Four Keys to the Throne

How excited I was as a teenager when the opportunity arose to take the 80 mile trek to see the Cincinnati Reds play at old Crosley Field in Cincinnati. And while there, I experienced every youngster's dream: to obtain an autograph of a favorite player. I can still see him coming down the runway following batting practice. I rushed up to him, stuck out my glove, and asked Billy Martin to sign it. And he did. What a rush! I had been as near as anyone could be to one of my childhood heroes. To a young baseball fan, the feeling of that moment was indescribable.

It was a year or two later, following the above encounter, that I was converted to Jesus Christ. Though I can still enjoy watching a game of baseball occasionally, there is no longer the same level of enthusiasm for the sport that I once felt, for I began to realize the power of a new affection. Love for God began to supersede all earthly loves: "Love divine, all loves excelling." Whereas I once jostled my way to get next to an earthly hero, after meeting Jesus Christ in saving grace I was possessed with an insatiable desire — born of the Holy Spirit I learned later — to get to know God, to live close to God, to draw near to the throne of God.

It was some time following my conversion that I discovered a verse of Scripture which identifies four essential keys every believer must use when approaching the throne of God in prayer — keys which God makes available to every aspiring worshiper. The inspired writer informs us that these keys must be used in combination if one is to be successful in drawing near to God. What are these keys? They are recorded in Hebrews 10:22: "let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

The First Key: Draw Near to God with a Sincere Heart.

In biblical terminology, the heart is the center of man's spiritual being: it is the veritable fountain-head from which all thought imagination, affection, desire and action originates. God says when approaching Him the condition of my heart is of utmost importance.

To have a sincere heart is to have a heart free of hypocrisy. In other words, when praying to the Omniscient One, we are not to pretend to be something that we are not. This is no time to put on "airs." To hear some of God's children pray one would think he was listening to glorified saints — all the boasting and bragging about how good they are, how holy they are. It's true, the Bible says we are called to be saints. However, when we draw near to God, we go there without credentials — we have been given permission to "enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus" and because we have a "great priest over the house of God" (Hebrews 10:19, 21). We bow low, recognizing we are nothing but sinners saved by grace.

An admirer of the late A.W. Tozer once asked the highly esteemed preacher-writer what his position was regarding the Arminian-Calvinist regarding the security of the believer. The good Doctor replied: "When I preach, I'm an Arminian; when I pray, I'm a Calvinist." He preached a universal gospel; he prayed as a fallen, redeemed man. And that is as it should be!

A sincere heart doesn't try to impress God with its accomplishments, attainments, and successes. No, the sincere heart draws near to the throne of grace freely acknowledging its foibles, failures in love, infirmities and sins of omission and commission. The sincere heart is honest with itself and with God.

The Second Key: Draw Near to God in Full Assurance of Faith.

In contrast to the cautious circumspection with which the ancient Jewish priest entered the tabernacle and temple to worship, the believer is privileged "to approach the throne of grace with confidence" (Hebrews 4:16, italics added). Not self-confidence, but an inward persuasion produced by the Holy Spirit that God is real, that God cares, that God hears and answers, and that our High Priest Jesus Christ holds the door to the throne room open for us.

With this in view, it's no wonder that the converted slave-trader of the 18th century, John Newton, penned these words:

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with Thee bring;
For His grace and pow’r are such,
None can ever ask too much.

Faith must be fed. Too many of God's children are starving their faith while feasting on the words of godless men. In this information age we must take care lest our minds suffer overload, and we preoccupy ourselves with the secular media — it tends to starve the soul. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17, NKJV). Faith grows as we saturate our minds with the thoughts of God.

Through the years I have discovered — along with many other Christians — my faith is strengthened by reading after godly, insightful Christian giants. In his book entitled The God Who Hears, W. Bingham Hunter offers the following observation on this point:

“Too many believers are unaware of the insights to be gained by reading about glorified Christians. . . . . Ours is not the first generation to know God, and it is arrogant of us to think that the Spirit can teach us nothing through the godly counsel and experience of others. One of the profound tragedies of modern Christianity is that so many believers know almost nothing about the saints of God in other denominations and communions or in ages other than their own.”

The Third Key: Draw Near to God With a Cleansed Conscience.

A Christian conscience is a conscience that has been cleansed from "evil" (KJV, NASB) by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Just as the Israelites sprinkled their doors with the blood of the passover lamb, so the repentant seeker has had his heart sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ. He is thereby ready to enter the very presence of God free of a guilty conscience.

Conscience now no more condemns us,
For His own most precious blood
Once for all has washed and cleansed us,
Cleansed us in the eyes of God. (Frances Bevan)

It will always remain a memorable night in my own life — the night I left church with a cleansed conscience. Though I didn't understand at the moment all the theological ramifications of what took place in my heart that evening — and I still don't comprehend it all — one thing I was certain of as a 16 year old boy: I knew in my heart that I was no longer a condemned person. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).

While the conscience has been cleansed from evil when one is justified by God, it must be kept clean if one is to stay near God. When just a young lad, Norman Vincent Peale was caught by his Methodist pastor-father experimenting with cigarettes. His father had walked out the back door of the house and called to Norman. Norman didn't have time to extinguish the cigarette before responding to his father, so while he held the smoking tobacco gingerly behind his back he approached his father quite sheepishly. Not knowing what to say, he asked his father for a favor. Wisely, Rev. Peale replied, "Son, never offer a petition while at the same time hiding a smoldering disobedience." Sage advice!

The Fourth Key: Draw Near to God with a Body Washed In Pure Water.

Although this language is mostly foreign to us today, it wasn't to the first century Jewish reader of this epistle. The figurative language refers to the priests who washed in ceremonial water before entering the tabernacle and temple. This ceremony was observed daily as well on special occasions.

“Bodies”in Hebrews 10:22 means our total selves: eyes, mouth, ears, hands, feet' etc. Every faculty of man is to be submitted to the cleansing ministry of the Holy Spirit when drawing near to the throne of God. We simply cannot come near to God "in full assurance of faith" while possessing a soiled body.

Though the sinner is cleansed initially when regenerated and sanctified by God, who among God's children has not periodically experienced the Holy Spirit's rebuke and correction? It may have been an ill word spoken, a lingering look, a less-than-honest statement, a lack of self-control, a selfish action, or any number of other failures. What's required? A fresh cleansing from the Holy Spirit. We can't draw near to God unless we first face up to our defilement. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives" (1 John 1:9-10).

Hebrews 10:22 identifies four keys which provides to every believer the privilege of regular access to the throne of God. Let the Christian who reads these words purpose to pick up these keys daily and use them to draw near to God. Then we will be able to say with the Psalmist, "as for me, it is good to be near God" (Psalm 73:28).