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Good morning to everyone. You 
can turn in your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10, as you're finding 
your way there, or if you are already there, just a couple 
words of introduction. If we ask the question, what 
do we do as Christians, or maybe more specifically, what are we 
to do as Christians corporately, that is, walking together in 
churches, we may ask the question as well, what is our motivation 
and what is our encouragement. What are our encouragements for? Walking together in churches 
as Christians who have been called out of darkness into the marvelous 
light of God, Christ, and Gospel. Well, Hebrews 10, 19 to 25, gives 
us some answers to those questions, and there are glorious answers 
to those questions that we'll consider after a reading of God's 
Holy Word here. So let's read Hebrews 10, beginning 
in verse 1 and finishing at verse 25. This is the Word of God. For the law, having a shadow 
of the good things to come and not the very image of the things, 
can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually, 
year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would 
they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, 
would have had to would have had no more consciousness of 
sins. But in those sacrifices, there 
is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the 
blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when 
he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering you did 
not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. in burnt offerings 
and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure. Then I said, behold, 
I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, 
to do your will, O God. Previously saying, sacrifice 
and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin, you did 
not desire nor had pleasure in them. which are offered according 
to the law. Then he said, Behold, I have 
come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that 
he may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified 
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering 
daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can 
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered 
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of 
God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. 
For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses 
to us, for after he had said before, this is the covenant 
that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I 
will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write 
them. Then he adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will 
remember no more. Now where there is remission 
of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. 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, in 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. Amen. Let us pray. God, we thank 
you for this time in your word and in this act of worship, the 
preaching of it, and we do pray that you'd now be with us. Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit, you would strengthen preacher and pulpit, 
that you would grant much to those in the pews, that in worship 
we would hallow your name, we would give you honor, that we 
would give you praise, that we would rightly worship you, rejoicing 
in so great a God, We'd be marked by a reverential awe before the 
thrice holy God of heaven and earth, that we would rejoice 
in the gospel. Lord God, we do pray that you 
would now strengthen your people by your spirit and the preaching 
of the word, that you would save sinners, and that all this would 
be done unto the praise of your most high name. We pray in the 
name of Jesus Christ, the Savior. Amen. Well, when we wake up in the 
morning on the Sabbath day, we have a threefold opposition against 
us. And that threefold opposition 
is seeking to derail our communion with God and with each other. 
The world, the flesh, and the devil rails against us in a peculiar 
way on the Lord's Day Sabbath. And what is the remedy? What is the answer? How do we 
quell the tyranny of the flesh that is seeking to rail against 
coming in to the Lord's house for the worship of the triune 
God? From whence do we gain the confidence to rail against the 
devil as he seeks to assail the gathering together of the saints 
to worship the triune God? From where do we gather the courage 
and the boldness put up our hands and stop the allurements of the 
world that seek to steal us away from so gathering as we have 
now on this the Lord's Day. Well, we see in the pages of 
Holy Scripture, and peculiarly here in verses 19-25, that we 
have the greatest foundation for boldness and confidence, 
the greatest motivation, the greatest encouragement, to oppose 
that opposition, to gather together as we have, to render worship 
to Father, Son, and Spirit, the one God, and to rejoice in Jesus 
Christ, and to commune one with each other as we seek to foster 
love and good works. We want to look at Hebrews 10, 
19 to 25, simply under two considerations, and I say simply. We might be 
biting off more than we can chew because there's so much here 
in verses 19 to 25. And you know my problem is the 
management of time, but bear with me. I will try not to keep 
you here too long. But two simple things that we 
want to look at from this passage this morning. And the first is 
the two-fold foundation for the three-fold exhortation. There's 
a two-fold foundation for the apostolic admonition that follows. There are three things that the 
apostle wants Christians to do in light of so great a truth 
that we have in Jesus Christ the Lord and the effectual supreme 
and sufficient sacrifice of himself. upon Calvary's cross. So we'll 
look at the two-fold foundation for the three-fold exhortation 
and then simply and secondly the three-fold exhortation. So 
first off the two-fold foundation for the three-fold exhortation, 
I know that's a mouthful but we'll You know, a lot's going 
on there in that heading. But just in the way of context, 
let's remind ourselves what the book of Hebrews is all about. 
The book of Hebrews, as Pink sort of summarizes, is essentially 
this, that the sum and substance, the center and circumference, 
the light and life of Christianity is Christ. It is not to be found 
in those articles of Old Covenant religion. It is not to be found 
in the multitudinous washings and ceremonies and sacrifices. It is not to be found in tabernacle, 
temple, the Aaronic priesthood. It's not to be found in all those 
things. Those things were good for their 
divinely designed purpose and utility in the Old Covenant, 
but the Christ having now come, to whom all those things pointed, 
We are now to be found as those who see Christ as the sufficient 
one, Christ as the exclusively glorious one. We do not look 
back upon the shiny things of the temple and the priesthood, 
but we look to the glorious one who died upon Calvary's cross, 
who rose again, who is now ascended, and is the head and king of the 
church. And so in the context here, in chapter 10, the apostle 
here is comparing the animal sacrifices of old to the glorious 
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There is an insufficiency to 
the animal sacrifices that were offered in the Old Covenant, 
and of course that were being presently offered by the high 
priest. in the temple at the time of the writing of this epistle. 
There is then, by contrast, a unique and exalted sufficiency to the 
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The blood of bulls and goats 
could never take away sin, but this man, in the sacrifice of 
himself, this one to whom the blood of bulls and goats pointed, 
in this one is the true efficacy. in this one is the true power, 
in this one is the salvation for the sins of his people. So 
let's look first off then at the two-fold foundation for the 
three-fold exhortation, and we see that in verses 19 to 21. There are two things that the 
Apostle sets forth as the basis for the exhortations that he's 
about to give. And kids, you probably hear that 
word a lot, exhortation. That's a big word, exhortation, 
four syllables. Exhortation, four syllables, 
what does that mean? In the Bible, it's an urging, 
it's a pleading, it's a command on the part of the biblical writers, 
in this case on the part of an apostle, to stir up Christian 
duty and service in light of so great a salvation. So based 
upon the redemptive glories of God and his Christ, there are 
commands given, there are urges given. You know, in your own 
household, your parents might say something like, you know, 
go clean up your room. Because I clothe you and I feed 
you and I gave you life. There's an exhortation there. 
Go clean up your room. What's the foundation for your 
obedience? That exhortation and your obedience 
to it. Well, your parents clothe you, 
they feed you. And surely, actually, the Bible, 
God himself says, honor your father and your mother. But you 
see there, there's exhortation given and there's a reason for 
it. Well, here we have before we get to the exhortations, we 
find two foundational truths in order to serve obedience in 
our service as Christians in this lower world. And the first 
of the two-fold foundation here is a free and fearless confidence 
in light of Christ's cross work. a free and a fearless confidence 
in the light of Christ's cross work. And where do we find that? 
Well, notice verse 19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness 
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You see, Paul is giving 
a foundation for the exhortations that follow. And the first one 
is a confidence, a boldness, a true and proper and wholesome 
Christian courage that is born out of the perfect sacrifice 
of Jesus Christ the Lord. Therefore, brethren, having boldness 
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Whenever you see a 
therefore in Holy Scripture, pay attention. Pay attention 
always when you're reading. When you see a therefore, what 
is happening is that the writer is either pointing you back to 
what he said as the reason for an exhortation or a command or 
something that he's then going to say, or he's going to give 
the foundation or summarize the foundation in what follows the 
therefore. But so he's writing, based upon 
everything that he has written in the context with regards to 
the exalted and unique sufficiency and exclusivity of Jesus Christ, 
based upon that, therefore, brethren, take heed to what I am about 
to exhort you unto. Notice this foundation. Boldness 
to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. This speaks to, first 
off, is that we have, brethren, access to God. We have access 
to the triune God of heaven and earth. blessed thing that we 
have by virtue of Christ's cross work. You see, in the Old Covenant, 
they did not have the same access that we now have under the New 
Covenant. There were pledges of God's presence 
and down payments of the presence of God. They came through the 
multitudinous washings and ceremonies and sacrifices. All of those 
articles, all of those things connected to the ceremonial law. Christ has put those former things 
away And we now have this free and this fearless access to God. Spurgeon writes this. He preached 
this many years ago, speaking with regards to the opening up 
in our access to the holiest by the blood of Jesus. It is 
also the great opener of entrances. That is, the blood of Jesus Christ. There was no way into the holy 
place till Jesus, dying, rent the veil. The way into the Most 
Holy of All was not made manifest till He died. If you desire to 
approach God, the death of Christ is the way to Him. If you want 
the nearest access and the closest communion that a creature can 
have with his God, behold, the sacrifice of Christ reveals the 
way to you. Jesus not only says, I am the 
way, but rending the veil, He makes the way. The veil of His 
flesh being rent, the way to God is made most clear to every 
believing soul. You see, so what's going on then? 
Why does Paul write this? Why does the author to the Hebrews 
write this? Having boldness to enter the 
holiest by the blood of Jesus. You see, they were being stolen 
away by their countrymen. by their family, by the unbelieving 
Hebrews that surrounded them, to go back to temple religion. 
We have the physical holiest. We have the holy of holies in 
the temple. We have the priestcraft. We have the glorious shining 
things of Mosaic religion. Don't follow this, Jesus. Don't 
follow this so-called Messiah because true and proper religion 
is found in our holiest and in our high priest. And so Paul wants to set before 
them the foundation, no, you have access to God. You can draw 
nigh unto God because Jesus has entered the holiest once for 
all with His blood, with the power and the effectual nature 
and the perfection of His sacrifice. We have access to God now, into 
the holiness, a place, holiest, a place beforehand, inaccessible 
by God's people. And it is access to God, whereas 
before in the old covenant, it was to pledges of His presence. 
You know, there would have been this pressure to put on the Christians 
at this particular time. They could cast their eyes upon 
that place where they once gathered for the worship of God, and where 
they once gathered lawfully and wholesomely according to the 
old covenant. Having been saved, having been 
brought forth from darkness to light in Christ Jesus the Lord, 
the reality that that particular approach to the worship of the 
triune God has been put away by the coming and the sacrifice 
of Christ, They would have been out of that now, gathering together 
in churches, assembling themselves together in churches. But you 
see, their countrymen would be pointing back to the temple. 
What are you doing? This is where true religion takes 
place. The glory of this temple. The glory of this Herodian temple. 
With all of the gold and all of those things that bedeck this 
structure. We have the priesthood. We have 
the high priest who goes in with his blue and with his purple 
and with his scarlet vestments, bringing the sacrifices. He takes 
off of those garments to go into the holiest and offer up these 
bulls and goats and their blood in the sacrificial system. We 
have all of these shiny things. What are you doing gathering 
together in a dusty church where there are no shiny things and 
all you have left is a bleeding Messiah? You see, they would 
be tempted to go back to that. Oh, OK, maybe there is something 
to this argument. Maybe we'll go back there because 
the shiny things, the beautiful things. Paul wants to remind 
them that the glorious and the beautiful things are not seen 
in the blue and the purple and the scarlet of the priest's vestments. 
It's not seen in gold. It's not seen in jewels. It's 
not seen in anything save for the Christ, save for Jesus, who 
entered the holiest with His own blood." And notice verse 
20, it is by a new and living way, which He consecrated for 
us through the veil that is His flesh. We have a new and living 
way. This is set in opposition to 
the ministry of death or to dead things. You see, the priesthood 
in the Old Testament, it was not a living way. The ceremonial 
law didn't bring life. Obedience to those articles of 
Mosaic religion did not confer life. It was the thing to which 
those things pointed that brings everlasting life. It was the 
Christ. The blood of bulls and goats 
never takes away sin. There is nothing inherently glorious 
to a blue and a purple and a scarlet vestment. There is no spiritual 
efficacy in a structure, in a physical veil. There is every efficacy, 
every perfection, every glory in this Christ. In this One whose 
veil is His own flesh. This One who rent His flesh in 
the service of bringing many sons to glory. We have a new 
and a living way which He consecrated or inaugurated for us. not with 
a physical veil, not by entering in repeatedly to a place to offer 
up sacrifices which could never take away sin with the blood 
of another, but with His own blood, He entered the holiest, 
offering Himself to God in the stead of all who believe in His 
name. You know, as often as a preacher 
preaches Christ, he realizes that he can never do enough justification 
and service to this glorious one while he's here on earth, 
while he's in heaven, because he's unique and exalted above 
all things, glorious. It's hard to enter into the mind 
of a preacher when you're not a preacher. Mike might share 
the same thing. When a preacher, a pastor, leaves 
the pulpit after preaching Christ, It's difficult because we haunt 
ourselves with points and gems and mind gold missed while we 
were in the pulpit. We're up here and we have the 
word of God and the revelation of a glorious savior. We leave 
a pulpit after preaching and we metaphorically beat ourselves 
up for missing the multifaceted glory of Jesus Christ. You know, 
I come up here and I stand in a pulpit and I preach this Christ, 
this Jesus, this glorious one, and by the sanctification of 
God and through the mediatorial blood of the Savior, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and His sanctifying influence, some nuggets of truth 
come to your hearts and to your minds, but a preacher can never 
exhaust the multifaceted, variegated glory. that is Jesus Christ the 
Lord. And so as I'm working through 
this, feel the difficulty and sympathize with the trial it 
is to properly set forth before you the glories of so great a 
Jesus. We have a new and living way 
which he consecrated for us. Look again at Hebrews 9. We looked 
at this last time. We looked at this last week just 
by way of observation to stress a particular point, but see the 
life that we have with respect to Christ, the new and living 
way in opposition to the old way. Notice in verse 11 of Hebrews 
9, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with 
the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, 
that is not of this creation. not with the blood of goats and 
calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place 
once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the 
blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer sprinkling 
the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much 
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit 
offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience 
from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason 
he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for 
the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that 
those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. You see then the folly. And you 
see the madness of going back to a system of religion that 
did not offer a new and a living way. It did not confer life in 
the washings and the ceremonies and the sacrifices, but only 
prefigured and only set forth copies of the coming true, only 
set forth significations of the coming real, that is, the Jesus, 
this glorious One who entered the holiest by His own blood. We have this new and this living 
way. And it is a living way because 
Christ, once for all, when offered up Himself upon Calvary's cross 
in the sacrifice of Himself, there is no repetition which 
would speak to the insufficiency of the sacrifice, but rather 
a glorious once-for-all reality to the death of Christ which 
speaks to the perfection and the glory of His sacrifice. And notice then the second foundation. Remember, this is a two-fold 
foundation for the three-fold exhortation. The second is the 
reality of Christ as perfect intercessor. the reality of Christ as perfect 
intercessor. Notice what we have here in verse 
21. And having a high priest over 
the house of God. So the first one introduced by 
the having, that word having, was having boldness. And now 
it is having a high priest over the house of God. You'll see 
there in your Bibles the having is italicized. That means that 
the word rendered having in verse 19 isn't there in verse 21. It's 
assumed. It's provided there because it's 
borrowing, if you will, from the previous having. We have, 
therefore, brethren, having boldness and a high priest over the house 
of God. A two-fold foundation to the 
exhortation. But let's look at this. Having 
a high priest over the house of God. First, we have a high 
priest. This language might not... You 
know, is there is this just a general statement is the Apostle Paul 
just saying we you know Jesus Christ is our high priest and 
and we have him he's He's our high priest and so therefore 
do this do that Let us you know draw an eye with a true heart. 
Let us Lay hold of the hope of our calling without wavering 
and let us stir up love and good works. So just a general statement 
that we have a high priest. Well, I believe it's first and 
foremost an answer to their apostate surroundings. It's an answer 
to the unbelieving Jews that are tempting them to come back 
to temple religion. They would be saying, Christians, 
We have the high priest who goes in year after year offering up 
sacrifices to God. Who do you have? You have no 
high priest. The Christians would answer, 
we have a high priest. We have a High Priest. And not 
a sinful one who offers up the blood of bulls and goats first 
for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. Blood 
which can never take away sin. We have a High Priest who offers 
Himself up. The perfection of His blood. 
The glory of His person. The virtue of His work. That's 
our High Priest. And so Paul says, we have a high 
priest over the house of God. Don't let their temptations and 
their mockings and their ridiculings affect you in any way. Who is 
their high priest in comparison to the glorious Christ? the Son 
of God, who took to Himself our humanity, saved for sin, lived 
a perfect life of obedience to the law of God so that we might 
have a righteousness that avails with Him, died upon Calvary's 
cross so that all who believe in Him will have everlasting 
life and the forgiveness of sins. We have a high priest. That's 
the point. We have a high priest. Back up 
in Hebrews 4. or in the book of Hebrews 2 chapter 
4, just to see some of the same language. There's lots of glorious 
repetition in this book, where statements may be concise, and 
then later statements expanding upon that same thing might be 
more expanded, but all setting forth the same glorious truth. And notice with regards to our 
having a high priest in Hebrews 4, beginning in verse 14, 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. That's, in essence, a one-sentence 
summarization of the passage we're considering this morning. 
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." 
You see the weight that this would bring to the souls of those 
being tempted to go back to old covenant religion? The weight 
and the confidence and the boldness that this would instill in the 
heart of a first century Christian? Now this, don't get me wrong, 
this instills boldness and brings much encouragement to our hearts 
2,000 years removed. But you see, they're tempted 
to go back to temple religion. There's the priest. There's the 
vestment. There's the glorious blue and 
purple and scarlet and the thick robes and the ropes and the glorious 
shiny things of old covenant religion. But don't be stolen 
away unto those earthy and temporary and now dead things, but rather 
see your High Priest as the One who is the brightness of the 
Father's glory, the express image of His person, of one power and 
equal with Him who begat Him. This glorious Son of God, who 
has the same laud and the same honor as the Father and Spirit, 
who took upon Himself humanity, let us hold fast our confession, 
because our High Priest is not a sinful man only who offers 
up sacrifices for his own sins and us, but our High Priest is 
this Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, yet one Christ. The glorious 
mediator between God and man. the greatness of this high priest 
is seen in Hebrews 7. You can turn there with me as 
we just close up in the next matter of minutes this two-fold 
foundation. Notice in Hebrews 7 the greatness 
of this priest. Specifically verse 26, but we 
want to actually read the context just to see how the apostle expands 
upon the greatness of this priest. Remember, the idea is this. the persecutors, the opposers, 
the enemies, the unbelievers, even some who had beforehand 
been with them. Not true Christians, but false 
claimants to New Covenant inclusion. False claimants to the label 
Christianity. They had been there for a while. 
They had heard the preaching. They had given some measure of 
consent to the preaching, to the sacraments, to church discipline. 
They had been found in the midst of the proclamation of the Gospel. but they had departed and they 
would have been saying along with all of the wicked, where 
is your priest? Where is your priest? Notice 
beginning in verse 14, for it is evident. Hebrews 7.14, that 
our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing 
concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident, 
if in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest who 
has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, 
but according to the power of an endless life. Now just pause 
for a moment. That's the new and living way there. The power 
of an endless life. We don't put our confidence in 
an office of earthly priests where they're born, they live, 
they die, they're replaced, they're born, they live, they die, they're 
replaced, who offer up ineffectual sacrifices, but rather we have 
a priest who is after and according to the power of an endless life. 
That's wherein our confidence lies in that Jesus. Verse 17, 
for he testifies, you are a priest forever, according to the order 
of Melchizedek. For on the one hand, there is 
an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness. It wasn't a new and living way. 
It could not forgive sins. For the law made nothing perfect. 
On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope 
through which we draw near to God. And inasmuch as he was not 
made priest without an oath, for they have become priests 
without an oath, but he with an oath by him who said to him, 
the Lord has sworn and will not relent, you are a priest forever, 
according to the order of Melchizedek. So by so much more, Jesus has 
become a surety of a better covenant. Also, there were many priests, 
because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, 
because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 
Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who 
come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession 
for them. For such a high priest was fitting 
for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, 
and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily 
as those high priests to offer up sacrifices for his own sins, 
and then for the people's. For this he did once for all 
when he offered up himself. For the law appoints as high 
priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath which 
came after the law appoints the Son, who has been perfected forever. Man, why, preacher, did you read 
that whole section of Scripture? Can we not just get on with the 
rest of the sermon? There's a reason. We want to 
highlight here the length to which Paul goes in order to set 
forth the sufficient and the effectual Jesus. this glorious 
High Priest. You see, Paul doesn't stop short 
and just give sort of a concise statement of Jesus is your High 
Priest, therefore, lay hold of the hope of your confession. 
Let's get on to some other stuff. Much is at stake. Eternal souls 
are at stake. The truth is at stake. The salvation 
of His countrymen for whom He wept. is at stake. And so He wants to go to great 
lengths here, to great pains and efforts to show forth this 
Jesus as the glorious One. And notice what we have just 
very briefly in this section of Scripture here. First, we 
have the spiritual power or saving efficacy of Christ's priesthood. Notice, He has come not according 
to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of 
an endless life. We have this beautiful language 
here, verse 19, the law made nothing perfect. On the other 
hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope through which 
we draw near to God. There is a saving efficacy, a 
glorious saving efficacy to Christ's priesthood. There is in his priesthood 
the secure ground of new covenant promise. in verses 20 to 22, 
summed up at the end in 22 by so much more, Jesus has become 
a surety of a better covenant. In that one word, brethren, surety, 
you have your hope as Christians. By so much more, Jesus has become 
a surety of a better covenant. One who stands effectually in 
the stead of another and brings the legal and the glorious weight 
of resolving, in this case, the issue between God and man. We 
have the mediator Jesus Christ in our place, the surety, the 
provision, the guarantor. He secures perfectly everlasting 
life for all who believe in His name. That's why, brethren, any 
doctrine that says the death of Christ does not bring salvation, 
assurance, full atonement, definite atonement, limited atonement, 
is an affront to the Holy Scriptures. We do not have an atonement of 
maybe. We do not have a redemption of perhaps. If that's true, Spurgeon 
said something like this, then the cross quakes, the blood falls 
powerless to the ground, and our salvation is a matter of 
perhaps. No, we have in this Christ a 
surety. He so died so as to secure perfectly 
the salvation of a multitude which no man can number. We have 
a perfect high priest. We have the unique and exalted 
nature of this priest in v. 26. A priest who is fitting for 
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has 
become higher than the heavens. Can you see how this would have 
built, truth upon truth, to well up the confidence of Christians 
who were being tempted to go back to the human high priest? 
to the one wearing the vestments, to the one who had to make sacrifices 
for his own sins and the sins of the people, how this would 
instill a confidence. We don't have this earthly high 
priest, this temporary high priest, this ineffectual repeated priest 
craft, but we have such a high priest who is holy, harmless, 
undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the 
heavens. Wow. Again, the multifaceted, variegated 
glory of Christ that we cannot exhaust this side of glory and 
that we will not exhaust on the other side of glory. The distinction 
and perfection of His priesthood as well is brought out in verses 
23 to 25 and 27 to 28. All that to say, brethren, as 
we find our way back to Hebrews 10, this foundation then, is 
twofold. By the blood of Christ we have 
free and fearless confidence in light of his cross work, and 
we have in the priesthood of Christ the reality of him as 
our perfect intercessor. We sang at the outset of worship, 
arise my soul arise, shake off thy guilty fears, the bleeding 
sacrifice in my behalf appears. You know, we can be plagued by 
our remaining corruption. We've had a good week, perhaps, 
and we started out Monday after the last Lord's Day. charged. We took in the worship of the 
triune God. We heard God's Word preached. 
We've, you know, been filled as far as we can be this side 
of glory by the Word of God and the glory of His Gospel. Get 
into, you know, we're into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We're starting 
to do good. Then we stumble. We trip up in 
our remaining corruption. We entertain and fall into a 
familiar pattern of sin, perhaps, of some sort, a pet sin. We've 
grieved our God. We've sinned against him. We 
haunt ourselves with an undue and an unwholesome self-loathing, 
and we think ourselves to be outside of divine favor and grace. we're to be called back to this 
place where we have a high priest who stands before God, who pleads 
the merits of his blood. You see, when we sing, arise 
my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears, we know what follows 
after that, but the foundation of our confidence and the foundation 
of our boldness is not our performance from Monday to Saturday. We don't 
puff up our chests and walk into the church because we've performed 
a good week. Ought we to perform a good week? 
Yes, we should. We should be zealous for good 
works. We should, by virtue of salvation, by amazing and victorious 
grace, and the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, conduct ourselves 
in a manner worthy of the gospel. But when we walk in those two 
doors, the boldness and the courage by which we puff out our chests 
is not because we've performed well. in obedience to the law 
of God, it's because Jesus Christ has gone before us with the sacrifice 
of His blood, and He pleads the merits of perfection and sacrifice 
and substitutionary atonement before God. our righteous one, 
our surety, our mediator. Don't find the skip in your step 
in looking in the mirror at the perfection of your performance. 
Look to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the 
world, and find confidence in Him. Well, let's look at the 
threefold exhortation now. The threefold exhortation. The 
first exhortation that we have is confident New Testament worship 
born of a perfect sacrifice and amazing grace. Notice in verse 
22. So, just very briefly, based 
upon this, the boldness in the blood of Christ, the high priest, 
the fact that we have so great a high priest, then verse 22, 
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, 
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies 
washed with pure water. So the first exhortation is confident 
New Testament worship, born of a perfect sacrifice and amazing 
grace. Notice this language, draw near 
with a true heart. We are to, in light of so great 
a truth, we are to draw near with a true heart. What does 
that mean? And is this, again, is this just language, this drawing 
near with a true heart, is that just sort of general language 
that the Apostle Paul is pulling out of an apostolic hat and writing 
for exhortation to these Christians? No, it's rich with Old Testament 
meaning. It's rich with biblical meaning. 
There's an instance in the life of Jesus Christ where he uses 
this language where he says, they draw near to me with their 
lips, but their hearts are far from me. It's when the unbelieving 
religious leaders come to him and they indict him and his disciples 
because they're eating with unwashed hands. And they've heaped up 
all of these additional things upon the law of God that have 
no place, the traditions of men. And he says, they draw near to 
me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. New Covenant worship is a drawing 
nigh, not just in lip service to Father, Son, and Spirit, not 
just in lip service to Jesus Christ, but rather with true 
hearts. We come as Christians and we 
draw nigh unto God. This access that we have to God 
by virtue of the perfection of Christ's saving work, the efficacy 
of His blood, this free and fearless confidence that we are to have, 
we come and we come with true hearts. I think, not I think, 
I know, it's very often the case that on a Sunday, for whatever 
reason, we're so rushed, we're so ill-prepared. You know, I don't know if it's 
that three-fold opposition that we wake up on the Sabbath day, 
the world, the flesh, and the devil railing against us. It's 
a peculiar day, set aside from the other six, because it's God's 
day, it's the Lord's day, it's the Lord's day Sabbath. But there 
is this reality where we're more prepared for every other thing 
in the week than we are for the Lord's day. When we show up late, 
our hairs, maybe not all of us, but some of us show up. If you 
showed up late this morning, I'm not picking on you, really. But we show up with hair unkempt. We show up perhaps unshaven, 
ill-prepared. Our button is either one hole 
too high or one hole too low, or whatever. And we're rushing 
the kids in and everything else. But if we were to go to a ball 
game, You know, we go two hours ahead. We eat, you know, at a 
restaurant that we've made a reservation at. We're well dressed. We've 
got everything. We're good to go. We find our 
seat a half hour before the ballgame starts. We got the program. We're 
ready to do this. What is it about church? You 
know, what is it about, is it because there's no shiny things, 
you know, that we have in this place? Is it because I'm not 
wearing a blue and purple and scarlet vestment and all decked 
out in the, you know, bejeweledness of a high priest? What is it? 
We are to draw nigh unto God with true hearts. And I believe 
what we are to read from that is not only that we have the 
reality that we've been given new hearts of flesh that beat 
for the Savior by sovereign and victorious grace. God has pulled 
out our hearts of stone, replaced them with hearts of flesh that 
beat for the Savior, the Christ. but also that we draw nigh with 
true hearts that reflect a genuine Christian reality. We love this 
God. We love this Christ. We don't 
come to church because it's a weariness, because it's a labor. I hope 
you don't. If you call the worship of God 
labor, a weariness, a trial, and a trouble, you're outside 
of saving grace. We draw near with true hearts. 
God has given us true hearts. God in his sovereignty and his 
amazing grace has given us new hearts, brethren. Let's use those 
new Christian hearts warmly, joyfully, and reverentially to 
respect his day, to glory in his presence, and to rejoice 
in the communion that we have, one with each other. Confident 
New Testament worship born of a perfect sacrifice and amazing 
grace. It is to come in full assurance 
of faith. This is not intended as a call 
to look at ourselves, to find a confidence and satisfaction, 
but to look to the efficacy and merit of Christ Jesus the Lord. So this language here, when we read in 
verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart. in full assurance 
of faith, that full assurance of faith doesn't terminate again 
upon our faith. upon the strength of it, upon 
the merits of our faith, either the depth of it, you know, in 
contrast to what could be the smallness of our faith. It doesn't 
rest upon how we're doing in a week in our walk in Christianity, 
but rather the confidence by which we gain this or the confidence 
or where does this confidence come from? Not from ourselves, 
but from this high priest. from this Jesus who gave his 
blood for us. That's the language of Hebrews 
4. I don't know if we read the rest 
of it, but in Hebrews 4, when we read here, let us hold fast 
our confession, in Hebrews 4.14, it doesn't stop there. There's 
a reason given, and then there's a let us, an exhortation given, 
just like we have in our own passage. Notice, 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. 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. 
So let's just imagine that we were reading our Bibles at this 
point and there was no verse 14 and 15. Those verses weren't 
there. And we read, let us therefore 
come boldly to the throne of grace. Okay, so maybe there's 
something inherent to my own Christianity. Maybe there's something 
inherent to my own renewed humanity that's been, we've been made 
alive in Christ, and there's something inherently strong and 
glorious about me by which I march with a lion-hearted boldness 
to the throne of grace. No, it says, let us therefore. That therefore points us to something. 
And what does it point us to? It points us to the great high 
priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. 
So the boldness and the courage is not our lion-hearted Christianity 
inherent to our new life, but it is Jesus. The foundation for 
our boldness and courage is this glorious one, this Jesus, this 
one who shed his blood, this one who gave his life, this one 
who rose again, this one who ascended. to the right hand of 
the majesty on high. And notice as well, back in Hebrews 
10 then, we have this language, having our hearts sprinkled and 
our bodies washed. The language is, again, let us 
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having 
our hearts sprinkled with an evil conscience and our bodies 
washed with pure water. Are we to take that literally? 
Are we to take that literally, that our hearts are literally 
sprinkled physically from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
are literally washed with pure water? Well, say, of course not. The first proposition there, 
or the first clause, our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, 
of course not. There's nothing where blood can 
actually be sprinkled upon our hearts. But it does point back 
to the physical sprinkling of blood in the Old Covenant. whether 
it was the sprinkling of the blood of the Passover sacrifice, 
whether it was the sprinkling of the blood of those covenantal 
and mosaic implements for their consecration and sanctification, 
it points back to that, and it again shows the ineffectual reality 
of those things that were copies of the true, and the effectual 
and perfect reality of this Jesus, who, with his own blood, sprinkles 
us from an evil conscience. In other words, by the blood 
of Jesus, we draw nigh. By the perfect shed blood of 
the Savior, we are sprinkled. Our hearts are sprinkled from 
an evil conscience, and our bodies are washed with pure water. Not 
a reference to baptism. Not a reference to a physical 
washing with water. but the real that points back 
to the signal of the old covenant where things were washed to sanctify 
and purify them. Paul is using that language showing 
that the meaning was always wrapped up in this Jesus. who by virtue 
of the perfection of His saving work sends His Spirit to save 
us, to wash us. We looked at that passage a number 
of weeks ago. We're saved not by deeds of righteousness 
which we have done, but rather according to His mercy He saved 
us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. 
So we're to draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. 
Why? This rests upon the perfect sacrifice of Christ and the amazing 
grace of the Spirit bringing us forth in sovereign power from 
the deadness of sin to life in Christ. Owen says, it is plain 
that the Apostle in these expressions alludeth unto the necessary preparations 
for divine service under the law. So just as there were preparations 
made for divine service under the law, under the Gospel, the 
preparation that we have for drawing nigh unto God is that 
Jesus has cleansed us in His precious blood. The Spirit has 
made us alive by amazing grace. The second exhortation then is 
this. An immovable constancy in our 
profession of faith, buttressed by our unchangeable God. Where 
do we find that? Well, notice in verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession 
of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. We have there an immovable constancy 
in our profession of faith, buttressed by, that is, held up and supported 
by our unchangeable God. You know, there's... There's 
an importance that we are to glean from this. Now, when we 
read this language here, let us hold fast the confession of 
our hope. We could also read that, let us hold fast the confession 
of our faith. You know, we're a confessional 
church, and you hear Jim and I and young Michael, young Pastor 
Michael. I can only call him young Pastor 
Michael now for about another month and 10 days. I've been 
thinking about this for, I only have about three months where 
I can sort of call myself a senior pastor here in the eldership. He's leaving in January 21st, 
so now I'm just back to the young guy there, the young, shaven-headed 
fellow that occasionally preaches. But coming back to this point 
here, there is an importance to having a confession of our 
hope or a confession of faith. The London Baptist confession 
of faith is not what I'm getting at here. We have a confession 
of faith that summarizes what the Bible says with respect to 
the truth of God. But what we're trying to glean 
here is the importance of holding fast the confession of our faith. That is, in this Jesus, In this 
triune God, in this Christ who is God and man, yet one Christ, 
who gave Himself for guilty sinners. In the fact that in the giving 
of Himself, He brings us not a salvation of maybe, but a salvation 
of yea and amen. a salvation of verity and certainty 
that comes with an Amen, Amen. He has saved us from our sins. All of those glorious truths 
that are wrapped up in this high priest who is the sum and substance, 
the center and circumference, the light and life of Christianity. 
We're to lay hold of the hope of our calling. We are to have 
an immovable constancy in our profession of faith. This holding 
fast language is used in Deuteronomy 13, Joshua 23, to name only two 
of many, and 2 Thessalonians 2.15 in the New Testament, where 
we are to stand fast, lay hold of the hope of our calling, lay 
hold of that pattern of sound words, the tradition that has 
been handed down to us. The importance of a firm grip 
upon our confession of hope or faith is seen in the dangers 
of apostasy and the promptings to grow in faith. Do you want 
to grow in faith? Do you say yes to the exhortation 
to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ? Laying 
hold of the confession of our hope is not done without our 
minds gripping with an immovable constancy upon the truths revealed 
in Holy Scripture. Our emphasis and our constant 
stress of the importance of doctrine doesn't come because we like 
to think ourselves wise and able to articulate that doctrine. 
It's because it comes down to a vital and a very important 
matter between remaining in the faith or apostasy. If you do not know the truth, 
if you do not glory in the truth, if you do not fill your minds 
with the truth, if you do not engage in a proper Christian 
meditation, which is not lighting a candle and sitting before a 
golden fat man, but taking your Bible and filling your mind with 
it, reading the Word of God and filling it with the glorious 
propositions of revealed truth. If you're not doing that, then 
the danger of apostasy could very well be in your future, 
proving that you were never one of us, and you went out of us, 
not because you were of us, but because you were not of us and 
God had not brought you forth. to saving faith in Jesus Christ. 
The importance of a firm grip upon our confession of hope or 
faith is seen in the dangers of apostasy, and as well, the 
very fabric of an enduring Christianity is that faith. These were faced 
with a body of people that were seeking to vanquish Christianity, 
to vanquish it, rid the earth of Christianity. That's why the 
Apostle Paul is pleading with them, don't go back to old covenant 
religion. What will happen to the promised 
new covenant religion then? The reason that all that took 
place in the first place. It's gonna happen. The importance 
of laying hold of the confession of our hope, the truths of Christianity, 
is because the very fabric of an enduring Christianity is at 
stake. Now obviously God is in the heavens 
and he does whatever he pleases with the you know, with the one 
and only potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, there 
will be no vanquishing of Christianity, but he has so ordained the means 
that the endurance of Christianity comes through the faithful proclamation 
of the word and an immovable constancy and grip upon the truth 
of the living and true God. Basil, so many years ago, wrote 
this in the fourth century, our distresses are notorious. Even 
though we leave them untold, for now their sound has gone 
out into all the world. The doctrines of the fathers 
are despised. Apostolic traditions are set 
at naught. The devices of innovators are 
in vogue in the churches. Now men are rather contrivers 
of cunning systems than theologians. The wisdom of this world wins 
the highest prizes and has rejected the glory of the cross. Shepherds 
are banished, and in their places are introduced grievous wolves 
hurrying the flock of Christ. Houses of prayer have none to 
assemble in them. Desert places are full of lamenting 
crowds. The elders lament when they compare 
the present with the past. The younger are yet more to be 
compassionated, for they do not know of what they have been deprived." 
You see that in our modern day, don't you? The elders lament 
when they compare the present with the past. When, you know, 
those among you whose hair is whitened by the sunlight of heaven, 
to use Spurgeon's language, you have grey hair or white hair, 
you've been around in Christianity for quite some time. Imagine 
if it was the case that innovative preachers entered the pulpits, 
and perhaps this is some of your stories. Innovative preachers 
come into the pulpits, despising the old paths and introducing 
new ones that never entered into the heart of God. Elders lament 
when they compare the present with the past, oh, to go back 
when the Word was preached, when the whole God, the full Christ, 
the whole gospel was proclaimed from a pulpit that flamed with 
righteousness. Now we have this nonsense. The 
younger are yet more compassionate, for they do not know of what 
they have been deprived. The young don't know anything 
else but the puppets and the ponies and the shows. And as 
we discussed last night, the three men in Lycra dancing around 
on a stage in a church to depict the intra-Trinitarian love of 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blasphemy of blasphemies. We 
are to lay hold of the hope of our calling without wavering. 
We're to rest simply upon the triune God, the glory of His 
Christ, the perfection of saving grace, the wonders of the Gospel, 
the mystery of so great a truth that we have such a high priest, 
Jesus Christ, who has entered into the holiest with effectual 
and saving blood. The reason given for our firm 
possession and grip upon the confession of our hope is the 
unchanging faithfulness of God. I'm gonna pick up the last exhortation, 
I think, next, or the next time I preach, perhaps, because we 
have no time now, but closing with this, the reason, and it's 
a very important exhortation that I will come back to, but 
closing with this then, the reason given for our firm possession 
of the hope of our faith, the confession of our hope is this, 
He who promised is faithful. Why are we to lay hold of the 
hope of our calling without wavering? Well, first, because we have 
boldness to enter by the Holiest, by the blood of Jesus, and because 
we have such a great High Priest. But also now, because the One 
who called us, the One who brought us from death to life, He's faithful. 
The One who promised is faithful. So many years ago at the fall 
when He said, there is one coming, the seed of the woman who would 
crush the head of the serpent, that has taken place. All who 
look to Him in faith have everlasting life. The seed of Abraham. The 
greater prophet than Moses, the son of David, the Lord our righteousness, 
the branch, the suffering servant, all of those promises of old 
covenant religion have come to fruition, finality, consummation 
in this Jesus. The one who promised is faithful. 
He said that he would make a covenant. Not like the old covenant, but 
a new one, in which He would be our God, we would be His people. 
He would write the law upon our hearts. That's the very context 
of 1618. He would give us the forgiveness of sins according 
to His eternal loving kindness and mercy, the one who promised 
is faithful. Don't you love that hymn? Change 
and decay in all around I see. O thou that changest not, abide 
with me. This unchanging God, this God 
of unwavering promise, is the one who will keep us. He will 
help us. He will grant us the grace of 
endurance to lay hold of the confession of our hope without 
wavering. And so, brethren, in 53 seconds, 
what are we to do with this language? Very simply, We're to draw near 
with a true heart, we're to hold fast the confession of our hope, 
and next time we are to consider one another in order to stir 
up love and good works. The application of this sermon 
is in the text of the sermon. Just a couple brief notes reflect 
often upon the dignity of Christ's person and the virtue of his 
work. Wherein do you find your confidence as a Christian? Where 
do you find your boldness in the week to do what you ought 
to do in service to God and men? And on the Lord's Day, when you 
wake up faced with that threefold opposition, from where does your 
confidence and your encouragement come? It's to come from Christ, 
the dignity of His person, the virtue of His work, the glorious 
promise of an unchanging God. We are to seek to foster our 
Christian confidence. How do we do that? How do we 
seek to foster our Christian confidence? Well, in seeking 
to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Christ. We gain 
a greater confidence in our Christian walk when we fill our minds with 
Holy Scripture. When we fill ourselves with the 
truth of the living and true God, we get a confidence, encouragement, 
and boldness. When we reflect with great joy 
upon the fact that our triune God, unchanging in His nature 
and in His promises, pulled us by amazing grace from out of 
the deadness and darkness of sin, placed us into the kingdom 
of the Son of His love, giving us new hearts, all by amazing 
and victorious grace, when we reflect upon this Christ, the 
dignity of His person, that He is not simply an earthly high 
priest, but the Son of God, who came down from heaven, took upon 
Himself our nature, saved sin for our redemption and recovery. 
We reflect upon the glory of His work, that it isn't a work 
of maybe and perhaps, but a work of yea and amen. All who believe 
in him will have everlasting life. Pray that we will be a 
church where we have this that characterizes each and every 
one of us, drawing nigh with true hearts, holding fast the 
confession, and considering one another to stir up love and good 
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the 
manner of some. but coming here, coming to church, 
gathering together, and all the more as we see the day approaching. 
Well, let us pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in 
your truth. We thank you for your word. We thank you that 
we have this opportunity so to gather as Christians in this 
place to worship you. We do pray, Lord God, that you 
would help us to be strengthened, to be nourished by word and spirit, 
that we might grow in our confidence and in our boldness, that we 
might grow in gripping with an unmovable constancy those truths 
most surely believed among us. We pray that you would help us, 
Lord God, to consider one another, to stir up love and good works, 
We would do this while reflecting upon the glory of your promises, 
the glory of you as that one who is unchanging, infinite, 
eternal, and unchangeable in all of his glorious perfections. 
And we would reflect with great joy and find our confidence in 
Jesus Christ the Lord, our great high priest, who gave his blood 
for guilty sinners. We do pray that you'd strengthen 
us, Lord God, that you would save sinners, that any here who 
are outside of Christ, that you would now, by amazing grace, 
bring them forth to bend a knee unto the King of Kings and Lord 
of Lords. And do go with us now. Help us to have grace from you 
to endure, mercy and strength from you to conduct ourselves 
in a manner worthy of the gospel of amazing grace. We pray in 
Christ's precious name, amen.