Draw Near

 

 

 

"¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; ²⁴ and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

Hebrews 10:19-25 

 

 

Good Morning my beloved,

 

Welcome to worship this Lord's day!

We're so glad to have all of you here. Welcome to all of our beloved brothers and sisters, from all around the world. I am so grateful that God has been continuously using this ministry to reach more and more people in more countries around the world. All praise and glory to God.

 

Life is not about karma, life is about grace. Through God's amazing grace, those who need to hear "I love you," are reminded of God’s intentional love. God doesn’t just love us because He feels like it. He doesn’t just love because He has cause to do so. God’s love is intentional and unconditional. God loves because that is Who God is.

 

There are so many people in our world today living without any real hope. In fact they are not really living so much as they are just surviving. They manage to put one foot in front of the other by depending on some unfounded worldly hope. Blindly hoping that the future will bring something different into their lives. They live hoping for a brighter tomorrow, hoping for a change, looking for someone new in their lives to change every thing. However, their hope is not founded on truth, but rather wishful thinking.

 

As Christians our hope has substance. "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil." We understand that an anchor grabs onto the floor of the ocean and holds the vessel securely. Therefore, the shifting sands of this fallen world can offer nothing to secure eternity for us. And, so our anchor does not go down to the ocean floor below, but upward and is anchored in Christ, Who is in God’s presence.

Today's Message: Draw Near

If I had only one sermon to preach, I would preach on Hebrews 10:19-25. A message about the God who secures our blessedness by the strength of His own arm and by the standard of His own righteousness all while we contribute nothing. May we draw near to God with full assurance of faith, in our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In our continuing study of the book of Hebrews, we have been diving into depths of this very deep book and we’re quickly approaching the conclusion in this challenging and important book. I must say, it is my great honor and privilege, what a tremendous blessing it is to be here with all of you today, to share and learn what God has in store for us.

 

Open your Bibles with me if you would, to the tenth chapter of the book of Hebrews verses 19 through 25. When a man hears the message of the gospel, he responds in one of two ways, he either goes on to believe or he rejects it. Those who know the truth, who fall back into apostasy, the Bible tells us, deserve the severest kind of punishment. That's different from those who reject the truth, having little understanding of its truth. 

 

When a man knows the truth, understands the truth, to a certain measure in his mind, he subscribes to the truth. Then, at that point, if he goes forward and commits his life to Christ, he has taken a positive response to the truth. However, if he falls back into apostasy, it’s a negative response. We will study the negative response, and the horrible tragedy, beginning in verse 26, of willful apostasy and what happens when a man willingly has a negative response to the gospel.

 

I invite you to follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our minds, as we prayerfully prepare our hearts for what the Lord has for us today. Hebrews 10:19-25. 

First, let us bow our heads in prayer.

Heavenly Father,

 

Father, thank You  as always for Your Word, for these wonderful truths You given us, we confess we often stumble and that Your Spirit will guide us, help us to understand what You want us to learn, help us to apply them to our lives. Help us O Lord, to stand firm in our faith, may we be even more as faithful to stimulate each other as times grow more and more difficult, as we anxiously await the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We acknowledge that we can often stir each other up, however, it is not always to good deeds. 

 

Father, we want to bring with us as many as we can, reveal to us those whose hearts You have prepared, that by our testimony of our transformed life, we may lead them to You. May it all be for Your glory and Christ's sake.

In Your precious name we pray

Amen

 

"Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean 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 how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

 

As I am sure you will recall, earlier in our study of this great book, we learned about the absolute superiority, sovereignty and supremacy of Jesus Christ. We found Him in the first verses of the first chapter of Hebrews, we find Him to be the all sufficient One. Later, the writer of Hebrews begins to compare Jesus Christ to the old covenant. In writing to the Jews, he wants to show them that Christ is the answer. 

 

He goes on to show how Christ is better than Moses, and Christ is better than angels, and Christ is better than all the prophets, and Christ is better than Joshua, and implies that Christ is better than David, and Christ is better than Aaron, and Christ is better than all the priests. How Christ offered a better sacrifice, He is a better priest of a better priesthood, and how he offers a new and better covenant.

 

Periodically, throughout the book of Hebrews, he asks for a response, along with several warnings.  In chapter 10, verse 18, he gives us the warnings. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

Now, beginning in verse 19, he’s going to ask for a full response.

 

Here, the writer turns from an explanation of the superiority of Jesus to this truth’s application in the lives of his readers. He begins in verse nineteen and following, saying, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God"  

As we have mentioned many times before, the words "Having therefore,” and the therefore are always there for a good reason, because they point us backward to a previously made point. In other words, "
On the basis of what I’ve said, you must respond." It’s an appeal for men to come to Christ on the basis of doctrine. There is no biblical appeal is ever really made apart from a solid foundation in doctrine. That’s true all the way through Scripture.We understand that salvation is made up of three features, faith, love and hope.

Verse 22, says "Let us draw near," verse 23 says "Let us hold fast." And then there’s love, in verse 24,  which says "Let us consider one another." Notice, that all three statements begin with "Let us," one having to do with faith, one having to do with hope and one having to do with love. This is really the fundamental experience of our salvation; drawing near, holding fast and loving each other. Therefore, if someone draws near and falls away, that’s not salvation. I John 4 tells us if a man says he loves God and loves not his brother, he is a liar. So, salvation is really three parts, faith in God, holding fast to our hope, and loving each other, these are the indicators of a true believer.

 

So, let's begin our study with faith. In verse 19 to 22, the key here, of course, being verse 22, which says "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Draw near through faith, that is the key. So, let's begin at verse 19, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus," in other words, we can draw near on the basis of our faith, and we can enter into God’s presence. He's talking about the holy places.

 

In the Old Testament, you will remember, there was a tabernacle or a temple, and inside of the totality of this outer courtyard there was what was called the holy places, the holy place, and inside, separated by a veil, was the Holy of Holies.  And, in the Holy of Holies, is where God dwelt. And, no man could enter into there except the high priest, who would once a year, go in to offer atonement for the sins of the nation Israel. Here, however, he's saying, "The veil has been torn down, and now, all of you can all enter in, and you can enter in boldly." In other words, now, we have a new entrance into the holy place of God by the blood of Jesus. He says because of the new covenant, we can have boldness, in entering into God's presence. Interestingly, even today, the Jews still fear entering into God's presence.

 

I'd like you to notice, that he uses the term "brethren," when he uses the term "brethren" here as on other occasions in the book of Hebrews and also in the book of Romans, he’s talking to Jewish brethren, not Christians. He is referencing to the brotherhood of Jews. Therefore, based upon everything I’ve said in chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 about the openness, about the fact that Jesus made the perfect sacrifice, that Jesus provided access, that Jesus provided entrance, on the fact of all of that, you have boldness to go on in and meet God person-to-person. 

 

The blood of Jesus has opened the way, that you may enter into the presence of God. Previously, if a man was to go into God’s presence on the basis of his own character, his own deeds, his own religious affiliation, he couldn't get there, there was no access to God. They were unqualified to enter the presence of God. However, when we enter by the blood of Jesus Christ, we find access, fear vanishes, and God sees us as clean and He welcomes us in the blood of Christ. So, he says we can have boldness. We don’t need to go into God’s presence with fear, we can enter in without trembling.

 

As faith begins to dawn in the believing heart, faith then begins to perceive that we may come to God, that God is not some cosmic indifference, that God is not some cosmic killjoy who wants to stomp on everybody and crush them in the fire of His wrath, but that God is a loving God who already spent His wrath on Jesus Christ for those who believe and has nothing left but mercy. 

 

If you will remember, clear back in Genesis, when Adam sinned, the door to access to God was slammed shut, as soon as Adam sinned, and Adam no longer had access to God. And God shot him out of the Garden and put an angel with a flaming sword so he couldn’t get back into His presence. The blood of Jesus Christ quenched the fiery sword. 

 

Then, in verse 20, he says "by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh." Jesus gives us access to God, "by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh." Incidentally, the old covenant, was barely able to get man into that relationship with God, not the fullness of dwelling in the presence of God. The old covenant, never allowed full access, it didn't cut it. Allow me to draw your attention to the word "new" is a very rare word in the New Testament. Its not the typical word for "new," neos, kainos, none of those words. It is this word "prospheton." It literally means freshly slaughtered. So, to paraphrase the verse, he is saying "we have boldness to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus by a freshly slaughtered and living way." 

 

Jesus Christ, is the freshly slain entrance to God. Wow, that's a pretty vivid illustration. This was written some 30 years since Jesus died, and it says its still fresh. I love that. Its fresh because He’s the Lamb slain from before the foundations of the world. Therefore, His sacrifice is always and ever fresh. Not only that, it’s a living way. He's talking about the resurrection. He’s alive. He’s risen. And He’s seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us. Therefore, He is a living way! 

 

Moreover, it’s a living way because we’re alive. Those who are in the world, are spiritually dead. Spiritual death is an inability to respond to a spiritual stimulus, its like being physically dead. Physical death means you can’t react, no matter what the stimulus is. Spiritual death’s the same thing in the spiritual realm. In other words, you can't sense God. Then, Jesus Christ reaches down and makes you alive, you begin to sense God. All of a sudden God is alive, and you’re alive. What a marvelous feeling!

You begin what God wants, seeing the things of God, you're sensitive to God's heart. That's Christian liberty! Christian liberty isn’t continuing to do wrong because you’re going to go to heaven.Christian liberty isn’t doing what you want. In John 1:4, John said "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men." And, in John 14:6, Jesus Himself said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

In verses 21, he says "and since we have a great priest over the house of God." Not only did Christ open up the entrance to God, He became the high priest in the presence of God." The term "high priest" here is really translated "great priest." Now, the term "the house of God" has to do with all believers. Christ goes in with us, that He takes a place there and mediates for us. That is the basis for verse 22, "let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." He is saying now, you can come into the presence of God, because of what Christ had done, so come with a true heart. He says, "Come, draw near, just do it genuinely, with a whole heart." What a truly beautiful thought. 

 

We all live by faith, and faith is a commodity that every man has to a certain limited degree, even unbelievers live by faith. They have faith, when they stick their key in their car ignition, its going to start. They have faith, when they board a plane, that a man they've never met will safely get them to their destination. They have faith when they go to a drive thru, and order some fast food, they what they've ordered is inside the bag.  So, to some degree, even they have faith. Saving faith, however, is a gift of God, just like everything else. It’s when God plants within your heart the ability to believe and gives you the faith to respond when your heart is open and ready. And no man really comes to God unless he believes. Listen, if you don’t truly believe, you won't fool God! Only Jesus can really cleanse a man’s heart, by His Spirit He cleanses the inmost thoughts and desires of a man. When Jesus’ blood is shed and we believe, our sins are forgiven. And when the burden of a guilt-ridden conscience is removed, we’ve been cleansed from an evil conscience. The precious blood of Jesus Christ removes the evil conscience, that condemning, guilty feeling, and we don’t condemn ourselves anymore.

 

Then, in verse 23, he says " Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;" He is not only saying we need to have faith in a positive response but we need to have hope. Faith says, "Let us draw near with a true heart, full assurance of faith," and having God satisfied and ourselves cleansed. Then let us have hope. "Let us hold fast the profession of our hope." If your text has "faith," the best manuscripts have the word elpidos, which means hope, not faith. So, let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering, for He is faithful that promised.

 

Now, there are a lot of people who are going around confessing Christ, and the devil is willing to have people confess Christianity as long as they do not practice it. There are a lot of people going around saying, "I believe. I confess Christ is Lord,"  but, you see, there isn’t anything there. And they say that they believe. So, here He says, "Let us hold fast the profession of our hope." Hold on. That’s real evidence that you’re on the human side of eternal security. The Bible teaches that if we belong to God, He holds us. Look, even though we are secure by the power of God, that doesn’t mean that we can just do anything we want to do. There are a lot of Christians, doing just as they did before Christ, thinking, I'm saved, so what. There’s a sense in which there’s a human responsibility to our security, too. I believe a true and genuine believer will hold fast to the confession of hope. That’s what He’s saying. Faith and hope.

 

Now, we come to love. In verse 24 he says, "and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." Keep in mind, that the Jewish readers were having a hard time breaking with the old covenant.They were still holding on to legalism and all this other stuff, and they were still wanting to go back to the temple and go back to the priests and back to the sacrifice, and it was so hard to make the break. Verse 25, "Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together," and be there provoking each other to love and good works. I believe that this is an admonition to Christians today as well. We need to be here. There are many people in our midst who are on the edge of a commitment to Jesus Christ, and you and me, need to be here working with them and loving them, in order that they might come all the way to Christ because some of them are making some pretty big breaks in their life.

 

"Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is." Apparently, some were just falling out of the assembly and going back to the old Judaism. He is saying "Don’t do that, but get together and exhort one another, encourage one another, and so much more, as you see the day approaching."  I believe he is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. In other words, your whole system’s coming to an end anyway. But more than that, he's talking about the coming of Jesus Christ. Stimulate each other to godliness, and don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together. That's the point.

 

In Closing..

 

I have often heard a number of Christians who have said, "Well, I am already saved, I don't need to go to church." or "It really doesn't matter if I miss church here and there, its no big deal." People have a thousand reasons or should I say excuses for why they do not attend church more regularly. We need each other, we need to be together in fellowship with each other because we mutually strengthen each other, and we encourage each other to remain steadfast. This is the human side of security, encouraging one another, holding each accountable. And we show the validity of our faith by abiding in God's Word.

The writer is saying very simply, we can’t over complicate his words, he’s simply saying, "Come on. The door is open. Believe God. Enter His presence. Stay there. And commune as believers." That’s a positive response to the new covenant.

 

There is amazing power in an encouraging word. You and I have the power to change a life with a kind and encouraging word. The fact is that encouragement is a part of our Christian responsibility. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.

 

May it be so..

 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

 

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