We can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10. Last Sunday morning, we looked at the warning against apostasy in verses 26 to 31. Tonight, we're gonna look at verses 19 to 25. This is not an exercise in a backward expositional series, but rather there is a twofold reason.

The first place in the morning hour in our confession study, we consider chapter 13 of sanctification. And chapter 10 in the book of Hebrews 19 to 25 concerns that as well. And then secondly, last week I made the connection between 26 to 31. Apostasy is a reality.

One of the ways, one of the means by which persons get to that particular point is to neglect the various exhortations that are given in verses 19 to 25. There are two encouragements and there are three exhortations given for the people of God. Those who disobey, those who neglect, those who forsake the three things that are indicated here run the risk of committing apostasy. So I thought it would be fitting for us to spend a little time just to unpack verses 19 to 25 tonight.

So I'll read the section, we'll pray, and then we'll look at what the Apostle intended for us. Beginning in verse 19, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is, 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 confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

Do Not Forsake the Assembly

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for this section of Holy Scripture. We thank you for all of the Bible, all Scripture given by inspiration of God, profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. And we pray that you would thoroughly furnish each of us unto good works, that you would cause us to reflect upon not only the encouragements in the passage, but as well the exhortations, what the Apostle intends, for the people of God with reference to their lives and to their profession of faith. Grant us help from on high, grant us the Holy Spirit that we may understand the Apostle's argument here, and God, again, forgive us for all of our sins and anything that would darken our understanding.

For certainly you have called us by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ. You have supplied all the resources necessary for pilgrims in this world. And we would pray even now, Lord God, that this passage would be a great encouragement to our hearts and it would spur us on to love and good works. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Introduction

Now, this particular passage is structurally similar to what you've already seen in Hebrews chapter four. If you want to turn back there for just a moment, because the apostle has a particular method that he engages in in this section. In chapter four, he gives encouragements and exhortations. In chapter 10, he gives encouragements and exhortations.

And these bookend what he's discussed concerning the priestly office of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in chapter four, verse 14. He says, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin.

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now going over to chapter 10, it's the same sort of a structure, the same sort of a pattern. He's discussed in great detail from chapter 5 at verse 1 to chapter 10, verse 18, the priestly office of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has provided that doctrine.

He has provided that teaching. He has set forth the supremacy and superiority of Christ over the prophets, over Moses, over Joshua, over the old covenant system. And here in chapter 10, 19, he begins with, therefore, In other words, he comes to apply the doctrine that he has been teaching and preaching to these people. And as I said, he gives two encouragements to the people of God, and then he gives three exhortations.

An encouragement is just that, something that should feed our soul, something that should give us hope, something that should cause us to be content, something that should bring great balm and help to us. And then these exhortations are commands, they are specifications, they are things that the people of God must undertake. And as we mentioned last Sunday morning, those who neglect these run the risk of committing the apostasy that is demonstrated in chapter 10, verses 26 to 31. So

Two Encouragements for the People of God

let's look first at the two encouragements for the people of God in verses 19 to 21, and then secondly the exhortations to the people of God in verses 22 to 25. Now notice the two encouragements. We see that in verses 19 and 20 is the first, and then the second is in verse 21. And the first is

Access to the Holy of Holies

we have access to the Holy of Holies. Verse 19 says, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. This has always been the desire of the creature who comes to understand who God is. Psalm 15, we read it at the outset of worship.

David says, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? He repeats this in Psalm 24 verse 3, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place. We need to appreciate that access to God is one of the best.

Well, it is the best thing that the creature can ever have. The Lord God made us for communion with himself. The Lord God made us for that intimacy and that union with himself. And yet we like sheep have gone astray.

So the perennial question is, who may abide in your tabernacle? And the persistent problem is our sin. But as he's made clear in chapter 5, verse 1, to chapter 10, verse 18, Christ has dealt with the sin problem. Christ has obliterated it through his life, through his death, and through his resurrection.

It is through the blood of Jesus Christ that we now have access into the very presence of God Almighty, and that's the emphasis of the apostle, in this particular place. Therefore, brethren, having boldness, to enter the holiest." Now, the holiest there is the Holy of Holies. Remember, he's already discussed the tabernacle and the temple prior to this particular point. Simply put, the tabernacle and then the temple was a place where God was met by his people.

There was an outer place that was called the holy place, and then you had the holiest or the holy of holies. And into that particular place, one person went one time a year. On the day of atonement, the high priest would go in there, he would make atonement for Israel, then he would confess the sins of Israel over the scapegoat, and then that scapegoat would be driven out into the wilderness. But persons didn't have free access into the holiest.

Persons couldn't just say, well, you know, I want to go meet with God today and enter into that place. In fact, the priest had to go through certain things before he went into the Holy of Holies. And in order to do so, he had to go with blood and he had to sprinkle that on the mercy seat. Well, here we have free access because of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. that therefore indicates that this is in fact concrete application following the explanation of Christ's priestly office.

The boldness in view is that same boldness that he's already specified in Hebrews 4.16. We have boldness in contrast to the legal prohibition of the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant, you and I wouldn't have just wandered in to the Holy of Holies. we have now access in light of what Christ has accomplished. And as well, we have boldness in contrast to the dread and the fear that the people of God had in the old covenant.

Look at chapter 12 in the book of Hebrews for just a moment. Verse 18 of chapter 12, for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire and to blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. For they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.

And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. Well, there's a marked contrast between that and what we have. The apostle says we have this boldness to now enter in to access that holiest, that place where God dwells. John Owen says, whatever was typically represented in the most holy place of old, we have access unto.

That is, unto God himself, we have an access in one spirit by Jesus Christ. And then the specific means by which we access it is here summarized by the apostle after having spent a lot of time amplifying the priestly office of Jesus. He says, having boldness to enter the holiest by what? By the blood of Jesus.

So you don't just wander into the presence of a holy God. Israel learned that in the book of Leviticus. The tabernacle is built, the Shekinah glory of God has come down upon it, and even Moses himself cannot enter into that place. Then comes the book of Leviticus, which provides the instruction on how sinful man enters into the presence of the living and true God.

And it's through blood. In that particular covenant, it was typical. Here, it is realized, it is anti-typical, it is the blood of Jesus Christ that secures us access into the very presence of God Almighty. Now, if we were a black church in Southern California, this might be a good time for the preacher to say, now, can I get an amen here?

We have access by the blood of Jesus Christ. He doesn't shed His blood and bring us forgiveness of sin and impute His righteousness to us so we can stay far from Him. He has provided access. And one of the exhortations is, is that we utilize the access that has been provided to us.

Brethren, we have been blessed beyond measure. We have the very holiest opened up by the blood of Jesus Christ. And more often than not, because of our laziness, because of our waywardness, because of our love of sin or whatever it may be, we do not utilize what Christ has secured with his own precious blood. The emphasis of the apostle is to encourage the people of God that we have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, verse 20, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh.

Now this emphasizes the incarnation of our Lord Jesus. In order for him to live in obedience to the Father's law, in order for him to render that sacrifice of substitution on the cross and bear the wrath and fury of God for us, he had to assume our humanity. And so the second person of the Trinity does that. He comes into this world.

He takes on our humanity. The confession of faith says, with all the essential properties thereof, and common infirmities thereof, and yet without sin. The book of Hebrews already highlights this in chapter 2. He takes on the seed of Abraham by becoming one of us.

And here specifically, it is an encouragement to the people of God by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. Now that veil language is a bit difficult in this particular context, but what I think he's getting at is that veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies. And we see at the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that veil is rent in two. It's from the top to the bottom.

It's not us going up to God. It's God coming down to us and receiving us unto himself. And that flesh of Christ has obliterated that veil so that now we can go into that holiest a holiest place and enjoy communion with the living and true God. John Owen said, and that which was signified hereby is only this, that by virtue of the sacrifice of Christ, where in his flesh is torn and rent, we have a full entrance into the holy place, such as would have been of old upon the rending of the veil.

And then notice the emphasis here is not just on one among us, but upon all of God's people. You gotta see that marked contrast between old and new. When in chapter seven and eight, the author tells us that the new covenant is a better covenant, grounded on better promises, which affords a better hope, he's not kidding. In the old covenants, as I've said, one day out of the year, the high priest alone went into the holiest.

But here in Christ, we have free access by his blood into the very presence of God almighty. That should encourage our hearts.

A Great High Priest

The second encouragement that the apostle gives is found in verse 21. We have a great high priest. He says in verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God. Again, this is parallel to what he does in chapter four.

He's already expounded the significance of the priestly office of Christ in 5.1 to 10.18. And here specifically, he highlights that we have him. Now having is supplied and it's a legitimate supply. Having a high priest over the house of God.

It is a blessed reality that Christ is our high priest, that Christ is the one who has secured access by his blood to furnish for the likes of you and I that free access into the very presence of God Almighty. So those are the two encouragements. We have access into the very holiest, the holy of holies, and we have this great high priest.

Three Exhortations to the People of God

Now let's move to the exhortations and see what his emphasis there is.

Draw Near with True Faith

In the first place, he says there is this necessity to draw near. Again, I mentioned last week, just incidentally, the faith, hope, love does indicate that Paul wrote this. That is a Pauline triad. He often uses faith, hope, and love.

And you see that embedded in the text. Verse 22, faith. Verse 23, hope. Excuse me, verse 24, love.

These three things, the apostle emphasizes in his writings, and this is one of the places where we would go to prove Pauline authorship of the book of Hebrews. But with reference to this exhortation to draw near, to draw near. He's already provided it for us. He's already secured it for us by His blood.

He's already consecrated this new and living way. And so the emphasis is that we utilize this. We improve upon it. We make good on what Christ has secured for us.

It would be akin to a father or a mother giving a gift to their child, giving, you know, blessing and conferring good things upon them. And then the child not playing with it, not utilizing it. You say, well, I've already provided it. I've already secured it.

I've already paid the money. I've already gone to the store. I've already taken care of all that. You need to go out and play with it.

You need to enjoy it. You need to utilize it. You need to use it. That's the emphasis of the Apostle.

Again, you can see how this is intimately connected to the apostasy warning in verses 25 to 26 to 31. If we don't utilize the free access that has been secured for us by our Lord Jesus, if we get comfortable living at a distance from God Almighty, then we run the risk of apostasy. Brethren, the best guard against apostasy is to maintain close and vital communion with our living God, that close and vital communion that's already been secured by our good and living God, by Christ the Lord through his blood. So the emphasis here is to come to God.

John Owen again says, wherefore this drawing near contains all the holy worship of the church, both public and private, all the ways of our access unto God by Christ. Notice that this is a present. Now, there's a sense where we have not yet entered into all that is going to be ours by virtue of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. There is an age to come.

There is a consummate glory. There is a nearness to God that we haven't fully comprehended at this point because we walk by faith and not by sight. But this is a present emphasis when the apostle says, let us draw near. let us draw near, let us utilize this access that has been secured for us. I believe Owen is absolutely right.

This drawing near contains all the holy worship of the church. In other words, it's something that we presently possess, it's something that we presently own, and it's something that we must presently utilize, not only for the glory of God, but for the good of our people. And brethren, before we move on, the blessed reality is we're not drawing near to God because you and I are great guys and great girls. We are drawing nigh to God because Christ is a great Savior.

We are drawing nigh to God because He took on our humanity. We are drawing nigh to God because He suffered the wrath and fury and curse of God on our behalf. We're drawing nigh to God because he has secured for us those twin blessings and justification, forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness. We draw nigh because God in his grace has provided us access in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now notice that he specifies the means by which we are to draw nigh. Verse 22, let us draw near. with a true heart in full assurance of faith." A true heart in full assurance of faith. Now, that might be a phrase that gives us a bit of cause for worry. Wait a minute.

I know my heart. It doesn't always look like what the apostle is expressing in this particular place. I think the overarching concern is sincerity. Sincerity of heart.

Those who have been conquered by God's grace, those who have been called out of darkness into marvelous light, we're not practically holy in terms of perfection, or we're not morally transformed under the place of absolute conformity under the Lord Jesus Christ, but because we're saved by God's grace, because of the Spirit in us, we have this sincerity, we have this lack of hypocrisy, we have this ability to draw nigh in full assurance of faith. He goes on to say, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Notice the connection. He's not saying we have to have this done to us before we can draw nigh.

This is settled. This has been taken care of. This is what the gospel is about. This is what cleansing through the blood of Jesus results in.

The reality is, is that we have been washed. The reality is that we have been purified. The reality is, is that we have been cleansed. We've been washed in the precious blood of Christ.

And as a result, we are to draw nigh unto him. And the emphasis in the passage is upon what Christ has secured, what Christ has provided, and therefore, brothers and sisters, let us utilize the access that God has secured for us through his beloved Son.

Hold Fast the Confession of Hope

Now notice the second exhortation. It's an exhortation to hold fast. Verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Now, this is a continual emphasis in this epistle.

As I tried to explain last Sunday morning when we looked at the apostasy passage, remember the context. I'd really love to do this right now. Who remembers the context and what was going on in the scenario just to see if anybody paid attention last Sunday morning? But the context, he's writing to Hebrews, he's writing to Jewish Christians, professors of Christ that happen to be Jews.

And the temptation for these Jews, prior to the destruction of the temple in AD 70, was to go back to the temple. It was a very difficult thing for them in light of friends, family, business associates. I mean, some of you probably can relate to some degree or other. You belong to a religious community and every deviation or any deviation from that community is looked upon with frowns.

It's looked upon with great suspicion. Well, imagine you're a first century Jew and you have sided with Jesus Christ. You are now confessing him as the Messiah. Your fellow Jews are not.

Your fellow Jews have rejected. Your fellow Jews have resisted. And your fellow Jews are probably not real happy that you are now going after this Nazarene. And perhaps they will cut you off in business dealings.

Perhaps they will cut you off in a religious sense. Perhaps they will no longer have any intimate relationship with you unless you forsake that Nazarene and you come back with us to the temple and you bring your goat, you bring your bull, you bring your lamb, and you bring it and you sacrifice it the way a good Jew does. There was this pressure upon them. And so the emphasis, a recurring emphasis in the book of Hebrews is on the professing people of God to hold fast to their confession.

Go back to chapter 2. Chapter 2, just to rehearse these quickly, because I think this is the most important thing. And it should be obvious why this is important relative to the sin of apostasy. If we do not hold fast, we fall prey to committing apostasy against God.

But if you look at chapter 2, verse 1, therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. We must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. And I love the language that he utilizes there. I mentioned last week.

It's probably not the case that apostates wake up on Sunday morning and say, that's it, I'm done. It's over. I'm no longer going to worship Jesus. I'm no longer going to serve the Lord God most high.

It happens in steps. It's a process. A person gets to that point after having drifted away. They don't do it overnight.

It's by small steps. They stop reading the Bible. They stop praying. They stop going to church.

They absent themselves from the supper. They no longer have any communion or connection with the people of God around them. There's a drifting away. And the end result is ultimately apostasy or defection from the glory of God in the gospel.

We see it as well in chapter 3 at verse 6. Chapter three, verse six, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are if, notice the if, we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Chapter four, verse one, therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. You see it there in verse 14, we've already read.

Let us hold fast our confession. Chapter 10. I'm sorry, yeah, chapter 10, verses 35 and 36, later on in the chapter. 10, 35, therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. See this recurring emphasis? It makes sense. These Jews that had professed Jesus are finding great pressure amongst family, amongst friends, amongst business associates.

They are being pressured with leaving the Nazarene and going back to Moses. Now, Moses isn't bad. Moses is great. But Moses was a covenant that has been surpassed by the Lord Christ, who is superior.

And that's the groundwork that's already been laid in the book of Hebrews. So we are to not only draw nigh, but we are to hold fast and that's the emphasis there in verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Now that's tough and absolutely demands grace and so therefore we ought to be those who are indebted to God Most High.

Christ in John 15 said, apart from me you can do nothing. Holding fast the confession of our hope, we depend upon Jesus. We depend upon the Holy Spirit of the living and true God. There is no sanctification.

There is no growth. There is no perseverance. There is no good thing in the Christian life apart from the Christ of the Christian life. It's by virtue of his death and resurrection that we accrue these benefits. and therefore we need to live in close communion with our beloved Savior.

But notice the security that we have in this statement. Verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. He who promised is faithful. Now, brethren, I would suggest there's probably gonna be wavering.

I hate to burst your bubble, but there just might be a little. It's not always the case that we are just resolute like our Lord Jesus. Remember that bit in Luke chapter nine, he set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. We don't do that.

We are not steadfast. We are not the sorts of people that are described there in Psalm 15. You know who Psalm 15 is about, right? It's about Jesus.

Jesus is the one who fulfills all the stipulations in Psalm 15. He ascends into the very tabernacle of God most high. And by virtue of his graciousness to us, he brings us along with him. We enter in by virtue of His righteousness that is specified there in Psalm 15 and again in Psalm 24.

But with reference to our perseverance, with reference to the confession of our hope without wavering, we need to understand and realize that God is faithful. God is not gonna let anything come between us and him. God is not going to lose one for whom Jesus died. God is on our side.

And if that is the case, what can man do? It's Paul's argument in Romans chapter eight. If God before us, who can be against us? And that's what we need to consciously consider as we move our way through this world, persevering by God's grace.

We draw near because of the blood of Jesus. We persevere and hold fast our confession because of the faithfulness of God. I have many passages here concerning the faithfulness of God. We could be here another hour just rehearsing the statements in scripture that highlight the faithfulness of God.

Deuteronomy 7, 9. Deuteronomy 32, 4. Psalm 145, 13. 1 Corinthians 1, 9. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. 2 Corinthians 1.18, 1 Thessalonians 5.24, 2 Thessalonians 3.3, 1 John 1.9. He's what?

Faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And those are just a sampling among many that the Bible sets forth. Brethren, it is a good fight because ultimately it is God's fight and God will see us through. We simply need to cast ourselves upon him because ultimately he cares for us.

Two passages in the context or in the book, however, highlight this faithfulness of God. Turn to Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. If I were to ask you, what was a significant thing that occurred often in early Christian art?

I suppose some would say the fish, others perhaps might say the cross, but I wonder if any of us would say the anchor. It was the anchor. Anchor was a prevalent piece of Christian art in the early church. And I think it's based on this passage in Hebrews 6.

Christ is, God is the anchor of the soul of the believing sinner. Verse 13 in Hebrews 6, For when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely, blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply you. And so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.

Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath." Now, God doesn't make an oath for his benefit. You know, when we swear an oath in a courtroom, it's to affirm or attest that we will tell the truth. God is Lord God of truth. The oath that he swears isn't for him.

It's not to keep him on track. It's not to keep him, you know, honest. It's for our benefit. This is the emphasis of the apostle.

Men indeed, verse 16, swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is for them and an end of all dispute. Thus God determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. It's like he couldn't say it any stronger. God goes over and above and beyond the call of duty to assuage any fears in our hearts that he's ever going to start something with us and not see it through to the end.

That would simply be ungodly on his part. So he confirms it by an oath, he swears by his own name, and then in verse 18 it says that by two immutable, unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil, that's the holiest, the holy of holies, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become high priest forever. according to the order of Melchizedek. And then one other in the Hall of Faith, in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews chapter 11, again, just underscoring the faithfulness of God relative to the patriarchs. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 11. By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. So in the first place, we are to draw near because we have access.

In the second place, we're to hold fast the confession of our hope because God who has promised is faithful.

Consider One Another

And then thirdly and finally, in terms of the exhortation, we are to consider one another. We are to consider one another. And that's what he emphasizes there in verse 24. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.

The believer is called to consider Jesus in chapter three at verse one. Here he's called to consider other believers. You know, in my history as a pastor, you know, you meet people and they say, well, you know, I don't always get something out of church. Not anybody here, obviously.

Everybody here always gets something out of church, right? But, you know, I've met with people and I just get nothing out of it. Do we ever think that I can bring something to the table? You know, we just come to church for what we get.

You know, that's how marriage is going nowadays. You know, everybody enters in just for what they can get. Marriage is about what we can give. You say I do to somebody so that you can serve them, so that you can love them, so that you can give yourself to them.

What happened to that sort of a concept within the context of the church? It's all about us. Well, they have to have great nursery care, they have to have great programs, they have to have great preaching, everything has to be designed to serve me. Do we ever think that somebody might benefit today from me being in church?

I might be able to speak a kind word, an encouraging word, I might be able to say to someone, you know, I'll pray for you this week. That might go a long way to encourage the heart of our fellow. Do we consider that? That's what the Apostle says.

Let us consider one another. Let us think about others. Let us not be consumed with that unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. Let us not be the typical narcissist.

Let us not be the guy, narcissist, that looks in the water and just gazes about how beautiful and lovely and wonderful he is to the neglect of everything around him. Brethren, we are not supposed to be that way. We're to consider others. We're to consider that if I'm absent from the life in the context of the local church, I may bring discouragement to people.

I may not be there to be a boon to others. We need to consider actively how it is we can stir one another up to love and peace. good works. That doesn't mean we get everybody, we peel off on the side and we say, okay, I've got 15 ways that you can stir me up to love and good works, or I've got 15 things that I want to say to stir you up to love and good works. That's not the point.

The point is that we love each other, we want to be with each other, we want to encourage one another, and we want to help one another. I know that may seem a bit countercultural and revolutionary, but that's God's purpose within the context of the local church. In fact, go back to chapter 3 for just a moment, because this emphasis has already come out. In chapter 3, verse 12, beware brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

This apostasy that is later explained in chapter 6 and 10. but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." That is a reality. None of us were designed to live on our own as Christians. He who separates himself, according to Solomon in the book of Proverbs, seeks his own desire. And that is not good and godly.

We are told, as God's people, having been encouraged that this access has been secured by the blood of Jesus, that we have such a high priest. We are called to draw near to God. We are called to hold fast our confession. And we are called to not only think about ourselves, but to actually think about others within the context of the church, and to figure out ways that we can stir them up to love and good works.

Well, nobody ever stirs me up to love and good works. Then break the vicious cycle and do it. Either you're part of the solution or you're part of the problem. Isn't that the way we are?

Unless somebody does it for me, I won't do it for them. Unless somebody stirs me up, it's not for me. Nobody likes me. Okay, so the right response is to not like anybody else?

What's the end game with that kind of logic? I don't know what you're gonna end up with. This is not good. We're supposed to actually do what God says.

And God says to us, we're to consider one another within the context of our local church. Now, certainly you can do it outside the context of the local church. By all means, go out and stir up everybody. That would be a great calling for any of us.

But within the context of the church, the people that we eat the bread and drink the cup with, the people that we sing with, the people that we pray with, the people that we hang out with, there ought to be in us this desire to help them insofar as we can. See, there's this mindset that unless I'm a preacher, unless I'm a missionary, there's nothing really I can do in the context of the church. I got something you can do, show up. Just come.

It encourages me. It really does. It just encourages me. Somebody doesn't show up that typically shows up.

Do I call them? Because it almost seems cultic like I'm checking. It's not. I want to know.

Why weren't you at church? Why didn't you come to the supper? You know, in my home, if one of the five kids didn't come down at dinnertime, I'd probably go upstairs and say, what are you doing? It's dinnertime.

Come and eat. Right? Not because I'm mad at them or hate them, but because this is a time for family communion, and intimacy, and union, and discussion, and love, and the expression of all good things. Brethren, we're to stir one another up to love and good deeds.

And notice, he says, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now, the logic is airtight, isn't it? We can't consider one another. We certainly can't stir them up to love and good deeds if we're not with them.

You see that connection, right? 24 and 25 go hand in glove. In order to consider one another, in order to stir one another up to love and good deeds, the implication, the presupposition, or the assumption is, is that we will actually be together. And so the prohibition of verse 25 is to not neglect the place where God calls us to gather. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some.

Some of these professing Jewish believers had started to drift away. Some of them had started to absent themselves from the house of God. Some of them were not present among the people of God and therefore they were negligent in considering one another and stirring up others unto love and good works. This happened then, it happens now.

This drifting away, this easy approach, this, oh, I don't know, all I need to do is go once on Sunday. I've met that over my 22 years as a pastor as well. Well, the Bible doesn't command an evening service. Okay, but people that are blood-bought like to worship God.

That's what I think. I was taught a very simple approach to Christianity. Whenever the church doors are open, you show up. And that's always served me well.

It's always been a help to me. Well, I don't feel like it. Who cares what you feel like? Do you live based on feeling everywhere else in the world?

I don't feel like getting up on a Monday morning and going to work sometimes. I actually take Monday off, so perhaps that's not the best analogy. Tuesday, do I just not go? Do you really live that way?

Do you just tell your employer, I didn't feel like coming to work. I just didn't feel like showing up. And yet somehow that obtains in the context of the local church. It's okay when it comes to Sunday and it comes to God.

We'll just say to God, I just didn't feel like coming, so I didn't come. Are you kidding me? You would be fired from any decent employer anywhere in the lower mainland if you live that way. God graciously doesn't fire you, and we ought to praise him for that.

But notice the emphasis. We need to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some. Chrysostom, that silver-tongued preacher in the early church, said he knew that much strength arises from being together and assembling together. For as iron sharpeneth iron, Proverbs 17, 17, so also association increases love.

For if a stone rubbed against a stone sends forth fire, how much more soul mingled with soul. It's a great, great observation on this particular passage. Now, Owen suggests that some of the reasons why this was happening in the early church, at least with reference to these Jews, is first of all, fear of persecution. Well, if we don't go to church, we won't be there when the Gestapo runs in there with guns and arrests people and hauls them off.

So there was this fear of persecution that perhaps weighed upon the heart and the mind of people that they were afraid and so therefore they wouldn't go. Brethren, we obey God. We let God take care of all that. We're not supposed to be afraid of persecution.

Now that doesn't mean we walk out and say, please persecute me. But on the other hand, as God's people in this world, doesn't Paul lay down the mandate in chapter 3 of 2 Timothy? All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be what? They will be persecuted.

When you signed on the dotted line, you signed up for that. It's kind of like the guy that goes and joins the military and ends up in Timbuktu fighting enemies. He said, well, I didn't sign up for that. Well, actually you did.

You put your name on the dotted line, you swore an oath, and now you find yourself in this situation. As the people of God, you signed up for that. And so the fear of persecution is not legit. As well, he speaks of spiritual sloth, laziness.

Brethren, never underestimate the power of remaining corruption in your heart to overwhelm you with the feelings of, I don't want to go. I don't feel like going. Do what you know you're supposed to do. A fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control.

You control yourself. You don't let yourself control you. I don't know if that makes sense, but you do what you're supposed to do. Unbelief, working gradually toward the forsaking of all profession.

You see how intimately connected these exhortations are to the section that follows in terms of the prohibition against or the warning against apostasy. If we're not drawing near to God, if we're not holding fast this confession, if we are not stirring one another up or considering one another, we run the risk of apostasy. That is an airtight connection in this particular passage. Now notice what he says, and we'll close with the exposition at this point.

The Approaching Day

as you see the day approaching. The believer must exhort one another, which assumes association together. The believer must do so in light of the approaching day. If we ask the question, what is the approaching day?

The history of interpretation has yielded a couple of different options. Some suggest it's the day of one's death. Others suggest it's the day of judgment, that final day when we will all be ushered in to the presence of Christ and give an account of deeds done in the body, whether good or ill. Others suggest, and I think it is this, the day of Jerusalem's destruction in AD 70.

So that day is approaching and the The common approach to disaster and calamity is not what the apostle exhorts us to. Let me give you an illustration. Let's say that you knew that next Monday the world was going to end. What would you do?

You would get your affairs in order, you would hang out with your family, you would, you know, do whatever. I don't know, maybe you'd run for the hills and try to find a place up north where you could hide. You might be inclined to skip church. Do you know what the apostle is saying?

Never skip church. Even on the eve of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, when the Roman armies will surround that city, desecrate its temple and utterly decimate that place. Don't miss church. I think we miss church for a whole lot of lesser reasons.

I think we miss church for a whole lot of lesser reasons than utter calamity, catastrophe, devastation, and destruction. You ever considered that woman in Luke, that woman that was bound by this infirmity? It was hemorrhaging, is what the commentators tell us. She was a daughter of Abraham, and she's bent over.

She's in bad and rough shape, and Jesus heals her. And everybody gets upset that Jesus healed her on the Sabbath. I mean, brethren, you might be a Pharisee if you get upset when Jesus heals somebody on the Sabbath. If that bugs you, you've got big problems.

And of course, Jesus reproves them for that. But it is intriguing. Where is she when Jesus heals her? She's in the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

She's not on her couch. She's not in her bed. She's not whining. She's not grumbling.

She's not sniveling. She is in the place where she's supposed to be. We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Now, I realize there are persons outside of the Reformed community that think it's bondage.

They think it's legalism. They think it's horrific to have a Sabbath and to actually exhort people to come morning and evening. You know, I don't personally care what they think, because the Bible tells us there is a Sabbath day to keep holy before our God. The Bible tells us that with reference to that Sabbath day, we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some.

And especially when we see calamity coming, when we see catastrophe coming, when we see destruction coming, we're supposed to still go to church. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? A beautiful thing. And I hope that all of us will see the connection to apostasy in the following section.

John Owen finally says, whatever desolations and destructions may be approaching, our best and wisest frame will be to trust unto God in the discharge of our duty. Approaching judgments ought to influence unto special diligence in all evangelical duties. In other words, the catastrophe and the calamity and the devastation and the decimation doesn't argue for laziness on our part. It doesn't mean that, oh, well, you know, there's bad things coming, so I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna sit in my living room today.

No, according to Owen, I think that's the emphasis of the apostle, with this calamity coming, that is no excuse for you to absent yourself from the public worship of God. because it's in that context that you get to consider one another to stir them up to love and good works. If you are not doing that, you run the risk of committing apostasy as defined by the apostle in verses 26 to 31.

Application

Well, in conclusion, we ought to be encouraged by the present possession that we have. We have access unto the holiest and we have a great high priest. Secondly, we need to understand the present responsibility That is ours. We need to use the access we've been given.

It has been purchased with precious blood. Doesn't that make a gift that much better? When you give something that's really expensive, it's not to show off, it's not to parade yourself, but you value that person so much that you're willing to spend that kind of money, that kind of work, that kind of effort. It costs the blood of the Lamb of God for us to have access into the very holiest.

Are we not gonna use that? Are we gonna say, well, you know, I'd rather not. I'd rather live at a distance from God. I'd rather live on the fray.

No, we would never say that in the context of somebody who had given us a gift. As well, we need to hold fast the confession of our hope. Brethren, you know what? One of the challenges that we face in our society, sexual ethics. what the Bible teaches about sexuality.

If you would have told me 20 years ago, this would be the battleground, I probably would have said, what? But by steps, by increments, this is becoming a battleground. You probably saw the opening of Chick-fil-A in Toronto the other day. The homosexuals were out there opposing it, protesting against it.

It's a chicken sandwich. What are they going to do with the people of God who maintain that it's a sin and an abomination before God Almighty? Not because we're homophobic, but because we're theophobic, and we don't want the judgment and wrath and fury of God to come upon our fellows. We want them to repent.

We want them to believe. We want them to know what the Corinthian, ex-sodomites knew. Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified. It's a blessed reality.

Brethren, this is an area that the church is incrementally starting to compromise. Even good denominations are getting close to this particular issue in a way that is very, very discouraging. to maintain that men are men and women are women is becoming a test of orthodoxy within the context of modern evangelicalism. We need to hold fast our confession, not because we're bigoted, not because we're Nazis, not because we're racist, not because we're homophobes, but because we're believers in Jesus Christ. And His law demands certain conduct from His creatures.

And for us to renege on that is to compromise and to let go of the confession of our hope. Women in the pulpit! God forbids it! You're not supposed to preach if you're a woman.

You're supposed to do anything else but preach the gospel in a church. Oh, you bigot! You, what's the word? I am a misogynist.

Yeah. I mean, anymore, if I asked my wife to make me a sandwich, I'm a wife beater. I mean, this is where we're going and it's horrifying. And the church or professing church is capitulating.

Brethren, we don't capitulate to Rome when they get rid of the doctrine of justification by faith. We don't capitulate to Rome when they pronounce papal infallibility. We don't capitulate to pietism. We don't capitulate to antinomianism.

We don't capitulate to legalism. And we certainly don't capitulate to a federal government that wants to obliterate gender distinctions. Why anybody in their right mind in the professing church of Jesus Christ would kowtow on this issue is absolutely baffling to me. Brethren, it is going to be increasingly more difficult to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

And as well, we need to consider one another. Philip Hughes, in his excellent commentary on the book of Hebrews. If ever you read one commentary on the book of Hebrews, I would encourage you to read Philip Hughes. He says, selfishness and divisiveness go hand in hand.

For self-love breeds the spirit of isolationism. He who does not love his fellow Christians fervently from the heart, feels no compelling need to associate himself with them. That's a very powerful and a pertinent statement with reference to this application. We need to be about others as well.

And then finally, we need to appreciate that what is happening in terms of access with reference to our text, both the encouragement and the exhortation, is a present reality. He's not talking about access after we die and we enter into the presence of God into the holiest place. That happens in corporate worship. That happens in the public worship of the living God.

If you doubt that, look with me at Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, a very churchly book of the Bible. Emphasis much on the church of Jesus Christ. And in Ephesians 2, after having spoken of how God has brought nigh sinners through the blood of Jesus Christ, how God has brought together Jew and Gentile through the blood of Jesus Christ, He then celebrates the blessed access and privilege we have together, Jews and Gentiles.

Verse 19 of chapter two, he says, now therefore. You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit Where does God peculiarly dwell in this new covenant setting? He dwells in churches like this. He is with the people of God.

The Spirit is in our hearts collectively as we gather. Most high God is among his people in this place. That is a great boon. If ever there's a thing or a Sunday morning where you say, I just don't feel like going.

Remember, God's gonna be there. God is gonna be in this place. It may not be the Shekinah glory like they witnessed in terms of the tabernacle and temple. But brethren, we walk by faith, not by sight.

Where is Jesus in Revelation chapter one? He's in the midst of the lampstands. The lampstands of the seven churches of Asia Minor. Where is Christ on Sunday?

He's with us. Look at Hebrews chapter two. You know, sometimes you hear churches say, well, you gotta have a choir. You gotta have a choir director.

We have a choir. We're it. We have a choir director. Jesus is it.

Look at Hebrews chapter two, verse 10. For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you." Christ is in the midst of the assembly singing praise to the Father along with his blood-bought children.

There is no greater privilege that you and I will ever have on this side of heaven than what is specified here in our text, having boldness to enter in to the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who has consecrated this new and living way, who has secured for us all of the benefits and the privileges of the children of God Almighty. Michael Morales in his excellent book on the book of Leviticus says, and so this heavenly reality is tasted and renewed liturgically in the corporate spirit-enabled approach of God's people as they ascend with Jesus to the heavenly Mount Zion, Lord's day by Lord's day through the new and living way, the veil of Jesus' flesh. Go to Hebrews 12, because again, I think people hear that sort of thing and they say, you know, that's just not been my experience. I find the preaching boring.

I find the preaching long. I find the hymns outdated. I find there to be a lot of things that I don't particularly agree with. Brethren, it's not all about what you particularly agree with.

It's all about what God has commanded and what we, by grace, are seeking to obey. But if you look at Hebrews 12, I've already read the section where, in the Old Covenant, the saints were fearful of drawing nigh to Sinai. But in verse 22, and again, this isn't in the future in terms of Eschaton. It's not the future in terms of heaven.

It is the church on earth worshiping the living God. Verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. The next time you wake up on a Sunday morning and you say, I don't feel like going to church, read this section in Hebrews 12 and see what you're missing if you do not come to church.

Well, brethren, consider the encouragements, consider the exhortations, and by grace, persevere, endure, and contend earnestly. Because God Almighty is faithful, God Almighty is glorious, God Almighty has secured for us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. If you have not come to God through Christ, I exhort you to that end. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from your sin, look unto him who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, that one who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, that one who lived for sinners, that one who died for sinners, and that one who was raised for sinners.

Believe on him and you will have everlasting life. And as a believer in him, utilize the access, hold faster confession, and consider one another.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the connection and the consistency that we find here in this section in Hebrews. And I pray, Father, that we would be encouraged at the reality that we have access to the holiest, that we have a high priest like Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And Father, help us to be obedient with reference to the things commanded in this passage. And in this, may we find great joy. We know, Father, at times our flesh rails against such things, but when, by God's grace, we do what we're called to do, there is great blessing, there is great joy, there is great encouragement, and I pray that we would all know that, that we would all be helped and strengthened by your Spirit to do what we're supposed to in the context of our local church, in the context of our lives together with one another. I ask now that you would go with us, that you would protect us and keep us in this coming week, that we would know your nearness as our good, and that we would seek to glorify you.

And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Deuteronomy 7:9; 32:4
• Proverbs 17:17
• Psalms 15:1; 24:3; 145:13
• Luke 13:10-16
• John 15:5
• Romans 8:31
• 1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:13
• 2 Corinthians 1:18
• Ephesians 2:19-22
• 1 Thessalonians 5:24
• 2 Thessalonians 3:3
• 2 Timothy 3:12
• Hebrews 2:1; 2:10-12; 3:6; 3:12-13; 4:1; 4:14-16; 5:1-10:18; 6:13-20; 10:19-25; 10:26-31; 10:35-37; 11:11; 12:18-24
• Revelation 1:12-13
• 1 John 1:9