Sinners, Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace

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1. 0:00

   Michael Horton

   I'm not understood. If you knew anything about me, then you wouldn't like me. Nobody knows what it's really like to suffer with "dot, dot dot," fill in the blank. The last person who gets it, who gets me, is God. Because God is way out there. God is holy, God is righteous.

2. 0:44

   Michael Horton

   God is unable to be tempted. God is far removed. He doesn't understand. He's the last person I can talk to — I'll talk to my therapist before I talk to God about this thing. This thing is so deep. This thing is so horrible. I don't want anybody to know about it. I don't want to talk to God about it.

3. 1:09

   Michael Horton

   God is the one who judges sinners, not the one who understands them. Now, maybe he pities me. Maybe that's the response God has to this horrible sin, because he's omniscient — if you believe in God at all, then omniscience sort of comes with the package. So he knows me, but that just makes me feel worse: the Judge of all, who knows me better than I know myself, shaking his head at my very existence and saying, "Poor Mike. So much squandered potential."

4. 1:53

   Michael Horton

   Is a pitiful person better than a God-forsaken one? Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher, was contemplating this in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. There's a section where "the Ugliest Man" — the one who actually killed God — and Zarathustra discover this monster of a man in a corner on the street. You could imagine meeting someone like this, living on the street, not wanting people's pity. This despiser of those who show pity claimed to have killed God. "But he — he had to die.

5. 2:54

   Michael Horton

   He looked with eyes which beheld everything. He beheld men's depths and dregs, all their hidden ignominy and ugliness. His pity knew no modesty. He crept into my dirtiest corners. This most prying, over-intrusive, over-pitiful one had to die. The God who beheld everything, who ever beheld me — on such a witness I would have revenge, or not live myself. The God who beheld everything, and also man — that God had to die. Man cannot endure it, that such a witness should live. Thus spake the Ugliest Man."

6. 3:45

   Michael Horton

   Now, it's true that God's knowledge creeps into our dirtiest corners. That's how the earlier part of the book of Hebrews begins, right? The word of God is like a sword that cuts the conscience, that searches out everything. It searches the dirtiest corners. It's like a knife — it cuts us open, puts us on display, so that we can't make excuses anymore. We can't deflect our sins onto other people.

7. 4:41

   Michael Horton

   "The woman you gave me." "The Devil made me do it." "The Gentiles." "The secular humanists." "The Jews." But God's judgment will expose everything, even our dirtiest corners. Obviously, you can't kill God — but God knows everything. That's how the chapter starts. But then it turns to a gospel that is far greater than pity.

8. 5:11

   Michael Horton

   Here's our passage. I hope it speaks to you if you feel sometimes like the ugliest man or woman: "Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he said, 'As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest,' although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: 'And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.' And again in this passage he said, 'They shall not enter my rest.' Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, 'today,' saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on."

9. 6:35

   Michael Horton

   "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from his." I'm especially focusing on verses 11 through 16: "Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." But from law to gospel: "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."

10. 8:00

    Michael Horton

    "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Verses 1 through 13 have warned the hearers of this sermon — because that's really what Hebrews is, a long sermon that was preached and evidently circulated. We could call the author "the preacher," if we like. "Good news came to us as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith." They heard the same gospel we've heard, but they didn't respond to it in faith. Chapters 2, 4, 6, 10, and 13 all issue urgent warnings directed to covenant people: not to go back to Judaism, not to go back to the works of the law, not to go back to the mediation of Moses.

11. 9:12

    Michael Horton

    That's like rewinding the movie. You've been baptized, you profess faith, you've spent years hearing the Word, receiving communion, and maybe even outwardly appearing indistinguishable from believers. The preacher brings up the wilderness generation — and this is a real, fearful warning. But then verses 14 to 16 turn from the dire warning to the comfort of the gospel in Christ. We have a better covenant with better promises, with a better mediator than Moses.

12. 9:53

    Michael Horton

    Moses himself was barred from entering the Promised Land because of his moral turpitude. But Jesus, the greater Joshua, leads us into the everlasting rest. We see this in three parts: first, a glorious high priest; then a sympathetic high priest; then a gracious high priest. I'm going to spend most of the time on the sympathetic, because that really gets to why we're here.

13. 10:43

    Michael Horton

    The title "high priest" has already been used several times — also "the Son of God." The Levitical priests were often called sons of God, and I think the reference to Jesus as the Son of God is both that he is the eternal Son of the Father, and also a reference to his being a high priest in the order of Melchizedek. He's a glorious high priest and the Son of God, but also tempted and suffered just like us, yet without sin. What a strange juxtaposition — great height and great glory on one hand, great depth and great sorrow on the other. He's spoken of as "the high priest of our confession" in chapter 3, verse 1 — our homologia, our creed.

14. 11:44

    Michael Horton

    He's the high priest we confess in our creed, and we just did this morning. But the preacher presses his mostly Jewish audience with the question: what sort of mediator do you have? What sort of mediator do you need? If you go back to the shadows, you don't really have one final sacrifice to end all sacrifices; you don't really have reconciliation with God. What kind of high priest are you looking for — one you can see pass into the temple, through the curtain, into the most holy place? Or one who has actually ended the sacrificial system completely? "He has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God."

15. 12:54

    Michael Horton

    No high priest ever did that. The high priests would pass through a symbolic curtain made to look like the night sky — a blue background meant to evoke ascending from the terrestrial world to the celestial world as they passed into the holy of holies. He's passed through the actual heavens, of which that curtain was a mere copy. "He's passed through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God."

16. 13:34

    Michael Horton

    "You shall name him Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins." Yeshua. He's a person like us, and yet so different from us — he's the Son of God, and it's not just who he is, but what he did. He ascended from this earth not to escape it, but to secure its redemption. He passed through the heavens to take his throne at the Father's right hand, to rule and reign over his enemies — and ours — until he crushes Satan under his feet. And in the meantime, he prays for us. He prays for us more than we pray to him, and his prayers are always answered.

17. 14:25

    Michael Horton

    Passing through the curtain in the temple, he passes through the terrestrial world, having accomplished on earth everything the Father gave him to do, and now sits at the Father's right hand in glory. He's a glorious high priest — he's been glorified. But he's also a sympathetic high priest. This is so common to us now — we see pictures of Jesus with the sheep, with the woman at the well — we picture Jesus as sympathetic.

18. 15:16

    Michael Horton

    But this was odd for a messianic figure in Jesus's day. The Messiah the prophets looked forward to, and which the Pharisees of Jesus's day were expecting, was a powerful representative of God's sovereignty — a royal person who would come, immediately drive out the Romans, and re-establish a Jewish theocracy. That's why everybody had to get their act together, and had to become holy.

19. 16:04

    Michael Horton

    Everybody had to become totally separate from the Gentiles so that the Messiah would come. The belief was: God will not send the Messiah until you get your act ready. But when you do, the Messiah will justify you, drive away your enemies, and there will be a final judgment securing your everlasting destiny in the Promised Land — and from there the conquest would grow until it stretched to the ends of the earth. That was the expectation about the Messiah at the time of Jesus. The Messiah would be the most exalted king Israel ever had. But we know from the circumstances even of his birth how unexalted He appeared in this world.

20. 17:08

    Michael Horton

    We're united to him by nature — we're family, brothers and sisters. The preacher emphasizes in chapter 2, verse 11, that we're "from the same flesh and blood." He didn't assume angelic or celestial flesh; he assumed our humanity. You know how at family reunions people say, "You look just like your parents," "You've got your Uncle Fred's nose," "You sure do have your mother's eyes"? He had her DNA. He was completely human.

21. 17:51

    Michael Horton

    Our confession, the Belgic Confession, Article 18 — similar to the Thirty-Nine Articles — says he "truly assumed a real human nature, with all its infirmities, sin excepted; being conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, without the means of man." He not only assumed human nature as to body, but also a true human soul, "in order that he might be a real man. For since the soul was lost as well as the body, it was necessary that he should take both upon him, to save both." Contrary to the heresy of the Anabaptists, who deny that Christ took human flesh of His mother, we confess that Christ partook of the flesh and blood of the children: he is "the fruit of the loins of David," born "of the seed of David according to the flesh," "the fruit of the womb of the Virgin Mary," "born of a woman," "a branch of David," "a shoot from the stump of Jesse," sprung "from the tribe of Judah," descended "from the Jews according to the flesh," "of the seed of Abraham." Since he was concerned with the descendants of Abraham, "he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, yet without sin."

22. 19:06

    Michael Horton

    In this way, he is, in truth, our Emmanuel — God with us. There are two kata phrases — "according to" phrases — in our passage: "according to everything, like us," and "according to everything, except for sin." Now, our human nature is not inherently sinful. When Jesus assumed our humanity, the question is: did he have to assume the humanity of imperfect, fallen creatures? No — he assumed the true humanity of Adam and Eve before the Fall.

23. 20:01

    Michael Horton

    Human nature is not inherently sinful, theologically speaking. It's accidental, not essential, to our being — something that happened to us, not something we inherently are. We became sinners because of an event, not because our nature is inherently sinful. God created us good, but we have gone our own way. "Like sheep," we're born in sin.

24. 20:35

    Michael Horton

    So imagine the holiest human being who ever lived: his temptation by every kind of sin we face must have been far more horrendous than any temptation we experience. The holiest, God incarnate — the one we say "can't understand me, He's so far away, He's just my judge" — that God, when he moves close to us, on earth, in his ministry, comes to the poor, to sinners, to prostitutes, to those who know they need a savior. And he's tempted with power by Satan in the temptation — Satan probably thought this was his weak spot.

25. 21:49

    Michael Horton

    "Surely the second person of the Holy Trinity isn't going to like this place very much. I'm going to give him some power over it. All he's got to do is sign over a little of his autonomy — a little pinch of incense to Caesar, a little obedience to Lucifer, and then you can have it all. I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world. You can have power, you can have wealth."

26. 22:30

    Michael Horton

    "You won't have to live like this anymore — you won't have to be a man of sorrows. What good is that? I'll give you health, wealth, and happiness." But that would be surrendering to Satan and his plot to keep the Messiah from fulfilling his redemptive mission. Remember, we're talking about his humanity here — "God is unable to be tempted by evil," says James (James 1:13).

27. 23:01

    Michael Horton

    That's true. But Jesus, as the eternal Son, equal with God, becomes the most tempted human being in history. His sinless holiness isn't like that of a child who simply hasn't been exposed to temptation yet — it's not naivety. Nor is it like that of a stoic living above all passion in detached bliss. Rather, he directed all of his passions toward the Father and his will. He fulfilled every command we've broken. He lived the perfect life of righteousness and holiness, enduring temptation, saying no to Satan, and feasting on every word that comes from the mouth of God — as our last and faithful Adam. All who are united to him have that credited to their account through faith alone. We're united to him in temptation, tempted in every way as we are.

28. 24:25

    Michael Horton

    I mentioned pride and power, where Satan focused — but he did that with Adam too. "This strategy works on these human beings; I'll try it on Jesus too, since he's fully human." Pride and power, wealth and glory — that's one temptation. Fear is another. At Lazarus's tomb, the verb to describe Jesus weeping is the same for a horse to rear up and snort.

29. 24:51

    Michael Horton

    Have you seen Middle Eastern funerals, at least the televised ones? People aren't keeping calm and carrying on — they're throwing themselves on the casket, wailing. That's what Jesus was doing at Lazarus's tomb. He was facing the last enemy that would take his life too: death. He looked it in the face, and even then said, "Lazarus, come forth." So he was tempted by fear, by poverty and sickness, no doubt by loneliness, abuse, and shame — from the very people created and called into covenant with himself.

30. 25:44

    Michael Horton

    Now, "in every respect" doesn't mean every single specific sin we've ever committed — it means every kind, every type, every category. And we are united with him in redemption: he is both the priest and the sacrifice, the lamb without blemish — but he's also the one who fulfilled all righteousness in his act of obedience. Look at the temptations: pride and power — Jesus responds with servanthood, to God and to us.

31. 26:50

    Michael Horton

    "I came not to be served, but to serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many." Fear, tied to poverty and sickness — he answers by restoring life and hope to those who have none. Loneliness — he creates a new community around himself. Abuse and shame — he shows pity, mercy, and justice. So, apart from the gospel, "yet without sin" is just more judgment, isn't it? Well — Jesus pulled it off.

32. 27:32

    Michael Horton

    Why can't you? "Jesus rose from the dead, and you can't get out of bed." Just more judgment. So what's your excuse? But the good news Jesus gives by his sinlessness is not "follow my example." We are to follow his example — but that's a command. The good news of the gospel is not "follow my example," but "look what I've done for you."

33. 28:06

    Michael Horton

    The trial is over. You're not on trial anymore. God does not pity you — God loves you. God has shown favor toward you. Therefore, we have a gracious high priest. That's the last part of this. Notice how verse 14 begins: "Since then we have..." I love this. And again in verse 15: "For we have..." What do we have? A gracious high priest. We have Jesus.

34. 28:50

    Michael Horton

    This is amazing, isn't it? This isn't just the powerful, crushing monarch coming to establish an imperial reign and crush whoever gets in his way. This is a sympathetic and gracious high priest whom you can have. You can have God — you can possess God — because he became small in Jesus Christ. In Christ, God is haveable. The transcendent, sovereign, all-knowing, holy, and righteous God is one you are able to have in Jesus Christ. And that's the indicative basis, the reason for the promise.

35. 29:56

    Michael Horton

    That's the basis of his imperative to "hold fast our confession" in verse 14, and to "draw near to the throne of grace with confidence." "Hold fast" — so hold fast your confession, I say. Not "just have more faith," "believe harder, believe stronger" — that's not what he says.

36. 30:24

    Michael Horton

    Since everything I've told you is true, the only reasonable thing to do is hold fast to your confession — this homologia, this confession we make. Hold fast to it, and draw near to the throne of grace with confidence. How can we do this with confidence — the one who sees my dirtiest corners and so on? How can we come to the holy God, even at the very moment we're tempted with filthy lusts, with greed, pride, and anger? "I'll wait till I get over it," we think.

37. 31:33

    Michael Horton

    But the only way you can come to God is with your sins — because you always have sins to bring to him. It's the only condition in which we can come to God as sinners. The preacher doesn't say, "Come anyway, God may be a little miffed, but he's too merciful to judge" — that "hellfire and brimstone" framing is from a bygone age; "God's nice, we're nice, let's be nice." Nor does he say, "Do a little penance, clean yourself up, spend a few years in purgatory, surrender a little more, tithe a little more, and then we'll talk."

38. 32:22

    Michael Horton

    No — he says, come with confidence. How precious this high priest must be, that we can come with confidence and find a throne of grace instead of a throne of judgment. Do you realize how terrifying God's throne is? Go back to Isaiah and his vision of God in his majesty, sitting on his throne — terrified him to the point that he said, "Woe to me, for I am undone; I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, for I have seen the Holy One of Israel." But now we come with confidence to a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment — He has expediated our sins. We come in order to —

39. 33:17

    Michael Horton

    I love that — that's a purpose clause: "in order to." We come in order to find unmerited mercy and grace — not in the hope of finding, but with confidence, in order to get it. That's the only way we can come to Him. We come to him for timely help.

40. 33:49

    Michael Horton

    It's really coming to him for the grace we need just at the moment we're at the end of our rope — just at the right time. "Christ died for the ungodly" — just at the right time. He helps us in our distress when we call on him — just at the right time. What is "just the right time" when you're a sinner? Just the right time. It's the only way we can come to him as sinners.

41. 34:25

    Michael Horton

    Jesus is not only the most glorious and exalted high priest in Israel's history, according to the order of Melchizedek — he also descended lower than any prophet, priest, or king ever had. Don't look away in disgust at the humiliated and suffering high priest of our confession, whose humiliation goes further than the Ugliest Man. Don't look away from it. The writer to the Hebrews tells us it is there at the cross — with flies buzzing and blood dripping — where God is most manifest in the history of the world. That's where we find the mercy seat, as Calvin put it: this ground of assurance is that the throne of God is not arrayed "in naked majesty" to confound us, but is adorned with a new name — grace — which ought ever to be remembered when we shun the presence of God. For the glory of God, contemplated alone, can produce no other effect than to fill us with despair and dread. So awful is his throne that he allures us by draping grace like a banner across it.

42. 35:53

    Michael Horton

    So what would you say to Nietzsche's ugliest man? "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help just when we need it." Let's pray. Father, thank you for our Savior, who is the Mediator beyond Moses, the greater Joshua, who has led us into the Sabbath rest, into the everlasting Promised Land. We're not there yet, but we are so united to him that we cannot fail to be joined to him in His session. We pray that you would steel our minds and hearts on that promise, so that we would come with confidence for the grace we need just at the right time. In Jesus's name, amen.