
or to defend that.
He says,
not by works of righteousness
which we’ve done.
But by His mercy,
His grace, His love.
And the shedding of His blood
that we’re saved.
So why do you go to Jesus?
Because He’s the only way.
And people say, “Well, I pray
and these things happen.”
There may be some things
that happen about which you pray
but it isn’t God answering
your prayer.
When you reject the only access
to Holy, Righteous God,
Jehovah God of the Bible,
you have no other access.
Now the devil will do everything
in his power to get you
to doubt that.
But one thing for certain,
you cannot prove it any
other way in the Word of God.
This is, listen, this is
why Jesus said, “I am the way,
the truth, and the life,
no one comes to the Father
except by Me.”
He knew that His death
would atone for all of our sin.
It isn’t that God wants anybody
to be lost or separated
from Him.
He’s made the way.
He’s paved the way.
He wants us to come to Him.
But there is a way.
Either I’m coming on my own
prideful goodness and works,
which are unacceptable.
He says, our sins are like are
like filthy rags in His sight.
Not by works of righteousness
which we’ve done.
According to His it’s His mercy.
And His mercy is what brought
about the shedding of His blood
and the forgiveness of our sins.
Now I recognize you work
with people and you live
around people,
maybe somebody in your family.
They say, “No, no, no, no,
no God isn’t such He’s not
so narrow-minded.”
Listen, is it narrow-minded
that God, Holy God, would send
His only Begotten Son into
this world to die for our sins?
Is that narrow-minded?
No it is not.
It is an expression of love.
Now one thing that makes this so
important is this, and that is,
when you when I when
I turn back to the–turn back
to the second chapter.
Listen to this,
second chapter of Hebrews.
And I want us to look
at two verses here.
Here’s what He says,
verse seventeen, Therefore,
He that is Jesus.
Watch this had to be made
like us, like His brethren
in all things, that is–
He was–listen, watch this.
He was both God and man.
As a man He was just like
any other man as far as far as
His being, flesh and blood
and bone and so forth.
So that He might become
a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining
to God, to make propitiation
or sacrifice for the sins
of the people.
He said, watch this,
He said He had to be made
like us in order to be
a legitimate,
acceptable sacrifice.
Now let’s think about that
for a moment.
Because we said, where do you
get your needs met?
Jesus is the One who meets
our needs.
He knows us perfectly.
And He’s the One who died for us
and paid the price for our sins.
Now the third thing I want you
to notice here is this,
that the Scripture says that
Jesus sympathizes
with all of our needs.
Look at this passage.
I want to read it a couple
of times.
Watch this, verse fifteen,
“For we do not
have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with us.
That is, Jesus is One
who sympathize.
That is, He can feel and sense
this, experiences this,
but One who has been tempted
in all things as we are,
yet without sin.
Now let’s think about that
for a moment because
that’s an awesome statement.
We just read in that second
chapter in the seventeenth verse
what He said.
And He said it so clearly.
Therefore, He had to be made
like us.
That is, the Incarnation is
that God the Son came
into this world in the form of
a baby, born of the Virgin Mary.
He had to be like us growing up
as a child, as a teenager,
as a young man.
And He says here,
“Therefore, He had to be made
like His brethren in all things,
for a reason so that What?
He might become merciful and
faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God,
to make propitiation
for the sins of the people.
Now why was that?
He says, “For since He Himself
was tempted in that which
He was–He suffered,
He is able to come to the aid
of those who are tempted.”
Now let’s look at this
for a moment.
When we think about Jesus being
tempted we usually think about
Jesus being in the wilderness
being tempted by the devil.
Do you think that’s
the only time He got tempted?
He was tempted, listen.
He was tempted from the time
He was young.
He was tempted
in those early years.
He was tempted
in His adult years.
He was tempted, listen, He was
tempted even to the cross.
Tried in every way.
Somebody says, “Now wait a
minute, you mean to tell me that
Jesus was tempted in every way
just like we are?”
Well what does it say?
It says He was tempted
in all points such as we.
Watch this, this is the reason
He says that
He sympathizes with us.
To sympathize with somebody is
to enter into their feelings,
their hurt, their pain,
their losses, their whatever’s
going on in their life.
That He was tempted
in all points as we.
So whatever you might think,
for example, when He began His
ministry, people rejected Him.
So He understands
what rejection’s all about.
And He was tempted by
the devil to become prideful and
throw Himself off the temple.
He was tempted in every single
possible way.
And He was tried.
He had sorrow just like any
other man would have sorrow.
Over Judas who betrayed Him and
Lazarus for example who died.
He certainly felt the pain
and rejection of the fact
that His whole nation
rejected Him.
So He knows about rejection.
He knows about sorrow
at Lazarus’ tomb.
And sorrow about people
who were around Him.
And I think about the loneliness
He must have felt the night
of His crucifixion,
before His crucifixion.
All of His disciples left Him.
Of all the moments in His life
that He needed the assurance
and the help.
He said to them, “Look will you
just go over here and pray
a little while and then He went
and found them asleep.”
He knew all about loneliness
and rejection.
He knew all about pain
on the cross.
He knew all about–listen,
this is the one thing that He
knew all about that we forget.
Jesus knew all about the weight
of guilt.
If I should ask you,
when you sin against God
do you feel guilty?
Amen?
That’s really weak.
Let me tell you the issue here,
if you sin against God and you
feel no conviction whatsoever
of the Holy Spirit, when we give
the invitation you need to come
down the aisle and get saved.
Because the Spirit of God,
one of His primary
responsibilities is to make us
aware of our sin and our guilt.
What I want you to see is this,
Jesus knows, watch this,
He knows exactly
what guilt feels like.
Because, listen,
not because He sinned.
Because He didn’t.
He says in this passage,
without sin.
The reason He knows what guilt
feels like is because He took
upon Himself–listen, the guilt
of all of your sin and mine
and the sin of the whole world.
So think about something
that He would,
He was tempted in every way.
You say, “Well, wait a minute,
now wait a minute.
He couldn’t be tempted like
something men are tempted.”
For example,
let’s say tempted morally,
or women, either one wouldn’t
make any difference.
When He says in all points,
all points.
When He says tempted in all
points such as we, because,
listen, if there were some area
that you and I could be tempted
or tried in, some difficulty
or hardship we’re facing.
If there were some area that
we could be tempted and tried in
that He wasn’t, we’d say,
“Yeah but Jesus here’s the thing
about it.
You don’t understand
what I’m going through.
You don’t understand how I feel.
If You understood
how I felt–“
you’d go on with
a lot of excuses for sinning.
Everyone.
He knows exactly how we feel.
So it would be foolish to try
to go to somebody else
to answer all of my needs.
And to meet all my needs.
When there is only one
who can meet them all.
You can go to a soothsayer,
you can go to a fortune teller,
you can go to a psychologist
or a psychiatrist.
You go to a lot of people
and just vent what you feel
and your needs and the things
that are going on in your life.
And how pitiful things are and
a little sympathy and so forth.
The fact that you told somebody
may make you feel better
but it does not mean that God
heard you.
Now I know that rubs
against somebody’s grain.
Ooh I can feel it.
But let me tell you something,
only because I care,
only because it’s the truth
and because I love you enough
to say, this is the truth
of the Word of God.
At least consider it
before you to turn it off.
So when He says He was tempted
and tried in every way
such as we.
Listen, the reason He said that
was, He wants us to understand,
He understands us.
He–listen,
He says He sympathizes.
That means, that Jesus can
sort of get into my emotions,
and He knows exactly how I feel.
When you have fears in your life
and when you’re worried
and anxious about things,
does He understand it?
Yes He does.
Did He sin by being worried?
No.
But He understands.
This–listen, this is why He
said in Matthew twice there,
that He knows our needs
even before we ask Him.
He understands why we do
what we do.
He understood why Judas
betrayed Him.
Did it hurt Him?
Sure it hurt Him because
He knew what the end result
of that was going to be.
Listen, not for Himself,
but for Judas.
When Peter denied Him just think
about, this this was Peter,
James and John,
His three most intimates.
And Peter number one at least
as far as outward expression is
concerned.
And what did he do?
He denied that he even knew Him
on the night before
His crucifixion.
But He told him, He said,
“You’re going to nigh–
deny Me.”
Did it hurt Him?
Yes.
Anybody ever reject you?
There’s no such thing as being
rejected without feeling it.
Every divorced person,
every separated person,
every runaway child.
They know what rejection,
they know what feelings
that are hurt, that are painful.
They know all about that.
He says, “I know about
everything you feel.”
There are some things
that go on today for example
that didn’t go on then.
But listen,
the end result’s the same.
End result, sin is sin.
And He says, “What I want you
to know is that I understand
that I am sympathetic,
that I understand that I’ve
taken upon Myself the feelings.
And when you come to Me
weeping and crying.
You’ve been deserted, walked
away from, of lost everything,”
He says, “I know how you feel.”
Who else can tell you that?
Only Jesus.
So this whole passage is about
this awesome Great High Priest,
the Son of God, our Savior,
Lord and Master.
Of how much He loves us,
how much He understands us,
and listen,
He wants us to come to Him.
This isn’t about,
don’t go to God.
This about, come to Him.
Because, listen, He is ready
and willing and able to help us
with our needs.
He’s certainly able because
He’s all powerful.
And omniscient,
He fully understands.
For example, when you go through
some difficult time in your
life of personal disaster,
whatever it might be,
who do you want to talk to?
You want to talk to somebody
who’s been there.
Somebody who can feel
what you feel.
Well what He’s saying in this
passage, whatever your hurt,
your pain, your suffering,
your sorrow, your temptation,
your trial, Jesus says,
“I’ve been there.”
That is, He has felt something
equal to what we feel no matter
what situation we may be facing
in life.
And so when you think
about this, His very title,
the Great High Priest.
He’s the One who’s covered
our sin at the cross.
The Son of God, the Incarnate
Son of God who came into
this world to die for our sins.
Our relationship to Him,
He’s our Savior,
and our Lord and our Master.
He knows our needs and He
desires that our needs be met.
And when I think about that,
I think about the way
He expresses love toward us.
And notice in this passage
there, twice He says,
“therefore”.
Look at this, He’s just said
that He knows all about
our needs and so forth.
And He says on the basis
of that, “Therefore, since we
have a great high priest.”
And then after He talks
about being sympathetic again,
He says,
“Therefore let us draw near
with confidence to the throne
for grace and mercy.”
So when there is a need in your
life you have access to the One
who knows exactly how you feel.
Exactly how to heal that.
And how to help through that
and how to meet that need
no matter what it might be.
But I would ask you this,
where do you go first?
Do you call your friends?
You tell somebody else
how you feel?
He says,
“I want you to tell Me.”
That He says, “Therefore,
because everything is known to
Me and I’m the Great High Priest
and I can handle it.”
Therefore because I am
and I’m sympathetic, therefore
I want you to draw near to Me
with confidence.
And we’re yet we’re so often
prone to want somebody else to
answer our needs and somebody
else to help us through
situations and circumstances.
And when He says,
“We’re to draw nigh.”
That is,
draw nigh to the throne.
What is He talking about?
He’s talking about coming to Him
in prayer.
We’re l now but watch this,
we’re to come to Him on, listen.
He says, “The throne of grace,
mercy.
This is where you–this is why
you found not condemnation,
not judgment,
not God rejecting us.”
But, watch this,
because you are a child of God.
You have accepted Jesus Christ
as your Savior.
You have personally the
Great High Priest who–listen,
who is interceding for you.
Because by His blood,
He’s covered your sin.
And you’re coming to Him
asking for forgiveness.
And that forgiveness is
available because He’s atoned
for your sin at the cross
and you r received Him
as your personal Savior.
You have access to Him.
And He says, “I want you
to come confidently.
That’s where I want you to come.
I want you to come joyfully.”
That is, when you’re thanking
Him or whatever it might be.
You can come under
great conviction.
But He says,
“What I want you to do is I want
you to come without hesitation,
openly, without a doubt knowing
that you’re going to be heard
as a child of God.”
But now watch, if you come
to Him and you have excluded
out of your life Jesus.
No High Priest, you don’t
believe in any of that.
And you’re coming to Him,
asking for Him to do something.
I ask you again, on what basis
when you have rejected His only
Begotten Son, the Savior of the
Word, the Lamb of God who was
slain before the foundation of
the world for your sin and mine?
On what basis is God going
to ignore all of that
and answer your petition?
He’s not going to.
You say,
“Well, that frightens me.”
It’ll ought to.
Because you don’t have
any access.
The blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son,
cleanses us from all sin.
But if you ignore that–listen,
watch this, if the Bible says,
“If we walk in the light as
He is in the light, the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son is what
He’s saying is it’s continually
cleansing us from all sin.”
So let me ask you this,
you don’t believe in Jesus,
you rejected Him,
what about your sin?
Here’s what I want you to see
and I say it in absolute love.
What separates us
from the Father is sin.
The blood of Jesus Christ,
His Son, cleanses us from sin.
When you eliminate that,
I ask you again,
what do you have?
What basis are you coming?
It is a prideful thought that
you could be good enough in
your sins for God to accept you
when He has already said
without the shedding of blood,
there is absolutely
no forgiveness.
That’s God’s Word.
So therefore,
on the basis of that and
twice He says therefore here.
Notice what He says,
therefore He says we’re to come
to Him confidently.
Why does He say that?
Because we have a right to.
We’re coming under
the blood of Jesus Christ.
He’s atoned for our sin.
He’s opened the door.
He says, “We’re to come–
listen, boldly to the throne.
Now, watch this, He says,
boldly to the throne of grace
find mercy and help
in time of need.
Now, watch this,
here’s what mercy is.
In mercy–watch this,
in mercy, God is not giving me
what I deserve.
Did you get that?
In mercy, He’s so–He’s not
giving me what I deserve.
In grace, He gives me
what I don’t deserve.
I don’t deserve grace.
But He graces us anyway.
In mercy, what is He doing?
He’s not giving me what
I deserve because if He did,
He’d cast me out.
He says, “Come boldly”.
Now, listen, that doesn’t mean
irreverently–
and the man upstairs, He’ll–
I talk to Him,
who whoever it is up there.
Very irreverent.
We’ve forgotten the fact that
God is holy.
And we come to Him,
we’re to come to Him in a spirit
of submission and humility
and humbleness
before Him.
I’ll tell you a way you can
check out whether you reverence
and honor God or not.
Now He says, “When you come you
can come boldly, confidently
because I want you to come.”
He says, “Look this is not
the throne of judgment.
This is not the throne
of condemnation.
This is not the throne
of rejection.”
This is not the throne
of rewards or final rewards.
It’s a throne of grace, mercy,
love, forgiveness, cleansing,
a new start.
All that we need,
whatever it might be.
So I want you to think about
something for a moment.
You say,
“Well, I’m a humble person.
I’m not prideful.”
Well let me ask you this,
if I said to you,
I want to suggest to you
that beginning tonight
before you go to bed, that you–
and whatever your need is
that you want to bring
to the Father.
I want to suggest that
here’s what you do, you get on
your knees beside the bed and
you read this passage to God.
Now I know He knows it all.
You read this passage to God
and you say, “Lord, You said
that You know it all anyway.
And You said that Jesus,
You’ve shed Your blood
for in my behalf.
And You said You understand
exactly what I’m feeling
and what my needs are.
And You said that I have
the right to come to you.
And what I’ll find mercy
and grace to help in this time
of need.”
Are you willing to get on your
knees and read that Scripture
to God and tell Him
what your needs are?
And the reason that you would
bow on your knees before Him is
simply because who He is.
He’s the Righteous, Holy God
who has no equal whatsoever.
I’ll tell you something, it will
transform your prayer life.
Because what you’re doing is
you’re getting on your knees
before Holy God and you are
acknowledging His holiness,
His righteousness,
His perfection.
You’re acknowledging
His omniscience,
that He knows all about you.
You’re acknowledging His
omnipotence, He has the power
to change any circumstance
of your life.
You’re acknowledging His grace
and His mercy.
That He would invite you to come
to be forgiven or to be helped,
whatever that might be.
What would keep you
from doing that?
You may say, “Well, I don’t have
to get on my knees to pray.”
No you don’t.
Why wouldn’t you?
I know some people may have
a physical problem.
But I want to ask you this very
seriously, what would keep you
from opening His Word to this
simple passage of Scripture?
Which is a passage of all–
it’s all about encouragement.
What would keep you
from getting on your knees and
acknowledging that you need Him?
And that you don’t have
the right to come to Him except
by the blood of Jesus?
What would keep you
from doing that?
One thing primarily, pride.
I don’t need to do that.
God understands me.
I got along this along
without it.
I don’t need to do that.
Which is one of the worst sins
you can commit is pride.
Because what you’re saying is,
I don’t need it.
Or maybe some sin in your life
that you don’t want to give up.
You don’t want to lay it down.
So you’re certainly not going to
get down and read this passage
about the fact that He knows
all about your sin.
It will transform
your prayer life.
Here’s what’ll happen, you’ll
get serious about coming to Him.
You’ll get serious about
your relationship to Him.
You’ll get serious about
the recognition of His holiness.
When I think about all
the desires of the heart of God,
what’s worship anyway?
We’re not to worship anything
other than the person of God.
Pride will keep us off
our knees.
Pride will cause us to
rationalize and say, “Well,
I don’t think that’s necessary.”
No it may not be necessary.
But let me ask you this, when is
the last time you did anything
that was an indication of your
recognition of His holiness,
our unworthiness
and His awesome love to save us?
I challenge you to do it.
Because you see,
this is all about
what He’s doing for us.
It’s all about Him meeting
our needs.
He knows all about them.
He’s paid the price.
He’s willing to do it.
We have access to Him.
And He says, “Come boldly,
come confidently, I’m waiting.
I want to help you.
I want to meet your needs.
But you have to come His way,
by the blood of Jesus.”
And I would say to you
my friend, if you’ve never been
saved, if you’ve never trusted
Jesus as your Savior.
Here’s what I want you
to understand, no matter
what somebody tells you,
what somebody claims,
how many books you read,
how many sermons you hear,
how many times you go
to confession, here is a truth
that is absolutely,
eternally undeniable.
Jesus Christ, the Virgin born,
Incarnate Son of God came
into this world for the primary
purpose of dying on the cross.
And shedding His blood
at Calvary.
So that all who will accept Him
as Savior also receive Him
as the Great High Priest who
sits at the Father’s right hand
making intercession,
making it possible for you
and me to come to Him
to get our needs met.
That is an eternal expression
of love.
And to reject Him is
to reject your only hope.
And to receive Him is to begin
life from a whole different
perspective.
And that’s my prayer for you.
Father how grateful we are
for Your awesome love.
That You would say to us,
“Come boldly to My throne.
And you will find mercy
and you’ll find grace,
My forgiveness
and My cleansing and the answer
to every need of your life.
Father, You couldn’t make it
any simpler than that.
And we just want to say
we thank You.
And pray that every person
who hears this message will be
honest, intellectually honest
enough to consider this truth
and the fact that You’re the God
before one day they will stand
and give an account
for their life.
In fact You made it very clear
that one day every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to Your glory and honor.
And we pray this in Jesus’ name,
amen.
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When I view your RSS feed it just gives me a page of weird text, may be the problem on my reader? TY for putting this up, it was very helpful and explained tons.