TD Jakes - Boldly To The Throne (12/14/2020)
From Hebrews 4, the preacher highlights how God exposes our nakedness and infirmities yet comforts us through Jesus—our empathetic High Priest who was tempted like us—and urges us to hold fast to our profession of faith and come boldly to the throne of grace for mercy in our time of need.
So when you say you are hungry, you are talking to a God that never hungered for anything that he could not create. When you say you are tired, you are talking to a God that has never gone to sleep for thousands of years. But when you say, "In the name of Jesus," you are talking to the part of the Godhead that curled up with a pillow under his head and slept on a boat. "He can be touched by the feeling of our infirmity, tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin".
This is the comfort that he gives to the naked me standing in the presence of God. He has exposed me with one verse and then he comforts me with the other, and tells me that I have a man on the inside who cares about my infirmity, my sickness, who can be touched, who has compassion about my problem, my vulnerabilities, my insecurities, my inconsistencies, my attitude, my disposition. And then he took... can I go deeper? Can I go deeper? "Seeing then that we have this great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession of faith".
I could not hold onto it. It would have slipped out of my hands. It would have fallen away. I could not hold on to it because the other verse exposed my nakedness, and my thoughts, and everything, but he says, "Do not let go of your profession. It may not be your possession". Oh, you all did not hear me. It may not be your possession, but hold on to your profession of faith. Do not let go of it. Hold fast to that which you have. Let no man take your crown. "Hold onto what I gave you. I know you do not feel like it, you do not look like it, you do not act like it, and I have been in your thoughts and I know you do not think like it, and I know you got thoughts in your head that contradict what I, but hold on to your profession of faith. Just keep on holding onto it".
Holding Fast to Your Profession
I am who God says I am. I can do what God says I can do. I can be what God says I can be. I can have what God says. I am the righteousness of God. I am free. Let the weak say, "I am strong". Hold on! Even though you do not feel like it, and you do not look like it, and sometimes you do not think that you are strong, say, "I am strong". Let the poor say, "I am rich". I know the bill collectors are zinging all around your head. They are coming by mail. They are coming by email. They are calling you on the phone. You are scared to answer your phone, but keep saying, "I am rich"!
What I want you to see is the contradiction of the text. The contradiction of the text mandates that we hold onto our profession even in spite of the fact that we do not seem to possess that which we profess. And all things are naked before him with whom we have to do, and yet he encourages us to hold on to our profession of faith. And in that inconsistency between the possession of it and the profession of it, we live between those two polarities. I am professing something that I have not fully possessed yet and I am coming short of possessing that which I profess. And God says, "Do not stop professing it just because you have not fully possessed it". Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. God said, "Keep on talking right even if you are not feeling right, even if you are not thinking right, even if you are not doing right".
Keep on talking right. Keep on talking. The power of life and death is in the tongue. Hold on! Good God of mercy, I feel like preaching. Lord have mercy. Hold on! I know you are sick in your body, and your pulse is weak, and the doctor says you only got four days to live, but do not say what he said. Say, "By his stripes, I am healed". Hold on to your profession of faith. There is something about this profession that is so important that God wants you to keep talking up even though things are going down. Keep talking right even though your mind is going on a field trip. Keep on talking about power even though you feel weak down to your knees and you want to buckle, and die, and let it go. Hold on to your profession of faith.
There is something about you saying it. There is something about you saying it. The Bible says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so". Do not be redeemed and keep it a secret. Do not be redeemed and be an undercover agent for the Lord. God does not need no secret agents. He needs you to say so. There is something about your profession of faith. Confession, confession is made unto salvation. Oh my God, do you hear what I am saying? I am teaching better than you are responding. Confession is made unto salvation. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart he has risen from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Confession is important. Hold fast to your profession of faith. I profess it even though I have infirmities that contradict my profession and I wonder will I ever possess what I profess. Hold fast to your profession of faith.
Jesus Tempted in All Points
Let us go in it this way. Oh, this is getting good. This is about to get good. "For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points", I do not have time to deal with that, but there are three basic points in which Jesus was tempted. There were certain incidentals that Jesus could not be tempted. He cannot be tempted to commit adultery because he was not married. There were certain things that he could not do because his circumstance would cause him deniability, the inability to be able to relate to you. But to God, there are only three categories of sin. The details are irrelevant. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. And that is why when Jesus went into the wilderness, he was tempted in three ways: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
And when Adam and Eve were in the garden, Satan slithered up to them, talking about the lust of the flesh. Look at the fruit. The lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, desiring to make one wise. If you eat this, you are going to be smart. Are not you hungry? There is only three categories. We get caught up in the details, but God deals with the categories. So when the Bible says he was tempted in all points, it is talking about all three categories and all the details hover up under the three categories. Do you understand what I am saying to you? Yeah, yeah, so because we get caught up in the details, we start looking at each other and saying, "At least I did not do what you did".
Well, what is the difference? I eat lemon pie and you ate cheesecake. It has got the same calories, shut up. It is categories. The body processes it the same. The same thing with sin. The details are not important. It is the categories. Jesus was tempted in all points, but not with all things. Tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Somebody is getting a revelation right now. And then he says, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace". So he says, "Just walk right up to God". Not on the strength of who you are. No, no, no, no, not in your own pride, but come boldly because you got a man on the inside.
Coming Boldly Because of Kinship
Go on into Egypt, Jacob. Come boldly into a country that you do not own or possess. Come boldly and God is going to bless you because you got one of your sons in there on the inside, a son who was rejected of his brother, who was sold for 20 pieces of silver, who was enslaved and then buried in a prison, and then rose up with a gift, and now is an intercessor on the inside.
Oh, this story sounds familiar. This story sounds familiar. What happened to Joseph is a shadow of what happened to Jesus. Joseph was a type of Jesus. And when Jacob got ready to go, he was able to get in because he had a man on the inside. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne. You must understand that when we start looking at this boldness, this boldness is an attitude that God wants us to come before him. God does not want us to come in sheepish and timid because I am naked, and I am clothed, and I am a wretch, and you have seen my sick places. God said, "No, no, no, because if you come in like that, that means you do not believe".
You do not believe in Jesus who can be touched by the feeling of your infirmity. Come boldly like your relative is on the inside. Come boldly like your mother-in-law does when she comes in your house, because, "This is my son's house". And you have to tell her sometimes because she got somebody on the inside who is making intercession for her. When you got somebody kin on the inside, it gives you another level of confidence when you come in. "That is my child in there. What you talking about? I cannot come in? I cannot get nothing to drink up in this place? You are going to give me something to drink today. My baby paid the water bill up in here". Because you got a relative, it changes your attitude.
If you believe that you are loved by your kin, then you can come into a strange place with confidence because you got somebody on the inside. "Oh, you are not going to put me out. That is my baby's house". You are not going to put me out. My Jesus is on the inside. My brother is in that house. Wait a minute. That is my brother there. You know how you handle family discussions? That is the kind of confidence that God wants you to have because that, "Come boldly," is an expression of faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, whereby you have access to a dimension of grace that you would never be able to stand in without him.
Boldness Rooted in the Old Testament
Now, here is the thing that you must understand. All of this truth is sitting on Old Testament foundation. And if you eat this New Testament truth without Old Testament foundation, your boldness will turn into arrogance. And you will think you can just do anything you want to do and come to the throne. You will think you can live any way you want to live and come to the throne. You think you can live like the world and still get the benefits of the saints. And the schizophrenia that we see in the contemporary church is because we have embraced the promises of the New Testament without the apprehension of the Old Testament. It is in the Old Testament where you learn some respect. It is in the Old Testament, where you learn some order. It is in the Old Testament where you learn some discipline. It is in the Old Testament where you learn some reverence. It is in the Old Testament that you learn not to come sashaying up before God in a spirit of arrogance. Do not confuse boldness with arrogance.
Glory to God, you all do not hear what I am saying. Empathy strengthens kinship. You do not have to say the right thing, just care about it. Cry with me. Be worried when I am worried. Be frustrated when I am frustrated. If you can be touched by the feeling of our infirmity, that makes us kin. It is not skin that makes us kin. It is not skin that makes us kin. Because as the old folk used to say, "Everybody is skin to me ain't kin to me". So it is not skin that makes us kin, it is empathy. We have not a High Priest who cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmity. I do not have to paint Jesus Black. You do not have to paint him White with blonde hair. It is irrelevant because it is not about the skin, it is about being kin to me.
Can you be touched by the feeling of our infirmity? So while we are having a very juvenile argument over what color he is, we ought to be comforted by what kind he is. Because I have seen people that was the right color, but they still was not the right kind. Just because you are White, you are not right. Just because you are black do not mean we can hold back. We are not going to be together just because your skin to me. Being kin to me is a matter of being empathetic to where I am at. The Bible says we are bold because he has empathy. He can be touched by the feeling of our infirmity, tempted in all points, and yet he did not do it. He did not have the same experience. He did not fall where I fell. He stood where I fell. He won where I lost. He was victorious where I was defeated. But he got close enough to it that he can be touched.
Come Boldly for Mercy and Grace
Look at this. And the very fact that he relates to me, he said, "When you come before my throne, come boldly because we connected". Come boldly. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Now listen, now look at this. You are coming boldly to the throne of grace. Five: Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Ithamar, Eleazar. Five, the throne of grace. You are coming into a realm of grace, which means you fell short of your profession. Because I do not need to come to the throne of grace if I possessed it, what I professed, then I do not need grace. That means I earned it.
So the very fact that I am coming boldly to get grace means that there is a gulf between what I profess and what I possess. And yet I can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy. I am coming to get, excuse me. I am coming. I am coming. I am coming. Excuse me, let me by. Move over. Scoot over. Let me by. Step aside. What you doing? I am going to get me some grace. Step, move. I need me some mercy. I need me some mercy and I am going to come get mercy. And I do not care what you say about me, and I do not care how you talk about me, and I do not care what you write about me, and I do not care what you do to me, I am going to come over here because I came to get me some mercy. And I am going to come boldly because I have a Jesus that can feel my sickness. Yeah, he can feel my sickness. And because I know he is related to me, I can come boldly.
One of the things I love about my son, I am going to use him in this illustration, not just because he is here. I would use him if he was not here. From the time he was born until the age he is now, he would always... I do not care if I locked the door, if I closed the door, if I shut the door, he would go to the door and he would knock at the door. He is a little boy. He would knock at the door. Yeah, that is right. He would say, "It is me! It is me"! To this day, I cannot lock a door. He will walk in, "It is me"! You know why? He comes boldly because he is kin to me. All of them are kin to me, but he has a boldness about it because he expects me to be glad to see him no matter what I am doing because I am kin.
So he has received the kind of love that makes him bold. You all hear what I am saying? It never crossed his mind that I would not be glad to see him, so he tells me, "It is me"! Because if Daddy knew it was me, I know he is going to let me in. It is 2 o'clock in the morning, but it is me. That is the way God wants his children to come into his presence. It is me! I messed up. It is me! I am in trouble again. It is me! What you want, boy? I come to get some mercy. I need some mercy. I am coming to the throne of grace, boldly to the throne, to get me some mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.
The Throne of Grace in Time of Need
So wherever you are, the enemy can isolate us but he cannot intimidate us. Even though he seeks to separate us, he cannot discommunicate us because we can come boldly to the throne of grace even if the throne is in the kitchen, even if the throne is in the closet, even if the throne is in the bathroom. Anywhere you come boldly becomes the throne of grace. It does not have to be this building to be effective. We have been here 25 years, this building only been here 15 of them, but we could come boldly to the throne of grace because it was not about a geographical location. It is about a spiritual ideology.
When you come boldly, you can make the throne of grace in your car. I wish I had somebody in here that ever found the throne of grace while you was in the car. I wish I had somebody in here who knew what it was to have a worship service while you are driving. I wish I had somebody in here that knew how to have tears running down your face, talking to your Daddy in the middle of your car, because it is not about the space, it is about the grace. Come boldly! Come boldly! Come boldly! Come boldly! Now that the world is on fire, come boldly. Now that the diseases are everywhere, come boldly. Now that COVID is spiking again, come boldly. Now that the economy is shaking, come boldly. Now that your rent is backed up, come boldly. I got you. I will open up a door. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Came to get me some mercy. I came to get me some mercy.
You know, now the old folks shop early in the morning before the other people come. And they will be on there and they will be on scooters. They will be riding on a scooter, and they will be on a walker, and they will be gathering up stuff. I came to get me some lettuce. I needed me some milk. And I am going to get me, God said, "I want you to go shopping. I want you to come shopping early in the morning. I want you to seek my face early in the morning. See, come in the morning because my mercies are new every morning. Every morning. You do not have to worry about me running out. I am going to put out some fresh mercy in the morning. So soon as you get up, my mercies are just as new as your day is". And he said, "Come boldly to the throne of grace, that you might obtain mercy and find grace to help".
When do I need grace to help, Bishop? In the time of need. What time is it, Bishop? It is the time of need. What time is it in America? It is the time of need. What time is it in my house? It is the time of need. What time is it in my body? It is the time of need. What time is it in my business? It is the time of need. What are you going to do about it? God told me to tell you to come boldly to the throne. He is the King of your kings. He is the Lord of your lords. He is the sovereign power over every dignitary in the world. He is the one who rules and super rules. He has got the last say on every court case. Hallelujah! He can overrule what the doctor said.
And God said if you do not like his verdict, if you do not like his decision, if you do not like his prognosis, you can come boldly to the throne of grace. Get you some mercy. I am going to get me some mercy. You go ahead and get you some gossip, but I am going to get me some mercy. I have not got time to be getting no gossip right now. This is the time of need. I got to get me some mercy. I got to get me some mercy. You know why? This is the time of need.
As I close this message, I came all the way from West Virginia 24 years ago to establish a ministry that I did not even have a name for, that became the Potter's House, because I knew it was the time of need. This is a time of need right now. And I had to be in a place where the ministry was strong enough and the platform was broad enough that I would have a voice that would project loud enough for such a time as this. I got to... excuse me. Let me by. You all keep on arguing. Excuse me. I need to come boldly to the throne. I need some grace.
My cousin died last week and my other cousin is in the hospital. My phone is ringing off the hook with stories I cannot fix. It is me! Come on, let us go to the throne. Come on, I do not care what you did. I do not care how you messed up. I do not care how you got off the track. I am not trying to judge you. Come on, get you some mercy. Come on, get you some mercy. Come on, get you some mercy. Get you some mercy. Get you some mercy. Get you some mercy. There is no rich mercy and poor mercy, and Democrat mercy and Republican mercy, and millennial mercy and boomer mercy. There is just mercy. Come get you some mercy because there is no White mercy and Black mercy. Come get you some mercy because this is the time of need.