Abundant Access

INTRO

If you wanted to get the President of the United States on the phone, what would you do?

What about if you wanted to speak with our Governor?

What steps would you need to go through?

What about if you wanted to speak to Senator Lankford or Representative Lucas?

What if you wanted to speak with our state senator, Bill Coleman or our state representative Ken Luttrell?

What about our county commissioner, City manager, mayor, etc.?

The higher up you go in our system of influence, the more difficult it is to have access to directly speak to and know the one who is in the position. But if you know them personally or know someone who knows them personally, you can get in contact with them directly.

One of the greatest blessings of the Abundant Life we have in Christ that is often neglected is our Abundant Access to God.

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

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 confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

3 REASONS WE BE CONFIDENT IN OUR ABUNDANT ACCESS

1) WE HAVE A HOLY HIGH PRIEST!

The High Priest was the one who was supposed to represent the people before God.

The High Priest was a man who was to be a direct descendant from Moses, Aaron, and later Zadok (Israel’s High Priest under David and Solomon).

The High Priest was limited in His “direct” access to the Holy of Holies. He was only allowed there once a year to offer a sacrifice for the whole nation on the Day of Atonement, and only after he gone through rigorous personal purification and offered an atoning sacrifice for himself.

You and I no longer have a High Priest with such limited access to God. We have a Holy High Priest who is altogether different.

We have Jesus!

Jesus is the perfect and holy High Priest, who isn’t limited to once a year, or only after rigorous purification rituals and personal atonement.

He doesn’t just have access behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies. He has access to the One who puts the Holy in Holy of Holies.

He has passed through the heavens.

He is Immanuel, God with us.

He is the One who not only represents us to God, but also God to us because He is the Son of God!

We can have confidence in our Abundant Access to God, because no longer rely on man, but we rely on the God-man. We rely on Jesus! He is our Holy High Priest.

2) HE IS THE ONE WHO KNOWS US!

With worldly High Priests, they were limited to their own experiences that were often in a bubble surrounding the temple.

They were distant from the people. Most people didn’t know them and they didn’t know most people.

Because of their roles within the temple and later within the governing of the people, most high priests were out of touch with the people.

They didn’t live in the same situations as the people and weren’t really able to relate with most of the people.

By the time you get to Jesus’ time on this earth, the High Priest had been out of touch with God as well.

Remember, it was the High Priest who used his influence to orchestrate the crucifixion of Jesus and the persecution of Christians in Judea

Our Holy High Priest is not out of touch with us nor with God.

Jesus knows full well what it is like to live in a broken world.

He left the glories of Heaven and came to our world and lived as we live.

He didn’t come from heaven to a palace.

He didn’t come from heaven to dwell with an influential royal or upperclass family.

He didn’t come and have everything handed to him on a silver platter.

He didn’t come where he would be the most distinguished.

In God’s divine plan, He sent Jesus to be born to an earthly obscure family from the obscure town of Nazareth.

Even His arrival wasn’t marked with human renown, but rather with drama and controversy.

While Jesus lived on this earth, he didn’t live in a bubble. He lived with and faced the same temptations you and I face throughout our lives.

The temptation to make a name for ourselves.

The temptation to take short cuts to get ahead.

The temptation to lose control to emotions.

The temptation to hide in our own pride and stubbornness.

The temptation to rely upon ourselves instead of God.

Yet while Jesus faced all of these and so much more, He never sinned.

He knows us and what we go through. He is able to sympathize with us because He knows us.

We can be confident in our Abundant Access because He is not out of touch, but rather He has lived amongst our brokenness, seen firsthand our flaws, yet invites us to draw near to Him and through Him.

3) HE PROVIDES GRACE, MERCY, AND HELP!

We can be confident in our Abundant Access because Jesus, who is Holy and who knows us, offers to us mercy and grace through Himself.

He did what we could not do so that we could experience that which we could not have and not experience that which we deserve.

Jesus invites us to His throne of grace…His amazing grace!

Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense

We are to (1) draw near and (2) draw near with confidence.

We are not to neglect God’s grace, but rather…

…we are to live in the richness of God’s way of life

…we are to love in the richness of God’s love

…we are to walk in the richness of God’s righteousness

…we are to worship in the richness of God’s holiness

…we are to celebrate in the richness of God’s glory

…we are to be transformed in the richness of God’s forgiveness

We should not neglect so great and gracious a salvation, but we should enjoy the Abundant Access He gives us as we draw near to God and embrace His grace.

In His grace we find mercy and help.

Grace is receiving that which we do not deserve and mercy is not receiving that which we do deserve.

We deserve to face the full force of our rebellion and the full fall out from our selfishness.

In God’s mercy, we will not face the fires of Hell, but we are also spared many of the consequential repercussions of living a life of rebellion.

We still face earthly and relational fall out from our sinful choices, but many times, through God’s grace these rifts are often healed or at least not made worse.

When we face difficulty, we find God’s help in our time of need.

We should take hold of the Abundant Access we have through Jesus and draw near to God, embrace His grace and find mercy and help.

CLOSING

Abundant Access is not just for when we need help.

Too often that they only time when most people will pray.

Don’t just cry out for prayer when help is needed but draw near to God always.

Be in relationship with Him and enjoy time with Him all the time.

Don’t just let prayer be something you do on occasion.

Live prayerfully all the time and be open to hearing from God as you freely converse with God.

We’re going to take a moment and enjoy the Abundant Access we have with God today. We are going to have a time of response here in just a moment and I want to invite you to spend some time with Him in prayer. You can do that in your seat or you can come and use these steps as an altar and come and pray here.

You can use this time to praise Him. You may want to prayerfully sing the song that will be playing in adoration to Him.

You may have something on your heart or a burden that you are carrying and you want to seek His help.

You may be living with a habitual sin in your life and you are tired of neglecting God’s grace and mercy and you want to spend this time in confession and surrender to Him.

You may be here and you’ve never given your life to Jesus and enjoyed the Abundant Access that only He gives us. Today, you can access God’s throne of Grace and receive mercy and forgiveness by embracing Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for you.