Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3182
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace.” Hebrews 4:16.
[Another sermon by Mr. Spurgeon, upon the same subject, is #1024, Volume 17—“The Throne of Grace.”]
PRAYER occupies a most important place in the life of the Christian. “Behold, he prays,” was one of the first and also one of the surest indications of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. No one begins to live the life of faith who has not also begun to pray—and as prayer is necessary at the commencement of the Christian career, so is it necessary all through. A Christian’s vigor, happiness, growth and usefulness all depend upon prayer. It is—
“His watchword at the gates of death, He enters Heaven with prayer.” I suppose that even there we shall continue to pray. At all events, we read of the souls under the altar crying with a loud voice and saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” I imagine that in Heaven we shall still lift up our hearts in prayer for the spread of Christ’s Kingdom, though our principal occupation there will be that of praise. But prayer is always needed here—every day, every hour, every moment we have cause for crying unto the Most High—
“Long as they live should Christians pray,” for only while they pray do they truly live!
It is because of the supreme importance of prayer that we find so much about it in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit continually encourages us to pray by precept, promise and example. One conspicuous instance of that encouragement is the exhortation we are now to consider—“Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace.”
So, coming at once to the text, notice that we have here, first, a description of our great resort for prayer—“The Throne of Grace.” Secondly, we have a loving exhortation—“Let us come unto the Throne of Grace.” Thirdly, we have a qualifying adverb, telling us how we are to come—“Let us come boldly’” Fourthly, we have a reason given for boldness. The reason is in the context. We shall also think of other reasons and then shall close with the reason upon which Paul laid the stress of the argument in writing to the Hebrews—“Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace.”
I. First, then, dear Friends, we have A DESCRIPTION OF OUR GREAT RESORT FOR PRAYER—“The Throne ofGrace.”
Under the Law of God, there was to be an ark overlaid inside and outside with pure gold. And above the ark was to be the Mercy Seat of pure gold with the golden cherubim covering the Mercy Seat with their wings. This mysterious emblem no one ever saw except the high priest—and he saw it only once a year—and then but dimly, for he saw it through the smoke of the incense which he presented before the Lord. It was a secret thing, but now it is revealed to us, for the veil has been torn and the symbol taken away that we may now come boldly right up to the Throne of heavenly Grace.
I was conversing, some time ago, with a member of the Catholic and Apostolic Church who took great pains to instruct me as to the meaning of the various offices and ordinances of the body with which he was connected. After he had explained a great many mysteries to his own satisfaction, if not to my edification, he pointed out the position of the saints at the present day. And then I felt that it was time to answer him, so I said, “I do not believe that Christians are intended
to go crawling about the outer court and keeping far off from the Holy Place, for the Apostle Paul said, ‘Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace,’ right into the Holy of Holies, for there is no longer any separating veil to keep us away from the Mercy Seat. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, my place is not in the outer court, nor even in the court of the priests. I have advanced beyond them and come right up to the Throne of Grace that I may there obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need.” That is the position of all true Christians, not only on one day of the year, but every day!
I wish that all Believers could realize the privileges to which they were born when they were created anew in Christ Jesus. You may have heard a whole congregation saying, “Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law,” and you may have seen them all shivering there at the foot of Sinai with the lightning flashing above them, and the thunder pealing around them! Yet it is possible that at least some of them may have had the right to come before the Lord as His own dear children through faith in Jesus Christ. And if so, they might have said to Him, “Lord, You have had mercy upon us. You have blotted out all our transgressions and now we are not under the Law, but under Grace, and are completely delivered from the thralldom of the old Covenant of Works and are put under the new Covenant of Grace, that we may serve You in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” Blessed are they who are enjoying the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free and who, therefore, come boldly right up to the Throne of Grace!