Well we come this morning to
Hebrews chapter 10 as we're working through it. Hebrews chapter 10
and my focus is going to be on verses 19 to 22 this morning
but all that goes before in verses 1 to 18 is highly relevant, and
we read it just before, and you saw that it was a recap of the
message and the lessons of the earlier chapters, especially
of chapter nine. It's a recap, it's sort of slotting
it all into place. Because in this life, in the
light of knowledge and understanding, we approach situations differently,
don't we? There'll be situations that you'll
be very fearful about. very fearful but uncertain about.
But then when you know something about them, you approach them
differently. The fear and uncertainty that
you might have gets replaced with confidence and assurance. You know that certain things
are true and it's not dark and unknown, you know what is there. Have you ever tried to walk down
the stairs in the night without putting a light on to disturb
others? If it's in a house that you don't know, you're very,
very fearful that you might miss a step. But if it's your own
house that you've lived in for years, you know you can walk
down the stairs in the pitch dark because you know every stage
of it. Your fear and uncertainty of
the unknown is taken away and replaced with confidence and
assurance because of the knowledge that you have. Now this is one
of those chapters where these 18 verses remind us and reassure
us that certain things are true and therefore approach things
in a different way in the light of knowledge. He's reminded,
the Apostle has reminded his readers that that Old Testament
way of sacrifices and of temple worship was a blueprint for the
true gospel. It was a pattern, it was a picture
of the true gospel. But he points out in verse four,
he says, it's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins. It's not, I stress this, I know
I've kept saying this a lot, because I was taught for years
and years and years that there's the Christian gospel way of getting
right with God, and then there was the Jewish Old Testament
way of getting right with God, and you had to do all of those
things and that would make you right. That was only ever a picture
of the one and only true way of being right with God, which
is on the basis of the gospel of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not the blood of bulls and goats that takes away sin, and
makes you right with God, and justifies you with God, and gives
you a home in that glorious heaven that we were thinking about earlier
on in the study in Isaiah 60. It's not that, it's the blood
of Christ. And those bodies of those animals
could never take away sin. There was a need for a much better
body. You see verse 5, sacrifice and
offering said God. This, this, he wouldn't, he didn't
want it. But a body was prepared. A body
for God, the second person of the Trinity. A body that was
a human body, fully human, but absolutely perfect and sinless.
Verse seven, lo, I come in the volume of the book, it is written
of me to do thy will. Because, verse five, a body hast
thou prepared. He came in a body. And it wasn't
the sacrifices and burned offerings which dealt with the sin debt
problem. Verse 9, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. What was the will of God? That
he should save every one of his elect from before the beginning
of time. That he should lose none of them as Jesus said in
John 6, 37. He takes away that first blueprint
pattern that he may establish the second true reality in the
knowledge and the experience of his believing people. And
by that will of God, we're sanctified, we're made holy, we're set apart,
we're made different through the offering of the body, that
body that was prepared of Jesus Christ. And that was once for
all, not oft repeated. Because, verse 11, every priest
stands daily, again and again. The picture had to be painted
afresh over and over again, daily, weekly, annually. High priest
once a year into the presence of God. All had to be, but this
man, verse 12, Christ, The God-man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, one, sat down, finished work on the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering, for by one offering of such infinite
value, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Judgment
seat of Christ. We must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. Fear and trembling for the children
of God. Have we been good enough? Have we been sanctified enough?
For by one... What do we believe? Do we believe
what ordinary mortal men tell us? Or do we believe what the
word of God tells us? For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Bold shall I stand in that great
day. Bold shall I stand. No fear. No fear at all. There's no fear
in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. He saved his people from
their sins. And whereof, verse 15, the Holy
Ghost is also a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant. You see, there's a new covenant.
He's reminding us a new covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them. And their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Why? Because he's blotted
them out. He's blotted them out of the
books. The people whose names are written in the Lamb's Book
of Life, their sins are blotted out of the records of all mankind's
sins. They've been remembered no more.
He's removed them as far as the East is from the West. Now, where
remission of these is, and do you remember what chapter 9 says?
That without the shedding of blood, there is no remission,
but there has been bloodshed. Precious blood. Infinite value
blood. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
to do away, to make remission for sins. Where remission of
these is, there is no more offering for sin. We don't have a repeated
offering for sin. We don't have a blasphemous mass
which crucifies again repeatedly the Lord Jesus Christ. Not at
all. One offering for sin forever.
So, on the basis of that knowledge, on the basis of that, There's
a message to us. If you're one of God's children
today, there's a message for us. There's a message about how
we should view our relationship with God and our coming into
his presence. You see, God and eternity are
big unknowns to the natural man. Aren't they? Anybody, they make
light of it, but anybody that thinks seriously about it, they're
big, big unknowns. Anybody that tries to tell you
that they think lightly of these things, you watch them on their
deathbed. As that time comes nearer, there
is not one of them who is not terrified about what is going
to happen. When their soul is separated
from their body, what is going to happen? But the scriptures
and the Holy Spirit bring light. We're reading about darkness
engulfing the earth in Isaiah 60. But the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the light
of the world, brings light, brings revelation, brings comfort, brings
confidence and assurance for God's people. And so therefore
we've got three things coming boldly. into God's presence for
good reasons coming boldly into God's presence so don't just
sit there so come into God's presence that's what we see in
verses 19 to 22 which we're going to focus on now coming boldly
verse 19 says having therefore brethren boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest the holiest. Think about that, the
holiest. What it was, was in the tabernacle
and the temple, it was the place where only the high priest was
allowed to go. Only once a year, and only with
the blood of an acceptable sacrifice. That was the holiest, but it
was a picture. Remember? It was a blueprint,
it wasn't the reality. What's the reality? It's heaven
itself. The presence where the infinitely
holy, pure, sinless, righteous God of the universe dwells, the
place which is heaven, where we would be if we were his children,
where we would spend eternity with him, and he says, having
boldness to enter into the holiest Sinners like us. Boldness to
enter the holiest. We need to be there. It's the
highest objective of man, as that old catechism says, what
is the chief end of man? To know God, to love Him, and
to enjoy Him forever. It's the highest objective of
man. But we're sinners. How are we going to come into
the holiest? How are we going to come into
the holiest in any way at all? Never mind with boldness. coming
with boldness, having boldness to come into the holiest. We're
sinners from the top of our head, says the scripture, to the sole
of our foot. We're like one great big weeping
sore. It's not a nice picture, is it?
It's a really unpleasant picture, but that's how the scriptures
picture sin. It's like leprosy from the top
of the head to the sole of the foot. It's a horrible, horrible
disease. It's incompatible with the nature
and person and presence of God. He's a purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. He cannot look upon sin and be
God. He cannot, because of his holiness.
When Abraham, who was so favored by God, conversed with him, with
that theophany of the Son of God, before they went down to
pour judgment down on Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham was praying,
for his nephew, Lot, and he was saying, how dare I? How dare
I speak to you? How dare I, who am a mere mortal,
have the nerve to ask anything of God? How dare I speak? It
doesn't sound like boldness, does it? This is how, in our
natural state, if we know anything of God as sinners in this flesh,
we would approach the pure, perfect sovereign of the universe. But
men, in general, don't fear God. They don't see him as he is.
They don't see him as holy. Whenever we read in the scriptures
of anybody seeing God in his holiness, they fall down in fear. You know, like those soldiers
that came to arrest Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? And
who he is seeking? Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus
replied, I am. the name of God. I am. And whatever
they saw, I don't know what they saw, but those tough Roman soldiers
fell back onto the ground because in that glimpse they saw something
of the holiness of God, the purity, the righteousness, the separateness,
the fact that our God is a consuming fire. That tough jailer at Philippi,
you know, who wasn't scared of anybody, dealt with the toughest
criminals. But when he saw whatever God
revealed to him, he saw something through the preaching of Paul,
through the message of Paul and Silas, through the hymns they
were singing, through the earthquake that he sent, he showed something
to him. What must I do to be saved was all he could cry out.
He knew that God was a consuming fire. He knew that God was the
same yesterday, today, and forever. So the God who appeared at Sinai,
in those thunderings and lightnings, and the people were terrified,
and they couldn't even look at Moses. Put a veil over your face,
Moses. We're terrified. We can't look at you. This isn't
that they were primitive, simple people. I'm telling you, if you
or I saw it, like the Apostle John in Revelation. When I saw
him, he said, I fell at his feet as though dead. When Daniel saw
him by the river, what happened to his life drained from him. It was as if every bit of consciousness
drained from him at the sight of what he saw. But no, in general,
men and women around us don't fear God. They don't. They worship
God in vain. They worship God in self-righteousness,
sinfully. They approach God thinking that
they're good enough to approach God, as they are, without true
faith. They come based on their temples,
their cathedrals, their buildings, their right places to be, their
tradition, their hierarchy, their priests and all of these other
things. They worship God in vain. But based on these preceding
verses, the child of God doesn't come to God on a false basis,
comes with boldness. You've got boldness. Are you
a child of God whose trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
this is what you've got. You may not always feel it, but
this is what you've got. You've got boldness to come into
the holiest, into the very central presence of God, into heaven,
not just that place in the tabernacle or the temple when it existed,
but into heaven itself. Now how can there be a basis
for boldness when our sins would consume us? How can there be
that basis? is because this boldness arises
from a living faith in the blood of the Lamb of God that's what
it is that's what enables us to come to know that yes I'm
defiled if I say I have no sin I deceive myself and the truth
is not in me but if we confess our sins he is faithful and just
to forgive us we have an advocate with the father but it's because
of that living faith I have boldness having therefore boldness brethren
to enter into the holiness now why? I've got some reasons for
you. Here are some good reasons. This
is our second major heading. For good reasons. How can we
have boldness in the face of the fact of our sin? And look
what we have here. Having boldness, brethren, to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. by a new and
living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say, his flesh and having a high priest over the house
of God. This is the basis. These are
the good reasons why we can come before God with boldness. These
are the good reasons that we can enter into the holiest, into
the very presence of God, into heaven itself, first of all,
by the blood of Jesus. having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus." The blood of Jesus. We've heard a lot of this in
recent weeks, and it should always be central to our message and
our theme. It's a gem, but you know you
can never fathom the depths of it. Let's, if we can, just for
a moment, let's just pick it up again. You know, Something
that is particularly valuable and precious. You never tire
of looking at it. You pick it up, you turn it round,
you look at it from different angles. There's always something
new that you see, even though you know it intimately and inside
out. You never ever fathom the depths of it. And so it is with
this of the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. In the Lord
Jesus Christ, God was perfectly united with man. God and man. He is the God-man. He was sinless. absolutely sinless. We don't
know anything about man, whoever you are, man, woman, old, young,
child, whatever. We don't know anything about
us other than with sin, because we're all together sin, from
the head down to the sole of the foot. All together sin, but
he was sinless. He knew no sin. He was without
sin. He was righteous in every way. In him, in that body, dwelt the
fullness of the Godhead, bodily. I can't come close to understanding
that. It's just what the scripture
says, that in that body of the Lord Jesus Christ dwelt the fullness
of the Godhead. the infinity of the Godhead.
Do you know, I know they all draw different conclusions, but
I love watching things like the stargazing live, even Professor
Cox. And because of the photography
and the pictures that you see of the galaxies and the vastness
and the immenseness, even from what we can see just from this
little dot within that vast universe. Just the infinity. the colossal
infinity of it, and this God pervades every bit of it. Our
God pervades every bit of this vast, infinite universe, for
he is infinite, and yet the fullness of that Godhead dwelt bodily
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the disciples saw his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth, and they walked with him. And they touched him. And
they even touched his risen body as Thomas did. Resurrected from
the dead. It was a real body. Godhead in
every part of him. And Godhead in every drop of
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. the Godhead in every drop of
the blood. You see, God in his essence had
no body. He was a spirit. God is spirit
and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
But as we read in that earlier verse, verse five, a body was
prepared. God had no body but a body was
prepared for the second person of the Trinity to come and become
man, to become the God-man. So that the infinity of God would
be united with human nature. and therefore the blood that
flowed in the veins of that one was infinitely precious. God
says throughout the scriptures in the law how precious is the
blood of man. You know he puts I know all our
modern societies virtually, apart from those that are regarded
as primitive, have done away, and one or two states in the
United States as well, but they've done away with capital punishment.
But, you know, that's in God's word. The one who sheds man's
blood by man shall that one's blood be shed. Capital punishment
for it. Why? Because the life is so precious. And where is the life? In the
blood. This is what the scripture says. The life is in the blood.
The precious blood of the average man. Of all men. Precious, precious
blood. Oh, how much more precious is
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. For what sins could the blood
of a sinner pay? None. Whatever makes satisfaction.
Whatever makes sense, whatever say, right, that's it, the sentence
is paid, won't ever do that. But the blood of the Lamb of
God is infinitely precious and His blood by means that God alone
knows, but that we have it revealed and we believe it, it pays the
sin debt of his people. It's effectual blood. What could
be more valuable in paying the sin debt of his people? Could
any trust fund, could any vast great legacy of the human race
be any more able to clear a sinner's debts, not at all, but the blood
of the Lamb of God. It can. It's effectual blood.
It pays the debt. It's shed for many. Note that,
it's shed for many. It's shed for many, for his elect,
for the multitude. that the father gave to the son. This is all the sovereign grace
of God. It blots out the sins of his
people. It puts away the sins of his people. It purges the
record of the sins of his people. And so, what does Paul say in
Romans 8, 33? Who shall lay any charge? Against
whom? Against God's elect. Who shall
lay any charge against God's elect? There's no charge to be
laid. It won't stick in a court of divine justice. Why? Because
the precious blood of Christ has paid. What for? The sins
of God's elect. Therefore no charge shall stick.
But all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive
their due reward. All shall. But those in Christ,
that will be a glorious day. No, we come with boldness. We
come with boldness looking at the blood. That's what we look
at. That's the basis of the boldness
to enter the holiest. As we come entering the holiest,
it's not in anything that we have or are. It's not in any
goodness that we have or are, because we're not good. We come
looking at the blood. What was it that caused the angel
of death in Egypt to pass over the children of Israel? What
did they do? Did they look at the passports
of the people? No, they looked at the blood. He looked at the
blood, painted on the doorposts and on the lintel. And when he
saw the blood, that was enough. We come into the holiest looking
at the blood. The blood has removed every charge
that would keep me from the holiest. Therefore I can come with boldness,
with confidence, with assurance, with boldness looking at that
blood. All of my sin and my fleshly unfitness that you think would
keep you out, it cannot keep you out because the blood has
blotted out the sin. Look at the blood and enter in
with boldness, and you must enter in. You mustn't be satisfied
with just external religion, with mysticism, with architecture,
with music, with all of these things that they surround religion
with in all times. No, the true saints must have
intimate communion with God. We must have. You know, we are
the true circumcision, says Paul, who worship God in the spirit.
We enter boldly into that holiest of all. We rejoice in Christ
Jesus. We have no confidence in the
flesh. There's a good reason for coming in, because of the
blood of Jesus, that precious blood. Secondly, look, we come,
verse 20, by a new and living way which he has consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. in the
picture, in the blue type, in the temple in Jerusalem or in
the tabernacle in the wilderness wanderings, the holiest of all,
the place where only the high priest could go once a year,
was barred to everybody else by a huge veil, a thick, thick
veil. And we're told here that that
is Christ's flesh. that is to say, his flesh, through
the veil, that is to say, Christ's flesh. It's an analogy. The veil,
the physical veil in the temple was a blueprint, it was a type,
it was a design, it was a picture of that which was Christ's flesh
in reality. That veil was made of very intricate
work. The King James Version calls
it in Exodus and Leviticus when the instructions are being given,
curiously wrought, curiously wrought. It had blue and purple
and scarlet and detailed embroidery. It was beautiful and glorious.
So was the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was sinless. He was pure. He was conceived
in the womb of a virgin. Not the son of a human man, no. Virgin conception by the Holy
Spirit. He knew no sin. And no results
of sin marred his fleshly body. He knew no sickness, because
sickness is a result of sin. He had no sickness. He knew weariness,
he knew tiredness, he knew the limitations of the body. He's a high priest who's touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, but he didn't have sickness.
And his body was an immortal body, unlike ours, which is,
from the moment we're born, we're decaying towards death, but not
his. His was not a mortal body like ours. Though a true human
body, because there was no sin, and death is the consequence
of sin for the wages of sin is death and he had no sin so his
body was not a mortal body and he said no man takes my life
from me he said I have power to lay it down and I have power
to take it up again this body which is his flesh was the reality
of which the veil of the temple was a picture. And when he died
on the cross, when his flesh was broken, when his body was
broken for us, that veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.
That space which was hidden from us was made open and access was
given. You come boldly into the holiest. You come with boldness into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus. but by this new and living way
that he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to
say, through his flesh, torn open, made accessible. Can you
think how the people would have dreaded going into the holiest
place in the temple if they weren't the high priest on the right
day with the right sacrifice? They'd either seen or they knew
the record of those that had offered strange fire and the
earth swallowed them up. Of Uzzah, who thought he would
sincerely do a good job and hold out his hand to steady the Ark
of the Covenant on the ox cart, and how he was struck dead in
a moment. No, they'd be terrified of going
in there. But now, we have a new and living
way. Through his flesh, through the
flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's been done. It's happened.
It's completed. The holiest is made accessible
to us because he's done these things. You could, on that day
of his crucifixion, the veil was torn apart and you could
walk through. I wonder if the priests were
wondering when was somebody going to be struck dead for walking
into that place. It no longer had that aura about
it because it was just the blueprint which was overtaken. You could
walk through the torn veil into the holiest in the temple and
now through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by that new and
living way that he's consecrated for us through the veil that
is to say his flesh By his body being broken, by that precious
blood being shed, we can now enter heaven by faith. A new
and living way. A new covenant. He talked earlier
in verse 16 about the new covenant replacing the old covenant. The
covenant being the testament, the testament being the will.
by a new and living way. A way that's always open, irrespective
of your personal state. Do you get that? You know we
have up days and down days. We have days when we feel spiritually
strong and we have days when we feel spiritually wretched.
We have days when we feel spiritually unfit and yet in our flesh every
day we're spiritually unfit. but every day in the Lord Jesus
Christ were utterly and completely qualified to be in his presence,
always open, irrespective of your personal state, irrespective
of your highs and lows, irrespective of your experience and sin. And
it's a living way. When the high priest went into
the holiest with the blood of an animal sacrifice, the animal
was dead. and it stayed dead and its meat
was eaten by the Levites and its carcass was burned and the
remains were put down in the brook down outside Jerusalem. But Christ was raised from the
dead. It's a new and living way. Our
sacrifice for sins is not dead. He's raised him from the dead,
unlike those dead animal sacrifices. And there's living faith that
looks to him. And there's walking in the spirit,
by the spirit of God, showing us the things of Christ. And
then thirdly, thirdly we have this high priest. High priest,
verse 21. These are reasons why we should
be bold having a high priest over the house of God. What's
the priest's role? Let me remind you. Two things,
to offer sacrifices and to make intercession, to be the go-between,
to be the interceder, the mediator. So Christ has fulfilled all of
these things. What better sacrifice could be
offered than his precious blood and his broken body? What more
effective intercession could be made than that which the God-man
makes for his people in heaven? Ever pleading before the throne,
ever pleading, look at them, look at them, accept them because
of me. How can the father do other than
accept them because of the beloved son? Everything in him Because of this, because he is
our great high priest, because he's fulfilled all, we have boldness
to come. And now he's there in heaven,
a man. There is a man now in heaven. I used to hear people say that
and didn't really think it over. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
perfect man. And there's a man in heaven.
And you know, when he rose from the dead and he appeared to the
disciples and Thomas wouldn't believe and then he appeared
when Thomas was there and he said, Thomas, come. This was
the risen Lord in his resurrection body. He said, come, touch me,
feel. Real body. What's that teaching
us if it is not this? That in heaven now there is a
real man. that our Savior who is God is
also a man interceding as a great high priest after the order of
Melchizedek, the priest of God for his people. There is one
God and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ
Jesus. He's a man in heaven now. And
he says to you and me, if we're his, he says, because I live
You shall live also. So therefore, hurrying on, final
point, so come, verse 22, so let us draw near. Why are you
sitting there? Why are you holding back? Why
are you not coming into the holiest with boldness? You've got boldness
to come into the holiest. Why are you not doing it? Let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. I'll cover these points very,
very quickly. What are you waiting for? We have boldness to enter
the holiest. We have good reason to enter
the holiest. The blood of Christ. The new
and living way through his flesh. The high priest who is a man
who is our God there in heaven. So therefore come. Why are you
fearfully hanging back? What makes you doubt and fear?
Is it your own sin? Why is it your own sin? Look
to Christ's precious blood. Who shall bring anything to the
charge of God's elect? He sanctified forever, He's perfected
forever them that are sanctified by that one offering. So why
are you hanging back? Look to Christ's precious blood.
And come urgently. Come urgently. Don't put it off
to another day. Come urgently. like the friends
of the man in when Jesus was going about Galilee in his ministry
and there were those friends of that paralyzed man and he
was on a bed and unable to get up and they brought him and they
let him down through the roof to be near Jesus and you might
say well they weren't very British were they because he didn't form
an orderly queue push to the front he wanted him there they
pushed him to the front come come come This is an area where
you need to push to the front. Come into the poleus by that
new and living way. You won't push anybody else out
of the way. Not at all. But be urgent about it. Like
the woman in the crowd. You know, he's pressed around
on all sides and that woman pushes her way through the crowd. If
I can just touch the hem of his garment. or like Esther in the
Old Testament, Esther the Queen, married to, what was his name,
Artaxerxes, I think. I might be wrong on that, but
don't hold it against me if you look it up and I am wrong. I
think it was Artaxerxes. She didn't go into his presence,
but then she said, the issue is so great, the issue is so
great that if I die, I die. I've effectively got nothing
to lose, because life isn't worth living if I don't. She said,
I'm going in. Come boldly into the holiest. You've got good
reasons to come. Come with a sincere heart, first
of all, it says. A true heart. A new heart. As God promised via Ezekiel,
he said, a new heart I'll give. I'll take that stony heart out
of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And what's that new
heart? It's the new life of God's spirit that he plants when he
quickens, when he makes alive. Do you have a new heart? Do you
desire a new heart? Oh that you might desire a new
heart given by the Spirit of God. Come and seek. Jesus said seek and you shall
find. He said come and you won't be
turned away. He said not one who comes will
be turned away and you will find with a sincere heart. Secondly,
in full assurance of faith. Faith is what the natural man
does not have. It's the sight of the soul that
the natural man doesn't have. It's the gift of God, not something
you do for yourself. By grace, through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's from God
to believe Him, to trust Him, to love Him, to see spiritually
that which the natural man cannot see or receive, for it's spiritually
discerned by the gift which the Spirit of God gives. And this
faith, full assurance of faith, It's like walking a dark path
but with the light of faith shining on your step. What does Psalm
105 say? I've forgotten the reference
now. Psalm 119 verse 105, that's it,
yes. Thy word is a light to my feet
and a lamp to my path, or the other way around. The same thing,
it's a light shining on it. And faith is that soul sight
that enables you to see that which others naturally cannot
see. And without it, it's impossible to please God. We're going to
be looking at that in verse 6 of chapter 11, without faith it
is impossible to please Him. We're going to see a lot more
about faith in chapter 11. Whatever is not of faith is sin.
It's not duty faith, there are those who teach that it's the
duty of all men and women to exercise their reasonable understanding
and to exercise their faith in God and trust in Christ and the
gospel of his grace. No. That's not what the scriptures
teach at all. Not duty faith. That's just the
work of fallen flesh. That's dead. That's lifeless.
That's just empty religion. That's, to use a ship analogy,
it's hold below the waterline. A ship that's hold below the
waterline is probably going to sink. No. This is lively faith. Full assurance of faith. Spirit-given
faith. And we'll see much more in chapter
11. Thirdly, hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Hearts
sprinkled. The conscience condemns. It gnaws
away. An active, alive, sensitive conscience
gnaws away about sin and the judgment to come. And it's stimulated
by Satan accusing, the accuser of the brethren. And it fosters
fear and dread. And then the precious blood comes.
and sprinkles. And you know how the priest in
the picture in the blue type in the Old Testament got the
blood and hyssop and sprinkled the people and sprinkled and
cleansed them. Sprinkled from an evil conscience.
Ah, yes, I'm guilty, I'm sinful, but the blood, the blood has
paid. The blood has done away with
those things. And then finally, bodies washed
with pure water. This is not talking about baptism,
baptism by immersion, but what is pictured by the priestly ceremonial
washings. You know, when we saw the picture
of the tabernacle and the temple, there was the laver, the big
shiny metal laver with pure crystal water, and they used lots of
water for ceremonial washing. Paul says to the Ephesians about
the church, about his people, that he might sanctify it and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. This is what
this is talking about. The blood and the water that
flowed from the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. Water that washes
the ongoing defilement of the flesh. That daily, you know,
when he washed the disciples' feet. he said you need this daily
cleansing you don't need a bath he said you've cleansed everyone
of you Peter said give me a complete bath no you don't need that the
blood of the Lamb of God has washed you clean but there's
a daily defilement and this is this is the washing from that
and so you have access you have qualifications it says in one
of the other epistles where is it uh... Ephesians I think he
has qualified us he has made us meet to be there he has qualified
us Think on these things. This is the language of freedom,
of forgiveness, of cleansing, of acceptance. It's the language
of adoption. It's the language of hope. It's
the language of joy. It's the language that gives
us a right to look forward to what we were looking at earlier
in Isaiah chapter 60. Arise, shine, for thy light has
come. It's the language of heaven.