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welcome to everyone if you have your Bibles you can turn in to the Psalms Psalm 113 for our call to worship Psalm 113 I'll begin reading in verse 1 praise the Lord praise o servants of the Lord praise the name of the Lord blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore from the rising of the Sun to its going down the lord's name is to be praised the Lord is high above all nations his glory above the heavens who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth he raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the ashy that he may seed him with Prince's with the princes of his people he grants the barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children praise the Lord a man will please turn in your Trinity hymnals to number 315 him number 315 will stand as we sing together you our God and Father we thank you for this opportunity to gather together again to worship the living in the true God we acknowledge that from everlasting to everlasting you are God you are blessed and wonderful and glorious and worthy to be praised and we thank you Father Son and Holy Spirit for so great a salvation we acknowledge your works of creation and Providence and we marvel at the way that you have made this world and the way that you sustain it on this Sabbath day we remember in particular the work of redemption and how we thank you Father that you chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world we thank you that you sent him into this world to live and to die and to rise again we thank you for the ministry and the work of the Holy Spirit in taking that accomplished redemption and applying it to your left father we praise you for calling us out of darkness and a marvelous light and we pray that tonight you would receive our praise and our our worship and that it would be pleasing in your sight we ask our God in heaven that you would be well pleased to look with favor upon this local church she would cause each and every one of us to approach you in spirit and in truth may there be a reverence and a fear before such a holy and an awesome God may there as well be great rejoicing as we consider your mercy and your grace toward us we ask our Father that you would have mercy upon us now and she would forgive us for all of our sins and our transgressions we acknowledge God that you have saved us to be conformed unto the image of your beloved son we confess our transgression of your holy law that we do not live as we ought and how we thank you that there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared and even now we pray you would cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we ask as well for endian any and all who have come here tonight who have yet to taste and see that the Lord is good we pray that you'd open their ears in their hearts to the preaching of the gospel tonight we pray that you would give them the ability to believe on the Lord Jesus and to turn from their sins that they may know the joy of being found in Christ not having their own righteousness which is from the law but having that righteousness which is from you received by faith alone we ask our father that you would look with favor upon each and everyone here tonight as well God be with those who are unable to attend to the worship of the Living God this evening we have many sick in our midst and we commit them to you and to the word of your grace and we pray that you'd uphold and and encourage each and every one we ask our Father that you would bless those ladies who are pregnant we thank you for the gift of life the Bible says the children are a gift given by you and we acknowledge that and we pray for these mothers and for their little ones that in your timing these ones would be born one day God we pray that they would be born again and we pray that for all of our children and for our young people that they by grace would remember their Creator in their youth she would be merciful and gracious and good to them and that they Lord God would walk in the truth we ask that you would be gracious as well to other churches in our community we thank you that we're not alone here we thank you that there are other places where the gospel is preached and we pray that you would prosper them that they would know the nearness and the goodness of God in their midst that you would bless those ministers that proclaim the whole counsel of God that you would use them father to call sinners to repentance and faith and to continue to sanctify and build up the churches of our Lord Jesus we ask that you would be gracious in this land as a whole we see such wickedness and we see such rebellion against a holy God we see it from the highest levels in in government to everyday life and we acknowledge this God and we pray to you that in your wrath you would remember mercy you would send forth your spirit and that you would revive your people and awaken those who are dead in their trespasses and sins we pray you would put the fear of God in the hearts of man that that are in high places that they would no longer encourage the the slaughter of babies and sodomy among among men and women and they would no longer encourage euthanasia god we see these as great great sins and we know that we are unholy men and women how they must appear to a holy and a righteous God it cannot look upon sin approvingly Lord we can only cry to you that you would be merciful that you would send forth your glorious gospel cause it to run swiftly and be glorified and may a multitude turn from their idols to the true and the Living God our Father we pray for other churches in our association we thank you for the the grace reformed baptist church in palmdale california we thank you for that gospel witness in that part of the world and we pray that you would prosper them cause them to flourish and cause them to know the the goodness of God upon their public meetings and upon their efforts to proclaim the gospel to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins we thank you that Pastor Barcelos can be with us this evening we pray that you would fill him with the Holy Spirit that you would use him to preach the Word of God and Lord send him back refreshed and revived in his own spirit and cause him to take the work that you've entrusted to him and to to glorify you on a daily basis and may he be a faithful Shepherd to that flock there in palmdale we thank you as well for the Lynn Bloods and kirkland we thank you for Tom lion and tacoma we pray for Emmanuel and see talk that you would provide for them a shepherd Lord God that would be able to preach and teach the word of truth we ask that you would look with favor upon each of these churches that God we would shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation and that we would indeed hold forth the word of truth continue with us now we pray and we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ amen well please turn in your Trinity Salter to Psalm 96 Saul 96 will stand as we sing together Oh is Laurie you Oh you you Oh you may turn in your Bibles to the prophet Ezekiel will be reading Ezekiel chapter eight this evening this particular particular section verses are chapters 8 to 11 record the departure of God's glory remember the particular context that Ezekiel is ministering in the city of Jerusalem along with the temple is about to be destroyed by the Babylonians and so we see here the particular sin of idolatry in chapter 8 one of the reasons for the departure of God's glory we will begin in chapter 8 at verse 1 and it came to pass in the sixth year in the sixth month on the fifth day of the month as i sat in my house with the elders of judah sitting before me that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there then I looked and there was a likeness like the appearance of fire from the appearance of his waist and downward fire and from his waist and upward like the appearance of brightness like the color of amber he stretched out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my hair and the spirit lifted me up between Earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem to the door of the north gate of the inner court where the seat of the image of jealousy was which provokes to jealousy and behold the glory of the God of Israel was there like the vision that I saw in the plane then he said to me son of man lift your eyes now toward the north so I lifted my eyes toward the north and they're north of the altar gate was this image of jealousy in the entrance furthermore he said to me son of man do you see what they are doing the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here to make me go far away from my sanctuary now turn again you will see greater abominations so he brought me to the door of the court and when I looked there was a hole in the wall then he said to me son of man dig into the wall and when I dog into the wall there was a door and he said to me go in and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there so I saw and there every sort of creeping thing abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed all around on the walls and there stood before them 70 men of the elders of the house of Israel and in their midst stood Jays ania the son of shaphan each man had a sensor in his hand and a thick cloud of incense went up then he said to me son of man have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark every man in the room of his idols for they say the Lord does not see us the Lord has forsaken the land and he said to me turn again and you will see greater abominations that they are doing so he brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord's house and to my dismay women were sitting there weeping for tablets then he said to me have you seen this O son of man turn again you will see greater abominations than these so he brought me into the inner Court of the Lord's house and there at the door of the temple of the Lord between the porch and the altar were about 25 men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east and they were worshiping the Sun toward the east and he said to me have you seen this o son of man is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here for they have filled the land with violence then they have returned to provoke me to anger indeed they put the branch to their nose therefore I also will act in fury my I will not spare nor will I have pity and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice I will not hear them amen well as the Lord God instructs the prophet Ezekiel he continues to press and he continues to say can you believe what they are doing that's the thrust or the sense here in chapter 8 the nation of Israel we have not gotten to the prophecies concerning the nation surrounding Israel this is primarily Israel and Judah in particular in view the people of God the covenant community of God the people who live in the holy city of Jerusalem who have the temple and they are idolaters in several instances in several times in this chapter God sets forth this idolatry to them want you to notice just a couple of things specifically in the text verse 12 then he said to me son of man have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark every man in the room of his idols for they say the Lord does not see us the Lord has forsaken the land you see what we believe concerning God affects the way we live before God we've seen that in the book of Romans we see that oftentimes associated with idolatry when men reject the true and the Living God then all manner of wickedness flow as a result they are arguing as practical atheists the Lord does not see us the Lord has forsaken the land well certainly the Lord is forsaking the land because the nation of Israel is gone whoring after other gods they are worshiping idols and they are engaged in this sort of wickedness within the city and the temple itself and then the final thing we ought to appreciate is the wrath and the fury and the judgment of God therefore verse 18 I will I also will act in fury my I will not spare normal I have pity and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice I will not hear them the nation of Israel had filled up the measure of their guilt God's covenant curses we're going to come upon them visa vie the destruction of the city and of the temple I'm going to cause us or I'm going to ask us to reflect on this as we continue in our studies in Matthew I propose that Jesus is doing the same thing in Matthew 21 to 24 as what we find here in the prophet Ezekiel is what we find elsewhere in the prophets when they foretold the destruction that would come to the people for their having rejected the Covenant of God well let us pray our Father we thank you for your word and we pray that you would help us to take heed and help us to see your majesty revealed in Scripture help us to see the waywardness and the wickedness of men and help us God to guard our own hearts as John tells us at the end of his First Epistle little children keep yourselves from idols this isn't something that is that is confined to the Old Covenant nation of Israel this is something that we can do as well we would pray father in heaven that you would cause us to maintain allegiance to the triune god of Holy Scripture and cause us to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness and cause us to be in men and women that that want to serve and glorify you the living in the true God and to kill those idols in our own hearts and lives and we pray these things through Christ Jesus our Lord amen well for our final hymn you can turn to number 50 in your Trinity hymnal him number 50 and will stand as we sing together please be seated well this is the going on the 26th year that I've known pastor richard barcelos longer how more than half of my life don't know if that's for better for worse less than half of my life this evening I'd like to look at Hebrews chapter for just one verse Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 a very familiar verse most likely to most of you let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need I will be arguing and very simple to see this that the writer forgive me if I say the Apostle sometimes and you disagree with that I think the Apostle Paul wrote it so if I say the Apostle I mean Paul and if I'm wrong there's still a human author it doesn't matter if it's Paul or not matters that this is the word of God anyway it's quite clear from reading this verse and then other verses in the book of Hebrews that the writer is talking about approaching God in prayer in verse 16 so this is a sermon on prayer a prayer is a interesting part of the Christian life we are as confessional reformed Baptists we're committed to this statement that you can find in our confession of faith chapter 14 paragraph 1 prayers amines through its the grace of faith is increased and strengthened that is something happens in us and to us by God's blessing through the means of prayer and I think you'll see that here in this passage or in this versus we look at it if you're like me this is one of those verses that you memorized at some point in your Christian life it makes it somewhat familiar hopefully not overly familiar I think when we understand this verse properly it a great encouragement it affords a great comfort of soul for all believers and when properly understood and applied of great encouragement now we have a context we have to deal with here our offer is arguing most likely to a group of professing Christians who were tempted to go back to the religion of the Old Testament he is arguing that the Messiah promised in the Old Testament has come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and there's no need to go back a matter of fact that would be a retro aggression that be going backwards and on the redemptive time clock it would be wrong it would be apostasy to do that so he's arguing for the centrality the the premacy the primacy of our Lord Jesus Christ he is arguing in this section as for our Lord Jesus Christ being much better than any priest who's ever existed prior to him priests exist existed prior to Christ and they all in some form or some fashion failed they were sinful and they but they still pointed to the ones for all priestly high priest our Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 4 verse 14 where we read seen then that we have a great high priest that refers to our Lord Jesus Christ the the author assures us that our high priest has been exalted to heaven that means he's accomplished his work the accomplishment of redemption has taken place and then he gets exalted as resurrection and then he gets ascended into heaven and he sits down and now he's in the posture of enthronement dispensing that was he procured in his life unto death obedience rewarded by resurrection on the earth in other words what he did on the earth we call Redemption accomplished what he's now doing from heaven the right hand of the Father is applying His redemptive works applying the benefits that a one that he procured heard that he earned for sinners he's now in the business of application that makes him much better than all the other priests that have that of that have existed they had to continually offer up sacrifice first for themselves and then for the people Christ offered himself up once for our behalf and all that he earned all that he gained by that for us he now gives to us in light of what he did for us so as a result of this exaltation of Christ seen then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the Son of God as a result of that he encourages the readers hold fast our confession so remember the context these people were waffling on whether or not Jesus was the promised Messiah the Old Testament the author assures them he is therefore hold fast your confession after encouraging them to hold fast their confession which wasn't an easy thing to do in their day under the circumstances he assures them that our high priest our Lord Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses and knows what is it what is like it is like to be tempted as he said is here in verse 15 in all points tempted as we are yet without sin the devil if you recall back however many sermons ago in Matthew chapter 4 tempted our Lord Jesus in the wilderness specifically for forty days in chapter two of the book of Hebrews verse 18 our author tells us for in that he himself has suffered being tempted he is able to aid those who are tempted in other words we have a sympathetic high priest somebody who has gone through the rigor of the temptations and who did not succumb to them so our Lord Jesus now in heaven knows what it's like to be tempted in all areas of life the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the boastful pride of life he knows what it's like to suffer loss he did that while on the earth he knows what it's like to experience the betrayal of family members he had that happen to him while he was on the earth he knows the sorrow involved with the defection of close friends he felt the pain of that while it was on the earth he knows the pain of losing a loved one he knows all that by experience in our nature during the days of his humiliation let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need so let's look at this verse i have several headings for i believe five the first is this notice the simple exhortation let us come boldly to the throne of grace the simple exhortation is let us come some versions say let us draw near and the reason why they say draw near because that's a unique word in the book of Hebrews that most likely refers to drawing near or coming to God approaching God in a sacred manner for sacred purposes this is not just a generic kind of a concept this is that this is this is prayer language here an older writer puts it this way let us draw near in a holy sacred manner according to God's appointment that is with our prayers and supplications and that's what he goes on and says here so the simpler exhortation is let us come let us pray basically is what he's saying a second notice the basis for the exhortation let us therefore come let us therefore come so this exhortation has a ground has a basis upon which it's made because of something else therefore let us come boldly therefore points back to the previous verses i believe which form the basis of the exhortation which we already looked at his exaltation into glory into the heavens Jesus the Son of God because he has a great high priest and he's done his work he's accomplished Redemption let us hold fast our confession and he's a sympathetic high priest so this therefore points us back to verses 14 and 15 we recorded to pray for mercy and grace due to the priesthood of Christ an older writer this one John Owen says this faiths consideration of the interposition of Christ everybody knows what that word means right interposition of Christ he's talking about his priesthood priest is somebody who speaks or acts on behalf of man toward God a prophet is somebody who acts on behalf of God toward man speaks on behalf of God toward man a priest speaks or acts on behalf of man to God he says here faiths consideration of the priesthood of Christ in our behalf as our high priest is the only way to remove discouragements and to give us boldness in our access unto God now it's very important that he says it that way because look what the text says it says let us therefore come boldly now sometimes you might it read my tree might read it this way let us therefore come come boldly okay I think it's more like let us therefore because of what the author has just said because our high priest accomplished redemption because our priest ascended into heaven because our high priest using language from other passages has sat down he's finished his work that is the that's where their four comes and that's where the boldness comes as well so in other words because Christ lived and died for us because Christ has been exalted because he is sympathetic with our weaknesses because he too was tempted as we are therefore pray to Him for mercy and grace he's done his work and therefore gorph go fetch mercy and grace for him thirdly the disposition of soul necessary in order to obey this exhortation our version here says bold boldly other versions say let us draw near with confidence the new king james says boldly know there's at least two ways you can take that one way is this way to pray with boldness in our souls in the sense of being courageous or lion-hearted most people have been her prayer meeting where somebody prays and you think yourself wow that was a bold prayer you know it's usually loud right and then it's usually has long syllable words and its ug maybe quotes a lot of Scripture and we think boy that's a bold prayer you could take it that way where it refers to a disposition within our souls and about our souls or we can take it this way we're to pray with confidence or with boldness not in the confidence of the strength of our own hearts not with a boldness concerning the disposition of our own soul or not due to a certain degree of what I might call lion-hearted pneus but confidence not in the temperature of our heart but confidence in the truths that form the basis of the exhortation you see the difference one is wow that's a bold prayer the other is I might be weak and feeble and I can't pray very loud I can't string a bunch of long syllable words together I can't even recall scriptures that I've memorized 4 30 40 50 years but I'm a sinner in need and I'm Christ child and I need help and I'm coming not based on the temperature of my heart but on the facts of redemption accomplished and applied that is a sure foundation you can get some bowls that's in that and you don't have to yell you're not it's not a matter of volume you know by the way if anybody here praise loud in public prayer it's fine to pray loud okay not too loud of course but loud enough to be heard but if you long as you get the difference that's that's what I want you to understand confidence not in ourselves but in the truths that form the basis of the exhortation namely that Christ is in heaven for us having finished his work on the earth knowing that he is there at the right hand of Majesty on high knowing that you are accepted with God not based on the amount of oomph in your soul but based on the doing dying and rising of Jesus Christ on your behalf therefore let us therefore come boldly now just think if it was the other way you can only come you only had a basis to come to God in prayer if you had enough oomph in you if you had enough zeal you know whatever that is if you're if on a scale of one to ten you're at least in 8.75 38.7 for prayers not yours you can't have it don't be pretty discouraging because I don't know about you but I don't float six inches off the ground I don't have a halo and wings and all those things I struggle and so to you we all do and it's at our point of need that we need to have open access to heaven and we do so confidence here refers to confidence or boldness that what God has revealed about Christ is true it has nothing to do with the types of prayers we offer that is loud assertive or articulate our confidence is in him not in ourselves this is the boldness this is the confidence of acceptance even though we are weak tired tempted guilty and sinful so the disposition of so a boldness is not concerning the temperature of our own hearts butts the confidence that we come to based on Redemption accomplished by the already we have a high priest that's done his work now he's in the business of bringing the benefits to us fourthly notice the distinct object object of the exhortation it says here let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace to the throne of grace in Matthew 5 34 jesus says heaven is the throne of god I think he's referring to to heaven the seat of Majesty we might call it where God manifests his glory God manifests as his Majesty a very particular intensified manner in the presence of elect angels and the glorified souls of believers who have died it is where Christ is seated using the language of other biblical passages seated and settled in the posture of enthronement as the king of mercy and grace wherever that is there he is with myriads of angels and glorified souls of saints enjoying the Grace and glory that radiates from him the throne of grace is such because there sits the king of grace our Lord Jesus Christ let us therefore come boldly the work has been done on our behalf so we can draw near in prayer to the throne of grace we often get the notion of a judge on a throne at least I do which is true and true of God God is judge this throne though is called a throne of grace not a throne of judgment so it should temper tinker with our attitudes when we come to God in prayer as believers we're not coming to a throne of judgment in a real sense we've already been found guilty but Christ lived died and rose din our behalf therefore there's that now for theirs therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus so when we come in prayer yes we can come to confess our sins but not to it a judge but to a throne of grace because we have an advocate in heaven who's for us Jesus Christ the righteous we come to our Father and confess our sins so this throne is not to be approached like you remember the the movie The Wizard of Oz the lion and the Tin Man as they were coming up the long aisle come forward you cling kitty clankety bunch of whatever he called him and the lion got so scared he memory ran and jumped through the window and I think the Tin Man actually made it up there and he asked for a yes for a heart I think it was remember he was shaking and clinking clanking and don't look behind that curtain and all that stuff that's that's not at all how we approach our Father here again John Owen that older writer I mentioned he says the throne of grace therefore is unto us God as gracious in Christ as exalted in a way of exercising grace and mercy towards them that through the Lord Jesus believe in him and come unto Him that's way different than looking at like the Wizard of Oz kind of thing our Father doesn't call bit us to prayer and call us clinkety-clinkety-clankety-bang- and timely grace I think the last phrase to help in time of need goes with both mercy and grace that we may obtain mercy in time of need that we may find grace to help in of need so it's timely mercy and timely grace so that we may receive both of these mercy and grace let's first of all look at mercy what is mercy something like this an act of the will which sees and seeks to relieve some one of their trouble or meet them at the real point of need or not the trouble perceived by the person in need but when we talk about divine mercy it's an act of the Divine Will to seek to to relieve us of some pressure of some trouble to meet us at our real point of need and to relieve us mercy is something that not only that God has but he has it according to Ephesians 2 for you as it richly so here it is let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain something that God has richly or plentifully he has an abundance of it in other words mercy divine mercy that has no limits a creature ly mercy our mercy toward each other it has limits matter of fact sometimes as creatures when we're seeking to be merciful towards somebody we view somebody as in in in a particular time of trouble and we want to relieve them of their trouble sometimes whatever their trouble is or we might just see it on television and it has something to do with somebody in South Africa and we can't we don't have the power and the resources to go down to sell pfaff South Africa and relieve them of that so our mercy is just for us in that sense a subjective thing that doesn't actually accomplish anything when our author talks about mercy in God here he's not talking about creaturely mercy he's not talking about God who who realizes at some point although I feel mercy I have pity towards somebody I want to try to help him I don't have the resources to get the job done no God has an abundance of mercy divine mercy has no bottom has no top no sides to contain it God is infinite there are no limitations to this mercy this mercy acts and no one can stop it and no one can exhaust it you ever think about that the mercy of God is inexhaustible is your mercy inexhaustible absolutely not it is exhaustible matter of fact your mercy isn't wise all the time sometimes we're unwise in our in our attempts to help people listen to what one man says and in this mercy God is rich it has no scanty foothold in his bosom for it fills it though mercy has been expended by God for thousands of years and myriads and myriads have been partakers of it it is still an unexhausted mine of wealth do you need mercy our text promises us timely mercy from God the work of redemption has been accomplished come boldly therefore to this throne of grace and that we may obtain that means the implication is we need to ask I need mercy I'm I need help I'm in a minute I'm in a difficult condition of life and I believe as I said before in time of need means timely mercy and timely grace help suitable well-timed help suitable to my needs or our needs and our conditions of life we might call this seasonable assistance from the divine to the human from the Creator to the creature through the mediator seasonable help you ever need seasonable help you don't always need the same kind of degree of help for you because we all go through different seasons of life but that's what we're promised here seasonable mercy when we need it and exactly how and when we need it no more no less than we need and neither late no early that's that's what divine mercy is because it's given to us because it's laced with divine wisdom it's not unwise mercy like sometimes we extend unwise mercy we actually help somebody out of pity because they they had a dire need but they were lying to us about other aspects of their need and they made it either worse or better than it sounded and we didn't know that we still help them oops you know fool me what's that fool me once fool me twice however that goes that's not so with God and his children ok this is timely mercy this is this is mercy that was purchased for us by the righteousness of Christ for the children that Christ came to save does not unwise mercy that's why i said it's neither late nor early now when you receive it grace and mercy sometimes you don't realize the wisdom of it till later huh when you look back but God's extension of mercy towards children is always wise but he we have here a promise of the reception of not only timely mercy but timely grace here grace would refer more to special assistance granted to us from God through our Heavenly high priest our Lord Jesus Christ where mercy might relieve us of a pressure of trouble grace would empower us to endure just as the mercy therefore is timely so is the grace timely we could put it this way this is a promise that when God is pleased through rare when we go to the throne of grace because there sits the king of grace our Lord Jesus Christ what has promised to us by the blessing of God is a special assistance or as a grant of help is strength of soul is wisdom for the moment it's strengthened determination is help for the weary for the bruised and battered soul all these come to us when we when we come boldly or when we draw near to God with confidence to the throne of grace why because Christ lived died rose in our behalf purchased everything we need for life and godliness so I hope that's an encouragement and an inducement to prayer and I want to do as I did this morning kind of stand back and make some applications here we are reminded here that prayer is a means of grace prayer is a means of grace a means through which help from heaven comes to souls on the earth help to heaven comes to souls on the earth through means ordinarily through the means ordained by God God is free and sovereign to work outside of means but we have no revelation from God if and when he does that we just know that he can if he wants to but ordinarily works through the means ordained you need mercy need relief from trial and temptation and troubles in life you need grace you need power you need strength you need encouragement of soul in order to be determined to go forward with whatever you have to do pray to God prayers a means through which things that Christ is purchased for his people get to their souls the the Spirit of Christ brings the benefits of Christ to the people of Christ through the means ordained by Christ we get that down we get that down then we'll say what are the means give me the means i need the means i need the beans i need not the beans the means means the channels the avenues the conduits through which God has promised to bring redemptive benefits the benefits of the Redeemer justification sanctification glorification adoption all the things connected to it to the souls of Christ's people so prayer is a means of grace it is through prayer believers cry out to God and God is pleased to answer in the form of mercy and grace from a throne of grace through the prince of grace himself our Lord Jesus Christ prayers amines then through which God changes souls on the earth it's very important to put it that way isn't it prayer is a means through which we change things on the earth change god no prayers a means through inch things on the earth get changed by God you know a lot of times when you pray your circumstances don't really I mean sometimes God changes earthly circumstances quickly usually earthly circumstances don't change that quickly though but you know it can change very quickly as our hearts is the strength the fortitude of soul given to us by our Lord Jesus earned for us by Christ in his sufferings and glory on our behalf what changes is our hearts by the Ministry of the Spirit in conjunction with the use of the means of grace the Spirit of God takes the things of Christ and brings them to our souls we could even say special delivery as he pleases through prayer Christ has mercy and grace for you that's good news because you know what we need we need mercy and grace here's one of the hymns that has wonderful lines in it it's him number 5 18 come he disconsolate where you languish come to the mercy seat fervently kneel here bring your wounded hearts heal here tell your anguish earth has no sorrows that help that heaven cannot heal joy of the comfortless light of the strain hope of the penitent fadeless and pure here speaks the comforter in mercy saying earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot cure here see the bread of life sea waters flowing from forth from the throne of God here from above come to the feast prepared come ever knowing earth has no sorrows but heaven can remove we could go to a lot of the places to show you that prayer is a means through which God changes affairs on the earth Affairs not just circumstances but hearts Souls primarily hearts and souls of its people its second there are particular times when believers stand in need of special assistance due to affliction persecution temptation or just general changes in life there are particular times when believers stand in need of special assistance I think that's what exactly what the author what are what our writer is getting at let us therefore we have a particular circumstance in our life in the first century if it was Paul he was a fellow Jew we have particular unique pressures that are placed upon us as confessing Christians in the first century claiming that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah as promised in the Old Testament let us therefore come boldly his work has been completed to the throne of grace because we this is a special circumstance we need timely mercy we need timely grace I think it's very appropriate for those those first century Christians but it's appropriate for us to though we need grace and we get it every moment as believers there are times when we should ask for more special peculiar grace for our special time of need and there's nothing wrong with prayer requests based on a peculiar time of need and I think that's what this verse is primarily focused on sometimes our souls languish for various reasons even the greatest of Christians become weak and feeble at times Souls may droop Souls may fade Souls lose vigour souls lose vitality right at least mine does and yours does too if you don't think it does you'll wake up someday realizing it does and but don't expect to float six inches off the ground I remember there's this song long time ago I used to make fun of it was called by Bubba bubblin you've heard that song it's a Christian teenager camp song or something we throw pine cones in and make resolves and all that stuff but Bubba Bubba Bubba Bubba 1 i'm just a buh buh buh buh buh i'm just by bubble above it's like what you're but what does that mean we're not in heaven yet we we AG we have lust that wage war against our souls okay the Christian life isn't a better break it's hard it's hard to live with when the you know the world the flesh and the devil are all against us but nothing can separate us from the love of thing I want to do is use the means of grace what's the first thing you should do though use the means of grace and I think sometimes here's what it is we don't feel worthy to use the means of grace I'm dirty so I gotta clean up first see what is that I'm going to clean up first and then go use the means of grace to get the benefits of Christ in my dirty state I need to use the means of grace I need to pray asking forgiveness people use this as an argument not to go to church too I feel filthy we had a marital spat this week I can't present myself as a sacrifice to the Lord on the altar of public worship because you know I got a speeding ticket or whatever you could repent confess your sins you need help get where the means of grace are we have peculiar times when we need help there is with God in Christ for us in heaven a John Owen throne of grace a spring of suitable and seasonable help for all times and occasions of difficulty isn't that great news that's a wonderful that's a wonderful quote i wish i would have said it I didn't fourth or third the help we receive is not due to our righteousness our goodness or our resolve our boldness remember therefore let us therefore to help we receive the timely mercy and timely grace we receive is not due to our goodness our righteousness our resolve it's due to God's mercy and grace in Christ Jesus for us which he also delivers to us it's all of grace the benefits of Christ in heaven can become ours through prayer not ours through oh I righteousness but through prayer and then finally this is a good reminder this verse in this context is a good reminder that we have an advocate in heaven Jesus Christ the righteous in him number 423 we read this approach my soul the mercy seat where Jesus answers prayer their humbly fall before his feet for none can perish there thy promise is my only plea see that that's important because sometimes we forget that thy promise is my only play with this I venture nigh foul call us burdened souls to thee and such Oh Lord am I what gave you warrant to go to God when you were so weak his promise see his promise doesn't change what changes is our souls so it'd be terrible if we can only go based on the temperature of our hearts and our most needy state we're not good enough to go to God in prayer are you number three bow down beneath a load of sin by Satan sorely pressed by war without and fears within knows what he doesn't say I'm too ashamed I'm such a lousy Christian I can't even pray bow down beneath a load of sin by Satan sorely pressed by war without and fears within I come to thee for rest based on what well redemptions been accomplished the Lord Jesus was rewarded with glory according to his human nature the Lord Jesus ascend to heaven he sat down at the right hand of the Father the promise of God that's what it's based on and by the way I don't think John Newton had anything to do with with the picking of the text from the New Testament that they put at the top of the him but notice the text Hebrews 4 14 and 16 so at least somebody thought that John Newton was talking about not unbelievers necessarily coming to God through prayer but his own children number four be thou my shield and hiding place that sheltered near thy side I may my fierce accuser face and tell him thou has died notice it doesn't say this I'm a my few fear secures face I'm a my fierce accuse her face and tell him how good of a Christian I am how strong as my my faith how bold I am how loud I pray in public prayer meetings how many long prepositional phrases and clauses I add to my simple petitions that while the people of God he says this and tell them thou has died it's all about Christ o wondrous love to bleed and die to bear the cross and shame that guilty sinners such as I might plead thy gracious name let us therefore why seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens the work is accomplished let us go boldly to the throne of grace so that we can get timely mercy and timely grace we have a righteous advocate in heaven with the father Jesus Christ the righteous let's pray our Father we thank you for this text and other texts we thank you for your promise we thank you that your promise is sure because it comes from you not because we believe it but because all the promises of God are yay and nay men in Christ Jesus because they come from God not us we thank you that weak and feeble believers like us at our best times and at our worst times have a throne of grace in heaven have a friend in heaven an advocate somebody who's for us and somebody whose work has satisfied the divine wrath we pray for your blessings on your word we ask in Jesus name Amen you you