Hebrews chapter 10. We’ll start in verse 19. This is what the Word of the Lord says.

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and a 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.

The book of Hebrews, we don’t really know who wrote it. Some people speculate that Paul wrote it, I guess based on linguistic styles and things like that, but it doesn’t have a signature. It doesn’t have a most letter. We know that the Gospel of Matthew is written by Matthew because on the original it says the Gospel according to Matthew, or the letter of the Ephesians from Paul. It’s signed. It has a signature on it, but Hebrews doesn’t. But I think we can rest assured that it is God’s Word just because of the qualities that it holds. It’s true. It’s without error.

And so this letter was written to Hebrews. It was written to Jews who were Christians. They were following Christ, and they were being warned not to fall away from the new way that they had started following. He starts out the letter exalting Christ, comparing Him to everything else that God has done and saying, no one is like this. Which one of the angels has He said this to? Which one of this has He said that to? And he just elevates Jesus to a level that is incomparable to anyone else. And then he goes on to explain why they should not go back to the old covenant. Why the new covenant is now God’s way. And he was charging them. And calling them to remain faithful, remain steadfast in this new way. Because whether it be persecution from their fellow Jews, or maybe they just lacked faith. They were losing faith in Jesus. They wanted to go back to the old covenant. It was something that they could see, and it was what they were familiar with. And he warns them. He says, that way is passed on. It is of no value anymore. So hold fast here. And so that is what he is doing. And so all through the chapters he compares Christ to the Levitical priesthood. The priesthood under the old covenant. Not just anyone could go into the temple and bring the sacrifices and mediate on behalf of the people. It had to be a Levite, a tribe of Levi. And so anyone just couldn’t walk on in there and do their thing.

They had priests who would offer up sacrifices daily, continually. And then once a year the great high priest would go into what’s called the Holy of Holies. And he would atone for the people’s sin that they were unaware of. And that was a place that only he could go. He had to make a sacrifice for himself. Cleanse himself. It was a serious matter. It was a serious matter. To illustrate that point, in 1 Samuel, the ark of God, which symbolized God’s glory, his presence. That was God with his people. The ark contained the rod of Aaron. It contained the tablets that were given to Moses. It contained these things. And it represented God’s presence with his people. To sum it up. And so in 1 Samuel, the Philistines came and they battled against Israel and they took the ark. And so I guess it was just a funny thing or whatever, how we got your God. But what they didn’t realize is God doesn’t play like that. And so they kind of propped him up in, I can’t remember the city that the Philistines brought him to. But they propped him up there along with their gods. And God started inflicting them with boils. And he sent mice and rats to eat all their stuff. And after so long, people were dropping dead. And they were like, all right, we’ve got to get this thing out of here, right? This is serious. And so they put it on a cart and they send it on its way. And it goes back to Beth Shemesh. And there are some people in the fields harvesting. And the cart makes their way and they see it coming and they start rejoicing. The ark of God. God’s coming back, right? And lo and behold, there’s a variant there. So a lot of people decided to take a peek inside of the ark. And God struck them dead. And so the presence of God is not a light matter. The presence of God is not something to be handled willy-nilly.

Think about this. In 2 Samuel, the ark is coming back. And they’ve got this procession going and David’s there. And Uzzah, who was not a Levite, the ark was being carried on a cart, right, by the mules. And it starts to get bumpy on the road. And the cart’s going to fall off. He sticks out to catch it. And God struck him dead. He was not permitted to touch God. He was not permitted to get that close to what God had said that he couldn’t do. And so… How is it, then, that we come to Hebrews chapter 10 and we read what we just read? I just want to say that

Jesus, by his blood, has made a way for you and I to draw near to God.

And so he says this. He says, Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place, by the blood of Jesus. So, Jesus has made a way for us to come into the presence of God, to draw near with confidence. That doesn’t mean without consideration. It doesn’t mean just waltzing on in. It doesn’t mean without care. But it does mean with confidence. And the confidence is not in that I can come into God’s presence. It… It… The confidence is in the blood of Jesus.

Because it was a serious thing. In the temple, you had the first room, the first tent. There was a curtain there to block it off. You walk in there. That’s called the holy place. All the priests, most of the priests, they’re in there day by day offering up sacrifices and offerings. And it didn’t accomplish anything. It was only to be ceremonially… It was only to be cleansed. It was only to be unstained in the sense that you’re observing the law. And so, it couldn’t cleanse your conscience. It couldn’t truly make you right with God. And then, beyond that room, there was another veil. And that was the holy of holies. That was the place where God was. And there is where the blood must be brought. To atone for the sins of the people, ultimately. And it was just a picture. It was a picture to show the Jews. So, the law comes after Abraham, right? Abraham gets the promise. Abraham, Abraham, and everyone after him up until Moses. They’re of faith, right? They’re believing in God. They’re looking forward. In Hebrews 11, it says, They saw Christ from afar off. They saw Him. And so, there were people before… Before the law, and even during the time of the law, that knew it was really Christ. They knew that this is only a shadow. This isn’t really the sum and substance of what’s going on. It says that the Spirit was making it clear to them that there was something more. There was something else. Because, otherwise, why would you have to keep going in and offering sacrifice day, and day out. But Jesus, by His blood, He entered into that holy place. He made atonement once and for all for the sins of His people, never to be done again. It was sufficient. As Chris said earlier, the work on the cross was sufficient. It accomplished something. It did away with it. It satisfied God’s wrath, God’s opposition to us because we were unclean and unfit to be in His presence. So Jesus entered in and He brings us into the presence of God. He gives us access to God. And so when we as Christians who have learned of Jesus and we continue to learn of Him, what He’s done for us, what He’s accomplished, and we timidly learn of Him, we continue to learn of Him. We continue to learn of Him. We continue to Well, I don’t know, I did this the other day and I did that, ashamed of our sin or ashamed of this. When we don’t boldly come into the presence of God, it’s saying something about what we believe about the blood of Jesus.

If I don’t boldly come in, I don’t truly understand what the blood did. The blood washed away my sin. It atoned for it. It satisfied the wrath of God. So for the Christian, we come confidently into the holy place, into the presence of God. He made this way through his flesh. That veil that separated everyone except for the high priest, it separated God from the people. Jesus is that veil. We come into the holy place. We come into the holy place through that veil, through his flesh that he offered up on the cross. There’s no longer any separation with God and his people because Jesus is the new mediator. Jesus is the new high priest. And he’s not a high priest from the tribe of Levi. He comes from the tribe of Judah. So he’s not a priest in the order of the law. He’s not a priest according to the law that Moses received. It says that he’s a priest. He’s not a priest according to Melchizedek. He has no beginning. He has no end. He’s a different type of priest. He’s the ultimate priest. And so Jesus lives forever to make intercession for us. He’ll never stop. And so when you sin, when you wake up in the morning, you come boldly to God. When you want to come and thank him. When you want to come into his presence. When you want to come into his presence and offer up a sacrifice or offer him praise. You come boldly because you know the blood of Jesus is sufficient. The blood of Jesus has granted you access into the presence of God. It’s not to be taken lightly, again.

But it does do that.

It says, It says, It says, It says, And so Jesus has granted us access to come confidently. And we should come convinced. I don’t come thinking maybe I should be here or maybe Jesus really died for my sins. I come with full assurance of faith. I’m certain of those things that I can’t necessarily see. I’m convinced. Paul says in Romans 8, he says, I’m persuaded. Nothing’s going to change my mind. That’s it. I’m coming. Jesus has granted me access to come convinced. I’m persuaded by the evidence here. I’m persuaded by the evidence around me.

So come convinced. And again,

it’s not something that you come to lightly. It says to have your heart sprinkled clean. So I’m coming convinced that Jesus has so washed me and cleansed me and purged my conscience and my mind and my heart, my hands from all the wicked things that I do and think and say. And I’m coming convinced of that. I don’t think that he washed some of me. I don’t think that he washed most of me. He washed all of me. And that’s what I must be to come into the presence of God. I must be fully and wholly washed clean. I come with my body’s washed with pure water. Water is oftentimes used to symbolize the Holy Spirit. And what he does, he’s washed our bodies. The Spirit has transformed us in a way that we’re no longer like the old man. And so I’m convinced of that. I can see that in my own. I can see that in my own life. I can see that my heart has changed. I have different desires. I have different passions. I’ve been renewed and changed by the Holy Spirit. And so I come with my conscience being cleared. The guilt of sin has been removed from me. And I come knowing that my body has been washed with water. The Spirit. I’ve been baptized into the Spirit.

And so I come convinced of that. And he says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

Without wavering. You remember, I’ve brought this up a couple of times now. But the confession, it’s not that I speak of Jesus some days and some days I don’t. It’s not that I say I believe some days and some days I don’t. The confession is… Both my mouth speaking something. My confession is that Christ is sufficient. My confession is that Jesus has paid it all for me. And for you to come to God. To make our request known. To make intercession on behalf of other people. To glorify Him. To worship Him. I confess that. But also my life confesses that. I can’t have a double tongue. I can’t let my mouth run off on one thing. And then my actions… Do something else. I have to hold fast to my confession of Christ. And so when I confess Christ, I’m denying self. I’m dying to self. And so I no longer live according to my wants and my desires. My passions. What I think I need or what I want. I don’t go on sinning just because I say I believe Christ. No, I let my hands and my body and my life demonstrate that. That I truly believe. And do it without wavering.

Don’t waver in your hope. It doesn’t matter what you see today. It doesn’t matter what you feel today. Our hope is anchored inside of that veil. It’s a sure thing. It’s a solid rock. Don’t waver in your hope.

Don’t let anything shake it. Don’t be a weed in the wind. Constantly remind yourself. Remind yourself of the hope that is in Christ.

Peter says we’ve been born again to a living hope.

And I can rest assured on that hope without wavering. Because God is faithful. God’s promises, if He’s promised it, it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. He’s true. His promises don’t fall away. Well, I know I said that. My bad. I’ll get to it tomorrow. No, everything that God has said, everything that God has promised, He’s faithful to see it through, to accomplish it. It says that all the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. And so, I don’t necessarily rely on my ability, to hold fast. I don’t rely on my ability to not waver. But I just rest on God’s constancy. I rest on God’s faithfulness. Because I know that He doesn’t change. He’s the same forever. So, if God has said that if you confess your sins, you confess Jesus that you’ll be saved, that is true. I’m going to hold on to that. If He says, if you confess your sins to me, I’ll wash you. Forgive you, as Mr. Chris read this morning. I’m going to hold on to that. If He says that Jesus will never leave nor forsake me, I’m going to hold on to that. I’m going to hold on to all those promises that you find in the Word. And let that be what keeps me. What keeps me from wavering.

The world,

it tries to pull you in numerous ways. It tries to pull you in numerous directions.

By inflicting things on you. Just today, if you read the news too much, you’re going to be tempted to waver in your hope. Whatever it is, whether it be the government, or in the Middle East, people persecuting Christians, whatever it is, it’s going to tempt you to come away from, from your steadfast confession of hope in Jesus. And don’t do that. Just rest on God and trust Him.

So draw near with confidence. Be convinced. And draw near in community.

At first glance, it seems that this is an odd turn from 23 to 24. He’s talking about Jesus in this new way that He’s inaugurated. He’s talking about, He’s talking about drawing near in faith, holding fast to your confession. And then let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

It seems like a weird turn, but the Christian faith is not about you and your personal relationship with Jesus. I think that’s a popular thing. And it is about whether you know Jesus or not. But that doesn’t give you, that doesn’t give you the license to, I’m going to just do church at home today. Or, you know, well, man, it’s about me. It’s about a relationship. It’s not about religion. Those are all like things that I hear a lot. And again, it is true. You must know Jesus personally. You must believe in Him to be saved. But it doesn’t stop there. You’re then brought, look up in verse 21. He’s a great priest over the house of God. He’s not just your personal priest. He’s a priest over a nation, over His church, over the household of God. And so you’re one among many. You’re a member of a body. You’re a member of a household. And again, we’ve talked about this a couple of times here recently, and it’s been on my heart. This is a great means of God keeping you from falling away from your confession, from wavering in your hope. I can’t do it by myself. If I walk out into the world every day solely relying on, well, I did my personal time with Jesus this morning and I’m good to go, I’m probably going to fall away. God has provided a means of keeping us because there are things that happen in the community of the church that don’t happen anywhere else. It can’t happen in isolation, just definitionally, because God has given the church gifts. He’s given the church people and personalities. And I know Richard, and Richard knows me. And whenever we confess our sins to one another and we spur one another on, that’s a means that God uses to bring us to finish the race well. That’s what God uses. We don’t forsake our assembling together. We don’t forsake our assembling together. We don’t fail to consider how to stir one another up. Again, I have to see you as someone who is of my household, of my family in Christ. You are my brother or my sister. I need to consider how to love you and how to stir you up when I see you walking around and something’s obviously burdening you. I need to press into that and ask, what’s wrong? How can I pray for you? How can I help you physically, monetarily, whatever it might be? Hey man, I see you’re lacking in serving the body. What is it that I can help you? Can I help you find your gift? Can I help you consider? That’s something I will confess right now. I don’t consider enough how to stir all of you up. I don’t consider enough how to specifically think about what I know about you and get to know you more and to spur you on.

I’m not saying I don’t at all, but I don’t enough.

If this truly is a means that God uses to protect the faith, to protect your faith and my faith, well, take it more serious. And so, I just wanted to challenge you and encourage you to make a point to consider how to do those things. How do you love one another? How do you do good deeds to one another? It’s going to accomplish something. It’s not going to be just to virtue signal to say, yeah, I did my good deed for the day or for some prideful gratification knowing that you did something good, but I’m helping you to make it into the presence of God ultimately and forever.

And all this, I think maybe the enemy knows that that’s a means of God with what he’s doing right now in our country. You’ve got churches that are saying we’re not going to meet again until the new year. You’ve got churches that are not condemning them for it. Whether they’re trying to be precautious or they’re scared or just taking advantage of doing some virtual learning or something. Whatever the reason is, I’m not the judge of that, but it’s obviously keeping us from gathering. It’s keeping us from getting together and serving one another, fellowship, loving one another. It’s a tactic of the enemy. I’m not going to sit here and just chalk it up to chance. I’m not going to chalk it up to just whatever you want to chalk it up to. It’s a tactic of the enemy because he knows that this is vital. I see people on Facebook talking all the time about how church is not essential. It’s the most essential thing that I can think of besides eating and drinking and staying alive. This is where I come into the presence of God. This is where I’m joined to the family of God. It’s nothing less than essential.

Then he says this, he says, Do it all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Whatever the day is, some believe that it was the Hebrews were going to face immediate persecution. They were facing some heated opposition because they had left the old covenant and they were following Jesus. Whether it was going to be a heated day, specifically regarding that, or it’s going to be the day of the Lord, I would say it’s going to be the day of the Lord when He comes back and He judges our deeds, good and bad.

All the more, meet together. All the more, gather with your brothers and sisters and love each other and remind each other of the gospel. Preach the gospel to one another. All the more, get together and pray together. Share a meal together over a table because it’s going to be there. It’s going to be that that helps you to endure all of those afflictions, all of those lies that come in and try to pull you away, try to destroy your faith. It’s going to be that table. It’s going to be those conversations. It’s going to be those interactions and those friendships. It’s going to be those good deeds that see to it, that we make it to the day. And then when you get to the day, you don’t want to be outside of the way that Jesus has made for us. Right? So Jesus, Jesus has made a way for us through His blood to draw near to God and it is the only way. So when you get to that day, if you haven’t been drawing near, if you haven’t been coming boldly into the presence of God, if you haven’t been convinced that Jesus is enough, that Jesus is the only way, if you haven’t been fellowshipping with the saints, if you haven’t been being sharpened by older men or women in the church, if you haven’t been sharpening your children or the younger kids in the church, if you haven’t been studying together, praying together, reminding one another of what really matters here, what the real way is, what the truth is, you’re not going to find yourself following the true way when that day comes. You’re going to fall away and you might not even realize it. But you’re going to be trusting in something else because you haven’t had anybody there to remind you or to say, hey, brother, I see you falling away. You’re drifting. Man, what’s going on? Nobody’s there to say that. And so now you’re your own guide. You have no shepherd. You have no community.

And that day,

that day will come for each and every one of us. Tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us.

Accidents happen all the time. People get sick.

Jesus may return this afternoon. I don’t know. But that day will come and everyone that’s appointed to you to die. Unless Jesus comes and transforms you.

But don’t fall into thinking that that day will never come. I think we all have an idea that we’re going to grow old. We’re going to pass away. But especially in our culture, we’re so distracted. There are so many things. We have modern medicine. We have Botox to make it look like you ain’t quite as old as you are. All these different things that distract you from that day. Maybe we should think about the day more. Right? We should think about how imminent it may be. Think about how real it is. It’s coming. The day is coming. For you. For your mom. For your dad. For your cousin. For the friend that you ain’t never shared the gospel with. For your neighbor that you ain’t never shared the gospel with. The day is coming. So live like you believe that. And you’re not going to be prepared for the day again. If you’re not drawing near to God through the blood of Jesus. I’m coming into the holy of holies. The holiest place that there is in the presence of God. The Spirit brings us in there. I’m coming in confidently because I know that Jesus is my great high priest. He is my mediator. And He lives to make intercession forever.

Whenever I come, I can come boldly because Jesus is there for me.

And I can come convinced because He’s washed me. My conscience is clean. If you’ve been reborn,

you know it. I don’t desire the things that I once desired. I don’t give in to the things that I once gave in to. I’m not saying you don’t slip and fall. I’m not saying you don’t sin. But you hate it when you do. It’s disgusting now. And I’m not saying that you don’t go against the Spirit. Our bodies, our flesh is warring against the Spirit in this. So it’s a battle. Maybe you lose sometimes. But overall, you constantly remind yourself of the promises of God and that they’re true. They’re yes and amen in Jesus. Just be saturated in the promises of God. Be convinced that no matter what I say or do or think or feel, I’m washed in Christ. I’m convinced of that. Persuaded. You’re not going to change my mind. I’m in Christ.

And meet with the church. Send some texts or something. Phone call. Have people over for dinner.

Come on Sundays and worship for sure. Show up on Bible study.

Let’s be friends. Let’s be… Scripture always says that there’s a friend that sticks closer than a brother. I think about my brother back in Louisiana growing up. We were pretty tight. And there’s… Apart from my wife and my kids, there’s probably no one that understands me more or knows me better. Better than him. Because we’re two peas in a pod. But there’s a friend that sticks closer than he does.

Let’s make those friends here in this church. And that’s how we’re going to endure. Because temptation is coming. It may already have come for you. I’m sure it has in many ways. But it’s coming some more. Persecution is coming to one degree or another. I don’t know what that looks like for us. Who knows? There is going to come something that is going to challenge seriously your faith.

The way that our country is going, I think, it’s going to reveal the real from the fake pretty quick. I think in the next handful of years, maybe. Maybe a little bit longer than that. I don’t know. But it’s going to be harder and harder to be a true Christian. Because you’re going to be cursed. You’re going to be… brought into court and all that for having Christian values. You’re going to be persecuted. And it’s going to show up whether you really believe or not.

And so if you’re not together in it, it’s impossible to stand. Because that’s what God has said. He didn’t say don’t assemble together for no reason. Don’t forget assembling for no reason. He didn’t just interject that in there. It’s because He does something in it, right? It’s the body. I’m a part of the household of God. I’m a member of the bride of Christ.

So again, Jesus has made a way through His blood for you to draw near to God.

Just keep drawing near.

Lord, I thank You for this day. I thank You for Your Word.

Lord, I pray that You would teach us. Pray that You would convince us. That You would keep us.

Draw us in, Lord, by Your Spirit. Pray that You would move us and spur us and usher us into Your presence. We could find rest and assurance. And pardon. That we would seek out our brothers and sisters and draw men with us. Lord,

we know that there’s a day coming when You’ll test all of our works.

Everything will be burnt up, Lord, if it’s not of You. I pray that we would be found faithful, Lord. We love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.