"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.”

Believers, consider Hebrews 4:14–16: “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. 15 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. 16 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.”

Notice receive MERCY and find GRACE…? We receive "Mercy" when we escape the punishment that we very much deserve and find "Grace" when we get the good things that we most certainly do not deserve. 

Believer, we who believe can “draw near to the throne of grace" to receive mercy and find grace in abundance in Christ. Today, when we sin or mess things up, Jesus Christ our Great High Priest is able to sympathise with our weaknesses and deliver us from them all. He knows our weaknesses. His strength is made perfect in weakness; our weakness. 

As was His Way with the woman that was caught in adultery, Zacchaeus the thieving tax collector and even born-again Peter who, according to Paul, "walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel" (Galatians 2:11-21,) Christ will never condemn us for our sins, and not so that we should go on sinning sprees as many wrongly teach or believe. He came to save us from our sins, as it is written of Him in Matthew 1:21–

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The Law that many churchgoers are struggling to keep in order to save themselves from their sins cannot help anyone in their weakness or plead on anyone's behalf. It is holy, righteous, unbending. It does not understand “I'm good in other areas but this one” or “I stole because I was hungry.” There is no sympathy or compassion shown here; no consideration whatsoever for backstories. The Law demands full obedience and absolute righteousness from those who are trying to get right with God by it; and when the people fail in just one tiny area, judgment follows. 

One is either saved by Grace or not saved at all. Law and Grace cannot mix:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4.

Jesus Christ our Great High Priest Himself is Grace - undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Titus 2:11 says of Him: 

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Grace is more than enough to give us ALL that we need pertaining life and godliness. Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says of Him:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Aaron, Israel's high priest, could not make a way of escape for the Israelites or free them from their sins-  their temptation resulted in the golden calf and their sin resulted in the death of 3,000 people; the arm of flesh will fail. 

But Jesus Christ our Great High Priest is the Way of escape with every trial. His heart of compassion beats for us always. He knows how screwed up we can be and He helps us in our weaknesses. 

Believer, your pastor is not your high priest! Christ is! 

Beware of "men of God" who point out your weaknesses from the pulpit and tell you that Christ whose strength is made perfect in weakness will not help you unless you first help yourself out of the weakness (sin) that He came to save you from! Their prescriptions of keeping the Law and doing its works in order to make yourself sinless and right with God is the way to get cut off from Christ:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4.

Believer, only through the blood of Jesus Christ our Great High Priest does God see us as eternally righteous:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." Romans 5:9.

Through the obedience of Christ, the sinner who believes is made righteous (Romans 5:19,) even though he is guilty of many sins- see this in the verse below. This wonderful gift is not given to us so that we should continue to wallow in sins but so that we should get to live in triumph over sin and death through Jesus Christ:

“And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

"Death" above is not just physical death. Fear, lack, stress, depression, stupid mistakes and all earthly ills are “death begun.” Remember Adam did not immediately drop dead physically on the day his death sentence came into effect. Death is a process. So is life. In Christ, under Grace, we get to have life and have it more abundantly. Proverbs 4:18 says:

"But the path of the just (righteous) is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day."

The "righteous" above is not those who strive to keep the Law in order to get right with God and thus are cut off from Christ (Galatians 5:4.) It is we who have Christ as our Righteousness (Romans 5:9.) We get to have life and have it more abundantly in Christ our Shepherd-King as He leads us on the path of righteousness. Let's take our blessed brains to church: why would our path need to get "brighter and brighter" if we have no sins? Our path gets brighter and brighter because Christ is saving us from sin and death!

Believer, Christ is our Shepherd. We are His sheep. Psalm 23 is not the most popular Psalm by mistake. God wants us to see our relationship with our Saviour Jesus Christ through the lens of the relationship between a sheep and its shepherd. The sheep can do nothing by itself, not even give! The shepherd does everything for the sheep. All the sheep needs to do to enjoy the goodness of the Shepherd is to belong to the Shepherd, and even this is a gift of grace and not through human striving (see John 6:43-46.)

Human striving (the arm of flesh) at suppressing sinful passions will fail and when it does, those sinful passions, stirred up by the Law, will explode in a volcanic eruption of sins that lead to death (see this in Romans 7:5.) 

But Jesus Christ our Great High Priest, He knows how screwed up we can be; He saves us from every kind of sin.

Right believing always produces right living.