Theological term
Throne of Grace
4 sermons · All terms
The Power of the Peace of God
Philippians 4:6–7 contains both a prohibition and a promise: Paul commands believers to be anxious for nothing and promises that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard the heart and mind through Christ Jesus. The sermon examines the prohibition against carnal anxiety, the corrective of prayer offered with thanksgiving, and the promise of divine peace — arguing that prayer is not a formula for instant relief but the ordained means by which God's people cast their burdens on God and receive the peace that flows from justification and the indwelling Spirit. The congregation is called to pray with right motivation, godly manner, and kingdom-oriented priorities as modeled in Christ's own teaching on prayer.
Free Grace Baptist Church - March 20, 2016 PM
Hebrews 4:16 invites believers to approach God in prayer with boldness — not a boldness rooted in the fervency or volume of one's own devotion, but a confidence grounded entirely in the finished priestly work of Christ. The sermon works through five headings in the verse: the simple exhortation to come, the christological basis for that coming (the exaltation and sympathy of the great High Priest), the nature of the boldness required, the object of approach (the throne of grace), and the timely mercy and grace promised there. The application presses believers to use prayer as a God-ordained means of grace, especially in seasons of peculiar weakness, assured that their warrant before God is Christ's doing and dying — not the temperature of their own hearts.
1 Samuel 23
First Samuel 23 traces David's flight from Saul through a series of dramatic reversals — the rescue of Keilah, Jonathan's covenant encouragement in the wilderness, and the treachery of the Ziphites — all held together by the governing theme that God did not deliver David into Saul's hand. The chapter exposes the stark contrast between Saul, who has no access to God's word and sinks deeper into self-deception and tyranny, and David, who inquires of Yahweh through priest and prophet and receives both divine direction and covenantal friendship. The providence of God is the chapter's spine: from the fortuitous arrival of Abiathar's ephod, to Jonathan's timely encouragement, to a Philistine invasion that halts Saul's encirclement at the last moment. Hearers are called to recognize the privilege of access to Scripture, to be Jonathans who encourage others with the promises of God, and to rest in the providence of the God who orchestrates all things for the preservation of his people.
1 Samuel 1:1-18
The opening chapter of 1 Samuel presents the birth of Samuel against the backdrop of a dark era at the close of the judges, when Israel's spiritual and political condition was at its lowest. Through the barrenness of Hannah, her cruel provocation by Peninnah, and her husband's well-meaning but inadequate sympathy, the text teaches that God sovereignly works through human weakness and suffering to accomplish his redemptive purposes. Hannah's prayer — earnest, specific, and covenantally grounded — serves as a model of how God's people are to respond to frowning providences: not with complaint against God's sovereignty, but with bold, heartfelt petition at the throne of grace. The study concludes with three applications: God governs dark seasons in redemptive history by his sovereign will; suffering is normal to the Christian life; and affliction is God's appointed means to drive his people to prayer.