AMAZING GRACE
GRACE TO HELP
A. TIME OF TESTING
"Let us therefore keep on coming with confidence to
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
GRACE to help in TIME OF NEED," Heb 4:16.
We all too quickly forget that our christian life
time is a time of severe testing, sometimes less severe
and sometimes more severe, Deut 8; Isa 48:9-11; Heb
12:1-11. Our lack of knowledge, lack of serious
consideration, and lack of constant awareness of this fact
is perhaps the occasion for more failures and disastrous
defeats in our christian lives than any other one
thing.
God is constantly training us day and night
throughout our lives and that is what Israel's forty years
in the wilderness clearly represents, I Cor 10:1-13; Heb
3; 4. Exceeding great and precious promises of
unsearchable riches are set before us to aid in motivating
us to be overcomer (I Cor 2:9; Eph 3:8; II Pet 1:4), while
exceeding great loss and punishment await those who do not
overcome, Heb 2:1-3; 3:11; 6:4-6; 10:25-31;
12:15-17,25-29; et al.
We need constantly to keep on coming with confidence
to the throne of GRACE for the help or grace we need (Heb
4:16), and the help or grace we need most is to be
constantly munching on every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God (Mt 4:4) in order to become overcomers, Heb
4:16; 7:25; 11:6 -- be sure to discern the Greek tense and
the durative, persevering, overcoming, grace through faith
emphasis throughout Heb 11.
B. WE ARE TO KEEP ON COMING TO THE THRONE OF GRACE
"Let us therefore KEEP ON COMING with confidence to
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need," Heb 4:16.
The people addressed here are the "holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling" (Heb 3:1), the New
Covenant people who have Christ as their covenant High
Priest (Heb 4:14,15), and who have confidence and
rejoicing in the hope of the Gospel of Christ, Heb 3:6,14.
They are of the house (the church) over which Christ is
the Head, Heb 3:6; 10:21,25.
These Hebrews christians (holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, Heb 3:1) were covenant people who
were accustomed to coming properly as saved church members
to the throne of grace, but were showing signs of
weakening as Israel did in the wilderness, Heb 3:7-19.
Their trials were excruciating, the opposition was
overwhelming, and they were about to give up and throw
away their confidence, Heb 3:6,12-14; 6:11-20; 10:35-36.
They were being urged to continue coming to the throne of
grace "to obtain mercy and find grace to help," as they
had been doing for many years.
C. GRACE TO HELP
"Let us therefore keep on coming with confidence to
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
GRACE TO HELP in time of need," Heb 4:16.
What kind of help? Read the preceding verse, Heb
4:15. Jesus, as our High Priest and our example in life
was tempted in all points as we are. This simply means
every kind of help we need, God's GRACE is sufficient for
it, and we can go to the throne of GRACE and get that
help, and that help is called GRACE. See II Cor 12:7-10; I
Cor 15:10.
But what happens is that when you go to the throne
of GRACE and pray for GRACE to help overcome that trial,
there are people will call it "human works."
When you go to the throne of GRACE and ask for GRACE
to go to church, sing, pray, give, and preach or listen to
the sermon in a God honoring way and God gives you that
GRACE, some people will call it "works of the flesh" which
God will not accept and will not bless. They will insist
that such works are not grace at all.
When you go to the throne of GRACE and pray for
GRACE to love, be patient, and forgive others and God
gives you that GRACE, some people will call it the "works"
of Rom 11:6 that God will not accept and will not bless.
They will argue vehemently that there are no "works" that
God will accept and bless. But what about the Holy
Spirit's works in and through us? What kind of works are
those? Are not the works of the Spirit the works of Christ
and the works of Christ the works of the Father? Will not
the Father accept His own works? When people are saved and
you are going to scripturally baptized them and you pray
for GRACE to baptize them "by grace through faith"
and God gives you GRACE to baptize them "by grace
through faith," some people will insist that
scriptural baptism is not by grace.
When a missionary goes to a foreign land to make
disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, build churches, and do all the commands
of the Great Commission, can he perform all these commands
by grace through faith? The answer is, of course, YES, all
the commands of the Great Commission can be performed by
grace through faith.
Would anyone dare say he can do all of them except
"baptize" by grace through faith? But the New Covenant is
a GRACE Covenant (a stewardship [oikonomia] of grace, Eph
3:2; I Pet 4:10), and all its commands are administered by
the Holy Spirit. Therefore if the New Covenant is
performed Scripturally, all its commands or works are Holy
Spirit works, faith works, and grace works, including
baptism.
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