Bold access to the throne of grace 2
kee yip paul sin / General
• In Celebrate Recovery, I notice that people does not have a bold or confidence access to the throne of grace
• They should because it is there for us, there should have nothing holding us back to it
• God’s grace is free for the taking
• But in reality, there seems to be a wall that is separated us from that grace
• Many times after a lesson in CR, people will come up to me or share in their group that they needed to hear that lesson.
• It is like they are living deep in a well and that the word of God had broke through and lifted they out into the light.
• I believe the devil with sin had influence us with doubts, hurts, shame, guilt, broken relationships, despair and lies in this world and keep us busy thinking about these things that we can’t see clearly over the wall
• But the truth of the Bible can open a clear path for us to walk through to the throne of grace
• Today’s scripture shows us that truth.
• Let us pray
• Let’s read together the scripture of today
Hebrews 4:14–16 NIV
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
• end of chapter 3 and beginning of chapter 4 talks about the rest of God and how we can enter it.
• the first action item is to hold firmly to the faith we profess
Hold firmly to the faith we profess
• Why do we need to hold on to the faith?
• It is because there is a force that is pulling us the other way.
• it is that wall that is hiding the throne of grace, the rest of God
• I went to buy some Chinese bbq the other day, and had a evangelical conversation with the owner
• she told me don’t waste your breath, I believe in this idol
• She have no faith in Jesus what so ever to hold on to
• So I gave her some of mine
• I told her if she accept Jesus today, I will take down her idol for her
• She starts to reveal the core of her unbelief
• her son is a Christian
• when he came to Christ, the pastor went and took down the idols in his house
• She told me, her son lost his job and bad things happened to him after he believed in Jesus
• I told her bad things happens to people that pray to idols too
• and she stop me there and told me that the pastor was really nice but die young from cancer
• I told her that everybody dies, it is where you go when you die that matters
• eternal life with God or eternal damnation
• But in this life, it is not our circumstances that change but our person changes
• She thinks that her idol is stronger and bigger than Jesus, therefore, she is blocked from the throne of grace
• Well, professing Christians also are blocked from the throne of grace
• my friend called me and asked me to pray for her recently
• she does this time and time again
• she understands that prayer helps and she believes in God
• But she can not hold on to the faith that she profess
• she continue to struggle
• She have a boy who in high school now that have autism.
• her daughter when she was 13 develop lupus
• the husband is in denial and does not help much
• and recently she have to deal with a tenant from hell
• She is at the blink of collapse when she called me
• I believe fear is the wall that is keeping her from the throne of grace
• She feels God is punishing her for not going to church on Sunday.
• We see these kind of people all the time as ministers
• We are called to be minister of the throne of grace
• not just pastors and ministers, but Christians as well
• And it is not from our own power, but the power of Christ in us
• It is that change life in Christ helps us to have a faith to profess and hold on to and share with
Jesus, the great high priest
• many people face temptation and give up and walk away from their profess faith
• The Hebrew writer is writing to some second generation Jewish Christians that had gone back to the old ways
• I had minister to two generations of children and youth
• when they gone to college, 60% of them walked away from their faith
• I own up to it and know that it was my fault not to equip them better to hold on to their faith
• many are coming to church because of their parents
• They don’t have much of a faith to speak of as they go into the real world
• They were not warn
Hebrews 2:1 ESV
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
• warns us to pay close attention so we don’t drift away
Hebrews 2:2 ESV
2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
• Hebrews 2:2 warns us that every transgression or disobedience receives a just retribution,
Hebrews 2:3 ESV
3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
• It is not because of our disobedience but we neglect such a great salvation
• And that is Jesus, Son of God coming to earth to die for our sins, rose again in three days, and ascended into heaven, sitting on the right side of God interceding for us
• instead, we chose to earn grace
• What can we do to gain standing in front of the throne of grace?
• When I was in sales, I was in the president’s club
• I worked hard and was one of the top sales of the company
• But in order to keep my standing, I have to preform every year
• But our standing with Jesus is permanent
• He had paid it all, it is finish
• I told my friend that if she truly believe in Jesus, she is a child of God
• a permanent standing with God
• nothing can separate God’s love from you
• That seems to help her
• There great power in the word of God
Hebrews 4:14 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.
• In the OT, the priest represents the congregation to go in front of God
• once a year he would pass through the curtain into the Holy of Holies to offer sin scarifies
• so when the priest is accepted, the people are accepted
• But now we have a great high priest, Jesus, the Son of God
• He didn’t just go through the curtain
• He torn the certain and gone through heaven
Matthew 27:51 ESV
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
• and passed through heaven in His resurrection and ascension
John 3:13 ESV
13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
• He is the only one, on one else
• and because of it, our standing in front of God is accepted
• not by our efforts but by the great high priest Jesus, the Son of God
• That is the profession that we need to hold on to
Jesus, the wounded Healer
Hebrews 4:15 ESV
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.
• Jesus is not only the great high priest
• He is also the sacrifice Himself
• and because of His descend from heaven to earth, He understands the temptations of the world
• He was temped in all the ways that we are temped and yet without sin
•
• Alcoholic Anonymous’s big book said that the most effective way for a alcoholic to recover is from the support and help of a recover alcoholic
• when we go to someone for help, we want to go to someone that understand with what we had gone through
• and that person is Jesus
• Jesus can understand and sympathize with our temptation because He had gone through it as man
• and He had conquered all temptation it without sin
Hebrews 4:15 ESV
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.
• Jesus might not have face the exact same temptation that you are facing right now,
• but at the basic root of all temptation of man, He had certainly encounter them and had overcome them and emerge victoriously from the struggle
• I want to be healthy, I want to eat better
• I don’t want to eat so much
• but how can you understand me if you don’t crave for food like I do?
• I think about lunch when I am eating breakfast
• thinking about dinner when I am eating lunch
• If you never being poor, how can you understand a person that is poor
• That is how Celebrate Recovery works
• We come to confess that we need help
• our shortcomings, resentments, and sins
• as a group we support each other to seek God’s throne of grace
• because of what Jesus’s truth had done, we are find freedom from our fears, guilts
• our pain are ease and we starts to accept God in our life
Psalm 32:3–5 ESV
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
1. acknowledge that we need help
2. accept the help of Jesus, the great High Priest
3. Be set free live a prosper life
•
Proverbs 28:13 ESV
13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
• and God will never waste a hurt
• as you recover, you are able to help others to recover as well
• you becomes the representation of Jesus in sympathize with others
• you become the wound healer yourself in Christ
• in CR we have lessons 25 weeks of the year, and testimony 25 weeks of the year.
• That is when bs and ss share their recovery journey with the group
• it is very important in the process of recovery
Hebrews 4:16 ESV
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.
• Therefore, the throne of judgement had become the throne of grace
• As Jesus, the son of God came and fittingly becomes our brother
• saving us from our transgressions and sins
• The wrath of God had became God’s rest
• The all mighty God, the righteous God had become our Father in heaven
• our Abba Father
• He is not like the father we have on earth
• He provides prefect peace and love
• My father loves me too but he does not know how to show it
Psalm 56:8 MSG
8 You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.
• He knows us intimately
• Because of Jesus, we can draw near to the throne of grace anytime when we need help
• Jesus had broken down the wall that is separated us from the throne of grace
• trust in Jesus
Hold fast your confession
come boldly to the throne of grace
show others to it as well