Hebrews chapter 10. The verses I really want to deal
with is 19 through 22, mostly 19 and 20 and 21. The apostle, the writer of this epistle,
has primarily been dealing and writing about the priesthood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and about that new covenant that
he ratified with his blood and that he, his priesthood and that
covenant is superior to the old one and how it replaces that
old ineffective covenant of works. But now Now, through much of the remainder
of this book, he's going to move to the application of these truths
in the everyday life of the believer. We go from the doctrine of Christ
to the application of it. We go from the doctrine of grace
to the application of grace. And there's three things that
I want to point out, starting with verse 19. There's three
benefits that you and I have through the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. One is boldness. Boldness to
come into God's presence. Consider who God is. Consider
who we are, what we are. And we are told to come into
God Almighty's presence, the one who spoke all this into existence,
the one who is holy, holy, holy. We are told to come into his
presence with boldness. And the second benefit is this,
we have access. We have real access to the holy
of holies. I don't think that's ever really
dawned on me what I really have in Christ, as have you. What
we really have. I have no doubt that if it really,
really settles in on us, what we have in Christ, prayer would
be so much more often, so much more fervent than it is. I believe it'd be that way with
me, and I believe it'd be that way with you. And the third benefit
is representation. We have one who represents us. We have one that's over the house
of God. And we are the house of God.
Now he says in verse 19 through 22, let me read this again. Having
therefore brethren, and this is for the brethren, this is
not for every person. It is for every one who believes.
for those who believe. Brethren, having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now you
can keep in mind that he's writing here to the Hebrews and he's
telling them and us, but especially them, you have a right to now
enter the holy of holies. They were never allowed to do
that before. only the high priest. Having boldness to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near, draw near to God. There was a man back home, Dale
Simpson, I don't know if he ever preached here or not, But he
used to, in his preaching, he would often use the word, hug
up. Hug up to him. Drawn near to hug up to him with
a true heart. This goes, this really goes beyond
just a sincere heart, but a real genuine, true, you know, a true
heart. It's a heart that God's given you. It's a heart that
God's given you. He said, I will give you a new
heart. If God has saved you, God has
saved me. God's given us a new heart. A
true heart in full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Well, the first benefit here is boldness. We are to have boldness,
that is, confidence confidence when we come to God in prayer
when we come to him in worship as we are doing right now in
praise we just saying praises unto him we are to come with
confidence we are to come in worship we are to come in praise
in the name of Christ we are to come with us now listen
to this And this is a bold statement. But we are to come to God with
the same boldness that Jesus Christ came to him with. The
same boldness he came with, we are to come with. Is he a son
of God? Absolutely. Are you? Now are
we the sons of God. We are sons of God. And we are
to come with the same boldness that Christ came with. And this
boldness includes a right attitude. What is a right attitude here?
It's an attitude of humility. Attitude of coming before God
in true humility. And it's coming to God in a right
spirit. What's that? That's a spirit
of thanksgiving. giving thanks, first of all,
for what He's done for us in Christ, for what we have in Christ.
He has blessed us, God the Father has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ. And He did this
before the world began. It's the right attitude of humility,
it's the right spirit of thanksgiving, and enthusiasm, holy enthusiasm. Glad to be there. Glad to be
here. Glad to be a part of the worship
service. And freedom. To come into his
presence with freedom. No fear. I'm not talking about
reverence. There is a fear of reverence
and respect. But I'm talking about this fear
that he's going to take my head off. But this shows genuine faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing that honors God,
there is nothing that you and I can do to honor our Father
than to believe Him. And the way we come to God in
prayer, in worship, in praise, is a reflection of faith. It's
a reflection of faith. And this is the boldness which
we are to come with that I've just mentioned to you. And our
boldness, listen, our boldness in the presence of God is Jesus
Christ. He's our boldness. He's the one
who gives me boldness. He's my confidence. My confidence
in standing in God's presence is in a person. It's in the Son
of God. It's in His person, it's in His
blood, His representation, His priesthood. This gives us boldness
now for a bunch of sinners like us to come into God's holy presence. You know, when the seraphims,
they fly day and night crying, holy, holy, holy, they cover
their face. They cover their feet. Those
wings, they just cover themselves. And they cry, holy, holy, holy.
And you and I are allowed in His presence. We are to come to God in boldness. And we are to come in this boldness
in full assurance of faith. This is the very thing that the
Jew was having trouble with. This is the very thing that Paul
wrote these Hebrews, they were having trouble with. To come before God in faith,
in full assurance, not doubting. Not doubting. You know, faith,
listen now, faith never doubts. True, genuine faith never doubts.
Unbelief always does. Unbelief always does. But where
there's true, genuine faith, it believes God. It believes
God because it's of God. But we are to come in full assurance
of faith. Listen, where there is no assurance,
no confidence, there's no faith. There's no faith. Real faith,
if you want to talk about assurance and having assurance, Real assurance
now comes through believing God. Real assurance comes through
faith. That's how assurance comes. It
comes through faith. Little faith equals what? Little
assurance. No faith equals no assurance. No assurance. These Hebrews no doubt were astonished
to hear of this free access into God's presence. They were taught
that only the high priest could come into God's presence and
that only one time a year with the blood of an animal. But no one else was allowed to
do that. Only he could go in there. Only he could go into
that room that was a 15 foot by 15 foot room And then there
was the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat, and the law,
and Aaron's rod that budded was in that ark. And there was this
thick, thick, heavy veil. And this priest would go in there
one time a year with a rope tied to his leg. And I believe he
had some bells on. If the bells stopped, they could take that rope because
he's dead. And if he's dead, you know what that means? Something
went wrong with the priest. Something he did, he didn't do
something right. He missed a step. Can you imagine
that? He missed a step and then that'd
have to drag him out if he missed something. And now here they are being taught
that they can come now into God's presence individually into the
Holy of Holies and talk with God and cast all their cares
upon Him. I can imagine how astonished they
were to hear this. To hear that all who believe
can come freely into God's presence through the blood in the righteousness
and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to go from no access,
to go from penalty of death, to free access? What a difference! What a difference grace makes.
What a difference the sacrifice of Christ makes over the animal
sacrifices. What a difference the priesthood
of Christ makes over the old Aaronic priesthood. What a difference. What a difference that new covenant
makes over that old one. Free access. If you have something
troubling you, something bothering you, sins bothering you, you
have free access right now to go into God's presence and lay
it down. That's good news. That's good
news. It's one thing to come to a throne
of grace, but to realize that you are actually in God's presence
is another matter altogether. Actually, really in God's presence. Not going through some ceremony,
not going through the motions, not just being religious, but
you really are in the presence of the creator of heaven and
earth. of El Shaddai, God All-Sufficient. Doing business with God is serious
business. And to have an audience with
Him? I wish I could put that into words. I wish I could get the seriousness
and the blessedness of having an audience with Almighty God.
I wish I could get a hold of that. Well, where does the believer,
secondly here, where does the believer's boldness come from
in coming into such presence of God? Well, it says, by the
blood of Christ. Here's where our boldness comes
from. Here's where our confidence comes from. By the blood of Christ.
The blood by which we come is not that of an animal. It's not
that of an animal. It's the blood of a sinless sacrifice. It's the blood of the God-man. The God-man. Son of God. God Himself. Turn over to Acts
chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, look in verse
28. Acts 20, 28, Paul writing here, he says, Take
heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Here's our confidence. Here's
our boldness. It's the blood of God. It's the
blood of God. It's not the blood of an animal.
It's the blood of God. Sinless, spotless. It's the blood of God. The priest
of the Old Testament could not enter in with such boldness. If he missed a step, he was in
trouble. He was in trouble. In fact, he
would die. He would die. If he missed a step in the process,
he would die. But we know that Jesus Christ
did not miss anything. He didn't miss anything. He fully
satisfied all God's demands, and he's therefore seated at
God's right hand, and we come, we come authorized to do so. Lord, you said come. You said
come. The scriptures tell us that the
Lord Jesus Christ, that he magnified the law and he made it honorable. He kept every jot. He kept every
tittle of the law. And we can come into the presence
of God with full confidence. that we're
not going to be cast out, but we are going to be heard. We
are going to be received. We come with a clear conscience.
We come with a clear conscience, knowing that in Christ we are
perfected in His sight. We come with this knowledge now,
this knowledge that in Christ we are perfected. He has perfected
forever then. That word perfected, you know
what, it means this, complete. That's what it means, it means
complete. Listen to Colossians 2.10. And ye are complete in
him. That's another way of saying
you are perfected. You are complete in him, which is the head of
all principality and powers. No one can stop you from coming
in when the Lord says, come in. He says, come in. Here's a second
benefit. Access. Access. You know, I don't have
access to the White House. You don't have access to the
White House. Just get in your car, drive to Washington D.C. and see if they'll let you in. Just walk right into the White
House front door and tell me, I want to see the president. It ain't happening. It is not
happening. And yet we have complete free
access to God Almighty. I have access to it. If I'm having a good day or a
bad day, If the Lord has enabled me to praise Him or if sin has
bothered me, I have access. Now listen to this. We don't
just have access, we have access by a new and living way. We have access by a new and living
way. Not the old way. Not the old
way of bulls and goats. Those are just symbolic. The Jew never, never had access
to the Holy of Holies. They couldn't go in there. But
we can. Now we can. Our access into the presence
of God is not only through the death of Christ, but it's also
through His life. It says a new and, listen, living
way. Who is the living way? The living
way is Christ. I am the way, the truth and the
lie. I'm the way, I'm the living way. All those animals that were sacrificed,
they stayed dead. But not this one. Not this one. He rose again from the grave. He lives forevermore, never to
die again. It's a living way. John Owens wrote this. It is
new because it was newly made and prepared, because it belongs
to the new covenant, because it admits of no decay, but is
always new as far as its efficacy and use is concerned. It's new,
the new and living way. And it's called the living way
because Jesus Christ lives forevermore. He is that life giving spirit. I thank God. I thank God there
is a way for sinners to come continually, continually to the throne of
grace to find help in time of need. Because it seems like that
time is always my time. It seems like the time of need
is always my time. But I can continually come into
his presence at any given time, and have an
audience with him through the Lord Jesus Christ. As the scripture
says, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Continual. You know, I realize
now that the Lord's intercession for me is continual. It's not sporadic. It's not sporadic. It is continual. It never stops. It never ends. And I thank God for that, because
I need it. I need it continually. Because
everything I do, everything you do, has sin in it. Everything. There's not one thing we can
do that sin doesn't touch it. Also, when I would do good, evil
is present with me. That which I would do, I don't. That which I would not do, I
do. I thank God that he ever liveth,
ever liveth, to make intercessions for us. And note the word consecrated. What does that mean? It means
this. It means open. Open. It was closed to the Jews of
old. They couldn't go into that. They can go into that first compartment
of the tabernacle, but they couldn't go in that second one. It's open
to us. It's open. Christ has opened
the way to God by the sacrifice of Himself. And by His resurrection,
when He ascended on high, the Lord Jesus Christ, as our high
priest, as our representative, took possession of the Holy of
Holies for us. Come all in. Come all in. This way that has been opened,
it says, that was created through the veil. That's to say, His
flesh. Not that big curtain hanging
up in that tabernacle, but His flesh. That Old Testament had a thick
veil that separated the common from the holy. When Christ died,
that veil was rent in two. showing that access to God has
now been accomplished and it was accomplished through his
flesh being crucified. Calvary's tree. Access into God's presence will
always be through Jesus Christ and him crucified. access to
God will always be in the person of Christ. There's never a time
when I will not need him. Never. Third benefit, and I'll
close, is representation. It says in verse 21 that we have
a high priest over the house of God. God has sent, he has
appointed Jesus Christ to be the high priest over his house.
And Paul says in Hebrews 3 verse 6, whose house are we? We are the house of God. The church is being built for
an habitation of God to dwell in. This is said to remind us that
we have a high priest who always represents us, always. Even after
being saved, he represents us. We never come alone. We always
come in his name. He said, whatsoever you ask in
my name. We are accepted, the scripture
says in Ephesians 1, we are accepted in the beloved, never in ourselves,
always in Christ. Remember here, Christ is over
the house of God. What does that mean? What does
it mean? When it says where it says here
he's over the house of God, well, first of all, it means this.
He has the rule of it. He has the rule of the house.
He is the head of the house. The head. He's the authority
figure. What he says goes. What he says. He is the owner of it. It's his
house. He bought it. He bought it. He purchased it with his own
blood. Some of you own houses. Maybe
all of you own houses. I don't know. But you're purchasing
it. You're paying for it, aren't you? Christ paid for this house. by His own blood. That's how
He paid. Not silver and gold. You were not redeemed with silver
and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. And then thirdly, He represents
everyone in the house. He represents everyone in the
house. This is why Paul, in writing
to the Corinthians, he was upset. Some of you say, I'm of Paul,
I'm of Apollos, And then you had the super-duper ones who
would say, well, I'm of Christ. They just ignored everybody else
altogether. Christ represents. He's our representative
in the house of God. He's it. In the Old Testament, the high
priest wore gemstones sewn into the breastplate. They were used
as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord. You
can read that in Exodus 39, verse 7 and 8, and verse 14. But this
pictures, here's what this pictures. This pictures Christ representing
His people before the fathers whose names are written on His
heart. Our names are not written just
on a breastplate, it's written on His heart. On the heart of
God. There is one on whose heart we
are written, who knows our frame that is dust, who knows all our needs before
we ask him, who fills all our infirmities. I don't know what Some of you
have gone through. You don't know what I've gone
through. I don't know what all of you. You've got your lives, your past lives. And you've gone through a lot
of things. And I don't know, probably most of it I don't know. And you don't know mine either.
But he does. He knows mine. He knows yours.
He knows every heartache I've had. He knows every heartache
you've had. He knows it. And he doesn't just know it by
The fact that he just saw it happen, I can know things by
watching it happen. No, he knows it because he's
intimately acquainted with you. My head knows exactly what my
body's going through. Right? If my toe hurts, if my
toe hurts, I feel it. You know why I feel it? Because
of my head. My brain registers it. Christ is the head. We are the
body. He feels everything we go through. He knows every heartache,
every pain, everything. He knows it. Intimately, He knows
it. In closing, listen. Make much
use of the throne of grace because that's what it's for. It's a
throne of grace. and make much use of it for yourselves, and
make much use of it for one another. If you see a brother or sister
stumbling, make much use of the throne of grace for them. Take it before the throne of
grace. Pray for them. We have a blood-bought right
to be there. Come boldly, come freely, come
confidently, come expecting, but come. Come. I titled that message, Boldness
Before God. Boldness before God. That's what
we have. In Christ, we have boldness.
That's not arrogance now. You know, that's not arrogance.
That is confidence that's built, that is produced by faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ.