OUR ACCESS TO GOD

Introduction

-{Hebrews 4}

-I have confessed this about myself many times before, and it you’re a visitor with us today I will confess it to you for the first time. My confession is that I am a huge nerd/geek. I am almost 50 years old and I still love most anything that has to do with science fiction or fantasy. Be it books or movies or TV shows, I am going to geek over science fiction and fantasy.

-One of my all-time favorite nerdy TV shows is Doctor Who, a science fiction show from Great Britain that has been around for almost 60 years.

~It is the story of a renegade Time Lord who stole a time machine from his people so that he could go off on adventures, saving the universe from all sorts of evils that lurk in the shadows.

~With his time machine he can go to any place in the universe at any time in the calendar—be it distant planets or here on earth, be it distant past or far in the future, the Doctor and his companions have been through so much.

~In some of the adventures, he has visited numerous historical figures: Marco Polo, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Queen Elizabeth 1, and so many others.

-Imagine having such a machine that you could go anywhere at any time and see anything you wanted. Where would you go? Who would you see?

-What if I told you that you have the capability to visit the greatest place in existence and visit the greatest being in existence, and you don’t even need a time machine to do it.

-God has granted us the privilege of coming into His presence at anytime from anywhere to fellowship with Him, bring our concerns, and to talk, and yet so few Christians actually do it. We know it as prayer.

-I am beginning a new series on prayer, calling it Summer of Prayer, and it’s rather timely to start such a series this week as Thursday is the National Day of Prayer.

-My hope is that the series not only teaches us what prayer is about, but that it is an encouragement to us all to start a daily prayer life if we have never really had one, or to increase the prayer life we may already have.

-In the passage we are looking at today, the author of Hebrews wrote that God’s provision of eternal rest has opened a way for sinful humanity to approach Him. And what we learn from this is that Christians are able to enjoy direct access to God at any time through prayer.

READ Hebrews 4:14-16

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

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 is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 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.

-I want to consider the Christian belief about prayer as having access to God:

1) The location of our access

-v. 16 tells us that we are to draw near to the THRONE OF GRACE. That is absolutely amazing—God says that we can walk right up His throne and commune with Him.

-God’s throne is in the heavenly temple, and now there is no barrier that prevents us from walking right into that temple and bringing our petitions before the Lord.

-Imagine that—nothing is stopping us from just walking right into God’s heavenly throne room to talk with Him.

~During biblical times, no one could just walk right up to a king. Even his advisors would have to be invited to address the king. You see in the book of Esther that, even being the king’s most cherished wife, she couldn’t just walk up to the king unless he extended his scepter to her.

-If that was the truth of the earthly kings, how much more true is it of the heavenly king. The Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) describe God creating His people Israel and being present with them in the tabernacle and then in the temple. But the Israelites couldn’t just walk up to the tabernacle or temple and walk right into Holy of Holies to be with God. Only the High Priest could do that, and that was only once a year.

-And not just anyone could be a High Priest. The Bible says that a priest had to be someone who was a descendant from Aaron, and then they had to be just about physically perfect. No one with a defect could act as priest, much less High Priest. They couldn’t have any blemish, or injured foot, or injured hand, or defect in their sight, or any sort of disease.

-Not just anyone could approach God on earth in the earthly tabernacle that was a picture of the heavenly throne room. But here is what the author of Hebrews tells us—we are able to draw near to God in His heavenly throne room at any time wherever we might be. It doesn’t matter what sort of physical defects we have and it doesn’t matter what kind of emotional baggage we might be carrying. We are able to come to the throne of grace.

-But, why do we have such a privilege?

2) The means of our access

-How is it that we can gain access to God in His heavenly throne room whenever we want? The author of Hebrews gives us the answer.

-He tells us that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens—we have Jesus Christ who completed everything that was necessary to bring down all the barriers between us and God, and now we can draw near at any time.

-This picture of Jesus as the High Priest looks to the Day of Atonement that God had set up for the Jews, and it pictured what Jesus would accomplish.

-On the Day of Atonement the High Priest would pick two lambs. One of the lambs would be sacrificed and its blood taken into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the cover of Ark of the Covenant. That cover is called the Mercy Seat and is a picture of God’s throne. The blood of the lamb would be sprinkled on this Mercy Seat to atone for sin. The High Priest would then lay his hands on the other lamb, confess the sins of the people over it, and it was led into the desert—symbolizing the people’s sins being taken away from them. This had to be done year after year, and even after that no one else could approach the throne.

-But Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God, sacrificed Himself—He spilled His own blood to atone for sins, and because of His sacrifice the sins of all who believe are carried away from them.

~When Jesus died, like our great High Priest, He entered into the heavenly temple and presented Himself before the Father who accepted the sacrifice. This sacrifice was once for all and applied to any and all who would believe in Him.

-That this brought us access to God is seen during the events of the crucifixion. When Jesus died, the large veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple split in two from top to bottom, symbolizing that access to God has now been granted. There no longer is a barrier to accessing God. The sin that defiled us has been washed clean. Our nature has been changed—we are new creatures that have been granted such a wonderful privilege.

-I think of all the security that surrounds the White House—gates, guards, cameras, etc. Not just anyone can get into the White House and not just anyone can see the President. If I were to walk up and go through the gate and try to open the door to the Oval Office I’d be quickly arrested and sent to prison for a long time. Not just anyone can see the president.

-Here’s the thing, while I talk about access to God in His heavenly throne room, not just anyone can do it. Only those who have trusted in Jesus Christ—those who have repented of sin and believed. And if that is you, there is nothing stopping you from accessing God at the throne of grace. That being the case, why wouldn’t you just walk right in and fellowship with the Lord who loved you enough to send His Son.

3) The attitude of our access

-v. 16 says that we can approach God with confidence. Now, notice it doesn’t say arrogance. We don’t approach God thinking that we’re all that (whatever that is). What it’s saying is that we are able to approach God without any hindrance, hesitation, or inhibition. We are able to approach Him through Jesus Christ without any thought of shame or guilt, because we have been freed and cleansed and are granted full access to God.

-And I think that is so important to know—we have full access. You know, there are some website services that if you pay this much per month you get the basic plan that gives you access to some things; you pay a little more per month you get the intermediate plan that gets you access to some more things; and if you pay a whole lot more per month you get the premium plan that get’s you access to everything.

~There’s no different levels of access to God—everybody in Jesus Christ has the same access (which is full and complete). God doesn’t hold some of Himself back for those who have this level of holiness or that level of holiness. All of us have full access, so we all can come before Him with confidence.

-That word CONFIDENCE in ancient Greek described the right of a citizen to speak his or her mind on any subject in the town assembly. It speaks of an openness to be able to be outspoken and plain, as well as the boldness to come forward to talk in the first place.

-Here’s our confidence—if we have been made clean in Christ, we can come before the throne of grace and talk about absolutely anything with God. If it’s important to us, it’s important to God.

~Sometimes we think that we will talk to God about big major things, but we don’t want to bother Him with smaller matters.

~Or sometimes we think the exact opposite—we talk about some minor details of the day, but we’re not sure he’d do anything about the major matters of life.

~We can’t limit God either way. He wants us to talk to Him about everything, and He wants to talk to us about everything. And we can boldly do it with complete freedom.

-Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says later in Hebrews 10:19-23

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:19–23 ESV)

-We can come to God with a true heart of faith with full assurance because of Christ. And in our passage, the author reminds us that He understands. It says that our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is able to sympathize with us because He was tried, tested, and tempted just like us, yet without sin.

-Here’s what that means: HE GETS US! HE UNDERSTANDS US! Sometimes we might not pray to God because we think that He just doesn’t understand.

~Teens sometimes think that their parents don’t get them or understand them, as if what they are going through is unique to them and their parents never experienced those things. But guess what teens? They did—I mean we may be old, and it may be a few years since we were teens, but we went through the same things. We do get you, we do understand you, and we do care.

-And it’s the same with God—Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, lived a real human life as a real human. He has been there and done that—so He gets us and He understands us. And because of that, we can draw near to the throne of grace with confidence knowing He does understand and He cares.

4) The gifts from our access

-At the end of v. 16 it says that we draw near the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

~He shows us mercy where we need mercy, He gives us grace to endure our experiences. Anything we might need, He is willing to give if we would approach Him and ask Him.

-The last phrase of the sentence literally says that we find grace for timely help. God gives timely help. He gives the right help at the right time. He gives what is needed at the appropriate moment. He doesn’t just give generic answers to everybody—what a person needs personally at that time is what He gives.

~I mean, imagine that you are working on some project at home, and you ask somebody to hand you the tools you need when you ask for them. So, you ask them for a hammer, but they give you stud finder. Then you ask them for a screwdriver, but they hand you a saw. Then you ask them for a wrench, but they give you drill.

~I mean, technically they’re giving you something when you ask, but they’re not giving you what you need when you ask for it.

-But that’s not God. God doesn’t just throw out random answers to prayer that have nothing to do with us and what’s going on.

~Do you remember going to parades and people on floats would throw candy and stuff for the kids to pick up off the street as they went by. They were just randomly throwing stuff out, and they didn’t care who got what.

~God’s just not randomly throwing out blessings and whoever happens to get them gets them. God personally ushers someone into His presence, hears their petitions, and gives timely help.

-The same God who gave His Son for us, will He not give us anything and everything else we need? Not necessarily what we want, but what we need. But we have to approach Him and ask Him first. We have not because we ask not.

~Oh, that we would come to Him in prayer—we have full access to the throne.

Conclusion

-There was a woman named Sherene who had drifted away from God and just lived for the world. She moved in with her boyfriend, though with him having bad credit everything was placed in her name. One night someone rang her doorbell and delivered a package to her. The label had her name and address on it, but she didn’t remember ordering anything. But she accepted it just assuming that her boyfriend ordered it and put it in her name. She didn’t think anything of it and just put the package down.

~A few minutes later the police came and searched the premises. Inside that package in her name in her house was a kilo of coke and a bag with thousands of dollars of cash.

~She was arrested and charged with possession with intent to deliver, was given a high bail that she couldn’t afford, and was looking at decades in prison. Sherene had never done drugs, and it was not hers, but because it had her name on it and the house was in her name she was charged. The boyfriend did nothing to help her.

~When she was her most desperate, thinking all was lost, she remembered some of God’s Word she learned all those years ago, especially parts that said to come to the throne of grace. She went to the Lord in prayer and poured out her soul to God. She did this constantly through the days while waiting in her jail cell.

~I don’t have time to explain it all, but seemingly miracle after miracle occurred, and eventually the charges were dropped and her name was restored. When she was free she got reconnected with her church family and has served the Lord ever since.

-Christian, you don’t have to wait until everything falls apart to go to God in prayer. You have full access right now to the throne of grace. You want the church to have more success for the kingdom? Pray about it. You concerned about what’s going on in the world? Pray about it.

~The Bible doesn’t say to complain about things or fret about things it says to pray about things.

~And here is my challenge to you—I want everyone here and everyone watching at home to commit to pray at least 10 minutes a day and see what kind of awesome things God does. 10 minutes a day. Do it at home, at work, in the car, in the shower, whatever. If you give the TV and your phone hours each day, you can give God 10 minutes.

~And maybe today you want to come to the altar to pray that God helps you to pray. Or come to the altar and bear your burdens before Him….

-But some here might not have access to God, because they have never trusted in Christ…