Latest / The Daily Word / July 7 – Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace
Transcript
- Cory: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good we hours of the night, and welcome to the Daily Word Podcast from Lakeshore Christian Fellowship. My name is Corey Barnes, my privileged pastor, our Kataba Campus. I'm excited to be sitting down with you for another Daily Word episode where we're going to be diving into a devotion from today's New Testament reading. ⁓ today is July the 7th, and that means that we have Hebrews 4 on the docket. Now, if you've been following a now, Hebrews is a book that is really all about how Jesus is greater than anything else. ⁓ Jesus is greater than than Moses. Jesus is greater than the high priests and Melchizedek, Jesus' covenant is better than the other covenants. Everything about Jesus is Is better. And in chapter four, we're at a place where the author of Hebrews is continuing to draw from the story of the Israelites' journey through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Now, chapter three established that Jesus was greater than Moses, and in chapter four, we see that not only is Jesus better than Moses. And in chapter four, we see that not only is Jesus better than Moses, but that Jesus also offers his followers a better rest than the Israelites were promised in the promised land. That better rest that we're referring to is the salvation and eternal fellowship with God that Christ has secured for us, a rest that we begin to experience now, and we will fully enter into an eternity. But the tension in this chapter is that just like the Israelites rebelled and were denied access to the promised land, that we Christ followers should take heed lest we suffer the same fate and not find entrance into the rest that Jesus offers us. Now as I was reading these two chapters, chapter three and chapter four, I was just struck By the fact that God's standard for how we live our lives has not changed. In chapter 13, coming up in Hebrews, the author tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And that means that the same God who punished the rebellion of the Israelites in the ilderness by not allowing them to enter in the promised land is the same God. Who he is the same God that we worship today. He is consistently the same God. And that's honestly a truly fearful thought, because verses 12 through 13 in this chapter tells us that the Lord's word, his commands, what he speaks is sharp and it is active, that it cuts. And it slices right down to the very essence of who we are, and it judges the attitudes of our heart, that nothing escapes the Lord's sight, and that we will all one day have to give an account for our lives. That means everything that we do, every thought we have, every intention of our heart, that would be in opposition to the Lord, all of that is seen and it is known. And the standards that he had for the Israelites in the wilderness are the same standards that he has for us today. The difference, the only difference, the biggest difference, the hallelujah difference, is the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made and that we get to approach God based on Jesus' worthiness, not our own. So that means that every time we come to God. We receive the grace and the mercy that Jesus deserved, not what we deserve. And that should inspire us with so much thankfulness for Jesus and his sacrifice. Because without it, that mercy and grace, we wouldn't have it. And none of us would be worthy of entering into the Lord's rest. But here's what makes all this even more. Beautiful. It's the fact that Jesus doesn't look down on us when we fail to measure up. This chapter tells us that he empathizes with us because he's been where we are. He lived a human life and he experienced every kind of temptation that we face. So when we mess up and we come to him in our mistakes, he gets it. And we don't need to shuffle in to him with our eyes on the floor. No. Verse sixteen, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may be able to obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time. Of need. See, it was the rebellion, it was the turning away of the Israelites' hearts from God that had them get stuck in the wilderness. For you and I, so long as we keep our hearts turned towards God, even if we're making mistakes, even if we're messing up, so long as we continually come back to Him, ask for forgiveness. Ask for him to wash us, ask for him to cleanse us, he will faithfully do so. And we can ask for that mercy, we can ask for that grace boldly, expecting him to be faithful and continue to wash us clean, to be merciful on us, and to give us the grace that we need to empower. Us to live this life worthy of the calling that He has given us. We can come boldly, and that is the application for today's devotion. When you mess up, when I mess up, we all do. How do we approach that conversation with the Lord? Do we come and beg him? Do we come and grovel before him? ⁓ Lord, if you would just please, just this this one time. I promise I'll get it together after this, but if you could just this one time give me this one last time, give me a little bit more of that mercy and that forgiveness. Is that how we handle it when especially considering the fact that we're likely just back at that place the next week? Or are we coming before him and boldly saying, Lord, if it isn't for your work in my life, if it isn't for the grace that you give me, I'm never going to be able to do this. If you don't empower me and give me strength, I am never going to be able to do this. I'm sorry that I didn't rely on your grace in that moment when I sinned. But I'm asking you for your mercy and that I'm asking you for your grace so that I don't end up in this spot again. And are we looking forward to the rest that He has promised us? ⁓ boy, I am. We have rest already in this life. Rest from all the pressure and striving that the world has to suffer with, and rest that will enter into an eternity. But we can go before the throne of grace boldly and we can ask for that mercy, and we can ask for that grace. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you that you sent your son Jesus Christ to die for us, that when he gave his life, he performed the ultimate sacrifice that no other could perform, to give us the life that no other could give us. We praise you and we thank you, Jesus, that you lived a life as a human being, as a man, and you are aware of what it is like to live down here. You are aware of what it is like to have Satan. tempting us to have the world system dragging us down to battle sickness to battle the loss of loved ones you were tempted in every way just like we are and we thank you that you are compassionate and you empathize with us and that you don't look down upon us when we make mistakes you don't condemn us and throw the book at us no you are quick to rush to our aid to give us the grace and the mercy that we need And we thank you, Jesus, that you are so much better at being God than we are at being your disciples. We thank you, Jesus, that you love us and you're working with us. We're all a work in progress, and we're so thankful that you aren't in a hurry and you're willing to work with us. We praise you, Jesus, for who you are and your beautiful mercy. Amen.