This is the Scripture-Driven Church broadcast brought to you by Teaching the Word Ministries. The Church of Jesus Christ must be the Scripture-Driven Church relying on God's inspired and inerrant Word as our sole authority and our infallible critic in every area of life and ministry. And now, here's author, Bible teacher, and Teaching the Word president, Dr. Paul Elliott, to introduce today's program. Today we are continuing a series of messages titled, Remembering the Reformation. On today's program, you will hear the second part of a message titled, The Believer's Priceless Privilege. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, God's people rediscovered great privileges that had long been veiled in the darkness of Roman Catholicism. We read of one of the greatest of those privileges in Hebrews chapter 4. That privilege is to come boldly before the throne of the God of the universe with our petitions and needs. Dear friend, do you understand that great privilege? Are you taking advantage of it? Stay tuned to learn more as we look at this marvelous truth from the book of Hebrews chapter 4 beginning at verse 12. Heavenly Father, again today it is our privilege to look into your Word and to see that the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ possesses great and precious promises. As we look into the Scriptures today, I pray that your Holy Spirit will meet the need of each listener. Father, may believers who are listening be built up and encouraged in the faith. And if anyone is listening who is not a believer, and therefore has no present access to these great privileges, I pray that this may be the hour in which you would bring that soul to saving faith in your Son and open the door to your throne of grace. I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. And now, dear friends, I invite you to turn in your Bible to Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, as we continue this message. The reason we need to be diligent to enter into the rest that is in Christ and not fall away is because you cannot fool God. In verses 12-15, make it clear, make it plain why this is true. There are three reasons. First of all, the Word of God reveals who you are. As verse 12 tells us, God's Word is a discerner. In the original language, it's actually the word kritikos, or critic. The Word is a critic of your thoughts and intentions. No earthly priest can be that. No earthly system can do that. But the Word of God is a critic of your thoughts and your intentions. You need the Word of God to speak to you and to tell you if you're truly resting in Christ. We're not fit to judge this on our own. We're not fit to have some other man judge this for us. This judgment must be by the Word of God alone. Our feelings rise and fall. Circumstances change. Circumstances can confuse us. We need to rely upon the Word of God as our discerner, our critic. And the scriptures have the life and power, they're living and powerful to do that for us. So first of all, God's word reveals who you are. Secondly, you cannot hide anything from God. In verse 13, the writer reminds us that all things are naked and open before the one with whom we have to do. or a more accurate translation would be, before the one to whom we must give account. What you are, who you are, what you do, what you think, these things are all laid bare before God. None of it's hidden. Naked and open, you don't get any more plain spoken than that. The two-edged sword of God's Word has once and for all laid open everything that you are, everything about you. You cannot hide anything from God. You might be able to hide things from an earthly priest, an earthly mediator, but you cannot hide anything from the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And thirdly, the writer also reminds us that Jesus understands your situation from first-hand experience. In verses 14 and 15, we're told that the one to whom we must give an account is also our high priest. He understands what we're going through in this life from first-hand experience in human flesh. The God of the universe, Philippians 2, took on the form of a servant was found in the likeness of men, God and man in the same body, unmixed. He was tested in all points as we are. In all the points where you and I fail, He was tested, yet without sin. So God possesses complete and intimate knowledge of us, everything. But how does that tie back to the idea of entering into God's rest in the previous verses? If that is true, if we looked at that and that were simply true by itself, divorced from other truth, that fact might cause us to squirm and struggle. But The inspired writer is telling us that it is a vital fact, a day-to-day part of entering into that rest from works, that we rest in the God who knows it all. The God who knows it all. If you are truly resting in Christ for your salvation, then one of the outworkings or evidences of your faith in Christ should be that you are resting day by day in the intercession of the Lord. His intercession at the Father on your behalf. The Apostle Paul, Colossians chapter 3 verse 1 says, if indeed you're risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And that brings us to verse 16. Verse 16 tells us how we should come before God, what our expectation should be as we come. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The one who knows all extends grace and mercy. Let us therefore come, says the writer. In the original, this speaks of approaching or drawing near. It was a term that was used in that time to describe what took place when someone came into the court of a monarch or a ruler. We need to remember that we're drawing near, we're approaching the holy God and sovereign of the universe. And verse 16 says, let us therefore come There's another connective. In other words, because these things are so, let us therefore come because, verse 9, there remains a rest for the people of God in Christ. Let us come, verse 10, because we need to cease from reliance on works. Let us come because you need to be diligent to enter into your rest in Christ. Let us come because God's word reveals who you are and what you are. Let us come because God knows you intimately. You cannot hide anything from him. And let us come because Jesus is a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, because Jesus was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. Because of all these things, the writer says, let us therefore come. And not only that, he says, let us come boldly, boldly. Now, the word that's used here does not mean let us come brashly or presumptuously or without proper respect or reverence, but it does tell us about two aspects of our coming. First, how we may speak to our Lord, and second, the attitude with which we may come to him. The word boldly in the original language encompasses a number of things. It's a very rich word. It says that we may have freedom in speaking as we approach the Lord. Freedom in speaking. It says that within the bounds of reverence, we may be unreserved in our speech before our God. We may, and indeed we should, speak to our God openly, frankly, without concealment. Man to man, human being to human being. There would be the inclination to be concealing things from a human mediator. But we need not do that with God. And the word boldly also speaks of our attitude in coming to the throne of grace. It tells us that we may come, this is all in this rich word, we may come with free and fearless confidence. with cheerful courage, with assurance, that as a believer in Christ, you have the right to come and God wants you to come. And we're also reminded here that we come before a throne. In the original language, in the cultural context in which the book of Hebrews was written, This denoted something very specific. This throne is not just a chair, but it was the word that was used in that time to denote a chair of state. A chair of state. And it was a chair with a footstool. It was a seat of authority. And the footstool was the figure of the fact that territories and peoples were under the authority of the one who sat on the chair. That's the specific word that's here. Jesus is the one who now sits at the Father's right hand and he rules from there. When we approach the throne of grace, we have the confidence that the one who is seated there has all authority in heaven and in earth. There is nothing that we ask that he is not capable of doing. All things are under the control of our God. You come before one who lacks no ability to move anything in heaven or earth, anywhere in his creation to help you in your time of need. All things are subject to his will. You're coming before the very chair of state of the universe, the control center of all things. That's where we're coming. And we're also reminded that this is a throne of grace. In the original, the phrase is literally the throne of the grace. There's a definite article there. It's a specific way of speaking. The sense here is that the throne of grace is the throne from which grace proceeds or emanates. It's the source. It reminds us that the grace that we so desperately need first for salvation and then for day to day living, that that grace originates and proceeds from the authority and the sovereignty of God. And there are two aspects to the term grace here. First, it's speaking of saving grace, grace in the sense of God's merciful kindness in exerting His influence on men's souls to turn them from their sin to Christ and preserve them in the faith. If you're trusting in Christ for your salvation, you can approach God because you have been the beneficiary of that grace. And secondly, grace here speaks of that which is on account of or due to saving grace. In the original language, this speaks of the spiritual condition of a person who's governed by the power of divine grace. It speaks about the tokens or the benefits or the proofs that that grace has been extended. In other words, when you approach God's throne as a believer, You can be confident of his benefits toward you because of the grace he has already extended in saving you. And the writer reminds us that we come before the throne of grace for a reason. We come in order that we may obtain. We can expect something at the throne of grace. And here again, this is a very interesting thing in the original language. There are different words that could be used here, but the Holy Spirit is always very specific. What is it we can expect to obtain when we come? Well, first of all, mercy. And there are several words in the New Testament for mercy, but the particular word that's used here, it's used several times in the New Testament to describe God's attitude toward his people when they are in distress. It speaks not simply of feeling pity for someone, but of actually doing something about it. That's God's attitude toward us. It's one thing to have pity on someone. We can do that. We might read of a situation of some calamity or distress that someone is going through in another country, and we may have pity on them, but we can't do anything, oftentimes, to help them. But that's not the kind of pity this passage speaks of. The word here assumes need on the part of the one who receives mercy, but it also assumes capability on the part of the one who extends mercy. And that this capable mercy giver has the resources that are adequate to meet the need of the one who is in distress. and that the person who has those resources at his disposal takes the initiative to help. That is our God. He not only shows us pity in our need, but he also has all the resources necessary to meet our needs. He reaches out to us in our need. He does something about our need. And the writer also reminds us when we shall receive mercy and grace to help us. It will be, he says, in time of need. And literally this means well-timed or timely. We must remember that Christ's intercessory work for us is on his timetable. It's on his timetable. We may tend to grow impatient, waiting for answers. We may fear that God hasn't heard us, hasn't heard the thing that we're pleading with him about. We may think that the answer isn't coming because there's something wrong with us. And we certainly need to examine our lives. We need to make sure there is no unconfessed sin standing between us and our God. But the writer here reminds us that we come before the throne of grace through the merits of Christ. We don't come on the basis of our own works. We don't come on the basis of what somebody else, another human being says about our state. We come on the basis of what God says. And the writer here reminds us that Christ, our intercessor, not only knows exactly what we need, but he knows exactly when we need it for his glory and for our good. Let me sum this up for you by giving you perhaps a more literal, direct translation of Hebrew chapter 4, verse 16. From the original language, it would be like this. Approach, therefore, in freedom of speech and fearless confidence, the throne of grace. In order that receiving mercy, pity, compassion, and grace, you may find help that is perfectly timed and perfectly suited to your specific need. That is truly rest for the soul. And this is the promise of God. And this was a great principle that was brought back out of darkness at the Reformation, that we may have that rest in God through Christ. Dear friend, let me ask you questions. If you are a believer in Christ, and I trust that all of you are, I believe these questions are ones that we should be continually asking ourselves as Christians. The first question is this, are you taking full advantage of your position in Christ by truly resting in him? Are you truly resting in and relying upon his intercessory work on your behalf? Are you doing that? Or do you struggle in your sinful flesh to try to make inadequate and ill-timed substitutes for His gracious and perfectly timed provision? Are you doing that or are you looking to Christ as the one perfect source of all grace, of all help? Secondly, are you honest with the Lord about yourself? Are you honest with Him about your needs and your temptations? Do you really desire his help? Do you really seek his help and his deliverance in time of need, even at the very moment of need, instead of trusting to your own inadequate resources, the resources of the flesh? Perhaps this evening, all of us need to do business with God about these questions. I know I certainly do. As we allow the word of God to search our hearts, no doubt we must all confess failings regarding these questions. We all need to resolve by God's grace to rest more fully in the intercession of Christ. But let me also say a word to you this evening, if you may be here and you know that you've never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior from sin and death and hell, you really don't know the reality at all of what we've been talking about this evening. First Timothy chapter two tells us that God, our savior, will have all men to be saved. and to come under the knowledge of the truth, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. If you will come to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, confessing that you are a sinner, confessing that you need to turn from your sins and receive the gift of eternal life that he has purchased for sinners with his own blood on the cross, If you will come before His throne on that basis tonight, come to the throne of grace. He has promised you that you will find grace to help in time of need. And the first thing that you will have, first of all, is His grace to meet your greatest and first need, and that is salvation. Here once again is Dr. Paul Elliott with some closing comments. You can obtain your copy of the book called Authority by going to our website teachingtheword.org and clicking the contact link on our homepage. Just let us know that you would like to receive the book called Authority and be sure to give us your complete name and mailing address. If you're listening in North America, you can call us toll-free anytime 24 hours a day at 888-804-9655. Once again, our toll-free number for listeners in North America is 888-804-9655. If you hear a recorded message when you call, please leave a voicemail message telling us you would like to receive the book called Authority and how we can contact you, and we will return your call as soon as possible. You can also request the book called Authority by Writing to us at Teaching the Word Ministries, Box 2533, Westminster, Maryland, 21158 USA. Once again, our mailing address is Teaching the Word Ministries, Box 2533, Westminster, Maryland, 21158 USA. And once again, this resource is free to anyone who requests it anywhere in the world as our gift to you. Thanks for listening today. I hope that you will join us again next time as we continue our series of messages, Remembering the Reformation. Thank you very much for your prayers and your support. Until next time, may God richly bless your personal study of His inspired, infallible, inerrant Word. of God.