If you will open your Bibles
with me today to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. We're going
to be reading verses 19 through 25, but before we read the scripture,
I feel almost always necessary to remind us that this letter,
the letter of Hebrews, it gets its name from the people to whom
it was written. That is, it was written to Hebrews,
those who were descendants of Abraham after the flesh. And
they had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet they experienced
great persecution. Even until today, if a natural
descendant of Abraham, a Jew, is saved and professes faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's disowned by his family. His family
turns him out. And as far as they are concerned,
if it's a son, they're no longer their son. It's a daughter, they're
no longer their daughters. These people to whom this letter
was written were suffering great persecution. They were believers
in Christ, or they had professed faith in Christ, but they came
under persecution, opposition, and they were being tempted to
turn back to that old economy that had the Temple, the temple
was still standing at the time this letter was written, the
temple in Jerusalem. They still had the priest, they
still had that old economy, the way that God had given to the
nation of Israel on Mount Sinai and that covenant at Sinai. And so as we read these scriptures,
I feel like it's necessary to remind us of this because these
people knew something about that old economy. They knew something
about the tabernacle, what was involved there. And so when we
read these verses of scripture, We need to be reminded of how
they would have understood. They would have known what these
things meant. A person today, a Gentile today
might read this passage of scripture and completely miss what a Jewish
person would understand. Having experienced and having
had knowledge of that tabernacle and that old way that old economy,
that old dispensation in which they were taught to worship God. Hebrews chapter 10, beginning
in verse 19, and again, before we read the verses, I want to
mention that we're going to look especially at three things, three
things that the writer, I believe it was Paul, the apostle Paul,
three things that he admonishes and exhorts these believers to
do. Let us, let us, let us. We'll see that as we read verses
22 through 24. But let's read first of all verses
19 through 25. Having therefore, brethren, 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 with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He
is faithful, that promise. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, 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. So before we look at these three
things that we as believers, they who first received the letter,
but us today as well, are exhorted to do, let's consider these three
things that the apostle tells believers that we are given.
Three things that we are given. First of all, in verse 19, having
therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus. We are given entrance into heaven. The entrance into heaven is given
unto us. Now, this is the reason I said
that a Hebrew would know exactly what the apostle is speaking
about. because they would have known, people today who are not
familiar with the Old Testament, they might read this and ask,
what does he mean by the holiest? Well, the holiest of all in that
tabernacle was holy of holies, but more than that, it was a
residence, if you please, it was where the throne of God was. God, the Shekinah glory of God,
took up his residence between the cherubims above the mercy
seat. It was a type, it was a picture
of heaven itself. God's throne. Now we know God is everywhere,
don't we? He's omnipresent. That's another
wonderful, wonderful attribute about God. As you think about
these attributes of God, Your heart is thrilled, isn't it,
to think that we serve and know and love and have the privilege
of knowing such a great God, such a wonderful God, a God who
needs nothing, and nothing can be added to God, and yet He's
mindful of us. The psalmist said, when I consider
the heavens the works of thy hands, What is man that thou art mindful of him?
What is man? You and I, what are we that God,
this great God, who is the creator of all things, that he would
be mindful of such creatures as us? You know, in Isaiah 41,
God says the nations of the earth are like a drop in a bucket to
me. A drop, here's a bucket and just
reach your hand down into it and pull it out and little drops
of water fall back into the bucket and God said the nations of this
world are to me like a drop in a bucket. This great nation,
The United States of America, and we love it. It's a great
power, a world power. But to God, it's just like a
drop in a bucket. Gives us some idea, doesn't it,
of God, of how great he is. And yet he's mindful of us. Now
these who receive this letter at first, they would know exactly
what the apostle is saying here when he tells us, having therefore
brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That Old Testament priest, he
would enter into that holiest place with the blood of an animal, into the thrown room, if you
please, of God into the holiest part of that tabernacle. But
we have boldness, the apostle says, we have boldness to enter
in to heaven itself by the blood of Jesus Christ. Heaven, heaven
was typically shut up just as soon as Adam sinned. And he was driven out of the
garden, picturing how that heaven itself, the presence of God,
we've been separated. Man has been separated from God. How? By our sins. Typically,
heaven will shut up just as soon as Adam sinned. But then once every year, typically,
the high priest would go into that holy place, but not without
blood. never without blood. He always
went in with blood on the day of atonement. But the apostle
here is telling us that it is the blood of Jesus that has given
us entrance into heaven, into the place of God. You say, well,
does that mean that when a Christian, when a child of God dies, when
our life in this world is ended, that immediately we enter into
heaven itself through the blood of Jesus. It does mean that,
we know that, to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
better, but it also means this, that it is by the blood of Jesus
Christ that today, now, now, we have the privilege by the
blood of Jesus, boldness, to enter in to heaven itself. We enter in by our prayers. We
enter in through our praise. We enter in by our worship of
God. Remember the Lord Jesus told
that Samaritan woman, the hour cometh and now is when the true
worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. And the apostle tells us we have
boldness. Now that boldness is consistent
with reverence. Someone said, what kind of a
service do you have over there? I've been asked that a few times.
Do you have a traditional service or contemporary service? We have
a traditional service. And by traditional, a reverent
service. A reverent service. And we have
boldness to enter into heaven itself by the blood of Jesus,
but we do so in reverence, remembering who we are and who he is. Remembering where we are and
where he is. This boldness, as I said, is
consistent with reverence, it's consistent with humility. To
this man, God said, will I look? Who? He that hath my words and
trembleth at my words. It's consistent with humility
and with submission. The writer had said this earlier
in chapter four of Hebrews. He said, let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. So that's the first thing
that we should recognize that we have. We have boldness to
enter into heaven itself by the blood of Jesus Christ. Number
two, we are given a new and a living way. Verse 20, by a new and a
living way. Now this new way, this living
way, of course, is Christ. He was given, is given unto us. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. He's called a new way. in contrast to that old way which
was first revealed. And that old way which was first
revealed was a way of works. To Adam it was obey and live. Obey. Do not eat the fruit of
that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Obey and live. But this new way is believe and
live. It's not a way of works, it's
a way of grace. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God. I was reading recently some so-called
scholars, Greek scholars, they were debating on what is the
gift of God? Is it faith? Is it salvation? Is it grace? It's all three. It's all three. His grace is
given. Faith is given. Salvation is
given. It's all of grace. For by grace
are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, lest any man should boast. It's called a new way because
it will never be an old way. It'll never be an old way. You know, some of the writers,
they translate this a new slain way, by new slain way, which
tells us that his sacrifice His death, His blood sacrifice on
Calvary, it is today as if it were offered today. It never loses its freshness. It never loses its power. The blood of an animal would
congeal. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
is fresh today and powerful today so that anyone, everyone who
looks to that blood, to that lamb that taketh away the sins
of the world, beareth away the sins of the world. That blood,
I like the way William Cowper, he caught that, didn't he, in
his hymn when he wrote, dear dying lamb, thy precious blood
shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God
be saved to sin no more by a new way, a slain, recently slain
way. It's effectual today just as
much as when that thief on the cross who actually witnessed
the blood shedding of Christ as the blood was flowing from
his hands and his feet, that thief that looked to him and
said, Lord, remember me. when thou comest into thy kingdom. And that blood was effectual
for him that day, now over 2,000 years ago, and it's just as powerful,
just as effectual today to you, to me, who look unto him. Look to the Lamb of God. Would
you be free from sin? Look to the Lamb of God. It's
a living way. We don't serve a dead Christ.
We don't look at, you know, a crucifix, hang up some crucifix with a
so-called dead Christ hanging on that tree. A dead Christ can't
save anyone. And we don't look at a baby Christ
in the arms of a virgin. We look at a living Christ who
is both Lord and Savior, who has all authority, both in heaven
and in earth, and gives eternal life to as many as the Father
has given Him. Here's the third thing. We have
a high priest, verse 21. And having a high priest over
the house of God, The work of Christ as a priest was, we know,
to offer the sacrifice for the sins of his people. This he did
once. Once, the scripture says. And
he will never need to do so again. But now, now listen, and this
is important, I think sometimes we minimize this, we don't think
of this as much as we should. But now he ever lives as our
great high priest to make intercession for us. This is what the Apostle
Paul meant in Romans 5 and verse 10. Now listen, Romans 5 and
verse 10. For if when we were enemies,
and we all were, we were enmity with God. For if when we were
enemies, We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. By His life is ongoing intercession
for us. He intercedes for us all the
time, morning, noon, and night. He's always there. He intercedes. Do you mean he prays like he
interceded here? No, I'm not saying that. He's
just there. He's just there. And the wounds
are still in his body. And just him being there, he
intercedes for us to give us strength to resist temptation. To resist a temptation, he intercedes
for us to resist sin. He intercedes for us to give
us strength day by day, not to give up, not to turn back. Sure, we meet disappointments
along the way. We all do. And why is it that
we don't turn back and just throw up our hands and say, well, I
quit. I didn't sign up for this. Why is it? Because we have a
high priest who lives to make intercession for us. He keeps
giving us faith. Kind of like in that Pilgrim's
Progress, you remember, in the interpreter's house, a man saw
a fire, wasn't there a fire on this side of the wall? And Satan
in the picture was throwing water on it. But he couldn't put the
fire out. He couldn't put the fire out.
And so the interpreter took Pilgrim around to the other side and
he saw that there was a man on that side throwing fuel onto
the fire. And all the temptations that
we meet with, we don't turn back and we don't give up because
the Lord Jesus Christ keeps giving us grace every day, interceding
for us. Now here are the three things
that we are exhorted to do. First of all, let us draw near,
verse 22. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith. There's four things. You know,
this is the work of a priest here, this drawing near. Those
of you who were here last Sunday morning, you remember we saw
from the Word of God how that every child of God is made a
priest unto God. That if you're a Christian this
morning, you are a priest. We have a great high priest.
We don't have any separate order of men as priests, but all believers. We believe in the universal priesthood
of believers. Every child of God is a priest. And this drawing near is the
work of a priest. Let us draw near to God in prayer. We sing a hymn sometimes, near,
still near. Near, still near, close to thy
heart. Draw me, my savior, so precious
thou art. And we see here four ways that
we are to draw near. First of all, with a true heart.
Let us draw near with a true heart. Now, a true heart is a
new heart. A true heart is a new heart.
That was one of the promises, is one of the promises, isn't
it, of the new covenant that God would give us. A new heart
also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you.
The new heart and the new spirit speak of the same thing. A new
heart. Take away the stony heart out
of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. When we
draw near to God in prayer, our heart, here's the point, our
heart must be engaged. You know, it's so easy, and our
Lord told his disciples that when we pray, we're not to be
like the heathen, who think by their vain repetitions they're
going to be heard. And some people, you know, it's
easy to get into a form of prayer, and we say our prayers. Gotta say our prayers today.
No, we need to pray. We don't need to say our prayers,
we need to pray. We need our heart involved, our
heart engaged in prayer. I remember reading the story
of George Mueller years ago, how the Lord used that man. If
you've never read his life, you need to. Such a man of prayer,
but he said this, the first thing that I do in prayer, I realize
God's presence. In other words, when I start
praying, I don't move off of this point until I'm convinced
that I'm in the presence of God. I'm not just kneeling here, speaking
out into the open air. I'm talking to my Father, my
God. Come to Him, draw near to Him
with a new heart. Not just go through a farm. And then number two, in full
assurance of faith. We must believe that he is. Remember,
he said without faith, it's impossible to please God. The next chapter
of Hebrews, we read that. Full assurance of faith. Full
assurance that through Christ, we have God's ear. Is that too
plain? Is that way of saying this truth,
is that too coarse? Does that bring God down? I hope
not, I trust not. But to realize that by faith,
but through Jesus Christ, we have His ear. The psalmist said,
this poor man cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him
and delivered him out of all his troubles. Number three, our hearts, it
says, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Our conscience
convicts us of our sins, of our transgressions, but what pacifies,
what soothes, what takes away that feeling of guilt? The blood
of Christ. We're not talking about literally
the blood being sprinkled upon our conscience, but we know that
His blood cleanses us from all sin. Our sins are gone. The debt's been paid. We've been
forgiven. His blood washes whiter than
snow. And then the fourth thing, the
body washed with pure water. Now that's not baptism. Let me
say that. Whatever it is, that's not baptism. And the writers have several
different opinions as to what that means. I'll give you mine.
When our Lord washed his disciples' feet, you remember that, he made
this statement. He said, you're clean every whit. You're clean every whit, he that
is washed. But at the same time, They needed
their feet to be washed. And as we walk through this world,
we contact sin, filth, and we continually, day by day, we need
our bodies as well as our soul. 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 1,
the apostle said, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved,
let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness. Now listen, all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit. So we confess our sins daily
and we're cleansed daily. The washing of water by the word. Let us draw near. And second,
let us hold fast the confession of our faith, verse 23. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful who promise. Now that fact that the apostle
tells these believers and tells you and I that we must hold it
fast, that suggests to us and more than suggests, reminds us
we have enemies that would cause us to let go of our profession
of faith. It will try to destroy us, cause
us to deny our confession of faith. What is our confession
of faith? Well, our confession of faith
is I'm a sinner. I confess that. And I'm proud
of it. But I confess I'm a sinner. I
was born a sinner. I was a sinner by birth, a sinner
by choice, a sinner by practice. That's my confession. And my
confession is that Jesus Christ came into this world to save
sinners. And he is the Christ of God. That's what we've confessed.
And baptism. We've confessed our faith in
Christ. Let us hold fast our profession
of faith. Don't let it go. And why should
we not waver? Now I'm almost finished. Stay with me just a few more
minutes. Why should we not waver? The scripture, Paul said, let
us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Why
should we not waver? For he is faithful who promised
because of God's faithfulness. He's not going to change the same God who said, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you shall
find rest. He hasn't changed. He's faithful.
Hold fast your confession of faith. Same God who promised eternal
life, verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word
and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. And the last thing, let us consider
one another to provoke unto love and good works, verse 24. We should consider one another,
our brothers and sisters in Christ. We've all been saved by the same
grace. We've all been washed in the
same blood. We've all been chosen by the
same father. We should consider one another
to provoke unto good works. We all have different temperaments.
different trials. You know, I look at our congregation
and as a pastor, maybe I know more than some of you know of
the different families and what people are going through. But everyone is suffering in
some way. Consider one another to provoke
unto love. Well, different temperaments,
different besetting sins. Some people are bothered by one
particular sin. Some people, that sin doesn't
bother them, but there's something else. Consider these things. Consider one another. We should always look for ways
to build each other up, never to tear down. to provoke one
another to love, to encourage one another, to maintain good
works. And the only negative he mentions
here, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Public
worship, public worship is one of the means that God has given
us to help us while living in this world of sin. It's one of
the means that God has ordained, and it should not be neglected. We need the exhortations from
the word of God. We need the fellowship we've
received from other believers. And as the apostle says here,
as we see the day approaching. Look at that in verse 25, not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some
is. It is thought that these Hebrews,
when they would have to worship alongside of Gentiles, they weren't
all for that. So they began absenting themselves
from the worship services. No, Paul said that's not the
way to do it. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another so much the more, as you see the day approaching. And that day that is approaching
is the day of our Lord's return. It's approaching. And every day, Every day, think about this,
every day that God gives you breath and you wake up in the
morning and get out of bed, just remember you're one day closer,
one day closer to either the Lord coming or you going to meet
him. We're all one day closer. Now,
Paul said, now is our salvation nearer than when you believed. He said, how is that possible? It is, right? Now, our full salvation
be delivered, not only from the penalty of sin, but delivered
one day from the very presence of sin. Hymn number 297.