[0:00] Hebrews chapter 10, we're in Hebrews chapter 10 starting in verse 19 and going to the end of the chapter which will be verse 39. Hebrews 10 verses 19 through 39. If you have been with us, you know that we're just making our way through the book of Hebrews.
[0:14] We've been making our way through the book of Hebrews and the author of the book of Hebrews is doing one thing and he's doing it exceedingly well. And that is he is showing that Jesus Christ is greater. And you say greater than what? Yes, greater than everything.
[0:26] And everything that anyone could ever put out there, he is exemplifying and really putting out there over and over and over again that Christ is greater. In particular, he is writing to the Hebrew people. And that is very important to us because of all people in all the world, the Hebrew people had a higher estimation and a higher esteem for the true God than anyone else.
[0:47] And they really with all of their desire, but we need to be careful how we read the Old Testament and then how we kind of cast judgment to the best of their ability. They were seeking to please Yahweh or God and wanting with all of their being to be faithful and to be drawn into God's presence.
[1:05] This was not something that came to them easily. I've said this before, that if we open up the Old Testament and we see God choosing Abram out of the land of the Ur-Chaldeans and it makes a nation out of them called the nation of Israel or the Hebrew people.
[1:17] And then they ended up with all these problems. They ended up with a lot of mistakes and a lot of failures. But then there are these two captivities. There's the Egyptian captivity, which they did not choose. It was cast upon them, right?
[1:29] And then God redeemed them through the book of Exodus. And then there's the Babylonian captivity. And I tend to focus a little more on the Babylonian captivity because while knowing historically, open up your Old Testament and see how many times the Exodus event is referenced.
[1:43] While knowing historically the deliverance of God, they chose willingly to rebel against Him and to worship multitude of gods. Therefore, God brought judgment upon them in the Babylonian captivity.
[1:56] So there's this, this all comes together in just a moment, okay? There is this reality that they went into the Babylonian captivity very polytheistic, worshiping a multitude of gods.
[2:07] They came out of the Babylonian captivity. You read it in your Bible and you can read it in historical works. The most monotheistic people group that have ever lived on the face of the earth.
[2:19] God did what He was going to do in 70 years, right? He purged them of their idolatry and He called them to monotheism, focusing on the one true God. Now they were trying to the best of their abilities.
[2:29] This is the audience that the author of Hebrews is writing to. And they were putting forward their best efforts. And man at his best, the author is saying, but Jesus is better.
[2:42] Jesus is better. So the question that resonates on why I say it is very important that we understand who He's writing to. Because none of us were brought up in that culture really by the sweat of our brow and the work of our hands and the slaughter of our animals trying to appease a holy God.
[2:59] It's just a reality, right? And if they needed Jesus in the midst of all that, how much more so us, right? And then the author of Hebrews spends chapter 7, 8, 9, and the first half of chapter 10, speaking of the great high priesthood of Jesus Christ.
[3:18] That Jesus is not just a high priest. He is the great high priest. The only one in scripture ever referenced as a great high priest because He is the only great high priest. And He's not according to Aaron.
[3:30] He's according to this mysterious figure, Melchizedek. He has the great high priesthood of Melchizedek. Now, just trying to get you caught up because this is the application part. The high priest position or the high priest reasoning was He was to stand before a holy God and literally put a hand upon holy God and stand before sinful man and put a hand upon sinful man.
[3:54] He was to be the bridge between God's holiness and man's sinfulness. He was to represent sinful man before a holy God and He was to display holy God before sinful man.
[4:04] He is the man that Job cried out for. Oh, I wish that there were an umpire who can put his hand upon both of us. That is important. The Bible is not happenstance. The Bible does not speak really kind of flippantly.
[4:16] The Bible is very clear in a way of its order. Job is the oldest book in the Bible. I know it is not found in the very front of your Bible, but it is the oldest book written in scripture. And the oldest book written in scripture, Job cries out, Oh, I wish that there were a man.
[4:32] And Hebrews tells us Jesus is that man. And now, because of that, we get to where we're at. He took that amount of time, really the whole center of the book of Hebrews, speaking of the fact that Jesus is that man.
[4:49] And we have this saying around here that knowledge without application is useful or useless information. Right? Knowledge without application is useless information.
[5:01] If it doesn't lead us to do something, then really what good is it for us to have? So he spent so long talking about the high priesthood of Jesus Christ.
[5:14] And he's about to make a transition and say, I'm not just telling you this so you know some cool facts. Right? I'm not just telling you this so you can go, Oh, that's pretty neat. I'm telling you this because there's an expectation of something happening.
[5:26] So if you are physically able and desire to do so, will you join with me as we stand together and we read the word of God in Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 19 to the end of the chapter.
[5:36] Therefore, because of everything that has been said in chapter 7, 8, 9, and the first half of 10. 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.
[5:54] And since we have a great high priest or 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.
[6:12] 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.
[6:23] For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.
[6:35] Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severe punishment do you think he would deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace?
[6:52] For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
[7:03] But remember the former days when after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.
[7:14] For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
[7:27] For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.
[7:38] But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
[7:53] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. And Lord, we thank you as we have heard your word, we can come in confidence, knowing that you're going to speak to each one of us individually, and you'll speak to us as a body corporately.
[8:06] So Lord, our declaration is, O God, speak. Lord, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, a mind to understand, but Lord, more importantly, give us a life that is willing to live it out.
[8:19] For your glory and yours alone, and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I want you to see this morning, as we have made our transition into the therefore passage, which is really rooted in everything which the author has just said.
[8:32] It has taken us a number of sermons to get to this point. It only took him a moment to write it out. This is a letter that would have been read at one sitting, and therefore these thoughts, and these feelings, and these statements would be fresh in their mind.
[8:44] That is why every time we come together, I again reiterate what is going on in the book of Hebrews. Because there is this jeopardy, or this danger, if you will, for us to take the text, which we are looking at in particular, and to possibly pull it out of context, and therefore cause it to say something, which it may not actually say, or not give it the force in which the author was intending for it to say.
[9:06] They would have read this, therefore, in direct connection with the things which we have talked about in the previous weeks. And since he is moving with this, this is his call.
[9:16] And I want you to see this morning, the call to choose. The call to choose. Because starting from this point on, the author is dealing with this one thing. Enough has been said about the facts and the realities.
[9:28] Enough has been stated about the fact that Jesus is better. Enough has been stated to clearly exemplify before all people, especially the Hebrew people, that Jesus has completely fulfilled every Old Testament picture.
[9:39] And he has more than fulfilled it. He has exceeded it. And he is greater than anything that everyone has ever trusted in. Therefore, the time has come to make a choice. And that call is given very clearly in this passage.
[9:53] As a matter of fact, we'll see it. You will choose one way or another. And he takes the chapters which are after this. We know Hebrews chapter 11 is the heroes of the faith chapter. Well, he is there showing us the faith that does not shrink back.
[10:07] As chapter 10 ends in, we have a faith which will not shrink back. Well, what does a faith that does not shrink back look like? You know what it looks like? It looks like leaving your homeland. It looks like offering up your only son on the altar, expecting God to bring him back.
[10:20] It looks like being willing to suffer with the Jewish people instead of being exalted with the Egyptian people. It looks like in some of Hebrews chapter 11 being sawn in two. It literally means they took a saw and they cut them in half, right?
[10:33] It looks radical. That's what it looks like. And that's the whole reason Hebrews 11 is there. It says, show us what genuine actual faith looks like. And in Hebrews chapter 12 is there to remind us that that faith does not only look, that faith has an audience.
[10:46] That audience is there in heaven. And in Hebrews 13, it says, well, you have this faith, you know, heaven is looking and you have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed. Therefore, press on. So we see Hebrews 10.
[10:58] And I know I'm speaking fast. And I know some of you say he's throwing a lot of information out there. All of Hebrews hinges on Hebrews 10, 19 through 39. Because you are either stuck in the things that come before it, still going back and forth between two opinions, or you move forward.
[11:16] And what comes after it, willing to suffer, willing to die, willing to be persecuted, willing to shed your blood, willing to give up everything, because the things that were stated prior to this are true, or you just don't know yet.
[11:30] But one thing you cannot do with the book of Hebrews is to remain neutral. It is an impossibility. You can't do it.
[11:42] As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say, one thing you cannot do with the Bible is to remain neutral. Jesus himself said neutrality is despicable to him.
[11:55] He said, I would rather you be hot or cold, because if you're neutral or lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth. It makes me sick.
[12:06] I like hot coffee. I love hot coffee. As a matter of fact, I really like hot coffee. I could have another cup of hot coffee right now. I'm beginning to like cold coffee, because I have a teenage daughter who thinks it's the cool thing to do, and I don't know why people do that.
[12:20] Don't hate me for that, okay? I'm trying to learn. But what I don't like is a cup of coffee that's been sitting on the counter, and I go to pick it up. I don't like the way my wife drinks coffee. She says she's too busy to drink it while it's hot, and she doesn't have time, but we don't need to get cold, so she just drinks it as it is.
[12:34] At that time, it's just more important to have the caffeine than it is the coffee, right? Just stick an IV in me and give me caffeine that way. I'd be much better off than drinking it lukewarm, right? But we understand this. This is that reality that Jesus says.
[12:45] There is no room for neutrality. But in the book of Hebrews, I love it because you can't go through the book of Hebrews without coming to this section. And when you come to this section, the call is issued.
[12:57] You must choose. You say, well, it was written to the Hebrew people, right? But God so ordained that it would be included in the canon of Scripture and therefore read by the people of God from generations on.
[13:08] And while it has one intended audience, it also is addressed to us. Has application and truth that sets for us. So there is this call to choose. And you will fall in the camp between one of two places.
[13:19] And I'll kind of break it down for you, and I'll make it as quick as I can. You will either choose through redemption, you will choose through rejection, or you will come to the place of just needing a little bit more reassurance, right?
[13:30] The reassurance is for the redeemed. It is not for the rejecter, okay? So there's the redemption, the rejection, and then as a result of that redemption, there is the reassurance because we all need to be prodded on and pushed on a little bit more each and every day.
[13:45] We start where the text starts, and that is the choice of redemption. It is sitting here, and it says, therefore, because these things are true, really because of who Jesus is. I don't know if you've realized this when you read the book of Hebrews.
[13:58] No longer does he ever discuss who Jesus is compared to everyone else. That point is settled. If he is greater than the high priest who was seen as being the greatest man on the face of the earth as a representative of the Holy God, if he is therefore that much greater than him, there's not even any comparison, right?
[14:17] He's greater than Abraham. He's greater than Moses. He's greater than Aaron. He's greater than the high priest. He's greater than everyone. And now, all of a sudden, we have to make a choice. He says, since he is greater, therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.
[14:34] Here is the first invitation. It is an invitation of redemption. And the first invitation is extended this way. Go into the holy place. Because of who Jesus is, because of all that he has done, because of the price that he has paid, because he has inaugurated what says here, a new and living way through his veil, that is the flesh that was torn and ripped and cast out.
[15:04] Listen, the veil in the temple was torn, right? Did you ever notice that the veil in the temple was never removed? God didn't remove the veil. He tore the veil. He didn't take it down because the blood of the flesh of Jesus is torn.
[15:18] It wasn't cast aside and removed. It was torn. It was split for us. His side was pierced. The blood came out because he has inaugurated through the veil of his flesh.
[15:28] And we have such a great high priest. I love this. Over the house of God, therefore let us draw near. The call is this. Run into the presence of God.
[15:39] Go into the very place that one man, one time a year, one day a year, for a very brief moment, would ever hope to go into. And the call that is being issued for all people is run into the presence of God based upon who Jesus is.
[15:55] Now that is a very bold and audacious call. Because if we rightly understand who God is and the holiness of God, and if we come to the greater understanding that sin cannot dwell in the presence of God, and if we come to the reality that everywhere we find man seeing a manifestation of God in the Bible, they always do one thing.
[16:13] They fall on their face and they usually say, woe is me. Right? Think about it. Every Old Testament example where there's a manifestation of God, man does one thing. Falls on his face. And the reason he falls on his face is because he realizes at that moment, I have no right being here.
[16:28] What the author of Hebrews is not doing, he is not calling you to come into God's presence crawling and begging and hoping you are accepted. He is calling you to run into God's presence knowing that through Jesus Christ, you are accepted.
[16:42] He is calling you to come through the blood of Christ. He is calling you not saying, oh, woe is me, woe is me. You're to run into God's presence saying, great is he, great is he. Because the reality, my friend, is it has nothing to do with me.
[16:56] It has nothing to do with you. The invitation of redemption is get over yourself. I know that sounds hard. I know that sounds harsh. And it's probably not going to make me very popular sitting around my table at home.
[17:08] But the reality is this. It is get over yourself. Quit looking at yourself. Quit looking at your failures. Quit looking at your mistakes. Quit looking at your faults. Start looking at God's holiness. Start looking at God's son.
[17:19] Look at the veil and run into the presence of God, it says, with confidence. Confidence. Because if you go into God's presence, humbly, if you go into God's presence with trembling and fear, what you're saying is, God, I don't know if the price Jesus paid is good enough.
[17:33] You ever thought about that? If I'm scared to go into God's presence, I'm probably saying, I don't know if what he did on the cross is good enough for me. He says, be confident.
[17:45] When you understand who he is, when you understand how great a price he paid, when you understand the high priest you have, when you know who it is, you know, right?
[17:56] When you know who it is, it has given you the invitation to come. When you know who it is, it's sitting at the right hand of the father. Listen, you're no longer saying, I don't know if I'm invited.
[18:06] You know you're invited. At my house, there are people who come and they come flying down my driveway. They come booking down my driveway. Usually the people that drive fastest down my driveway know they have an invitation to come whenever they want to.
[18:19] Our driveway is about 1,600 feet long, right? So you can't really see our house. You got to know where you're going when you come down our driveway. Some do it just out of curiosity. Most of the time when they crest that first hill, then they turn around because they realize I didn't mean to come here.
[18:33] Others, they just book right past that first hill and there's cloud dust flying. And at that point, I realize it's either one of my kids or it's somebody that knows they have a right to be here because they know who lives here, right?
[18:45] It is those people who kind of break checking all the way down. Those are the ones that make me go outside and meet them. Those are the ones that make me want to go outside and stand between my German shepherd and my Anatolian shepherd.
[18:55] And I don't call the dogs by name. I just let them go sniff them out a little bit. It are those that I might not know them and they for sure don't know me. Then we got to talk about it for just a moment, right? See, there was a gentleman who came the other day.
[19:07] I didn't know him. He didn't know me. He pulled up. He was supposed to be there. I just didn't know he was coming. He was a repairman. We had to come to fix a piece of furniture we had.
[19:18] And he didn't tell me he was coming. He didn't call ahead, right? So the truck pulls up. I let the dogs go. They were standing one on one side, one on the other. He said, can I get out? I said, I don't know. He said, Mr. Calvert.
[19:29] I said, you can get out. When he knows my name, he now has an invitation. He said, Mr. Calvert, I'm here for... I said, come on. So I said, lady, come here. Ace, come here.
[19:39] They came out. I said, now you can get out. Why? Because he knew who lived there. See, you can go confidently into the presence of God because you know who lives there. You know who it is that is at his right hand.
[19:52] And he didn't have to tell me his name. He just told me my name. See the difference? I don't run into God's presence going, it's Billy Joe. It's Billy Joe. It's Billy Joe. I run into God's presence saying, it's Jesus.
[20:04] It's Jesus. It's Jesus. And I run there with confidence. Hearts being purified. Hearts being cleansed. Life of full assurance. Look at this. Here is the invitation to redemption.
[20:15] To get over myself and to run in the presence of God based upon who is there at the right hand of God. But it doesn't stop there. Because the redeemed has been given another invitation.
[20:27] It says, let us hold fast. That is, just because you go there once doesn't mean you get over it, right? Let us hold fast. That is, hold on to this confession because you know that he who is promised is faithful.
[20:41] Hey, on your best days, he's faithful. On your worst days, he's faithful. On the days when it all falls apart, he's faithful. On the days when it all seems to work out, he's faithful. And again, it's based upon him.
[20:53] It is holding fast to that confession. The confession I made in my moment of brokenness will be the same confession I make in my moment of redemption. It is based upon Jesus. Now let's bring that invitation a little bit closer to home.
[21:06] Let's see if we can't let it offend us a little bit. It says, if you have access into God's presence, and if you know that he who is there is faithful, the next invitation is, and let us.
[21:17] Notice it does not say, let me just stop right here. It doesn't say let the pastor. Okay? It says let us. The pastor's included in that.
[21:30] But it includes all of us. Us is a big word. Just two letters, but it's a big word. Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.
[21:46] You know that word stimulate is only used one other time in all of scripture. And what that word stimulate means, consider how you may pride to the best of your ability, and consider how you may to the best of your ability encourage other believers to love and to do good deeds.
[22:06] That doesn't mean feed the hungry and clothe the naked only. The good deeds here to do the work of the kingdom. I want to ask you a question. We redeemed? Amen. We get to go into the presence?
[22:17] All right. We know he's faithful. Great. But how long have we spent considering this past week how we may prod someone on to do something good? How much time have we spent considering who can I encourage to love someone who's unlovable?
[22:33] Who can I encourage and to stimulate to do maybe what they don't want to do but they should do because it's good? See, that's when the church all of a sudden becomes the church.
[22:47] And the church starts looking real. And we see in the book of Acts people were added daily based on what they this is repetitious phrase in the book of Acts people were added daily based upon what they saw and heard.
[23:09] What they saw the people doing and what they heard on proclaiming. You know why I'm doing this? You know why I'm doing that? Jesus is greater. You know why I'm doing this? You know why I'm doing that? Because Jesus is greater.
[23:19] And it all became about Jesus. And all of a sudden they were stimulating one another. They were pushing one another on. I mean all we have to do is read about Barnabas the son of encouragement. I mean Barnabas I read it this morning right in the book of Acts.
[23:32] Some of you reading that Bible plan. I mean Barnabas was invited to go to Antioch and I know I'm going long and I'm probably just going to stop at this first point right? We won't even get to the second half or the third half we'll get there later. You said third half there is no third halves.
[23:43] I know some of you are pretty you know it's alright. I understand. But it's okay. Barnabas the son of encouragement. Think of the invitation Barnabas got. Hey Barnabas is a group of people. I mean they come into Christ out there in Antioch in droves.
[23:56] I mean people respond in Barnabas. So Barnabas we're going to send you up there to Antioch and to see what you can do. Think about that. Barnabas got the invitation of a pastor's lifetime. The very first place they were called Christians was in Antioch.
[24:09] They were referred to as Christ-like. Think about that. This is a mega church. It's growing. It's in the city. It will be the missional hub for the early church. Missions will spring out of Antioch.
[24:19] And Barnabas got the invitation to go and the disciple. You know what Barnabas did? Barnabas went to Tarsus and found Saul. He went and found someone else.
[24:31] And it says so Barnabas went and got Saul and encouraged Saul to come back and do some good work and to love them. Barnabas could have stayed there on his own but he didn't.
[24:43] This past week I had to take a road trip. Right? I had to take a road trip. I didn't really like it. I used to take these road trips on my own and my wife looked at me and she said you can't do that no more.
[24:57] You're getting old. I don't know if that was an encouragement. She said you're not as young as you used to be. She said you'll fall asleep. I hadn't been asleep. So I called a couple brothers and said hey anybody want to go? First one I called he said I'd love to.
[25:08] I can't. I called another one. I said would you go? I'm with you. I'm there. Now my natural tendency is to say I got it. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. Because I won't put anybody else out.
[25:19] I'm thankful for the word that my wife gave me and I'm thankful. I spent 12 hours with no sleep. Actually I spent about 30 something hours with no sleep. But the brother that was maybe had no sleep at all either. So you have some great conversations with a pastor when nobody's had any sleep.
[25:33] Right? It was great. I said you know the pastor probably more than most people. That means I always tell everybody as far as everybody else is concerned. I'm just a normal everyday person. Right? When I don't have sleep and I'm getting calls and things are going a little delusional but I encouraged and I'm so thankful I did.
[25:52] Here's the question. It says let us. Let us. It's not a one way street. Right? Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near and I will stop right here because I think the passage calls us to here it is.
[26:10] Why should we respond to the invitation of redemption and why should that response give us such confidence to go into the presence of God and why should that response I'm in his presence and man I want everybody else to be in his presence as well.
[26:25] Why should I simulate those around me to walk in faithfulness and love and good deeds? Why should I call them to do things maybe they don't even want to do? Why should I get involved in this messy thing called discipleship and why should I put people around me?
[26:39] This is why the author says he's coming back all the more as you see the day approaching. The reality of the return of Jesus Christ is the motivation to respond to the invitation he gives us.
[26:57] He's coming back. You say oh that was written 2,000 years ago. You're right. One thing you find with the Bible authors they really believed in the imminent return of Christ.
[27:13] Imminent is a word that means it can happen at any moment. They really believed in the imminent return of Christ. Why? Because Jesus said I'm coming back and they took him literally. He said it I believe it I'm going to live like it's happening and I don't think it's a bad thing to live your whole life like Jesus is coming back and to die and it didn't happen yet.
[27:29] I mean I just don't see that as a bad thing right? Because the moment you die the Bible says you're in his presence and you're like Lord I live like you is coming and he's like well you came to me before I came to you we'll go get your body soon alright? 1 Corinthians 15 you'll see that later but what we see here is if they believe in the imminent return of Christ 2,000 years ago shouldn't we see the church believe in it more so today?
[27:54] It just makes sense right? So the question is I want to be prepared but I want you to be prepared too I want to love you so much I don't want you stumbling and falling and walking in doubt when he does come if I really believe he's coming it's not about me I'm secure in Christ I want to stimulate and encourage and prod and poke and at times push people to do love and good deeds and I want all of us to do it all of us we'll stop right there God I thank you I thank you for your word I thank you for this day but God I thank you more importantly for your work Lord we pray that the reality of who Christ is is absolutely life changing and life transforming
[28:58] Lord we pray that we would be able to run confidently into your presence Lord the rest of this message is remaining upon me realizing there may be some here who never really rushed into the presence of God so may they get over themselves may they see who you are not who they are and may the confidence that is gained in the work of Christ overcome every stumbling in the work of self we ask it all in Jesus name Amen so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in so come in
[30:03] Thank you.
[30:33] Thank you.