Turn with me in your Bibles to
the book of Hebrews chapter 10. The text that we're going to
deal with this morning in verse 19, starting verse 19, makes
this statement. It says, having therefore, brethren,
boldness. Now, if you have a concordance,
you probably have in the concordance the word liberty. or free freedom. And what it's talking about is
free access, free going in with confidence, like
that, nothing hindering. And he says, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to do what? It says to enter into the holiest,
the holiest, As you know, in the book of Hebrews, there's
been a great contrast set between the old covenant tabernacle,
wherein you had the holiest of all, the holy of holies, that
place, that little compartment, that centerpiece that the high
priest could only go in once a year on the day of atonement.
And that holiest place represent what the old Jewish rabbis called
the Shekinah glory of God. Now the Shekinah glory, the word
Shekinah just means the presence of God, the dwelling place of
God. God is here. Now we know God is omnipresent,
but that was a special place where God revealed the most complete
most full, the fullest revelation of himself. As one old writer
said, every attribute of God's character was on display there.
You know, there are certain things you can see of God's glory by
looking at creation. Psalm 19 speaks about that. You can see the goodness, the
wisdom, the power of God. But here at the holiest of all
is where God revealed how every attribute, every facet of his
character, if you ever get one of those books called The Attributes
of God, theologians, they'll list them. Well, all those attributes
were on display. in the holiest of all. And in
that holiest of all, there was the Ark of the Covenant, the
Mercy Seat. The high priest would go in one
time a year with the blood of a lamb. And then he would come
out. And so, there's a contrast between
that earthly tabernacle and the eternal, everlasting tabernacle
that brings salvation, eternal salvation, to the people of God. and it's represented here as
the holy presence, the Shekinah glory of God, and that's what
he's saying, having therefore, brethren, boldness, liberty,
confidence, free access to enter the holiest. Now, as you know,
back in the old covenant, only the high priest could go in one
time a year. The other people could not go in there. Even the
other priest, the Levitical priest, could not go in there. Only the
high priest, the descendant of Aaron, could go in there. And so you might look at something
like that. And I'll tell you, here's something
that I think about quite a bit. Growing up in religion, in what
we call the Baptist church, what I'm about to confront you with
never even entered my mind. And I'll tell you why, because
it wasn't preached. But here's the issue. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest. Now, the question
is this. How in the world can a sinner
like me, who deserves nothing but death
and hell, how could I even enter the holiest, let alone have boldness,
confidence, free access? Now, what gives me a right to
appear in the presence of the Shekinah glory of God. You remember when Moses went
up on the mount to receive the law and he came down and that
glory was shining in his face, that was a physical reflection
of light. You remember what the people
said? Oh Moses, we don't wanna go there. You go for us. We don't want anything to do
with that. We know we'll be dead. And if you think about it, how
in the world could I have a right to appear in the presence of
a holy God? I'm a sinner. You're sinners. Does that offend you? If it does,
I'm sorry. No, I'm not sorry. But listen
to me, how can I have a right, how can I even get into the prayer,
let alone have boldness, confidence? That's an amazing thing. The
passage of scripture that Brother Randy read in Psalm 65 says this,
verse three, it says, iniquities prevail against me. Iniquities prevail against me. I don't have any right or title
in and of myself. My works cannot do anything with
my iniquities. If you could start today and
be a perfect man or woman, your iniquities would still prevail
against you if something hasn't happened. Iniquities, that means I don't
measure up. I don't have in myself the qualities or the qualifications
to enter into the presence of God. You don't either, and no
other human being does. Fallen in Adam. We're ruined
by the fall. Sinners. But you know, in false
religion, they breed such a familiarity. They think everybody's got a
right to appear into the presence of God. Everybody's gonna pray,
everybody's gonna worship. God wouldn't turn you away, really? I'll tell you what, if that high
priest had gone into the holiest of all without the blood of the
lamb, what would have happened to him? Y'all read enough Bible
to know that, don't you? They'd have to drag him out. So he says in Psalm 65, iniquities
prevail against me. But then he goes on to say, as
for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. I need
a purging. The waters of baptism, I've been
reading this article in the paper by this preacher in town, and
he thinks the waters of baptism will do it. They won't. His old
boy up in West Virginia said, you can get baptized so many
times that the tadpoles know you by your first name, and it
won't purge away one sin. Won't do it. Washing of the hands. They say, wash your hands now
because of the coronavirus. Well, that's a good idea, but
it won't purge away sin. Put it away, cleanse it away.
That's what that's talking about. Well, you remember what I read
in Isaiah 40? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. For the Lord hath given double
for all her sins. What is that double? Well, I'll
tell you what it is. It's not only the purging away
of sin, that's the forgiveness of sins, but he's also given
us a perfect righteousness. What gives me boldness? Well,
look at verse four, well, I'll just read this to you, it's Psalm
65. He says, blessed is the man whom thou choosest. That's election, isn't it? The
blessed is the person, the man or woman whom God chooses. Notice
he didn't say blessed is the man who chooses you. Now we do
choose God, but only because he first chose us. That's what
the scripture teaches, isn't it? Unconditional election, we
call it. That's a good word for it. He
didn't choose me because of anything in me or done by me or foreseen. It was just God's sovereign,
perfect, Well, it seemed good in his sight. Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and calls us to approach unto thee. God
actually calls us, those whom he chooses, to approach unto
him. If I approach unto God and I'm
accepted and blessed and in fellowship with him, it's because he calls
me to do it. How did he cause me to do it?
He gave me a new heart. a new desire. And then he goes
on, calls us to approach unto thee, he may dwell in thy courts.
That means he's a full-fledged member of the household and family
of God. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy household, even of thy holy temple. And then
the rest of that psalm, you know who it's describing in the rest
of that psalm? It's describing the Lord Jesus Christ. the water,
the corn, Christ is the water of life, Christ is the bread
of life. We'll go back to Hebrews 10, verse 19, having therefore
brethren boldness to enter the holiest, and here's your key,
by the blood of Jesus. There's it, that's it. If God chose you and causes you
to approach unto him, This is how you come. And if you come
any other way, you give no evidence at that time that God chose you
or is causing you to do this. By the blood of Jesus. What is
his blood? It's his death. That's his cross. That's equivalent
of the purging away of my sins and the righteousness that God
has freely imputed to me. And that's the only way. that
I can approach unto a holy God with confidence. Title of this
message is The Full Assurance of Faith. And I want to make
this point. You know, a lot of people claim
that faith and assurance are not the same. They say that a
person can have faith in Christ without assurance, but that assurance
may come later as we grow into assurance and that for different
reasons. I don't know what all reasons they have. Usually it
has something to do with their improvements. Something like
that. Well, here's what I know. Any assurance we have without
faith is a pipe dream. Isn't that right? What is faith? It's knowing and believing God's
word because God has revealed it to you. You have a foundation.
upon the Word of God, to know something is true and believe
it is true. So any assurance you have, everybody here knows
we're gonna die one day. When you face God, what is your
assurance, your confidence, that you will be received well by
God? And if your assurance, whatever
confidence you have, if it's not of faith, that is based on
the word of God, what God's word says, then it's a false refuge,
a false comfort. It's euphoria. You know what
euphoria is? It's like when people take drugs
and they're happy, but they ought to be sad. It's euphoria. It's a religious
drug. Karl Marx who I don't promote,
said it's the opiate of the people. Just makes you feel good, but
it doesn't mean anything. It's not true. But my friend,
if you have God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot
help but have assurance. Now faith grows and assurance
grows as we grow in grace and in knowledge. But you can't have
one without the other. The Bible knows no such separation
of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation and
the assurance of this salvation that comes looking to Him. Let me give you this. Number
one, God-given faith is founded upon the sure word of God. If
God said it, it's either true or it's not. It's true if God
said it. It's not based on the words of men. God-given faith
and assurance, it's based on the sure word of God, not on
the words of men, not on feelings. You say, well, I don't feel good
today, or I feel really wretched today. Well, faith and assurance
are not based on that. It's not just a view of ourselves. The Bible says faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. Peter said we have a
more sure word of prophecy. Secondly, God-given faith looks
to and rests in Christ as our surety. Christ is, I'm not my
surety. You're not your surety. Christ
is our surety. The Bible says all the promises
of God in him are sure and in him, amen, yea and amen, sure
and certain. When When in Hebrews 12, we read
about the sin that so easily besets us, which is I believe
is unbelief. The believer is not in unbelief,
but we still have the flesh. We still have to fight our doubts
and our misgivings. How do we do it? Hebrews 12,
two, running the race of grace, looking unto Jesus, our salvation,
our righteousness, our lamb, our sacrifice, looking unto Jesus,
the author, and what? The finisher of our faith. Now either Christ finished it
or he didn't. If you try to run the race looking within to see
if you're qualified or see if you have enough or have done
enough, you're not running the race of grace. You're running with the flames
of the law licking at your back. Here's the third thing, God-given
faith. Here's what God-given faith involves. It's number one,
a revealed knowledge taught to you by God through the gospel
and preached by a man or written by a man, and it's revealed knowledge
you cannot deny. If you deny it, it hasn't been
revealed to you. Isn't that right? Not by God, anyway. You cannot
deny it, you cannot reject it, you cannot ignore it, if it's
God-given faith. Secondly, it's assent, or believe
what you know to be true based on a firm foundation. I believe
it because God said it. I've told you a lot of times
about this church up in West Virginia. They had a sign out
in front. It said, God said it, I believe
it, that settles it. Wrong. God said it, that settles
it. whether I believe it or not.
But you see, God-given faith means to believe what you know
to be true based on a firm foundation, and the firm foundation is the
word of God. And then thirdly, God-given faith involves trust
and commitment to and reliance upon the object of faith, which
is Christ, as he's revealed here. Hebrews 11 one says, now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. You know what that word, a substance,
really means? It means assurance, it means
confidence. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen. And who brings us to that conviction?
God does. In the preaching of the gospel,
he convicts us of sin, of righteousness, of judgment. Now faith is being
sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we don't see.
Paul said it this way in 2 Timothy 1.12. He said, I know whom I
have believed and I'm what? Persuaded. I'm persuaded. That what? That I'm good enough
to settle this thing. No, that he is able, Christ is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. That's faith. And that's assurance. Well, look
at our text here. The first thing we see here is
the ground of our assurance. Whatever assurance I have, what
ground is it based upon? What do I stand upon? Well, he
says, having therefore, brethren, boldness, confidence, freedom,
liberty to enter into the holiest, and here it is, by the blood
of Jesus. That's the merits of the work
of Christ as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer of his
people. His blood is enough. That's it. I'll never forget one time I
read an article in a bulletin of a man who I thought preached
the gospel, and the title of the article was The Blood is
Not Enough. Well, I'm here to tell you the
blood is enough. Because it's whose blood? It's the blood of
the God man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Behold
the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world. God's
chosen people whom he calls us to approach unto him all over
this world. Jew and Gentile. His blood is my righteousness
before God. I don't have any merits in myself,
any worthiness in myself. My song is the song of the redeemed.
Worthy is the lamb that was slain. That's enough. In Christ, we
see 2 Corinthians chapter four and verse six, the glory of God
revealed in his face. That's the Shekinah glory. Christ
is our tabernacle, did you know that? The word was made flesh
and tabernacled among us. He's the very express image of
God. He's our confidence and assurance.
In fact, that word substance, you know when he said, faith
is the substance of things hoped for? Do you know how that word
is translated over in Hebrews chapter one and verse three?
It says, who being the brightness of his glory, the express image
of his person. It's the same word. In Christ,
in the salvation of his people, we can see every attribute of
God honored, magnified, working consistently together to glorify
God. And it can be summarized in this
wonderful phrase that God gave to the prophets of old. He's both a just God and a savior. He's a righteous judge. who will
not fail to punish sin in those to whom it's imputed, but he's
also a loving father. How can he be both? He's a merciful God, but he's
also a just God. How can he be both? By the blood
of Jesus. Look at verse 20 of Hebrews 10,
by a new and living way, not a dead way. This way is new because
he's talking about the new covenant, that fact that Christ has already
come and did this work. But this new way is an eternal
way. It's always been around. The
Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy chapter one spoke of it as a salvation
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's a living way because Christ
died on the cross, but he didn't stay dead. And why not? Because in his death we see a
perfect satisfaction to God's justice. Righteousness established
and right even though sin demands death, our sin imputed to him
demanded his death, righteousness that he established in his death
demands life. He arose the third day. That's
what the resurrection is all about. Did you know that? The
resurrection of Christ is all about righteousness established
to secure the eternal salvation and well-being of all for whom
he died. That's what that resurrection is about. By a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated. This is something that Christ
did. You didn't do it. I didn't do
it. We didn't help him do it. But
he consecrated it. He newly made it. For us, he did it as our surety,
as our substitute, our redeemer, through the veil, that is to
say his flesh. He had to have a human body because
he had to die to put away our sins. So upon what ground can
I approach unto God and be blessed and accepted, have fellowship
with a holy God? What right and what confidence
and what liberty do I have to enter the holiest? The blood
of the Lamb of God. And that's it. Somebody in religion
might say, well, that's not enough for me. I've got to straighten
up and fly a ride. Well, I hope you do straighten
up and fly a ride, but if that gives you confidence to enter
the holiest, that's even more wicked than if you didn't straighten
up and fly a ride. Did you know that? It's what
the word of God says. Here's the Pharisees seeking
to establish their own righteousness before God, going out all covering,
encompassing sea and land to gain converts, to get these immoral,
idolatrous Gentiles to buy into their self-righteous religion.
And Christ said, when you get them in, you make them twofold
more the child of hell than you are. Somebody said, well, religion
holds a lot of people in check on this earth. Oh, but my soul,
when they check out, it's a horrible scene. Lord, Lord, haven't we
prophesied in you? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Depart from me, you that work
iniquity, I never knew you. You see my preaching? If I could
ever cast out a demon, I've never tried. If I did many wonderful
works, that doesn't give me any confidence or liberty to enter
the holiest. It's totally, completely, exclusively
the blood of Jesus Christ. His righteousness alone. Well
secondly, we have the blessing of our assurance. Look at verse
21. And having a high priest over the house of God, the family
of God, and who is this high priest? It's Jesus Christ, our
Lord and Savior. He's our great high priest. In
other words, he stands for us. He's seated at the right hand
of God, ever living to make intercession for us. He pleads his own merits
for our cause. And 1 John 2 said that, you know,
when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. He's our high priest. He says,
here's the blessings of our assurance. Verse 22, let us draw near. We
have free access, we enter the holy, we draw near to God. We're
not like those Israelites at the bottom of Mount Sinai when
Moses come down saying, stay away, stay away, stay, no, we
draw near. Draw near unto God. Over in Isaiah
46, let me read this to you. I love this passage. But he's
talking about the sovereignty of God. who declares his will and does
his will and brings it to pass. And he says in Isaiah 46, 12,
hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness.
Now that's us by nature. Stout-hearted means proud, self-righteous. But we're far from righteousness.
There's none righteous, no, not one. That's speaking of man by
nature. Even at his best, there's none righteous, no, not one.
But here's what God says in verse 13. I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. And
my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory. You know who he's talking about?
That's Christ. That's Christ. Well, over here
in Hebrews 10, 22, we can draw near. And look here, he says,
we draw near with a true heart. That's a sincere heart, but it'd
be better described this way. It's an honest heart. Now, the
greatest act of dishonesty that a sinner can do is to seek to
come near or to come before God based upon his works. That's
dishonest. You know what's wrong with free
will religion? It's not honest. It denies what
God says about me. God says that I fell in Adam
into sin and death. God says that my will fell with
me. that I'm born dead in trespasses and sin, and that if left to
myself, I will not choose him. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thee. If you believe that
you had it in you, some spark of goodness by which you can
make the decision and make the difference between heaven and
hell, you're being dishonest with yourself. That's the deceptive
heart. The heart's deceitful, desperately
wicked. Who can know it? And that's the
thing, see. But when God brings us to be
convicted of our sin and of His righteousness, we can draw near
with an honest heart. Lord, I'm a sinner. I have no
right to enter into the holiest, but by the blood of Jesus Christ. At my best, I don't have any
right or freedom to approach unto God. Right now my only merit,
worthiness, is Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. His
righteousness alone. So we can draw near with a true
heart. That's the new heart. Honest before God about who God
is and about who I am and who Christ is. And he said in full
assurance of faith. Now the full assurance of faith,
what's that all about? It's not saying, well, I have
enough faith that mustard up. No, no. The full assurance of
faith is the full assurance that a sinner has in looking to Christ
and resting in him. That's what faith does. The foundation
of faith is the word of God. It's a gift from God. We don't
have it by nature. A natural man receiveth not the
things of the spirit of God, neither can he know. It's a gift
from God, and the foundation of that faith is the word of
God. I believe it because God said it. And the object of faith
is Christ, as he's presented in the gospels, the Lord, our
righteousness, the blood of Christ. Who is the object of my faith?
It's Christ. And then he says, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. An evil conscience,
you know what the conscience is? That's the seed of judgment
in your mind. And an evil conscience is a defiled conscience. It's
a condemned conscience. It's a legal conscience. The
evil conscience is one that exonerates myself based on something other
than Christ. Oh, I walked an aisle when I
was 12. I gave my heart to Jesus. I got
baptized. Is that what soothes my conscience?
That's an evil conscience. It is. I have peace with God
because I haven't missed a service. Except when I was sick. Are those the things that soothe
your conscience? That's an evil conscience. What
purges the conscience? Having our hearts sprinkled.
What was sprinkled under the old covenant tabernacle? The
blood. And what is that sprinkling of
the blood? What is it a metaphor for? It's when the Holy Spirit
brings us to be convicted of our sinfulness and our depravity,
our worthiness of death and hell based upon our best, and drives
us to Christ to look to him, his blood, his righteousness
for all salvation. That's when my conscience is
sprinkled from that evil. I come to find out that everything
that I used to hold dear and think would recommend me unto
God, like the Apostle Paul was nothing but dumb, that I may
win Christ and be found in him. That's the sprinkled, purged
conscience. And our bodies washed with pure
water. That pure water there signifies the washing of the
water of the blood and the sins and the life given. that evidence
by my looking to Christ. And then look thirdly, here's
the fruit of our assurance. Look at verse 23, here's the
fruit of it. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering. I'm telling you, if the Holy
Spirit convicts you of these truths of the gospel in Christ,
you'll never let them go. You will hold fast. You'll hold on for dear life.
You've got no other place to go. And Christ turned to his
disciples and said, will you go away also like the crowd that
left? Peter said, well, to whom shall we go? You've got the words
of life. We've got no place. Everything
else is death. If you ever leave it, you know what that means?
The Bible says you never had it to begin with. Now, why is
it that we will hold fast, that we won't leave it? Well, look
at the next line in verse 23. For he has faithfully promised.
That's why. The reason that I won't leave
it is not because I'm so good and I'm so much better than I
used to be. No. The reason I'll never leave it
is because He won't let me. God won't let me. He's going
to keep me. He won't let go. He said, My
sheep hear my voice. And I call them, they hear me
and I know them by name and they will never perish. Now what he
said, no man can pluck them out of
my father's hands. And I and my father are one. Christ said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. Him that comes to me, I will
in no wise cast out. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise him up again at the last day. That's the fruit. Seeing that, knowing that, being
comfortable, assured of that. And then look at verse 24. He says, let us consider one
another to provoke unto love and to good works. That's the
blessings. the fruit, rather, of our assurance. Love to God,
love to the brethren, and the works of obedience and faith.
Serving him, not in order to earn our way into the holiest,
serving him not in order to earn our blessings, serving him as
a willing, loving, bond slave of Christ because he's given
us every blessing. Every spiritual blessing is freely
graciously, mercifully, powerfully given to every one of his sheep
based on one ground, the blood of Jesus Christ. And then lastly,
look at verse 25. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
That's a fruit of our assurance. Worshiping God in the fellowship
of his people. This is a blessing. We pray. Why? Because we have a great
high priest who's passed through into the heavens, Jesus Christ.
We worship, we sing praises, we serve. We're banded together
by the glue, the permanent glue of God's grace and love that
he's shown us through Christ. And that's why we should never
take these times of worship for granted. This is a privilege
now, not just because I'm preaching, whoever's preaching here, if
they're preaching Christ, what a privilege that is. One old
preacher said, it's like heaven on earth. Think about it, that's
the assurance of faith that we have by looking to Christ, all
right.