Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are… I. THE BLESSINGS SPOKEN OF. 1. Mercy, pardoning mercy, reconciling mercy, saving mercy. The brightest saint needs it, as well as the greatest sinner. We need it every hour of our life, and in every action of our life. 2. Grace: supporting, helping grace, "grace to help in time of need." It is grace only that can subdue our corruptions, resist temptation, warm our hearts, and bring strength, comfort, and hope to our troubled souls. II. WHERE THIS MERCY AND THIS HELPING GRACE ARE TO BE OBTAINED. 1. The apostle tells us to seek them at a throne: he sends us therefore to a God of majesty. A throne implies also that He is a God of infinite, almighty power, in the universe over which He reigns. 2. Yet it is a throne of grace. He who sits upon it has removed out of the way all impediments that He can now be gracious to a world of sinners in a way consistent with His honour, and show Himself a God of mercy without tarnishing the glory of His other perfections. III. How ARE WE TO SEEK OF HIM MERCY AND GRACE? "Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace." 1. It is plain that if God is seated on a throne as a God of majesty and power, this boldness must be altogether different from fearless presumption or irreverent freedom. 2. The boldness of which the apostle speaks is opposed to self-will, and must consequently include in it submission to the will of God. 3. This boldness is opposed to restraint in prayer, and implies an humble and holy freedom in our addresses to God. If we are habitually living in His faith and fear, we may come to His throne, not as strangers and foreigners, but as those who are of His household. 4. This boldness is opposed to distrust and unbelief, and includes a persuasion that God has grace to bestow and is willing to bestow it, and that we are authorised to ask for and expect it. It is the boldness of faith which the apostle recommends; a confidence, not in our own merits but in sovereign mercy: a faith in the Lord Jesus, and such a faith in Him as triumphs over fears and suspicions, and rises to the confidence of hope. This confidence is quite consistent with that humility which becomes us as sinners; indeed it is closely connected with it. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. |
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