The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Friend, the veil's open today. It will never be sewn shut again. Jesus died once for all. He will never die again. The way into the very presence of God, into the very throne room of God is open. It's been open for hundreds of years, nearly 2,000 years, it's open. You need to approach it.

Narrator: The way we think about God shapes every part of our spiritual lives. If we see Him as distant, we'll hesitate to pray. If we understand His love, His mercy, and His grace, we'll draw near with confidence. In this concluding message of drawing near to God, Pastor Jack Morris reveals the Father's heart as seen through Jesus Christ, and reminds us that God's greatest desire is to welcome His children into His presence. Here's an understanding of God.

Pastor Jack Morris: But for several weeks now, well, three weeks, this is the third week that I have focused our attention on Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16. Again today, and this will be the the concluding of this three-point series. Because I don't want to keep going back and I don't want you to get tired of looking at this verse, but we, there's just so much truth here. So so much hope and faith in this very verse. So that I just pray the Holy Spirit will enlighten me and you today to see it and to feel it and to apply it and to react to it that we will experience the mighty power of God in answer to prayer in our lives.

Let's bow before the Lord invoking His blessing. Father, I'm so thankful, but we have Your Word and we stand before You today. The throne of grace, looking to You for Your mercy and Your grace to come upon us, every one of us here in this sanctuary. That we will truly know Your will for us. That our faith will be made strong and that we will truly be a people of prayer and a people of receiving answers to prayer. Bless now, Lord, Your Word to our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen.

You have an outline. We're going to do just a little review. The title of the message: An Understanding God. I want you to take your Bible. The first thing I want you to do is to take your Bible, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16. Hold it up, and in unison, read that verse together.

Pastor Jack Morris: Will you do that together?

Everyone: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Pastor Jack Morris: There is absolutely no reason at all that any of us, any of us should not know how to pray. People said, well, you know, prayer that's for that's for the preachers, that's for the holy people, the sanctified people, the saints. Prayer just doesn't work for me. It's simply because you don't pray. That's why it doesn't work. Because the Bible says if you pray, God will give an answer. So don't tell me you don't get any answers because you're telling me that God isn't doing what He says. I believe that God does what He says.

And I believe that when we pray, God's going to answer prayer. I know He will. Can you say amen to that? He will answer prayer if we pray. And if we're not getting any answers, it's simply because you're not praying. You've already heard a good sermon. Now I'm going to give you the rest of it.

If the Lord didn't want you to have an answer to a prayer, why would He say these words? Let us then approach the throne of grace. God is inviting us to come. He's inviting us to come. And if we obey and come, He tells us that He's going to do great and mighty things, if we'll just come to the throne of grace.

So He says in the word, let us. Those of us who know the Lord, those of us who are saved, those of us who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, let us. Let us whose names are written in heaven in the Book of Life. Let us come. Now, if you're not coming, I'm going to question whether or not your name is in heaven in the Book of Life. You say, but I'm a member of the Largo Community Church. You may be, but you don't know God.

If you knew God, you would obey this verse. You would come to the throne of grace, you would receive great answers to prayer, your life would be abundantly blessed. And if that's not happening, then I have a big question mark, are you truly a child of God? Is your name written in the Book of Life? Because God cares for you. He really loves you and me. And He wants to do great and wonderful things for us. God yearns to do things.

But some of God's people will hinder themselves by simply thinking, well, that just doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for you because you've never tried it or you won't try it. I know God is true to His Word. And I know when God says, I love you, I want to help you, I want to answer your prayer. He means exactly that. That He loves us, that He wants to help us and that He wants to answer our prayer. So if you have prayers and you pray those prayers, and you come to the throne of grace in obedience to the Scripture, you will receive blessings. You really will.

I wonder now, how many here today have received an answer to prayer? Just this past seven days, from last Sunday to this Sunday, let me see your your hand. Okay. Look at all those hands. Okay. That's wonderful. I I want to read something here to you. A lady in our church just this past Sunday, wrote me this this thank you note. And I'm not going to read the whole thing. She said some very nice encouraging things to me, but I want to pick up this part. This is what she says, I'm I'm just about halfway down in the letter.

I saw the beauty of the cross for the first time in my life. This lady's been a member of the church, the Largo Community Church for quite a number of years. That's what I'm trying to say today, friends. You can be a member of a church, this church or some other church for years. And then she says, I saw the beauty of the cross for the very first time in my life. As much as I could, I comprehended the sacrifice. I understood the arrangement that was made between the Lord and Jesus. I saw Christ hanging there. I saw the veil torn and dangling, making a way for us to approach the mercy seat. I started to cry when I realized Christ's mission was to make a way for us. I am forever changed and totally grateful. I told the Lord, I submit to Him.

Now, God is answering the prayers of His people. God is drawing nigh to His people. The Scripture says if we draw close to God, God's going to draw close to us. And God wants to do something for every one of us. Regardless of how long we have been saved, one of our teenagers caught me back here last Sunday morning. A girl maybe 14 years old. She said, Pastor, she said, I I saw the cross. This morning I saw Jesus on the cross for me. And she began to explain to me what she saw. And she asked me, she said, what is He saying to me? What is He saying to me? Friends, God's trying to get through to you today.

God's trying to get through to you today. He wants you to know that He has blessings to dispense. And if you'll come to the throne of grace, you'll receive those blessings. So let us come. Let us approach the throne of grace. Don't stand off. Don't wait. Don't listen to these testimonies. Get your own testimony. God has something beautiful. So come on. Come close today. Let God show you what He wants to show you. He wants to show you His heart, His love and He will do it. So approach the throne of grace.

Now, say throne of grace.

Audience: Throne of grace.

Pastor Jack Morris: I've never heard of a throne like that. I've never heard of a throne like that. I not on this earth, not on this earth, not in the kingdoms of this world have I ever heard of a throne of grace. Oh, I've heard of thrones. But I've heard of thrones that are severe and hostile, where laws are are dispensed and where judgment comes down and and verdicts are read. I've heard of those kind of thrones, but never have I heard of a throne of grace until I opened the Bible and read of God's throne of grace. It's a throne of giving. A throne of giving. Are you listening to me? Listen to me. God's throne is a throne of giving. Say that, it's a throne of giving.

Audience: A throne of giving.

Pastor Jack Morris: And God gives good gifts. Every gift He gives, He He listen, He has never given a bad gift. He's never given a gift that you look at and say, oh, I wonder if I can get this one exchanged. I wonder if I can send this one back. He's never given a bad gift. Every gift He gives is going to excite you and bless you and encourage you and lift you and minister to you because He knows just exactly what you need. That's what He's going to give. So come to this throne of grace. And the Scripture says, how are we to come? With confidence.

With confidence, say it, with confidence.

Audience: With confidence.

Pastor Jack Morris: With confidence. That's how we're to come boldly, with full assurance that He's going to do something beautiful and great. So look at your outline under point A. Write down the word mercy. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive what?

Audience: Mercy.

Pastor Jack Morris: So that we may receive mercy. This is what we get. This is the very first act of God toward God's people. His very first act toward me was mercy. That's the first thing He He gave to me. The first overture He made to me and to you and to everyone else is always mercy. Mercy simply means God pities us. God has compassion on us. God doesn't knock us down, become hostile, point His finger at us, speak harshly to us. No, God acts mercifully. Every time you come to the throne of grace, you're going to receive mercy.

Now, remember the big veil? The veil was rent in twain. The curtain, it just dangled so that you and I could look in. No one now need go behind that veil, we can walk straight through. When Jesus' body was torn with the nails, with the spears, with the thorns, His flesh was torn, then the curtain was torn, meaning it's through His flesh. That veil was symbolic of His body. And now the way is open through Jesus to go to the throne of grace. Not through any other name. Now remember that. Someone says, well, there's there are other gods. Well, there are. There are other gods, but there is only one almighty God that tells us to call Him Father. And there's no other name under heaven. No other name, whereby we must be saved. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Don't tell me other people have their beautiful religions. There's only one, and that's Jesus, and His is the way of mercy. His is the way of mercy. That's what He gives when you come to His throne, He gives mercy.

Now, why does He give mercy? Why does He pity us? Why does He have compassion on us? I want you to turn to uh or if you don't want to, just listen and I'll turn to Psalm 103. I'm going to turn to Psalm 103, verse 4. It says, who redeems your life from the pit and crowned you with love and compassion. Now, that's what Jesus does for us when we come to His throne of grace. He crowns us with love and compassion, meaning crowning us, meaning He adorns us. We are His favored ones, and He adorns us with love and compassion. He puts a crown on our head.

Now, I'm going to turn to uh Psalm 78 verse 39. Psalm 78 verse 39. Let me get over here. Maybe I should stand behind the pulpit, it would be easier. 78 verse 39. This is what we read. He redeemed that we were, He remembered that we were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. Now, I'm answering the question, why mercy? Why compassion? Why pity? It's because He knows that we are but flesh. He knows that our life is so short, so transitory, that we are a passing breeze. A breeze blows by and it's gone forever. You're just passing through. You're just a breeze. When your life is done, you're done as far as this life is concerned. You're just passing through and God knows how weak we are, how frail we are and how how needy we are. And so He wants to help us and He does help us by remembering who we are. That's why when we come, He is merciful.

He knows that we are weak, frail, people of time, and He is merciful. He doesn't expect us to be strong, stalwart, big, saint-like. No, He expects us to come as a humble servant. He remembers who we are. He has mercy on us and He forgives us. Now, we desperately need His help. We desperately need His help. Every one of us need to come to the throne of grace today and receive help from the Lord. The mercy that He has to give to us. We have all sinned, every one of us have sinned. We all need to confess our sins. We all need to repent of our sins. He forgives us. He heals us. He blesses us.

But then sometimes we go back and sin again. But still He doesn't condemn us. He doesn't push us aside. He doesn't rebuke us. He doesn't get hostile. He invites us to come back to the throne of grace and to have mercy on us. One lady here came to me a couple of years ago out of this congregation, and she said to me, Pastor, I'm having a difficult time with alcohol. No one would ever know it, a secret drinker. No one would ever know it. She came to me, talked to me about it. We prayed about it. It was just about two weeks ago, she came to me and she said it's been over 20 some months. She said, that problem that I had no power over, but that problem that had a power over me. She said, I haven't touched it for over 21 months now. Isn't that wonderful?

Sin has a power. Lust has a power. Habits have a power. Dispositions and attitudes have a power. And you and I are going to be subject to some of those passions, lust, problems, habits. We're going to be subject. They have a power over us. We can't break that power. But at the mercy seat, come to God this morning, talk to the Lord, present your need to Christ, tell Him what you need. He has to give. You need power to overcome. He has the power to give. Friends, there is absolutely no reason in the world that any of us should continue in our sin and continue to be subject to problems and habits and attitudes and dispositions.

If we become subject to Christ, every one of those chains that are holding us captive now and making us a slave to that habit, that lust, that pride, that passion, those chains will fall off and we will then be subject to one and one only and that's Him who has mercy on us, who loves us, who truly understands us. Say amen.

Audience: Amen.

Pastor Jack Morris: All right. This is what He is saying. We desperately need His help and He has the help that we need and He provides it. Now, this is a brand new idea of God and Jesus brought this idea to us. The Jews had an idea of God that was so different from the idea that Jesus gave us concerning God. The Jews thought of God as hostile, as almighty, as all powerful, someone that should be feared, someone that we should keep keep a good distance from. This God is going to strike you down. Lightning's going to come out of heaven right down on Mount Sinai and cut you down for your sinning ways. This was their idea. Certainly it was a false idea of God. So Jesus came and put a face on God because no one knew what God looked like, no one knew how God acted. Everybody had an erroneous attitude and view of God. So Jesus said to Philip, when Philip said, show us the Father. We would really like to see God. And Jesus said, look at me. Look at me. Philip, have I been with you so long and you still don't know? He that has seen Me has seen the Father. Jesus put a face on God. You want to know what God looks like? Look at Jesus. And Jesus came to give us this new idea of God.

The Lord Jesus is is the one who does not condemn. He's the one who forgives. He's not the one that judges. On the contrary, He's the Savior. There are people who have lived so sheltered, their lives have been so sheltered. Their parents have brought them up and they've been so protected. Everything has been provided. Uh their parents wouldn't even allow the wind to blow on them. They've been that sheltered. And these people have grown up and they don't understand some of the temptations that other people go through, some of the problems that other people have. And and when a when they see a Christian in a hard place or a Christian fall or sin, these these protected people become so judgmental, so finger-pointing. They even become disgusted that that Christian would slip and fall and do that thing.

You see, they've never been tempted themselves. They've lived such a sheltered life. They just don't understand when somebody yields to a temptation or a lust or a problem. They're just so quick to condemn. So quick to judge. So quick. But Jesus isn't. Jesus doesn't condemn. Jesus doesn't judge. Jesus forgives. He's a forgiving Savior. He took all our sins on the cross. He was tempted in every way as we are tempted. We serve an understanding God. So that's why you can come today with boldness to the throne of grace. You can come with a comfortable feeling. Everything is going to be all right. He's not going to cut you down and judge you and point His finger at you like maybe some other Christian might do.

It's the throne of grace. Say it, it's the throne of grace.

Audience: It's the throne of grace.

Pastor Jack Morris: It's the throne of grace. We we get mercy there. We may not always get mercy down here from somebody and some of our friends, but we will get mercy there. Isn't that wonderful? We will get mercy from Him.

Now, look at point B in your outline. Write down the word grace. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace. Grace. That's the the holiest, the most beautiful, the grandest of all theological words. I don't know a word in in the Bible. But it's a Sunday word. It it's a church word. It's a word we we sing in hymns and we hear in sermons. You don't hear that word outside of church very often. But it's it's so sublime. It's it's the the summit of theological words.

Now, how do I how do I define such a word as that? I have tried, I tried in the sermon that you saw, those of you who watched television last night, a better solution was the title. I preached on grace. I was watching it. Yeah, I watch my own program. I might even send myself an offering sometime. And I tried to define that word grace yesterday, uh on that program, um a better solution. And I said to Karen, I said, oh my, look at that. I preached on grace several weeks ago and here I am, I'm going to be doing it again tomorrow. She didn't know it until I told her what I was going to be preaching on today. But it's because of this passage of Scripture, grace, this grandest of words. Grace simply means the loving kindness of God. Now that definition doesn't do a thing for me. The loving kindness of God. It's it's it's a it's a group of words trying to define another word.

I can look at the Hebrew and I can look at the Greek and and I can define that word. I can get a dictionary meaning of that word and and it's nice and I enjoy it and I do that sometimes but but this word defies defining with other words. This word, so you know what I did with this word? Do you ever crack open a walnut? You know, you you you put it and you just crack it open and then you reach in and you take the goody out. That's what I'm going to do this morning. That's what we're going to do. We're going to take the word grace instead of Greeking it and Hebrewing it and dictionarying it. We're going to take that word and we're going to crack it open. You want to crack that word with me today? We're going to crack it open and we're going to look at it.

We're going to look at grace. Now I'll tell you what grace is. Grace is Jesus speaking to the harlot. The one that sinned, this lady who was caught in the very act. What an embarrassing thing to happen. These men caught her in the very act, dragged her into the street, publicly shamed her and embarrassed her. And then they turned to Jesus and they said, the law of Moses says, we should stone her to death. What do you say? Now, I'll tell you something. There are some people, they'll quote the Scripture at you. They'll just cut you down with Scripture and they know the right ones to do it with. They know those Scriptures.

You see, they're so holy. They've never been tempted. They don't even allow the wind to blow on them. They live so sheltered. I mean, they they're the goodie of the goodiest. But you know, some of us, Jesus included, was tempted. And sometimes people slip. But Jesus doesn't reject them out of the kingdom of God when they slip. He invites them to come back to the throne where He might have mercy, where He might forgive them. But these people who dragged that poor woman out in the street said, we've got the Bible on our side. We've got the law of Moses. And they could start quoting out of Deuteronomy, out of out of Leviticus. And they said, we've got the Bible. The Bible says, stoner, and the law of Moses is given by God. They reached down, they're going to be real biblical. We want to follow the Lord. We want to follow His Word and got a big stone.

What did Jesus do? Jesus said, well, if the Bible says so, you know, knock her down. Did He say that? We're going to do what the Bible says. The Bible says all sinners are going to go to hell. Lady, do you know where you're going when that stone hits you? It's going to knock the life out of you. And then the life that it knocks out of you, that life is going to go to hell. Is that how He dealt with her? Now that's somehow, that's how some people will deal with other people who who make a mistake and who slip. But Jesus looked at this woman and said, I don't condemn you. Lady, I know what they said. And I know what they said is true. But I just I just don't condemn you. The only thing I'm going to ask you to do, just don't do it anymore.

And I'm going to give you the power and the wherewithal to not do it anymore. And He sent her on His way. Now, when you get in the face of Jesus and He gets in your face, that's exactly what He's going to do to you. That's why we can approach the throne of grace with confidence. Because we know that He's not going to be hostile, that He's not going to send a bolt of lightning from Mount Sinai and cut us down and burn us up. He's going to forgive us, welcome us back into the family of God.

Now, what what have I done today? I'm I'm cracking open the word grace and allowing us to look at grace. I'm not defining it. I'm saying, let's look at it. That's what we're doing. Grace is is the shepherd who leads the 99. See, one little lamb. A little lamb didn't mean to do that. He didn't mean to to eat his way out of the pasture field, but the little lamb just kept nibbling and nibbling and nibbling and nibbling. Just kept eating. It was so good. The green grass felt so good. And he just enjoyed it and he enjoyed it. And when evening came, he lifts up his little head and he looks around, uh oh, I'm lost. And I don't know whether I came that direction or I came from that direction. I don't know where I am. I'm lost. I can't find my way back home.

And the shepherd had 99 sheep. Now, the shepherd could have said, well, I lost one, but I still have 99. I'll just keep the 99, protect the 99, take care of the 99. I lost one. I'm just going to cut my losses and get on with life. No, she didn't do that, did he? He leaves the 99 and he searches all evening until the sun is gone down and the dusk of darkness begins to settle. And he finds that little lamb. And when he found that lamb, he gathered it up in his arms and he he goes home. And he's he as he's walking down the main street of the the village, he's calling to the houses on either side, hey, look what I have here. Look what I have. I found my little lamb that was lost. I found my lamb. Come on, get out in the street and dance and rejoice with me.

Friend, what am I talking about? I'm talking about grace. The loving kindness of God, the goodness of the Lord, coming searching for you that he might love you and protect you and feed you and clothe you and do something beautiful for you. He says, come on to the throne of grace. Just come to me. Let me do it for you. That's what He wants. That's grace. We're cracking open the word and we're the word grace and we're looking at it. I'm going to stop trying to define it with a dictionary definition. I'm going to crack it open. I want to give you another illustration. There's a lot of good ones.

Grace, we're going to crack it open again, just just like a walnut, we're going to crack it open. Grace is the father looking down the road and he sees his boy coming way, way down there. Now, that's the scoundrel of the family. That's the boy that took all of his money and and wasted it, riotous living, giving it to harlots. I mean, that's the boy that really needs the judgment of God on him. And what does Dad do? Dad sees his boy coming. He runs out of the house and I want you to I want you to get an image of an old man running. Now, that's the image that God wants you to have of of Him. God is an is an old man running after His boy. And he runs and he catches up to his boy and when he got there, he slapped him in the face. No. Did he do that? No, he ran and he threw his arms around him and he kissed him.

That's what God does when you come to the throne of grace. He just fell on his neck and he kissed him. And he took him into the house. And there that boy, tattered, didn't even have shoes. And the father looked at him and before the boy could even speak. He said, get get some sandals and put on his on his feet. Look at those robe that that uh that garment that he has on, that he's tattered and torn. Put a new robe on him. Put sandals on his feet. Put a ring on his finger and go out there and find the fatted calf and kill it. We're going to have a party.

Now, some people think to pray is judgment day. No, when you pray, that's a celebration. That's a party. And there's always one around that's going to say, you know, I've been coming to this church all this time. Nobody made a fuss over me. That's the older son. He comes out. Nobody made a fuss over me. But this son of yours, and he said, but it's your brother. And he's come home. Let's welcome him home. Sure, he made a lot of mistakes, but we're not even going to talk about the mistakes that he made. The only thing we're going to talk about is that he's home. He's back and we're going to welcome him. See, that's grace. That's how grace works. That's how God's going to treat you when you come to the throne of grace. He's going to love you. He's going to bless you. He's going to protect you.

So what are we to do now? Well, I'll tell you what. Let us therefore come to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy. The mercy seat. God's blessed place. Friend, the veil's open today. It will never be sewn shut again. Jesus died once for all. He will never die again. The way into the very presence of God, into the very throne room of God is open. It's been open for for hundreds of years, nearly 2,000 years. It's open. You need to approach it. God's made the way. And when you approach, you're going to find mercy. You're going to find love, you're going to find forgiveness, you're going to find your daddy welcome you and and receiving you. You're just going to find wonderful, beautiful things at the throne of grace. So come today.

Those of you who need the Lord today. You there's a felt need, then come. Come with boldness. Come with confidence. Come to the throne of grace. Do you need forgiveness of your sins? Then come to the throne of grace. God loves you. He will forgive you. He cares for you. It's you that He has in mind. That father, that prodigal son, all those days, months, years that the son was gone. That's the only thing Dad had on his mind. When's my son coming home? Now, God's looking for some of us to come home this morning, right out of this group. Come with your problems, come with your sins, come with your backsliding. Come to the throne of grace.

Narrator: As we conclude this series, remember that our heavenly Father is not waiting to condemn us. He is inviting us to come. Through Jesus Christ, the way has been opened. Mercy is available and grace is sufficient for every need. If this series has encouraged your walk with the Lord, we invite you to visit the healingword.com. Explore our library of messages, sign up for daily encouragement, and let us know how we can pray for you. We counted a privilege to bring your needs before the Lord. The Healing Word is a viewer supported ministry. Your prayers, your faithful encouragement, and your financial gifts make it possible to continue sharing the life-changing message of Jesus Christ with people across the globe. Thank you for partnering with us in this work. Until next time, may the Lord draw you ever closer to Himself, surround you with His peace and remind us each day that His grace is always greater than your need. Thank you for joining us on The Healing Word.