In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: So let me ask you: What is your need? Is it material? It's to be found at the throne of grace. Is it emotional? Is it something spiritual going on in your life? Is it forgiveness? Is it comfort? Is it encouragement? Is it that the Father would lift the burden? Whatever it is, He says in this passage, I want to encourage you to make it your daily habit and many times a day to come to the throne of grace, where you'll find mercy and help, grace, goodness, undeserving love of the Father to help you in time of need.

Guest (Male): Has a close friend ever let you down? That can leave you disillusioned, hurt, and angry. If you battle those feelings, stay with us. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley will be reminded that Jesus is the believer's best friend and He can be trusted to never leave. Learn more about God's promises in our continuing series, Grace for Today.

Dr. Charles Stanley: If I should ask you why don't you think you spend more time praying and talking to God, I wonder how you would answer that. Or if I should ask, why is not your intimacy, your relationship with Him more intimate? And why is it not more meaningful and more rewarding than it is? Well, I believe if you and I understood who God is and what He's really like, and if we understood what it meant to really come to Him, we would come to Him far more often.

We would speak with Him more often. Our relationship with Him would be far more intimate than it is. We would sense a greater intimacy with Him, a greater joy about Him, a sense of fulfillment and contentment and strength and power. Our faith would be stronger. Our confidence would be greater if we understood who is this God to whom we go and what does He mean when He says we can come to Him in time of trouble and find grace to help in time of need.

Now, I want you to think about something. How would you and I respond to the holiness of God if there were no grace? If you and I had to come before the presence of God each time only to face a holy God, a God who will judge and condemn all unrighteousness and all unholy things? How would we feel if we came to a God in His majesty and power and awe and wonder? How would we come? We would come with a sense of fear. We would come with a sense of anxiety. We would come with a sense of feeling unworthy and not sure of how we're going to be accepted.

If you think about the judgment, the condemnation, the holiness, and the awesomeness of His presence, I don't think any of us can possibly conceive of how we are going to feel and what we are going to sense when we stand in the presence of God. Now, what Jesus did at the cross, He made it possible for us, sinful beings as we are at times in our disobedience. He made it possible for you and me, symbolically speaking, to walk into the presence of the throne room of God and talk to Him without any hesitation whatsoever.

Is it because we're worthy of it? No, that's what grace is all about. It has nothing to do with it. It has to do with what Jesus did at the cross to make it possible. That's why I keep emphasizing the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, because without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin. And without the shedding of blood, there is absolutely no access to God. When Christ died on the cross, what He did, the Bible says the veil was split in the temple from top to bottom. He flung open the doors of access to God so that anyone who wants to come to Him, who's willing to come His way, which is by His Son Jesus Christ, has access to the Father.

I can come to Him without fear and therefore I can come to Him with confidence. Come bold to the throne of grace. What is my confidence based on? It's based on verse 15. He says, for we do not have a high priest, speaking of Christ, who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses and our sinfulness, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. When you and I come to the throne of grace to fellowship with God and to talk to Him about our needs and where we are in life and whatever's going on, He says we can come boldly. We can come with confidence.

Why? Because listen, even though God is holy and righteous, and even though one of these days He is going to condemn and judge, we come to Him as the children of God. We come to Him through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. We come to Him as those who've been redeemed, cleansed, and are being cleansed continually by the blood of Christ. And so therefore, we have the privilege of coming without fear. We have the privilege of coming, as He says, boldly before Him. We have the privilege of coming asking for great blessings. When we make big requests, we honor His omnipotence and His love.

Yet oftentimes we ask little things because we fear asking big things. We don't feel worthy of asking for great things. Listen, He didn't say come to the throne of worthiness. He said come to the throne of grace. Grace is God's goodness and kindness toward us without regard to merit and worth on our part and in spite of what we deserve. That's what grace is all about. That's the kind of throne we're coming to. This is the kind of God you and I are approaching without fear.

He says, with confidence, asking for big blessings. Listen to this: He says we're to come often. That's the implication of this phrase when He says, therefore let us draw near with confidence. Present tense continuously. Let us come again and again and again. How often do you think God wants you coming to Him for fellowship and prayer? I believe the heart of God desires that you and I walk in continuous fellowship with Him, talking to Him continuously, in the midst of our labors, in the midst of our worship, in the midst of church, in the midst of whatever's going on.

God desires continuous fellowship and continuous conversation and a continuous sense of oneness and awareness of His presence. We're to come often and thank God we can come anytime. Don't have to make an appointment. You know what? There's never a crowd. We don't have to wait in line. Always instantaneous access. That is one of the riches of the grace of God, that you and I have instantaneous access to His presence. You see, this God of grace so loves us He says, come on. He says, I want you to come. You have access.

He is a God of grace and He says His throne is the throne of grace. This is where He's dispensing love and goodness and mercy and kindness and forgiveness to His children. While He's a holy God, and while we're to come to Him in the spirit and a sense of reverence and awe, we also come as sons to a Father, daughters to a Father. Now let's look at it this way. This is the way we are to approach Him. What can you and I expect when we come to the throne of grace? When we come to God speaking to Him and talking to Him, what can we expect?

Well, let's look at these two words: mercy and grace. They're not synonymous. Sometimes we think they are, but they're not. Somebody has put it this way: that mercy is the heart of God and grace is the hand of God. In mercy, God does not give us what we deserve. In grace, He gives us what we don't deserve. So when you think in terms of mercy and grace, mercy deals with my past failures. Grace deals with my present work and the future, that is, what I need now. This is the kind of heavenly Father He is.

He's encouraging us to come to this throne of grace. He says that you may receive two things: mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. How are you and I to come to the Father? We're to come to Him as sons, come to Him as servants. But anyway I come, this much is for sure. I'm going to come to Him in a humble fashion. He's God. He's holy, righteous, just. The awe and the glory and the majesty of Almighty God the Father. How could I come to Him in any pride, egotism, or arrogance?

Once in a while when I hear people who say, man, you just got to make your claim on God. You've got to just take your stand upon the scriptures. Just command God. I'm here to tell you, I don't have the courage to command God to do anything. Anybody who's commanding God doesn't know Him. To have God, you can't have Him just once. He's not just all love, goodness, and sweetness. He is a God of holiness and a God of love. With Him, those two fit absolutely perfectly.

The fact that He's a holy God makes my coming to Him as my heavenly Father so much more richer and I have so much more confidence. Why? Because I come to God my Father as my heavenly Father knowing He is so holy and He is so righteous and He is so good and He's so perfect, He's only going to do what is good for me and what is right for me and what is best for me. Why? Because He's a holy God. My friend, listen to me. You may be as good as you know how to be, and you may do all the right things you know to do in life, and you may be a very religious person.

Until Jesus Christ becomes your Savior by faith in what He did at the cross, you have no access to God to come to Him asking for help in time of need. First of all, you have to be a son. You see, that's why He calls Himself God the Father. Those of us who are His children, we are His children created in Christ Jesus, He says. Or we are His children because we've been adopted into the kingdom. We've been born again and this new birth made us children of God. Before you become a child of God, He says you're alienated from God, separated from God, afar off from God, in blindness and in darkness and in death, and have no relationship to God.

But you see, that's why Jesus came. He came in order to take care of our sin so that you and I could look Almighty God our Father in the eye with confidence and boldness and assurance, coming to Him again and again and again as sons and daughters of a Father who is the King of kings, Lord of lords, the God of the heavens and the earth. He says we come to Him and that's where we find mercy. That's how you got saved. God was merciful to every single one of us. Listen to what else. He says that you may find mercy and grace to help in time of need.

That phrase "in time of need" literally means, if we can put it in our terminology, it literally means "in the nick of time." That we may find grace to help in the nick of time. Well, you say, wait a minute, you mean to tell me that God is just going to wait till the last minute? No. But here's what He does, and this is a wonderful thing about God. What it means is when I have a need, God will supply that need when the need arises. When the need arises, I have a right to instantaneously ask of Him because, you see, as children of God, all we have to do is think, "Father."

Our access is instantaneous. For example, suddenly you're tempted. What happens? Instantaneously, you and I have help. Listen to this: divine, supernatural, adequate, sufficient, all-sufficient help at that very moment to deal with that very issue we are facing. He says come to the throne of grace and find mercy and help in time of need. When our hearts are sorrowful, what happens? We have a heavenly Father who loves us and who understands our sorrow and He's there. When we think of burdens we have to face in life, He's there.

It doesn't make any difference what we face. What an awesome, what a tremendous promise from God. No matter what you and I face, here's the promise: when that need arises, God says, I'll be there. I'll be there. You think about folks who face death and know it's coming and are wondering. Sometimes you see when there's that kind of thing approaching and there's anger at first, and sorrow and regret and guilt and all these things. Finally, when all that gets sifted out, the child of God, when the moment comes, God has promised to provide the grace to die when the moment comes.

He's promised to provide the grace for you and me to go through anything and everything in life that's necessary. What does He say? He says we're to come and we're to find grace to help in time of need. No matter what we need, what's there? We have Almighty God who knows our need perfectly, ready to provide exactly what we need. Do I need comfort in sorrow? He'll provide it. Do I need forgiveness when I've sinned? He'll provide it. Do I need encouragement when I'm discouraged? He'll provide it.

Do I need the burden lifted when I think, oh God, I cannot handle anymore? You remember what the Apostle Paul said when he asked God to take away that thorn in his side? He didn't say yes, no, and wait. He said, Paul, when you hurt real bad, I'm there. When you think you can't go on one step further, I'm there. My grace is sufficient. Listen, He didn't say it's going to be. He didn't say it might be. He didn't say it has been. He said, My grace is sufficient.

When God spoke to Moses and He told him how to identify Him when he went back to the Hebrews to tell them who the real God was He'd been talking to, He didn't say you tell them I was sent you. He didn't say you tell them I shall be sent you. He said, you tell them I AM. The eternal I AM is the eternal loving heavenly Father who is eternally ready with everything that you and I will ever need to meet every single solitary need. That's why the Apostle Paul could say, my God shall supply all of our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, by the grace of God.

That's the throne of God, the throne of grace. Every single solitary need that you and I will ever have. So let me ask you: What is your need? Is it material? It's to be found at the throne of grace. Is it emotional? Is it something spiritual going on in your life? Is it forgiveness? Is it comfort? Is it encouragement? Is it that the Father would lift the burden? Whatever it is, He says in this passage, I want to encourage you to make it your daily habit and many times a day to come to the throne of grace where you'll find mercy and help, grace, goodness, undeserving love of the Father to help you in time of need.

When I think about my heavenly Father being that kind of God, and when I think about coming to that kind of throne, I think, Hallelujah, praise the Lord, Amen, let's go. Why? Because there's no place in all this earth like that. I said this before and I want to say it again. No matter what you experience in life, no matter where you go, no matter who you go with, no matter how much money you have, what you can buy, no matter what your capacities are, no matter what your gifts are, no matter what your privilege or position may be, there is no experience in all of life equal to that intimate relationship and oneness that goes on between a man or a woman and God when they're fellowshipping unhindered and there's nothing between that person and their heavenly Father.

There is a love and an intimacy and a fellowship and a oneness that goes on in that relationship that cannot be described in human terms. When He says the throne of grace where you'll find help and grace in time of need, listen, part of what we find there is that intimate oneness with Him that is the most satisfying, contenting, most helpful, most powerful thing that can happen in a person's life. You know what He's asking for? You say He's asking for my obedience. No, He's not. He's asking for my resources to be committed to Him. No. He's asking for my surrender. No.

You know what He's asking for? Just one thing. You. That's all He's asking for. He just wants you. He wants the fellowship with you. He wants to love you. He wants you to experience Him loving you. You say, well, how do I experience loving God? You get alone with Him and just try stretching out on your face before God and telling Him, Father, I just want you. That's all I want. I don't want any things. I just want you. I know you want me. I want you. I want to fellowship with you. I want to love you and I want to sense your loving me. I want a sense of oneness between us, nothing between us but perfect love.

I challenge you to try it. For me personally, it's very difficult for me to really be intimately aware of the holiness of God and how great, mighty, and awesome He is if I come to Him asking for this, that, and the other. Or if I'm coming just to read the word, though the reading of the word is extremely important to get my spirit ready to listen to Him. But there's a time when I shouldn't be doing anything, just listening and absorbing the awareness of His presence.

You know what happens? All of a sudden, this God who's way out yonder's going to get real close and you're going to sense something in your relationship to Him that's brand new and refreshing. Then you can't keep it to yourself. You've got to tell it. Why? Because you've discovered that He's a God of wonderful, indescribable love who's just ready to pour it out on you if you'll give Him time just to love you.

Guest (Male): When you pray, do you sometimes just run through your list of requests and then go on with your plans? If so, take the advice you heard today on In Touch. Slow down and spend time alone with God every day. You'll find more practical help for developing a strong and fulfilling life of prayer and devotion to Christ at our website, intouch.org, and the link to Today on Radio is on our main page. Click it to hear this message again.

And if you'd like to have a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, you can order online at the bookstore. The title is The Throne of Grace. Or order his teaching set, Grace for Today. Make a note of the address: it's intouch.org. Call or text to 1-800-IN-TOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357.

People who are of vital importance are often surrounded by strict security, but there are no restrictions on those who want to meet with Jesus. Today's Moment with Charles Stanley is coming up.

Dr. Charles Stanley: The peace of God is tranquility and quietness of the soul. It is the assurance that no matter what's going on around us, everything is secure. Peace is not determined by circumstances. Neither is it a matter of chance, but it is a matter of choice.

Guest (Male): In a world filled with noise and uncertainty, you can discover peace that cannot be shaken. Get your new free booklet, Peaceful and Still, a guide to experiencing God's rest in an anxious age. Visit intouch.org/peace.

Have you ever forgotten something God taught you when you were reading the Bible? When we take note of what God reveals to us, it helps us to apply it to our lives. With the Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Journal, you can keep track of your spiritual journey and be transformed by God's truth. This journal features artwork of Dr. Stanley's 30 Life Principles, lined pages for journaling, a prayer journaling section, and more. To order, call 1-800-IN-TOUCH or go to intouch.org/journal.

You're listening to In Touch. Through faith in Jesus Christ, believers have open access to God. Here's a Moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Let's think about this for a moment. Here God is inviting you and me to come into His presence, so to speak, and talk with Him and fellowship with Him. Now you think about this. We're talking about coming into the presence of royalty, power, and authority, and dignity and majesty. Well, if you try to get into the presence of some real important person or great dignitary today, you have a difficult time. Now, I've had the privilege of being in the presence of a number of presidents, and you've got to send them your Social Security, and they've got to check you out, and all of the things you have to go through.

Then when you go through security there, you go through this security and that security and the other security. They check you out and find out what's, they run this thing all up and down you, look at you square in the face like you're a criminal. All kinds of things to be sure that you are safe for the President or whoever it may be. You know the interesting thing about coming to the throne of grace? Nobody checks out security. Nobody. There's none of that. You don't have to make an appointment. You don't have to stand in line. You don't have to do any of that. He says you and I are encouraged to come to the throne of grace. We're encouraged to come. So therefore, we don't have to go through all of that. That means we have instantaneous access to Almighty God through His Son.

Guest (Male): Sin is pardoned and new life is given once you trust God to forgive you through faith in Jesus Christ. Learn more at intouch.org. On our next In Touch program, through His marvelous grace, God meets the needs of His followers, but at no small price. Learn about the high cost of God's grace when you join us next time for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.