Unfathomable Riches in Christ - Confident access
Randy Peterman · Jun 10, 2018
Unfathomable Riches of Christ, No. 21
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261910327038

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so this morning, I could not believe that I got to cover this lesson. So my dad said, hey, can you cover for me on June 10th? And I said, sure, I don't mind at all. And I said, what are you going to go over? And of course, as you guys have been going through this series Every lesson, when I was co-teaching this with Roger years ago, every lesson was my favorite lesson, and this is definitely one of my favorite lessons or topics. We're going to be talking about confident access.

And one of the things that struck me about this when I first got taught on it, like a lot of theology, growing up as a kid in Sunday school, we covered the Bible stories with Noah and Adam and Eve in the fall. and maybe some Burning Bush stuff for Moses and Daniel in the Lion's Den. And then I got into junior high and I said, I need more meat than this. But I didn't get more meat. We went to a charismatic church at that point in time and we got a lot of feeling.

And we got a lot of feeling and we really, really missed the topic of confident access. Instead there was a lot of praying and binding Satan and doing things where the idea of confident access was frankly foreign. I was always afraid that whatever sin I'd committed last would keep me from intimacy with God and I didn't understand the identification truths and I didn't understand a lot of things. So when I began to be taught biblically and correctly, the idea of confident access, it rocked my world. My theological world was changed, and then it, as it turns out, changed my perspective on the world as well.

This is another reason to share the Gospel, right? So, Christendom has a lot of misunderstandings related to this. Obviously, identification is one key element. Our position in Christ is another thing. Without position and condition and identification, these truths are foreign. How many of you, when you first read some of these truths about our position and condition, thought that Paul must be talking about somebody else?

Because that was definitely my experience, right? Oh, hey, you're righteous. I knew for sure as a teenage boy that I was not righteous when I was reading those things. But how about legalism? That's the other side. Because God has declared you righteous, you must live righteously of your own accord, right?

And so position, and condition, and identification were all foreign concepts. But the first thing I want to do as we take a look at this is let's look at some Old Testament context. Because when Paul reveals this truth about confident access, he's revealing it to people who came from either a Gentile perspective, where as a Gentile they wouldn't understand the idea of confident access. The Greek and Roman gods were, let's say, flighty or finicky. And they came and they went, and you didn't have any confidence in anything. But if you were a Jew, you came from an Old Testament context, and so that was foreign. So let's take a look at some of these things, and we'll ask some questions as we go through this and discover this.

In Genesis, God walked with Adam before the fall. What's the first thing God did with Adam in Genesis? He walked with him. And what does God bring before Adam? Well, before Eve. He brings all the animals before him and says, OK, use your creative, analytic skills and let's name some animals.

And this was all part of the process, I think, God was doing to bring to his attention that, hey, he's lacking an equal partner, and then Eve comes into the equation. But God spent time with Adam, and as everybody remembers, they looked good naked and nobody was bothered by it. That was always a little disconcerting as a kid.

But it's important to recognize that God's presence was not foreign and it was not frightening until the Fall. And what happens at the Fall? If we turn to Genesis chapter 3, what happens at the Fall? Genesis 3, 8. Well, they ate of the apple and they were naked and they hid. Yeah, they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they hid. And why did they hide? They were aware that they were naked. They were aware that they were naked. And so suddenly, when God comes to the garden, what do they know? What do they know about God and what do they know about themselves? He's good and they're bad. He's holy and they're not holy.

And that's a substantial thing. I think sometimes as believers, as we mature, we kind of forget the richness of that truth because we understand that it feels rudimentary. But when I get to teach lessons like this, I'm reminded that this thing that might seem rudimentary is actually something that is not just rudimentary, it's core to what makes these unfathomable truths so rich.

So Adam and Eve ate of the tree, they suddenly had knowledge, and their disobedience allowed them to observe the contrast. They disobeyed, they ate of the fruit, and that's what allowed them to observe the contrast. Did the contrast exist before that? No, it didn't. Because their conscience was clean, and they were still created in God's image, and there was no sin. Right? And then they disobeyed and that was where sin entered the equation and they came in. Didn't it exist? They just didn't know about it? No, no it didn't exist. And that's an important thing is that before the fall there was no sin on the earth. The world was perfect as God had made it. God called it.

That's what I, you know, despite his more recent sins being aired, I appreciated that Bill Cosby in his comedy routine had said, God calls everything good and that's fine. Marketers make everything amazing and exaggerate what it is. God made everything and after every day said, it looks good. So obviously the fruit of the tree of knowing good and evil had to be good also, because everything during that period of time was good, right?

It was good. Okay. And usually, if you look at the laws that God laid out, it was usually for the benefit of the people, right? Yes. Why do you think he put a law not to eat of that fruit? Let's see here. This is speculation, right? So, since it's not as real, we're speculating. So I just want to call that out. This is speculation.

I believe that being made in God's image comes with having a will, and I think it's important for us to... Love requires volition and the will, and so the complexity of being made in God's image and the complexity of walking with God meant that there was the opportunity for God to show his intent of creation, and the best answer I can have, based on my understanding at present, so someday down the road I may have some deeper understanding, is that God intended to show his character in all of his creation, and the fact that they didn't understand it didn't prevent them from because they didn't understand good and evil, didn't prevent them from obeying.

They disobeyed because of the lies of Satan. Before the serpent came, it was there, and it wasn't a stumbling block. We think of sin as a stumbling block. After the fall, sin changes our nature. We have the sin nature entered into the equation. And so before the fall, it wasn't a stumbling block. We see it as a stumbling block, but it took Satan's lies for it to become a stumbling block. So God's creation of it, it manifested part of God's creativity. It manifested God's character.

But unfortunately, we see it post-Fall, and we go, ah, this was God, really, he's just setting the stumbling block. Instead, he said, hey, don't do that. It's kind of like my parents saying, don't run with scissors growing up. It wasn't that they did it because it was a stumbling block. They wanted to really make sure I didn't gouge my eyes out or have any other wounds on account of the scissors. So I did other things that were risky, but the scissors we didn't run into.

It's kind of interesting because if they didn't know the difference between good and evil, how did they see the law of do not eat? Because that in a sense has an inherent evil So they have a conscience. Being created in God's image, they have a conscience. And a conscience is a sense of will within the greater context.

So let's step outside of the biblical account for a second, and I'll use a marital example. I hope this is acceptable to everybody. We're starting to kind of rabbit trail out here. My will at home during our remodeling of our basement that we didn't plan, and my wife's will, are not always in alignment.

Now that doesn't mean that we have a lot of arguments about it, but it's one of those things where there are times when, for example, paint colors, I had no idea that there were so many paint colors I mean, the fractional variance, they've got this down. But my wife and I stood there holding up paint swatches, and we're looking at the light against the wall, and I preferred a particular paint color on a few occasions, and she liked a different one. And so we worked our way through it. possibly disagreeing our will for the paint color, the disagreement there is not sin.

So God can say, do this, and Adam's will can align with his, he might have an exertion of will, but he's not doing it in disagreement. So I'm contrasting that. My disagreement in my household isn't necessarily sin, but it's a disagreement of will. In the garden, there's no disagreement of will up front until Satan comes in and he presents the stumbling block.

Now, we've really rabbit-trailed on this and I've gotten a little philosophical, so we'll circle back around, but if you have more questions, please don't hesitate to ask. So, the next question we've got here is, did the Fall change God's relationship to His creation? It did. But did it change God's intent for his creation? Why did God make Adam and Eve and all of his creation? In part, to establish a relationship. So God's desire for relationship didn't change, even if his fellowship was changed, or his relationship due to sin changed things.

So God is omnipresent, so why does man fear him? I was thinking about this, especially when I thought about Cain and Abel. God's omnipresent. There's nothing that I do that he doesn't see. So why do I fear him? Are you talking about Adam and Eve hiding themselves for fear? That's one good example of it. We fear, I think, because we sin. Yeah. And I think the sin is a fundamental core issue. It's the sin nature and our awareness of it, our conscience, having been created in God's image, it gets flared up.

Bernoulli says that death is separation. What that word means is separation. So, in essence, as soon as they ate of the fruit, as I understand it, they were separated. That relationship ended. Well, it changed. Now, what I think is important to emphasize here is that God then immediately provided access, didn't He? He separated them from the garden. But he restored fellowship. He introduces the garments. So now they're wearing the first designer clothing. I would argue the best designer clothing. There's no better designer than God. He gives them the covering that will remind them of death. The animal's skin.

So, while God's righteousness demanded justice, and at times has expressed itself in wrath, God sought out intimacy with those who would believe. So God still seeks out intimacy, and I think that's important. that we recognize this. And it stands in stark contrast to those who would describe God as separating himself from his creation, as described in deism. How many of you know what deism is? Have you heard of deism, maybe? Just in case you don't know what deism is. Deism is the idea that God created things, started the world, and then spun it off, and is no longer involved.

Which is terrifying to me, and also un-biblical. Unfortunately, founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson are probably great examples of deism, where he believed in God, but he didn't really think that God was actively involved, which is a really unfortunate place to be.

Instead, God is actively involved, and he wants a relationship. So that's important. Humanity's relationship with him as descendants of Adam would not only be possible based on what God has done to preserve intimacy, but it's explicitly calmed down. So let's take a look at why were the Old Testament saints still fearful of engaging with God. people who might be deists today or whatever, that they feel that God's not involved in anything. traumatic happens in their life, they immediately say, why did God let this happen to me or make this happen to me? And so they give evidence to the fact that they do believe in God, ultimately bottom line. Yeah, they're confronted with that.

God's sovereignty is hard to ignore. But I think part of why trials and suffering are beneficial, along with many other reasons, is because it draws us to Him. Jim? Why were Old Testament saints still fearful of engaging with God? So why does man fear God? And the answer is in part because God has expressed his righteousness sometimes in wrath.

That's one part of the answer. And so man goes, oh, I've got to get God off my back. How many of you have ever thought that? I know I did that when I was younger. If I just live righteously enough, I can get God off my back. Or if I tithe, I just need to give 10%. Or whatever it was I needed to do, I had a list. A legalistic checklist, let's call it what it is. And if I just do those things, I'll keep God off my back and He won't be mad at me.

Because they don't understand who God is. Fundamentally, they don't understand His character. And we're going to go into that more. I've got two hands raised. Stan was first there. Well, it seems like God wanted that impression to be impressed upon his people because of Mount Zion and Mount Sinai. I mean, he came down on the mountain and it was so fearful that even the animals couldn't touch the mountain without dying. So God wanted this impression to be instilled upon the people living during the law.

I'm going to say kind of to that. We're going to look into that in a little bit more detail in a moment. But you're not wrong, but I think there's a larger picture that shows an even richer relationship potential. But there is some, wrath is real. I'm not trying to downplay that. But the wrath was because of overt wickedness and sinfulness.

When Moses comes off a mountain, for example, what are they doing? They're partying and they're worshipping a golden calf. Well, Moses is probably dead by now. And what do they do? Immediately, even though they've been watching what's going on on the mountainside and they're afraid of it. Let's just engage in a little side idolatry just in case this doesn't work out.

Right? Jim? I think another reason why we hear it is because when our sin goes up against his righteousness, we're just terrified. Yeah. And that's definitely Adam and Eve, their first response in that knowledge when they're able to contrast it. It's like, oh, he's holy and I'm not. And we're going to see that in one more section here, Wayne.

Provence 1, 18-19 really bring that out because God placed in man the ability to know him. That sense of conscience is really important. I think the doctrine of conscience is probably one of the things that When it was explained to me, I suddenly understood more deeply why God can hold us accountable.

We have been made in His image. It's a big deal to be made in God's image. It's also why evolution, as a cosmological perspective, when Christians try to do that straddling where God just oversaw evolution, It neuters the Gospel entirely. We're not created in God's image with a conscience, with a sense of ought, if you will. We just happen to luck out that we weren't the lizards this time. And so how could God hold us accountable? There's a big problem there.

But let's keep going because I want to hit on this fear principle and why the Old Testament has it and why the New Testament doctrine of being able to have confident access is so important. So let's talk about the boldness of Moses here. So which modifying words, for example, confident, arrogant, or brash, describe the bold character of Moses before God?

Confident. OK. He's confident. I would say that any number of words actually kind of describe it. I think confident is better. I don't think he's intending to be arrogant. He's just probably more like Peter, where he's just going to speak his mind and do his thing until you tell him otherwise, right? So let's take a gander here.

Moses seems the boldest before God several times. He approaches God where others have fear. He's afraid to speak to the Pharaoh, right? God says, go speak to Pharaoh. And he's like, oh, I don't know. And yet he's talking to God, who's a burning bush.

That's a funny thing to me, that he would do that. If we look at Exodus 3, Moses is on his way somewhere, and he says, hold on, I'm going to go check this bush out. And he's walking towards the bush, and God has to tell him to stop. Take your sandals off, you're on holy ground, and don't get close. That's pretty bold. That's confident. And God's talking to him, and then says, go do this. And he's like, well, I don't know. second-guessing God there. And then on the mountainside, what does Moses ask for? Let's turn to Exodus 33 and we'll start in verse 17.

The Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight. I have known you by name. Then Moses said, I pray you show me your glory. And he said, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and will reclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.

But he said, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. Then the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand there on the rock. And it will come about, while my glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you shall see my back, but my face you shall not see.

That's a bold move on Moses. I just want to see your glory. God said no, and this is partially why man is afraid of God as well. The full manifestation of God's glory would overwhelm us. It would kill. And so God protects him. But Moses is one of the most bold of the Old Testament saints, and I think it's worth calling out here that his boldness was granted as God made the opportunity. There were specific times and specific opportunities, but it was not at any time Moses could be like, hey, I'm just going to go talk with God face-to-face, in person, and I get to do what I want. That was not what happened. It was at specific times.

Israel is fearful with some exceptions of arrogance in Leviticus 1-2. The two boys come with unnatural fire before the Lord, and God wipes them out, consumes them with fire. And so Israel sees God's might, but they don't understand His intent. What was the purpose of the law? This is really important that we understand this principle. What's the purpose of the law? It reveals sin, but what was God doing with the law when we look at Deuteronomy 28 and 29?

He's separating Israel unto himself. He's establishing the relationship saying, don't follow the idols, don't follow the other lies and other nations and mix with the sinfulness. Separate yourselves from me because I want intimacy. So when we see the law, it does call out sin very clearly. It articulates in 613 ways righteousness or sinfulness. But it's important.

I'm thinking I'm taking a little longer on this than I should. Let's keep going here with David's heart. What made David's understanding of God's character so different from so many Old Testament saints? And I didn't write these verses in here, and I apologize for that. So I've got them on my handout here. And if you want to take notes, go for it. 1 Samuel 21, we'll go there. And then 2 Samuel 620 are two good cross references or examples of that.

David is being chased by Saul. And in 1 Samuel 21, David goes in to speak to Ahimelech, the priest, and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, why are you alone and no one with you? David said to Ahimelech, the priest, the king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, let no one Let no one know anything about the matter in which I am sending you, with which I have commissioned you, and I have directed the young men to a certain place. Now therefore, what do you have on hand?

Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found." The priest answered David and said, there is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread, if only the young men have kept themselves from winter. David answered the priest and said to him, surely women have been kept from us previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy. Though it was an ordinary journey, how much more than today will their vessels be holy? So the priest gave him consecrated bread. That's a bold move. This is consecrated bread. You're not supposed to eat it. If you eat it in sin, there will be consequences. And David's like, we're good. We got this. So that's one place.

If we look at 2 Samuel 6.20, I'm not going to read it, I'm just going to restate it for you just so we are terse on time here.

But the Ark of the Covenant is coming back into Israel and David drops into his tunic and dances before the Lord. And when he gets home, his wife Michael is not impressed. She says, surely you have distinguished yourselves amongst all of Israel dancing in your underwear. But David has an attitude about who God is and God's nature that is atypical. So we've got the question here, what made David's understanding of God's character so different from so many Old Testament saints? What did David understand? Go ahead. Well, I wanted to say fellowship. Fellowship.

Because God declares about him that he's a man after my own heart. He's a man after my own heart. And I love that God would say that about a guy who was a murderer, and an adulterer, and a distracted king. Because the character that David had was one of intimacy.

And God's grace on him. Back then he was a shepherd boy, and he was contemplating the stars and the wolves and the sheep. His dependence on God had enabled him to be victorious. There was an intimacy here, too. There was an intimacy starting in his youth. And so that is an important element. That intimacy is a critical part of what God reveals about himself through his relationship with David. So God was worthy of worship and praise, and his majesty should be declared. David knew that through intimacy with God.

Now, let's move forward to Isaiah chapter 6. And this to me, I think, is reflective of the heart of most Old Testament saints. But this has its bearing in the heavenly scene. So I think it's a slightly different location. Isaiah 6, 5. You know, I become far too dependent on computers for getting to the Bible verses quickly. Here we go, Isaiah 6, Isaiah's inner vision, and in 6.5 he says, Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King. And what happens if you see the canyon? If you see the Lord of Hosts? If you saw it with Moses? You're gonna die. And he knows he's unclean. And he knows the contrast of God's holiness, right? And this is a really intense experience. And Isaiah's like, God's brought me into a vision to kill me. Right?

And then, in 6, then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar of the tombs. And in verse 7, he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. So he's afraid he's going to die, and God cleanses his lips, because he says, my lips are unclean. The seraphim touches his lips. Sorry about that.

And the question I've got here is, why does God not cleanse Isaiah with blood or some representation of Christ in this passage? Why does he use this cold principle? I think the first thing that we can derive is that there's no EPA. So you don't have to worry about burning coal. No, I'm just kidding. That's a bad joke. But the thing is that they weren't fossil fuels, right?

But the thing that is important and worth noting here is that there is a mystery to what Christ is going to do and who he is as a person. And not everything would have been clear to Isaiah if he said, here's some blood from the altar. That might have been one thing. But God cleanses him, and he does it in a unique way, by touching the coal to his lips. But really, what cleanses Isaiah? Is it really the cold? No. It's faith. It's faith. The seraphim say, God says, hey, you're cleansed. Now let's engage in what we need to engage in.

But again, the reason he didn't tell him about Christ is because it's a different dispensation. It's a different dispensation, and there are mysteries. Now Isaiah, chapter 53, is a tremendous prophecy of the Messiah that's coming, but it is not the full revelation of who Christ will be and who the Church is. So now, we've kind of covered a variety of Old Testament contexts.

This is what, if you were a Jew, you're growing up, you hear about God and your intimacy with God, you would grow up hearing these stories. You've got a few really bold folks, and you've got a lot of people who are, let's say, a little bit more conservative in their perspective on their intimacy with God.

And we get to the New Testament, and Paul writes things like, here we have Ephesians 3, verses 11 through 12. And actually, if you were to go into the Ephesians class this morning, you would get these exact same verses. So Ephesians 3, 11 and 12, he says, this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. So this bold access is through what means. Faith. And this is really important. Did the Old Testament saints have faith? Isaiah obviously had faith. Very few. Yeah, very few did. But Isaiah had faith, Moses had faith, David had faith.

Well, I think we need to be careful, don't we, to say that it's the object of their faith that's right. We're in a new dispensation, right? We're in a new time period. The object of their faith was Christ, whereas in the past they believed God, what was revealed at the time. I guess what I'm saying is it isn't their faith that made this happen, it's God that made it happen. Yeah. It's that verse before saying, in Christ, right? In Christ, there's a totally different established relationship. The object of their faith is Christ. In the Old Testament, was the object of Isaiah's faith Christ?

No. He still believed what God revealed to that time. But we talked about the identification truths in this class over and over again. We're constantly talking about how that is important in Christ. That's an identification phrase that's super important. Because of the faith, we're in Christ. Because we're in Christ, we have confident access. And it's really important because when we think about our relationship with God, if we have a legalistic mindset, is our access confident?

Probably not. Because then we're worried about which sins did we commit last. Did I pray for them? I remember that. It was very Catholic of me. I've got to remember all my sins that I committed and then pray for forgiveness on all of them so that I can have timid access. That was the best thing I could come up with.

But that's not what Paul says. I don't know how to say this, but we talk about the omnipresence of God, but yet in the examples that we're talking about, it's like God is accommodating us by coming to us in the garden and saying, where are you? Well, here we are, you know. Well, he knew where they were. Who told you these things? Well, he knew who told him those things. God is very intimately involved with Adam and Eve just like he is with us. With being gentle and kind in the process of revealing himself.

Or you could just wipe them off. Yeah, start over. Erase the... Yeah. He loves in spite of our sin. Yeah. He loves us. Thinking back to Ephesians chapter 2 where he says that while we were yet sinners, right? In Ephesians 2.5, even when we were dead and our transgressions made us alive together with Christ. By grace you've been saved. So there is an important thing. God in His pursuit of intimacy with us, even in the Old Testament, created opportunities for us as mankind to engage with Him and to have intimacy. But for us as believers, because of identification, we have a different kind of intimacy that's possible.

How often did the Old Testament saints go into the Holy of Holies, for example. Once a year. Yeah, once a year. And so in a once a year kind of engagement, where it's one priest going in once a year after cleansing himself and having sent out the scapegoat and having cleansed all of Israel, they go in once a year. Paul says, you, Roy, and Even Paul himself, who calls himself the least of the apostles, we can go boldly or with confidence more than once a year.

In fact, theoretically, it could be every moment of every day until he returns. He's here with us right now. He's here with us right now. And God's omnipresence, I think, is part of the thing that is important. We tend to see the omnipresence with sometimes a judgmental approach, like we're waiting on God's judgment or God's wrath. And yet the omnipresence is based on the idea of intimacy and the Creator and creation. So we're going to keep going here.

I've got the question, why is it so critical that God do something completely different with the work of Christ versus the sacrifice on the altar. Why did God do something different with the sacrifice of Christ? Because it was once for all. It was once for all. Not only is it once for all, which is definitely important, but the sacrifices on the altar were representative. They weren't once for all. They were representative of the thing that was going to be once for all, which would be Christ's crucifixion. The other thing is that you didn't go to the altar and have identification truths, right? Identification truths on the altar, I can't begin to try to extrapolate and unpack how that would work. That sounds pretty crazy, right? Nobody wants to be identified with a dove, or some flower, or some of those things, right? Gail?

Yeah, we're just thinking that all for all. Yeah. The sacrifices on the altar wasn't for all. Nope, it was just for one. And now it's for us. Yeah. And so the very nature of what's happening under the law is done away with. Christ's sacrifice fulfilled the law, right? But through identification, it became a totally and radically different sacrifice. And it was not, how many of you have heard of, Imputed righteousness. Anyone go in theological circles, there's a thing they call imputed righteousness. And it's kind of an accounting term. And the idea is that you move Christ's righteousness into your account. And in theology circles, that's a popular term.

But I'm going to tell you right now that I think that that is not an adequate statement of what happens. Because if it was just imputed righteousness, if it was just an accounting move, God would have circumvented identification. Instead, the account is done away with, so to speak, and instead we're identified with Christ. And so that's what allows us to have bold access.

Where are we in the heavenly places? With Christ. We're seated in the heavenly places with Christ. How far of a walk is it to have bold access? Zero feet, unless they have metric in heaven. In which case, it's zero meters. So the idea of bold access is tremendous, or confident access is tremendous, because it neuters all of the Old Testament context that we would have previously had. Let's move forward to Hebrews chapter 4, starting in verse 14, reading until 16. And I remember the first time I read this, this was definitely one of those passages where I said, surely he's not talking about me. Surely he can't be talking about Randy Peterman because he's a schmo.

The author of Hebrews writes, Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Remember, this is the letter to the Hebrews. And he's blowing their minds. Because these are the people that grew up thinking like Isaiah, my lips are unclean. And so the author of Hebrews is saying, hey, we're going to move forward with confidence. They've been okay up to this point, because we're talking about the difference between Jesus and angels. And since Jesus is the Son of God, we're okay.

But we get here, and now you've asked the Hebrews, the Jewish believers, to boldly go before the throne. And you've got to know they had to read this 600 or 700 times before it was OK. This is not a subtle statement if you grew up with a Jewish background. But the author says, draw near with confidence.

And I know we've kind of covered this a little bit, but why does the author of Hebrews urge his readers to hold fast their confession? Is this about salvation? It's not about salvation. So why does he say, hold fast your confession? When I thought about this, I said, this is good stuff right here. He says, hold fast your confession, because what was their confession? that they had access. It was the faith that they had access. And he says, listen, hold fast. This is true. Walk fully in it. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Yeah, I do. Alright, then go for it. Be confident. And I remember when I read this thinking, but I've sinned.

And what if I didn't remember to pray for one of the sins? Which one of your sins did Jesus not die for? If there was just one that he didn't die for, that would be insufficient. So instead, do we go before the Lord with a list of sins and we make sure we've got them all checked off?

There's a bunch of cults that run real well off that. That's not what the New Testament teaches. So he says, Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. And what's grace? What was the traditional Roman understanding of the Greek there when they said grace? Does anybody remember what the technical term is? Not our working definition, but what's the technical term? Thankfulness. Thankfulness or gift. It would be used in either thankfulness or as a gift. And so let us approach this throne of grace. And if it was just a gift, that would be pretty cool.

But it's so much more than that. It is that representation of the adequacy of Christ's work in God's desire to have intimacy, in God's desire to bless us, where we have mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And of course, the time of need stuff is when the Lord often draws us close to Him, right? Gayle, you so well articulated that earlier in your statement. But those difficulties come around, and God pours out His grace, and that draws us close to Him. So I'm not 100% sure why my basement had sewage back up into it, but I held my wife, she was pretty upset, I held my wife and I said, I don't know what God's going to do here, but He's going to do something.

And I went with confidence and expectation. By the way, Jessica also has confidence and expectation, too. I'm not saying that she's somehow weaker when I say that. But that's exactly where I knew I had to go as a believer. The author of Hebrews was not satisfied with just giving that one statement here.

I believe it's chapter 11, because it's either 10 or 11. Let me dump here. Nope. It's 11. I wrote down the verses and not the chapter number, which is silly, as I was preparing this. If you get there before me, just tell me. It's 10. Chapter 10. It's 10? Sorry about that. There we go. Yes, chapter 10. So you can write that as a note there.

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. So how would an Old Testament saint view the blood of a sacrifice? It covers sins, and it fulfills the law, and it is representative, right? So the Old Testament saint has got this sacrifice represents me for right now.

It's temporary. But it afforded them intimacy with God. or fellowship with God in recognizing their shortcomings for a short while. And the Old Testament priests, as we said earlier, would make an offering once a year. to cleanse the nation, and there are several cross-references there you can check out. But it was temporary, and Christ's work is permanent and by faith, and a new inauguration of a new relationship, so that we could boldly approach the Father. That inauguration is an interesting term, right? Most Americans probably think of the President, right, when you inaugurate. But this is an eternal inauguration, and it's what Christ did to establish this relationship.

The last verse we've got this morning is 1 John 4, verse 17. And John writes, by this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. And this isn't talking about confident access. But because I think one leads to the other, I wanted to close with this verse. When I was young and legalistic, I was really honestly afraid of the judgment seat from 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Especially that fire, because I thought, oh man, that's some wrath for sure.

I didn't understand what it was, but what does John say we go with confidence towards? His focus is the essence of God Himself. and that that essence He has given to us as He is, so are we in this world. And so with that essence of God being part of who we are because we're identified and because God has dealt with all the sin, we go confidently to have our position and our condition unified. We've been talking about The fact that our position and our identification are real, they lead us to have bold access, confident access. What does Satan want us to do when we think about our sin? Doubt. He wants us to feel guilt. He wants us to feel condemned.

But I am elated to rejoice with you in Ephesians chapter 1. There's a whole lot of good things, and most of them are in this class. But Paul says something important. He says that when grace is poured out, God is praised. Where in your life is grace not poured out? There's not a pardon in your life. When we sin, grace is poured out and God is praised. That doesn't mean sin brings glory to God by itself, right? That's not what I'm saying. That's why Paul says, may we not continue sinning.

But we have this rich, confident access that allows us to know that we have intimacy with God and we're drawn close. I think that the second bell went off, or it's about to go off. Any other thoughts or questions on this? Other than anybody more confident about the return of the Lord, and while we wait, being confident? Alright, let's go before the Lord. Oh, there's the second bell.

Heavenly Father, we come before you. We're so grateful for your son that you sent him and he died on our behalf, but also that we are identified with him so that we can have this rich blessing of confident access. Lord, I just pray for each one of us to have opportunities to meditate on these things so that we can continue to grow in the riches of your grace and our knowledge of that. We just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.