Theological term
Priestly Office of Christ
4 sermons · All terms
The New and Living Way
Hebrews 10:19–25 presents two encouragements and three exhortations for the covenant people of God. The two encouragements — bold access into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, and the possession of a great high priest — ground the three commands that follow: draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, hold fast the confession of hope without wavering, and consider one another so as to stir up love and good works. Neglect of these exhortations is the path by which professing believers drift toward the apostasy warned against in verses 26–31, making faithful corporate worship, steadfast confession, and mutual encouragement indispensable means of perseverance.
The Believer's Race
Hebrews 12:1 calls the people of God to run the Christian race with endurance, laying aside every weight and entangling sin. This sermon expounds the first of three incentives the author of Hebrews sets before believers: the great cloud of witnesses from Hebrews 11, who function not as spectators watching the runner, but as witnesses testifying to the faithfulness of God through every trial and affliction. Drawing on Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, David, Job, Habakkuk, and the martyrs Polycarp and Thomas Hawkes, the sermon presses believers to receive the unanimous testimony of the saints — that God is faithful, God sustains runners, and God will bring them through to the end — and to run without quitting, because the Christian life is a marathon requiring daily faithfulness, not a glamorous sprint.
The Warning Against Apostasy
Hebrews 10:26–31 has long troubled sensitive believers who fear they have committed the unpardonable sin described there. This exposition argues that the willful sin in view is not the ongoing struggles and failures of the regenerate, but apostasy — a total, obstinate repudiation of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ, the renunciation of the gospel itself. Drawing on the parallel warning in Hebrews 6, the covenantal comparison with Deuteronomy 17, and the testimony of Owen, Calvin, and Gill, the sermon demonstrates that those most troubled by this passage are precisely those whom it does not address. The comfort the text affords is real: the priestly intercession of Christ sustains weak and failing saints, and the just shall live by faith — not by the perfection of their obedience.
Free Grace Baptist Church - July 31, 2016 AM
Hebrews 10:19–25 presents the doctrinal foundation and practical exhortations that flow from Christ's high priestly office. The passage opens with two grand encouragements — the believer's boldness to enter the holiest of holies by the blood of Jesus, and the possession of a great high priest over the house of God — before issuing three corresponding imperatives: draw near, hold fast the confession of hope, and consider one another. The sermon insists that the access to God secured by Christ's atoning death and the tearing of the veil is a present possession to be actively used, not a theoretical privilege to be admired from a distance. Believers are urged to attend the public assembly, maintain private and family worship, and pray for one another with the urgency appropriate to those who see the day approaching.