Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Our focus will be on verses 19 to 25, but I want to read beginning in verse 19 to the end of the chapter. Hebrews 10 beginning in verse 19.
Scripture Reading
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. 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.
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated. For you had compassion on me and my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.
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.
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, thank you for the written word of the living and true God. We need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit who gave it to us. We ask that he would guide us, that he would direct us, that he would help us to understand, illumine our minds and hearts to this passage of Holy Scripture.
May we receive with thanksgiving the encouragements and the exhortations held out by the apostle. And may you indeed bless the churches of Christ throughout the earth. And may you indeed cause the word to go forth. from those churches for the salvation of sinners, for the sanctification and edification of the people of God, and all of this to redound to the praise and honor of your great name. Do forgive us now, again, for anything that would darken our understanding and our minds and hearts, and we ask through Christ our Lord.
Amen. Well,
Introduction
as we look at chapter 10, verses 19 to 25, you have two encouragements for the people of God, and then you have three exhortations for the people of God. If you go back for just a moment, structurally, this is similar to chapter four. If you go back to chapter four and look at verse 20, I'm sorry, verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. We have that encouragement and then an exhortation.
Let us hold fast our confession. Verse 15, 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. and encouragement and based on that an exhortation in verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so that section at the end of chapter 4 and the section we're looking at beginning in chapter 10 at verse 19 bookends the bulk of the body of the book. 5, 1 to 10, 18, the apostle takes up the priestly office of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And based on that reality, what Christ has accomplished for us in his life, his death, and his resurrection He has secured every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We have a sure foundation. We have a sure footing. We have security.
We have stability. We have access to the throne of grace. We have it because of this high priest. Now, based on that, there are certain ways that we're supposed to conduct ourselves.
So we have the encouragements and then we have the exhortations. So we'll look first at the 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. And I think this is an organic way or an organic sermon flowing out of all that we have considered before. We looked at the head and builder of the church in Matthew chapter 16.
We looked at the identity of the church in 1 Timothy chapter 3. We looked at the God with whom we have to do in worship in 1 Kings chapter 8. And then we looked at the way that we are supposed to approach this God, vis-a-vis the second commandment. We're to engage in the true worship of the true and living God.
And so the emphasis, specifically in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, again, I think flows out of those previous studies. And then, God willing, in the second meeting this morning, not meeting, the longer ending today, we're going to go ahead and And look at the Sabbath, the day upon which God has ordained that His people gather in His house for public worship. So again, this is the consistency, I think, that links all of these sort of sermons together. So
Encouragements for the People of God
let's look first at the encouragements for the people of God in verses 19 to 21. The first place, they have access to the Holy of Holies, verses 19 to 20. And secondly, they possess a great high priest. Now, notice in the first place, in verses 19 and 20, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
This is the perennial question addressed in scripture. In Psalm 15, we have the question, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? Same thing in Psalm 24 at verse 3.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy place? I think I've shared with you probably on several occasions how the book of Exodus ends. You can turn to Exodus chapter 40.
It ends on a note of tension. And that tension revolves around this particular fact that man was made to dwell with God. And so the apostle says we have this boldness now to enter into the Holy of Holies. So what we have in Jesus Christ is the answer for the problem that we see from the beginning.
Notice in Exodus 40 at verse 34, the tabernacle has been finished. It has been constructed. And we read. The cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So presently, in Exodus 40, it's the dwelling place of Almighty God, but it has not yet become the meeting place with man and God. And then comes the book of Leviticus to prescribe how the people of Israel could go into that place and meet with God. It was through sacrifice.
It was through atonement. It was through offering. It was through the recognition that we serve a holy God and that unholy man can't just wander into his presence without being consumed. So Exodus ends on this tension and Leviticus solves the tension by prescribing the way to God, by prescribing the way to the holy of holies.
Now when we go back to Hebrews chapter 10, the apostle tells us that that perennial question has been answered in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is a persistent problem from the Garden of Eden and that earthly sanctuary where the man sinned against God and was driven from the presence of God. You see it all throughout the Old Testament. persons wanting to enter into the presence of God. So God in His kindness provides this sacrificial system, typifying the Lord Christ and His redeeming work, so that God could dwell with man.
And then with reference to Hebrews chapter 10, this is a present possession for the people of God. Listen to the language again. Therefore, brethren, the therefore is the application of everything he has said previous to this, specifically chapter 5 verse 1 to chapter 10 verse 18, based on the finished and glorious work of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what you possess.
This is what you presently have. This is your current. blessing and privilege. 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. that therefore indicates that this is the concrete application of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The boldness in view is the same boldness we saw there in Hebrews 4.16.
It's not arrogance. It's not chutzpah. It's not some sort of pride-driven approach. But it simply means, with reference to God's work on our behalf, a boldness, a confidence, and an assurance.
We have boldness and confidence based on the New and Living Way, in contrast to the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant, they had access. It was prescribed by God. But they don't have that free, blessed privilege that we now possess in the New Covenant worship.
And he's celebrating that. The new covenant isn't just a better version of the old covenant. It is a better covenant founded upon better promises that affords a better hope. Paul says that in Hebrews chapter 7 and 8.
We can't just conglomerate it as one and flatten it. to speak to some sort of an idea of covenant theology that is faulty. The new covenant is superior as a result of what Christ has done. And then it says we enter into the holiest. It is the holy of holies and means the very presence of God himself.
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 Christ. Now, I realize that that's tough for us, because as we read in 2 Corinthians 5, we walk by faith and not by sight. We need to believe what Paul is saying here is actually true.
That when the new covenant church gathers together, In the presence of God Most High, everything the New Testament says in terms of describing that activity is true. It's not going to be marked by feelings necessarily. It's not going to be celebrated with fireworks. It's not going to be seen in terms of the eye seeing God in the midst of His people.
We walk by faith and not by sight, and when John the Apostle tells us that Christ is in the midst of the lampstands, we receive that and we praise him for it. We don't say things like, well, I didn't see him, I didn't feel him, I didn't experience him. If God promises something, brethren, it comes to pass. And when the Bible describes new covenant worship, even though the bells and the whistles and the feelings and the emotions may be absent, that doesn't mean Christ is.
It doesn't mean that at all. It means just the opposite. We walk by faith and not by sight. And then the particular means by which we enter into the Holy of Holies is given us in verse 20.
By a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh. Now the emphasis here is on the incarnation of our Lord. Not a new emphasis in the book of Hebrews. You see it in chapter 2 at verse 17, and then chapter 10 at verse 5.
And then a great book written by a guy named Michael Morales on who shall ascend or who shall dwell in the presence of the Lord. It's a biblical theology of the book of Leviticus. He makes this observation concerning new covenant worship. He says, having taken our humanity upon himself, the sun became the new tabernacle.
The presence of God on earth veiled in flesh. He is in himself all that the temple signified, God's house and the way into that house. Again, this may not always be attended by warm feelings. This may not always be attended by a celebration of emotion.
But this is what the Bible says, brethren. And when people believe what the Bible says, they live in light of it. That's the fundamental axiom with reference to our religion. And then with reference to this, it's not only an emphasis on the incarnation, but an emphasis on the atoning sacrifice through his blood.
Notice, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. So not only is the Son incarnate for us men and for our salvation, but in the incarnation, he lives a life of perfect obedience to the Father, such that we can receive a righteousness that avails with God. But he also goes to the cross. He suffers on behalf of sinners.
He is penalized in our place. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement is fundamental to appreciating the gospel itself. It wasn't just rendered up in some generic way for any and all who might want to activate it. No, He shall save His people from their sins.
In fact, look at the definiteness of atonement in Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14. In as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give aid to angels or take on angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham.
Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. That's the language of definite atonement. He doesn't generically come into this world, generically offer himself up, so that man, aided by his wonderful free will, can decide for Jesus the way he decides at dinner. The Lord Christ brought to fruition redemptive benefit.
It isn't generic. It is particular. And look at what the apostle says. It says that he made a faithful high priest and things pertaining to God to make propitiation.
That means that Christ takes in himself the wrath of God Do for us. And why does Christ take in himself the wrath of God? For the sins of the people. Now earlier, I had alluded in prayer to Leviticus 16.
That day of atonement, the high priest takes his hands, lays them on the scapegoat, and confesses the sins of Israel. And then the scapegoat's driven out into the wilderness. A blessed, wonderful type of what happens in redemption in terms of Christ's redeeming work of us. But with reference to that, brethren, it's not generic sins.
This is the glory of the gospel. He comes to save his people from their sins. Not the sins of the nation. Not the sins of a body politic.
Not the sins of somebody else. But every transgression of God's holy law. Every time we have lacked conformity unto it. Every misdeed.
Every thought. Every word. Everything. Christ took the punishment due for us in himself.
Now that isn't supposed to promote this idea, well then I'm going to go out and sin with abandonment because Christ has already paid the debt. That's not gospel logic. Gospel logic is, praise God most high for what my Redeemer has done on my behalf, therefore I want to try and live in a manner that is consistent with this calling. Now, when we do fail, when we do fall, which is right after we say that in some instances, as John reminds us, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous.
It is most glorious, brethren. He doesn't write this so that you'll go out and sin. He writes specifically so that you won't go out and sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father. You don't have to walk around like a Protestant Pope, sort of lashing yourself because of your sin and your misery.
Confess it to God. Say with the Apostle's Creed, I believe in the forgiveness of sins. Say with David himself, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.
Listen to the blessed Savior when Peter comes to him and says, Lord, if my brother sins against me seven times in a day, do I forgive him? Peter was being bountiful. Peter was being large hearted. Peter was being a man of great virtue, and Christ says, no, 7 times 70.
If Christ enjoins that upon us toward one another, how does that bespeak of the forgiveness of God toward us? Now, again, it's not so that we'll go out and sin 7 times 70 today, but it's when we do sin. We have that scapegoat. We have that expiation of sin.
We have the removal of guilt. We have blood atonement in the person and work of our blessed Savior. And that's what the apostle is getting at in verses 19 and 20. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, Through the veil, that is His flesh.
We use that benefit. We improve upon that benefit. We praise God for that benefit and that privilege. So that's the first encouragement.
Christ Our Great High Priest
The second is the high priest himself. Verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God. In other words, as 1 Timothy 3 tells us, the church of God is the house of God, which is the pillar and the ground of the truth. There is a priest, in terms of access, with reference to that household.
And that priest is our blessed Redeemer. It is our blessed Lord Jesus. who in the days of his flesh offered up himself for us and for our salvation. And when the supply, the word having is supplied there, it's not in the Greek text. I think it's a good legitimate supplying though, because it connects with verse 19.
And verse 19, therefore brethren having boldness, and then again in verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God. This is a present possession of all God's people. If you are God's people by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus, He's your high priest. If you are not God's people, if you have not believed the gospel, may I encourage you today to do so, to look on to the Lord Jesus Christ, that one in whom there is forgiveness and a righteousness that will ultimately avail with His Father.
Come to the Savior. Don't tarry. Don't hesitate. Don't wait.
What's the apostle say? Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade man. Yes, we try to woo sinners with the love of God. We try to woo sinners with the grace and mercy of God.
But sometimes the terror of the Lord is necessary for sinners who are complacent, for sinners who are settled in their path, those who are unconcerned about the life to come. Well, if that describes you today, understand that the terror of the Lord and what he later, Paul, in Hebrews 10 writes, is a reality. Notice in verse 31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It doesn't seem like that now, because while you live in God's world now, you eat his food, you drink his water, you work jobs that he's prepared you for.
You live in a beautiful place because God is good. In the creational realm, God blesses his creatures tremendously and abundantly. So it's tough, I think, at times for persons to reconcile the reality that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. But he's made such a beautiful place.
He's made such a glorious life. He's made so many good and beneficial things to me. Yes, but if you continue impenitent, if you continue unbelieving, if you stand before him on the day of judgment clothed in your own righteousness, which is not righteousness at all, you will be cast aside. You will be heard or told those words, depart from you into hell, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.
So listen to the apostle. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For those who are not clothed in the righteousness of another. For those who have not been washed in that precious blood.
So what's the remedy? What's the answer? Perhaps God will convict your heart. You start thinking about this.
Okay, well, how do I prepare? You prepare right now by looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, to bring glory to the Father and salvation to his people. It is a most blessed gospel. No one in this room is going to heaven because we're good.
No one in this room is going to heaven because we're righteous. The only ones going to heaven are going because Jesus is good, because Jesus is righteous, and because in Jesus, all the promises of God are yea and amen. So look unto Jesus and then you'll have that present possession. You'll have a high priest over the house of God that provides you access with boldness to the throne of grace.
We don't have to come with trepidation. We don't have to come with fear. We can imitate David who said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. There is a boldness and a confidence not in ourselves, but it is in Jesus.
This is the present possession of all God's people. We have access granted in the house of God to the householder of himself. And we are to keep these thoughts in mind. We often thought there are passages in scripture that if every Christian read them on Sunday morning, it might make a difference in terms of public worship.
When we remind ourselves of what takes place in public worship, we would be hard-pressed to give it up. If we understand the blessedness of Christ in the midst of the lampstand, we would not give that up. We would hold on to it with every fiber of our being. Shared with the church before.
There's that Six Flags Magic Mountain in Southern California. The last time my brother and I went, we saw how old we were. You know, when you're young, you run to every one of the rides. And you get a little bit older, you find us on the bench at the end of the night while all the kids are still running around to the rides.
They always describe those rides as white knucklers. And what they mean by that is that you hold on to the rail for life. Your knuckles turn white because you're terrified of what is in view. Well, that's the way the church needs to hold Christ.
And that's the way the church needs to hold the church, because the church is the apple of Jesus eye. He bled for her. He died for her. He gave himself for her.
The church is most blessed, and that's one of the things that is so grieving as we move through this particular crisis, to see the degradation applied to the church of our blessed Savior. It is a most glorious entity, that entity that survives into the eschaton. The civil state doesn't make it to heaven. The family, as family now, doesn't make it to heaven.
Not that persons in families or in civil state don't make it to heaven. But what survives in the eschaton? It's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that group from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation, that great multitude that no man can number.
As Newton said, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. If this pandemic has taught me anything, it has taught me that the church today needs to see the beauty of the church. The church is glorious. Not the person's in it, I'm in it, and I'm not glorious.
But the church has church. The blood-bought people of God. The possession we have is access to the Father through the high priest of our blessed Savior.
Exhortations to the People of God
Now let's look secondly at the exhortations that he gives us. The first is found in verse 22, and then the second is found in verse 23, and the third is found in verses 24 and 25.
Draw Near to God
In the first place, notice the exhortation to draw near. Verse 22. based on this access that you have, based on the high priest which you have, you don't just sit around then. You don't just say, wow, these are great and current possessions that I have, but I'm not going to do anything with them. It's kind of like somebody saying, here's a beautiful brand new car.
It's all bought and paid for. There's a full tank of gas in it. Now, you're going to have to get the next one when it's 160 at summertime. But for now, here is the privilege.
Here is the benefit of already taking care of the insurance. And then you don't drive it. Say, wow, that's a beautiful car. Wow, that's a wonderful thing.
Wow, that's a good thing that you have blessed or benefited me with, but I'm not going to drive it. You would drive the car, brethren, wouldn't you? I think that's pretty much a no-brainer. You get in the car and you drive it, because that's what you do when somebody hands you a privilege.
When somebody hands you a gift, when somebody hands you a benefit, you improve upon it, you utilize it, you put it into practice. And so notice what he says, 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. The two encouragements are the basis for these exhortations. You have access, you have a high priest.
Therefore, use the access that you've been given. That's what he says in verse 22. Don't just say, wow, I've got this access. and not use it. Wow, I've got this beautiful car.
I'm going to ride my scooter. Wow, I've got all these good gifts, but I'm going to play with the wrapping paper instead of the gift. No, you use the benefit that has been given to you. You have been given blessings by God.
The drawing near means to utilize the access that we have been granted by Christ. Now brethren, this applies not only to the church, this applies in your lives as individuals and as families. We are to be drawing near. We have access to the very presence of God himself.
We have a high priest who has paved the way for that access, and therefore, tomorrow morning, we should seek the face of God. Therefore, Thursday night, we should seek the face of God. Therefore, Friday, we should seek the face of God. We have this privilege.
Now, in the context, I'm going to argue that these three exhortations are put together in terms of the benefit of the church and public worship. If you look at verse 25, where it says, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, grammatically, that modifies the third exhortation. If you look at the third exhortation in verse 24, it says, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. And then there is this caution in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
So I think, again, grammatically, there's a close connection between that prohibition, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, with that third exhortation, stirring one another up to love and good deeds. But theologically, verse 25 modifies the three of them. So let's look at it this way. Verse 22, let us draw near with true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. And then notice in verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. In other words, public worship is such a blessing for the people of God that in public worship they get to draw near. That in public worship, they get educated on how to hold fast.
And in public worship, they get to be with one another to stir one another up to love and good works. So if structurally and grammatically, that prohibition in verse 25 simply modifies the exhortation in verse 24, theologically, it extends to each of these exhortations. Not that you can't draw nigh in your private worship. Not that you can't hold fast in your private life.
Not that you can't stir up brethren on the phone or email or text during the week. But the Lord's house on the Lord's day is specifically calculated for the people of God to comply with these exhortations. To draw nigh unto God, to hold fast that confession, and as well to stir up each other unto love and good works. So the structure of the passage brings those blessed privileges to bear upon the people of God.
The encouragement serve as the foundation for the people of God to do what the people of God are supposed to do. So verse, going back now. Leaving aside all the structure talk, let's look at what it means. So the drawing near means to utilize the access that we have been granted by Christ.
Owen makes this observation. Wherefore, this drawing near contains all the holy worship of the church, both public and private, all the ways of access unto God by Christ. And so this access has been secured by Jesus through his life, through his death, through his resurrection, and therefore must be employed. Go back to the car illustration for just a moment.
If somebody handed you that car, if somebody had paid the insurance, if somebody had paid for that first tank of gas, in some sense, you might feel a bit of an obligation to drive it because they've gone over and above kindness in the realm of preacherly gift. Well, when we consider what Christ did to secure for us this privilege to God, it would be abominable for us not to improve upon it, for Him to lay down His life for us, for Him to suffer shame and ignominy for us, for Him to bear the wrath and curse and fury of God Almighty for us, for us to then say, eh, I'm not going to utilize the blessed privileges that you have secured with your own precious blood. It would be an affront to the Savior were we not to comply with the exhortations as given. And when you think about exhortations in religion, I think I've shared before, there's a particular religious celebration that's done, I think, in Singapore.
It's illegal everywhere else. I think it's connected to Buddhism. And they put these sort of spikes through your cheek. I'm not making this up.
We watched a documentary on this many, many years ago, and it horrified me. So they put these skewers, you know, when you do shish kebab. They shish kebab right through your mouth, from one cheek, one here, all the way to the other side. And then they hang stuff on these.
I mean, the pain associated with having, you know, skewers shoved through your face isn't enough. Now, let's hang things on these. Oh, and by the way, there's a five-mile walk through the city and, you know, 115, 120 degrees. But, you know, that's your religious duty in whatever, again, I think it was Hinduism or Buddhism, something Eastern in that regard.
Do you see how God exhorts us? Come to me. That's what our God does. Come, come dwell in my presence.
I'm going to make a way for you. I'm going to make provision for you. I'm going to send the son of my love into this world. He's going to take on your humanity.
He's going to be like you in all things, yet without sin. He's going to live for you. He's going to die for you. He's going to be raised again for you.
Why? Because I want you in my presence. Exhortations or commands associated with Christianity are not burdensome. They're not grievous.
The apostle commands us to be joyful in Philippians 4. You know, sometimes you meet people, they say, well, Christianity, it's austere, it's harsh, it's rigorous. Are you kidding me? Our God commands us to be happy?
What religion in the world affords that benefit and blessing to the adherents? So we are to draw near. You've been gifted. It has been secured for you through a precious gift, a precious provision in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when he gives these qualifications with a true heart and full assurance of faith, this doesn't mean without sin, because we'd never be able to draw nigh unto God. It means sincerity, not hypocrisy. It means to realize or recognize who we are before a thrice holy God, to understand the provision made in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus, and to act upon that with the boldness and the assurance and the confidence that God has afforded to his people. He says, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, Gill makes the observation, not baptismal water, but the grace of the spirit, which is often compared to water in scripture.
The body, as well as soul, needs washing and renewing. Internal grace influences outward actions which adorn religion, and without which bodies cannot be presented holy to God. So the first exhortation, based on those two encouragements, is to draw near to God. Go to God, be with God, have fellowship with God, enjoy truck with God.
It's a blessed thing. Now
Hold Fast the Confession of Hope
notice the second one. Verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. Now he says hope here because hope is the fruit of faith. He's already mentioned faith.
He'll mention hope and then he indicates love. Some see this as a subtle inference of Pauline authorship, because these three abide, faith, hope, and love. The Apostle Paul engages in that triad often, faith, hope, and love. And perhaps he's balancing out here, having mentioned faith in verse 22, now he mentions hope in verse 23.
But with reference to the mentioning of the hope, look at what he says. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. This is a recurring theme in the book of Hebrews. Holding fast.
Holding strong. Being steadfast. We'll look at the passages in just a moment. I take the book of Hebrews as having been written prior to the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
And the big sin, when we continue in chapter 10 there, and the apostle talks about apostasy, and he uses that terrifying language, the primary emphasis, not the only application, but the primary emphasis are Jews being tempted to turn back from Christ to Moses. Not that Moses is a bad fellow. Moses served the purposes of God Almighty. But when Christ has come, when the antitype has fulfilled the types, when the substance is present, we don't look at the shadows.
When my children bring the grandkids over, I've got them right before my eyes. I don't need to see pictures on the phone. When Christ has come, the typical significance of the old covenant has fulfilled its purposes. And so Jews in the first century were being persecuted, those who had identified with Jesus.
And there was a lot of pressure upon them. Perhaps they'd lose their jobs. Perhaps they'd lose their families. Perhaps they'd be disenfranchised.
Perhaps they had all of these things that would come upon them. Well, some were apostatizing. Some were turning away. Some were turning back.
And so the apostle is exhorting them to hold fast. And in fact, if you compare this section with the following section, I'd go out on a limb here and say the persons who don't fulfill the three exhortations put themselves in danger of the apostasy that the apostle goes on to discourse concerning. So there is a close connection between our faithfulness, not in order unto our salvation. Christ's faithfulness is the reason we are saved, but those saved by grace through faith will, by God's grace, persevere.
And those who persevere do so by holding on to his word, by holding on to both promise and law, and doing, by God's grace and spirit, what he calls us unto. So this holds fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Turn back to Hebrews chapter 2, just to see this emphasis. Hebrews 2.
In several places in the epistle. 2.1. Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. I'd suggest that's more likely the way of persons apostatizing. It's not usually persons wake up on a Sunday and say, that's it, I'm done.
Jesus, yeah, it's a fake, it's a sham. No, they drift away. It's little bits here and there. It's little steps toward apostasy here and there, such that they don't just wake up in some crisis situation and say, I'm throwing it all off.
But they throw it all off in bits and pieces. Notice that language. Last, we drift away. Look at 3.6. 3.6. but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Notice in 3.14, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Again, he's writing the Jews that are being tempted to give up their commitment to Jesus and go back to the Levitical system, to go back to the temple, to go back to the sacrificial system. That's why the repetitive emphasis on the once for all nature of Christ's sacrifice and offering. How could you continue to go engage in these things that simply pointed forward to Christ?
Now that the Lamb of God has come, the one who takes away the sin of the world, don't go back in redemptive history to atonement of bulls and goats and calves and things that could never take away sin. So there's this emphasis by the apostle on the people of God to persevere. Notice in 4.1, Therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 4.14, we saw that earlier. Let us hold fast our confession.
Chapter 10, verse 23, we're on, and then chapter 10 verses 35 and 36. Verse 35, therefore, do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that after you've done the will of God, you may receive the promise. See, in the context, yes, we have these privileges secured for us by our Lord. But when we have these privileges, there is a degree of responsibility.
You draw near to God, but you also hold fast the confession of your hope. You don't sacrifice biblical inspiration. You don't sacrifice biblical infallibility. You don't sacrifice biblical inerrancy.
You don't kowtow to the prevailing pressure of a godless world who's trying to put its mitts into the church. You've heard me say before, wokeism is killing Western civilization. And it is taking the church along with it. And if we do not resist it, We are going to go the way of all flesh.
Brethren, if there was ever a time for the Church of Jesus Christ to engage in a white-knuckled hold on the doctrines of God's Word, it's now. We cannot kowtow to the sexual ethics prevailing out there. We cannot kowtow to their vision of science, which means don't ever question it. Science in the hand of the left today is cultism.
It is a religion. It is a philosophy. You always question science. That's what science is.
On the basis of two or three witnesses, every fact is established. You test hypotheses. You see what works. You discard what doesn't.
What we are seeing now in the name of science is blind allegiance to a particular view. And if you reject that or you resist that, you're going to be branded as a troublemaker. Well, brethren, I for one would rather be branded as a troublemaker than kowtow to that kind of madness under the guise of progress. They can have their stinking progress.
I'll take the word of the living and true God. As Calvin says, as he exhorts the Jews to persevere, he mentions hope rather than faith. For as hope is born of faith, so it is fed and sustained by it to the last. And then before we move on to that third exhortation, look at what he says in this.
Verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Even in that, you're holding fast the confession of your hope isn't owing to your superior intellect. It isn't owing to your savvy. It isn't owing to your courage.
It's owing to the power of God Most High. From first to last, and every step in between, we stand by grace. And that grace is profusely available to us in and through the person and work of our Lord Jesus. Our God is not stingy.
Our God is not a miser. Our God is not trying to get us just to eke it out in our own strength. He's there for us. He blesses us.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. They drive off my enemies.
They take care of the wolves. They put to death and the run to those who would affect me in an adverse way. We live in light of a faithful God. And based on that, we're to hold fast of our confession of hope.
And then
Consider One Another in Love
notice the third exhortation. Verse 24. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Now, as I said earlier, this isn't only applicable to the church on Sunday.
People feel free all week long to stir each other up. That's a wonderful thing. Texts and emails and calls and all that sort of thing. But in this context, and especially in light of the prohibition in verse 25, it is imperative that we make this connection, that the church of Jesus Christ is essential.
The Church of Jesus Christ serves a purpose. The Church of Jesus Christ is crucial for the people of God Almighty. Doesn't Christ endear us to that when He says, man shall not live by bread alone? The argument today, well, you can buy food at Walmart, you can buy food at Savon, you can't buy food at the church.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Brethren, we are as dependent, more dependent on that than we are on that bread. We'll die after 40 days, and then we go to be with God Almighty in heaven. What a blessed Savior we serve.
So the exhortation isn't simply for the context of local church on Sunday, but this context, it is. Now, the believer is called to consider Jesus in chapter 3, verse 1. And here he is called to consider other believers. The believer must seek to stir up brethren in love and good works.
Now, this is going to be a tough one, so maybe hold on here. The believer is not only responsible for the believer, but for others as well. You see, there are times, I've gotten this before, I've gotten, you know, recommendations, pastoral recommendation, you know, for a kid that wants to go to Christian school. And you know us, we don't have 25 ministries.
And typically on these pastoral recommendations for Christian school, you know, what ministries are the family involved in? What ministries do the parents engage in? As if you can only send your kid to my school if you put in your pound of flesh. Well, you know, we don't have the parking lot.
I mean, we do have a parking lot ministry now because it's a different time. I guess we've increased our ministry sort of spread here. But I always say they're encouraging brethren. They're faithful brethren.
They show up at church. And I wonder at the other end, that's a ministry? Yes, it's a ministry. Do you know how much of an encouragement it is for me to come here and see people here?
Even if you don't even say anything or smile at me, it's just good to see that I'm not the only nut job on the face of the earth. It's nice. It's a very encouraging thing. When this all started off, lots of text, lots of encouragement.
It's a blessing, brethren. You're here not only for you. You're here for us. There's something about this that is missing today.
There's something about this me-centeredness where I'll go if I get something out of it. I'll go if I'm benefited. I'll go if I'm encouraged. How about you benefiting somebody else?
How about you encouraging somebody else? How about you speaking a kind word to somebody else? Sometimes I think our perspective would change if we became more others-minded. I know for me, when I'm navel-gazing and caught up with the unholy trinity, me, myself, and I, I'm not a happy camper.
It's when I'm caught up with the real Trinity and when I'm actually trying to do something that's good in terms of pleasing God and helping people. There is something very blessed about service. There's something very blessed about imitating the Savior, the Son of Man who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. See how the Lord Jesus takes that. in the context of authority or a privilege in the context of the kingdom of God.
You see it in Ephesians 5 in terms of the family. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. You mean as a husband my job isn't just to sit on my lazy boy and pound the arm and tell my wife to bring me stuff? You mean tyranny and despotism and And that sort of thing we're seeing played out in our civil government.
That's not my job as a husband. No, your job as a husband is to serve your spouse. Your job as a husband is to put someone else other than you before you. Again, revolutionary concept, mind-blowing exegesis, but this is the emphasis.
Notice, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. And now there is this prohibition. There is this caution. He says in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.
It modifies grammatically the third exhortation. It modifies theologically all three exhortations. But in this one, let's see the connection. It 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.
So the believer must associate with fellow believers in order to stir them up to love and good works. Pretty simple, isn't it? So what happens if we're not here? Let's just say there's no pandemic.
Let's just say there's no strictures or closures of the church. Let's just say everything is normal, the old normal, which is seemingly gone, just as the Edsel is gone, just as, you know, the jalopy is gone. They're not building those cars anymore. Just imagine that.
How many times as the people of God do we absent ourselves from the house of God for reasons that are not altogether pure? And when we do that, we are short-circuiting something that is intended to bring a blessing, not necessarily for you, but for someone else. Again, others-mindedness. There's other people that benefit from you being in the house of God.
There's other people that prosper, whether you ever hear about it or not, whether you ever see it or not, whether it's quantifiable or not. Oh, brother so-and-so got 15 units of encouragement today because I was there. That's never going to happen, brethren. But brother, so-and-so may have been encouraged to see you coming in from out of the world to worship God Almighty the way that you're supposed to do.
So there is this others-mindedness caught up in the passage, but as well, understand the believer needs the fellowship of the saints, and the saints need his fellowship too. That is crucial. And then I've quoted Owen a few times. Owen on Hebrews is the definitive work.
I'd like to have said I could read the whole thing. I haven't. I've read parts of it twice. I'm just kidding.
But listen to what he says about the church. I'm not seeing this. I'm not seeing it in me. I'm not seeing it in the church.
And it's something I hope that we will see is important. He says that those assemblies, talking about the churches, that those assemblies were the life, the food, the nourishment of their souls, without which they could neither attend unto the discipline of Christ, nor yield obedience unto His commands, nor make profession of His name as they ought, nor enjoy the benefit of evangelical institutions, whereas in a due observance of them consisted the trial of their faith in the sight of God and man. In other words, it's absolutely crucial. And the fact that you're here is a good evidence that Christ has bought and paid for you.
It is the blessed connection between the bride and the bridegroom. And then
Do Not Forsake the Assembly
notice the prohibition indicates that this was happening, that there were some forsaking it. Verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some. There are some who are doing this, the Apostle says. Don't follow that pattern.
Don't follow that trajectory. Don't follow that path. Owen offers up reasons as to why this probably happened with reference to the forsaking of the assembling of ourselves together. He mentions fear of persecution.
You read the book, you see especially in chapter 10 later on, there was persecution happening to the churches of Jesus in the first century. So Owen says fear of persecution probably kept some people at home. He goes on to say, and I'm just giving you the heads here, you can read about it in his commentary, spiritual sloth, just being lazy. Again, I wish these things weren't so, brethren, but it's easy to understand how these sorts of things happen.
And then he says, unbelief working gradually toward the forsaking of all profession. It could be indicative of a drifting away. If you absent yourself and you're not affected by absenting yourself, that could be that 2-1 drifting away that you need to take heat on. When I read this particular section, I am struck with this thought.
Everybody in the Church of Jesus Christ has responsibility. In my darker moments, in my times of self-pity, I often feel like I'm the only one with skin in the game in this church. I often feel like I'm the only one responsible. So if the church is messed up, that's on me.
Our church, may I tell you, at least in some ways, is messed up. I take that personally. But the longer I live and the more that I move, I've come to understand my phone also rings. My texter also receives.
My email also has an inbox. So while I may be derelict in my duty, don't say, well, that guy hates me and he's forgotten about me and he doesn't care. Call me. More than likely, I'll say, man, it's been busy.
RCMP came twice to my house on Friday. Twice on Friday to deliver my next ticket. I don't know why they didn't think to come to my place of business. Thankfully, my wife doesn't answer the door.
But then we've got lawyers. We've got things that I never had to think about or deal with before. If I have neglected you, I stand before God Almighty and can tell you, it's not because I hate you. That much I do know for sure.
But see, all of us in the church bear responsibility. This isn't just pastors, I want you to draw near. Pastors, I want you to hold fast the confession of your hope. Pastors, I want you to stir up everybody to love and good works.
One pastor can't do that. Pray for me, brethren, that God most high would give us a handful of elders. If I've been keenly affected by that reality in the past, I've been more so, doubly more so now. We need more men, but we need everybody to take seriously their responsibility.
Instead of thinking that the world was made to serve you, you might just possibly have been made to serve the world. Can I get more of an amen? This was the black church in Southern California. Everybody would be, amen, brother.
And then notice how he ends this section, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. What's the day? Well, some have said it's the day of death. Some have said it's the day of judgment.
I say it's the day of Jerusalem's destruction in A.D. 70. I'm not alone there. John Owen takes that position. John Gill takes that position.
But whatever it is, the apostle sees it as a motive for diligent attendance upon the public means of grace. So if it's the day of death, if it's the day of judgment, or it's the day of Jerusalem's destruction, the one common theme among those three days is that they're unpleasant, right? I mean, I don't mind dying, brethren. I just don't want to be there when it happens.
I don't mind the fact of the judgment to come because I know my Savior paid it all. But I'm still a bit, yeah, I don't know what's going to happen there. It's kind of one of those areas where you're walking by faith. And if it was the day of Jerusalem's destruction, the Roman army surrounded the city.
They took down the temple. They engaged in gross barbarisms against those people. So whether it's the day of death, whether it's the day of judgment, or whether it's the day of the destruction of Jerusalem, I think for each one of those particular days, any number of us could come up with reasons why we should miss church on that day. Well, it's my day of death, so I need to have my family around me so that I can speak wisdom to them.
No, if it's Sunday, you should be in church. If you're mobile, go to church. If it's the day of judgment, well, I got to prepare my heart. What better way to prepare your heart for the day of judgment than in the church of Jesus Christ?
And if it's the day of Jerusalem's destruction, where else are you going to be? You know where we'd be? We'd be buying beans. That's our go-to prep food.
We got cans of beans. When this pandemic first started, we had toilet paper and beans. I don't know what the connection is there. That just actually occurred to me.
Strange illustration. Sorry about that. But we would stockpile. Jerusalem's going to be destroyed.
The Romans are coming. Why would we go to church? I've got to get everything set up for me. See, where's the other's mindedness?
Maybe I can come to church and help others by encouraging them. I can help others by being just present among them. I can help others by being a positive encouragement to them by doing specific things. Owen makes the observation again.
He says, whatever desolations and destructions may be approaching. Again, he takes it as AD 70, but he broadens the field in terms of application and 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. We've been taught that crisis means shut your church.
Owen says that crisis means open your church. Crisis means go to church. Crisis means praise at church. Crisis means preach at church.
Crisis means never forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the matter of some, and especially when you see the day of destruction coming. You don't say, well, I don't want to be there at that time. I've got other things to do. Do you realize as a saved sinner, as a blood-bought child of God, The primary onus in your life is to go to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
To do that in private, to be sure. To do that as families, to be sure. But to do that in the public worship of God Most High. And especially when we survey Scripture and we see the privileges afforded to the people of God.
Psalm 87-2, Yahweh loves the gates of Zion. more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. What's 1 Timothy 3 tell us? It is the household or the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. In Hebrews 12, the apostle sets forth the contrast between coming to Sinai and coming to Zion.
We're in Zion today, brethren. Zion is biblical nomenclature for the dwelling of God with his people. In the new covenant expression of that, it is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is why Christ is to be found among the lampstands in Revelation chapter one.
Well,
Conclusion
in conclusion, we have a present possession. We have access to the very throne of God Almighty. We have a great high priest over the household of God who affords us entrance behind the veil. Remember that on that Day of Atonement.
It was only the high priest that went behind the veil. It was only the high priest on one day for just a couple of occasions who would go beyond that veil into the Holy of Holies one time a year. we have full, free access. We can come to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit, when we gather for church. We can do that privately, when we gather at home, when we gather as families.
It's not the case that God is some absent spectator to our religious observances. What does Jesus say with reference to secret prayer? When you go into your closet, your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. In other words, we walk by faith, not by sight.
Sight would be emotions. Sight would be feelings. Sight would be the razzmatazz. Brethren, those things come in religion.
I'm not saying that they never do. But that isn't what our religion consists in. We walk by faith. We walk by faith into the presence of God, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We're told to hold on to that confession of hope, and we are told to stir one another up, to consider one another, and to stir one another up to love and good works. We are blessed above measure. And then in terms of that responsibility, let us, by God's grace, comply with these three exhortations, the drawing near, the holding fast, and the considering of one another. And then I want to just end.
I mentioned Michael Morales. Again, if you want to read a good book on Leviticus, his book is very excellent. But the drawing near points, obviously, to heavenly realities, right? I mean, we're going behind the veil.
We're going into the very presence of God Almighty. So there's these heavenly realities. But there is this present possession. There's this present on earth in the church-ness right now.
And Morales says, 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. Christ has secured this privilege for us. As Christ's people, we need to engage in the use of these privileges for the glory of God, for the good of our own souls, and for the good of others as well. And if you are not a Christian, I would hope that you would want this, access to God, a confession of hope to hold on to, and the ability to do good to your fellow creatures.
So the way to see that fulfilled is by grace through faith in Jesus. Look unto Christ and you will be saved. Look unto Christ and you will have these privileges. Look unto Christ and you will want to comply with these exhortations.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for the Word of God, we thank you for the clarity of Scripture at these points, and I pray that you would just put them into our hearts, God. Cause us not only to ponder the privilege, but to engage in the duty, the responsibility, the exhortations that are given here. Let us draw near, let us hold fast this confession of hope, and let us consider one another to stir up love and good works and help us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together in God as we see the day of judgment, the day of death, these things coming in our horizon. I pray that it would not mitigate against faithful churchmanship or attendance upon the public means of grace.
God bless your word to the encouragement of our own hearts, and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.