So let's go ahead and look into
Hebrews chapter 10, and we're going to consider reconciliation
this morning. I want you to read with me Hebrews
10, beginning at verse 18. It says, now remission, now where
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Now because of that, that's what that word having therefore, we
see that word therefore again. Having therefore, having therefore,
Because where remission of these is, there is no more offering. Catch that. Grab a hold of that. Hold on to that. There is no
more offering. What God did is good enough. It is perfect. He perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Having therefore, brethren, Boldness. Because of that, we have boldness.
We have this 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. Now that's Hebrews 10,
18-21. We're going to look a little
bit more here in a moment, but I want to bring some points out.
When reading Holy Scriptures, we sometimes pass over small,
familiar words, don't we? I'm guilty of that myself. In
fact, I don't know of anybody who's not guilty of it to a certain
degree. We pass over words or phrases
just because, you know, it kind of looks simple, and we go on
to the meat, and we don't give much thought to the statements
of fact. I personally confess that I am far too often guilty
of reading over things in the Scriptures when it appears that
the context is just moving from one subject to another. Folks,
we ought never to do that. We ought never to do that with
the Word of God. If we do, we're sure to miss
a thing or two. We're sure to miss gems, you
might call it. How often have you been reading
along in God's Word and all of a sudden, Did you notice that? It's like that word, therefore,
that we just talked about. If you think about that, therefore,
that seems like a word you just, you kind of read over kind of
quickly, doesn't it? But therefore means something,
doesn't it? It means that because of this,
here we got this. Because of what Christ has done,
we have this boldness. Because of His blood, we have
this boldness to enter into the holiest of holies. In reading
the book of Hebrews, have you ever noticed how often we are
admonished to do something in the words where it says, let
us, let us do this, let us do that? These two very familiar
words are used powerfully in this epistle. Twelve times in
these thirteen chapters, the Apostle Paul calls us to action
and inspires us to do something of tremendous importance. with
these two words. And let me just share with you,
if you'd like, I'll give this list to you afterward, but in
Hebrews 4.1, we see let-ups. In Hebrews 4.11, we see let-ups.
Hebrews 4.14, Hebrews 4.16, Hebrews 6.1, Hebrews 10.22-24. Hebrews 12, 1, Hebrews 12, 28,
13, 13, and 13, 15, all those times in all those scriptures,
we see the Lord inspire the Apostle Paul to write this, let us, let
us do something. So I wanna talk to you this morning
about three responsibilities, and we read it here in Hebrews
10, 19 through 25. Join me if you would. Having
therefore, brethren, because of the remission of these, there
is no more offering for sin, having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the Holies by the blood of Jesus Christ, 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 with a true heart and full
of assurance of faith, and having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us,
it says in verse 3, 23, hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. 24, let us consider
one another to provoke and to love and to good works, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together in the manner of some is but
exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the
day approaching. God the Holy Spirit uses these
two words, led us to call us to three very important responsibilities
and privileges, and as God's saints in this world, number
one, we must never draw near to our God by faith. That's what
we read in verse 19 through 22. Draw near to him by faith. Lord,
just a closer walk with thee. Isn't that what that's all about?
Walking with God. Folks, we don't see with the
eye, we see with the heart. We see by faith. We must never
draw near. Let us draw near to our God by
faith in Christ. We must hold fast to the profession
of our faith as it says in Hebrews 10.23. And then our third one. And Lord willing, we'll get to
number two and three at another date. But our third one is, we
must consider one another. Let us consider one another.
Hebrews 10, 24 through 25. In these verses of Holy Scripture,
the Apostle Paul is urging us as believers to persevere. That's what he's talking about.
Persevere, keep on keeping on, is what Pastor Gene calls it.
Persevere. You know, that phrase is not
just for John Reeves to be up here preaching Christ and Him
crucified. It's for us. It's for all of
us. Every one of us. Keep on keeping
on coming to church, coming to where the saints gather, looking
into God's Word, looking into our only peace as we walk through
this valley of shadow of death. You folks have heard me talk
about this, and many of you have shared the same thing with me.
How often have we gone on a vacation and thought to ourselves, man,
I sure wish there was a church somewhere I could go to. I need
to hear the word of God. And maybe you've gone to a church
like I have, and you've heard the word of men, if you'll just
do this, God loves you and he's trying. And then you get up and
you say, well, that's disgusting. and you didn't walk out. And
you think to yourself, you know what? If I could just go home
for today, I'd be fine. Then I'd come back and spend
the rest of my vacation. I've done that. Have you? We need to hear the word of God,
don't we? Keep on keeping on. I don't need
to hear about how I should be walking the right path. I know
what path I should be walking. That's my problem. I don't. Isn't
that yours? So what do I need? I need to
hear about the one who did. Keep on keeping on. Hold fast
to our profession of faith. It says in Matthew 10, 22, he
that endureth unto the end shall be saved. You could say this,
he that keepeth on, keep on keeping on. That's endure. Keep on keeping on. is not the
person who begins the race, it's not the person who begins the
race, but the one who finishes that wins the prize. If we could
persevere in faith steadfast unto the end, continually drawing
near to our God. So let us draw near is what we're
gonna look at this morning. Hebrews 10 verses 19 through
22. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full of assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."
Now this text does not stand alone. It is part of the sentence
which begins in Hebrews 10, 19. Believing on the Lord Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ, sinners have free access to God Almighty
upon His glorious throne. Isn't that what we talked about?
Having boldness to come to the Lord? Believing on the blood
of Christ? on the results of that perfect
righteous blood being shed for us? What does it say there in
19? Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest of holies by the blood of Jesus. Through the merit and the mediation
of Christ by faith in His sin-atoning blood, you and I can approach
God, who is the blessed and only Potentate. Isn't that wonderful?
I brought that out in Friday Night Study for those of you
who couldn't join us. Isn't that a wonderful word? It's only used
one time in the entire scripture, and it's right here in 1 Timothy
6.15. I'll finish the rest of that
verse in just a moment. But we read this, it says, The
Blessed and Only. Did you catch that? And then
it says, Potentate. That word, Have you ever been to the El
Capitan rock in Yosemite, and you're standing in the little
meadow down there in the bottom, and you're looking at this rock,
and you're, wow. I know Half Dome is bigger and
cool, but you can't stand at the bottom of Half Dome really,
not unless you're one who hikes away. El Capitan, you just drive
right up and park. If you're not careful, you'll
fall over backwards. I'm serious. Whoa. And then there's
little teeny dots up there. There's people climbing on that
big old rock. That's mighty. That's the mighty rock. It's
the biggest rock I've ever seen. That's the biggest rock I've
ever stand at the bottom of, that's for sure. It's bigger
than some of the high rises that we stand at in front of downtown
Sacramento. It's mighty. It's one who has
all authority, the blessing, and only potentate, the King
of Kings is the rest of that verse, the Lord of Lords, who
only hath immortality dwelling in light, which no man can approach
unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, to whom be honor
and power everlasting. Isn't that good? Potentate. and the blessed and only potentate,
the King of kings, the Lord of lords. And then notice also back
in our text in Hebrews 19, it says brethren. Paul's not just
talking to this little group here, he's talking to his brethren
all over. He's talking to you and I. Brethren. What a wonderful word. Brethren
is a term of family, isn't it? My brethren. My brethren-ly. I have other brethren in the
blood, but you folks are my brethren. You're my brethren. You're folks
that I'll be spending eternity with, with all my other brethren,
Moses and Isaiah, Ezekiel, and all of the other ones, David. What a blessed and tender, affectionate
word for the Lord to inspire that man to write, brethren.
As brethren, you and I have this common privilege, don't we? We
are called to enter into the holiest presence of God Himself
with boldness by the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus, our
Savior, our only Savior, our common Savior, our accepted Savior,
our enthroned Savior. The holiest, it says. The place
where we may enter with boldness is heaven itself. referring to
the holy of holies in the tabernacle. You remember, the tabernacle
had two sections in it. It had the main section where
all of the people who were called. Who were the people who were
called? Israel. Not the whole world. Why is that
important? Because God saves by His grace. And to prove that it's by His
grace, He chose a people just like He chose each and every
one of us. We're chosen of God, folks. Do you comprehend that? Not by anything you've done,
but by grace are you saved. By grace! Let me say that again. By grace! You talk about He is the Lord,
He does not change. If He changed, He would change
His mind about me as well. By grace. We enter into the holiest
of holies on the blood of our Savior. Heaven was symbolically
shut by the sin of man when he was driven out of the Garden
of Eden. It was typically opened by the
entrance of the High Priest into the Holiest of Holies only on
the Day of Atonement. But now, it is really open. Remember what happened on the
Day of the Cross? What happened? and the holiest of holies, where
only the high priest could go, was ripped in twain from bottom
to top. Completely ripped. It's open.
It's open for us. It's open for all for whom God
will cause to come unto Him and love Him, because He first loved
them. Here we come and present our
prayers We present our prayers and our praises to God for his
son, the Lord Jesus. We pour out our hearts to the
Lord. Here we find mercy and grace
and peace. And soon, soon, we shall enter,
like our Lord himself, personally, all by his blood. Lastly, we have the way. The
way of entrance is by the blood of Jesus. That's the only way.
You can't do anything to warrant entrance into the holiest of
holies. When the high priest, now remember, when the Lord died,
he made all of his people high priests with the ability to enter
into the holiest of holies. But if you enter in with anything
but the blood of Christ, then you are an abomination to what
Christ has done. The only way through that entrance
is by the blood of Christ. It is His blood which gives both
entrance and boldness. By His blood, sin is removed
both from the sight of God and from the conscience of the believer.
Peace is made with God and spoken to our hearts. Pardon is procured. Law and justice are satisfied
and no more to be feared. And by His blood, the everlasting
covenant is ratified and confirmed. We may approach God Himself with
boldness, drawing near to Him by faith, because we have a great
high priest sitting in His presence, sitting with Him on His throne.
accepted forever in the Beloved. We draw near to God in the holiest,
by a new and living way, it says, in Hebrews 10, 20-21, 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, therefore, let us draw near with a true
heart, full of assurance. of faith and faith having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed
with pure water. Amen.