Sermon: Blood-Bought Belonging

Just take a copy of God's word this morning. We're gonna turn open to the book of Hebrews. If you didn't come in with a Bible, we'd encourage you to grab a Bible in front of you in the pew rack. You can turn right open to the page number, page 1007 there in the Pew Bible this morning. We're looking at Hebrews chapter 10

as we continue our way through that book. We're looking this morning at verses 19 through 23 of Hebrews, chapter

tens, chapter tens, 19 through 23. And let's pray before we open the word and ask for the Lord's blessing of it.

Speak to us. Oh Lord, we pray.

We know that you are good. So we have just sung Know that your word is good and we pray that as it goes forth this morning, as it is read, as it is preached, that it would have your good effect upon us.

Work in our midst, we pray by the power of your spirit. In Christ's name. Amen. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 23. This is the holy er, sufficient word of God. Therefore brothers, since we have confidence enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, By the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain. That is through his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart

and full assurance of faith with 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 though the grass withers and the flower fades, word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

The beginning this morning, I just want to show you in the text, I want you to look with me if you will. So we begin this section. If you look there in verse 22 and then verse 23, and then our passage of next week, verse 24 and following, you'll see the same phrase. Verse 22. Let us verse 23, let us, and then again in verse 24, let us and, and the three let us there are, let us draw near, let us hold fast. Let us stir up one another to love and to good works.

And we'll cover those first two this week. I'm gonna leave the third for next week 'cause I want to take time especially on that one. So this morning what we're just going to do is look at verses 19 through verse 23 here in Hebrews chapter 10. This launches a section and that's why I wanted you to see that this launches a section. We we've turned the corner in the book of Hebrews. He has given us the doctrine in the book of Hebrews,

and now he's going to give us the duty. He's, he's given us the precepts and now he's going to give us the applications. This is what we believe. Now this is what you are to do in light of what you believe and he gives that to us here starting in verse 19. This morning what I want to do is look at three points together, verse 19 through 21, our confidence, and then verse 22, I want to look at our privilege and then verse 23 are ex sortation.

So the first is our confidence, the second our privilege, and then third, our exoration from these verses. First our confidence verses 19 through 21. He begins with, therefore that is he is looking at everything that he has said for nine and a half chapters, all of this doctrine that I have given you. Therefore, in light of the, that, this and that leads him to say this, therefore everything that I've said have confidence. Have confidence.

He says to quote, enter the holy places. That is you and I are to have confidence to come into the presence of God.

Now, the writer has in mind is not where maybe our minds go we're you start to think, well he must be speaking about heaven, that we are to have confidence to enter into heaven. Know that that's not what he's speaking about here. An Old Testament saint was to have that kind of confidence. Whether you died in the Old Testament or whether you died this side of Christ, one who believes in God through the person of the Savior,

knew that they were going to be in the presence of God that was never in doubt, then it's not in doubt now, rather what he's speaking about is our entrance into the holy of Holies. The privilege we are being reminded of is that in the gospel age in the church, the entire church has free and unfettered access to enter into the very throne room of God that is in worship. You and I, the church, we have the privilege of coming into the very presence of

God himself. Now This is unique. You may not think about it. It's unique. This has not always been the case in the Old Testament, this was not the case for most Hardly Any ever were allowed into the presence of God in worship.

Think back, it was on that day of atonement that the high priest was allowed to go into the holy of holies and he alone was allowed to go in and he was only allowed to go in for a very brief time. Every other worshiper in Israel was, was kept at a distance. If you think of that great moment when Moses has led the nation of Israel out of Egypt and they're gathered before Mount Sinai, God will instruct Moses to tell the nation they're to set hedges around the

bottom of the mountain. None of them are to come near the mountain because when his glory cloud comes down upon that mountain, if any of them touch that mountain, they will Die. Only Moses was allowed to go up on that mountain. He alone. And the people were rightfully afraid.

It's different, different for us. He says, brothers, that's what he calls us brothers. We are to have confidence to enter.

He gives us two grounds for this confidence, the priesthood of Jesus and the blood of Jesus. Verse 21, we have a great high priest over the house of God in the holy of Holies, in heaven above we have a high priest. And the rite of Hebrews has always told us that high priest ever lives to intercede for us. He is always praying for us at the right hand of the Father in the holy of Holies above. So you and I in worship are ushered into that holy of holies above.

That's the picture. That's what's happening this morning. You're being lifted up into the holy of holies above. And there you have a priest. And it's because of the priesthood of Jesus that you are to come in confidence. That's not just the priesthood of Jesus. We also have the blood of Jesus. Verse 19. This is a reference to both Christ's life and to Christ's death on our behalf. By the blood of Jesus, we approach God with confidence.

What does the blood do? Why is it that you and I are to have confidence by the blood of Jesus to enter into the holy of Holies, into the very throne room of God? Well, it removes the offense between us and God, It at tones for us so that no longer does God have enmity towards those that are covered with the blood of Jesus. You are reconciled to him by the blood of Christ. And so you have peace with God. But it's also true that the blood

causes not only peace without with God, but it causes peace within, within ourselves. The guilt that would weigh our conscience down, make us fearful coming before him would inhibit our freedom that would make us shrink. Like Adam and Eve who after they had sinned, they, they hid themselves in the bushes shrinking from God because of the guilt of their sin. The blood of Christ removes the guilt of that sin peace within. So thus he says,

we are to boldly approach is thrown.

We've all experienced this where you have, you've sinned against somebody or you've done some injury to somebody and you just, you, you feel that weight of the guilt of sin and you, you see them coming down the hallway and you find yourself turning around and walking the opposite way. Or if you're going to walk by them, you don't give them eye contact.

One because you, You're afraid of the wrath that they may pour out upon you. Often more than that, it's the sense of guilt. But I, I did this to them

and and sometimes even when you've asked for somebody for forgiveness and you've apologized and you say, oh, would you please forgive me for this sin? You still find that when you're with them. It's just, it's just not quite right. When they talk to you, their eyes glaze over. They're always looking around at everything else but you,

there's just a uncomfortability. You are just not quite sure. Hmm, not sure they like me. I'm definitely not sure that they're for me. I don't know. That just gets a little awkward.

The writer of Hebrews is saying is you don't have that with God in Christ.

That's not there.

You have unfettered free access to God with confidence. We approach God covered by the blood of Christ,

the believer. This side of Christ has freedom and liberty. We could go even further and we could say that we have an inalienable right to come before God with confidence. No reason for trepidation, no shrinking fear. He, he's not reluctant when we come. He's not dismissive when we come. He's not disregarding when we come. He delights in us. He treasures us.

He Loves us. He's for us.

Approach with confidence.

Remember the first time that this was pressed home in my own mind,

I was in a congregation and we had just sung that glorious hymn and can it be one of the best of all time? I remember a pastor got up on the platform after we'd sung and can it be? And I remember him just asking and he said, do you know what you just sung? That's true. We we often sing. Maybe you were singing this morning and you're not thinking about what you're singing. And I realized, yeah, I I I don't know what I just sung.

And he quoted that great verse for man, can it be bold? I approach the eternal throne,

claim the crown Christ my own.

I remember when he said that.

I remember having an internal dialogue with myself. Claim the crown bold approach the throne What? Hubris. Obm. But right.

And I remember having that glorious thought

I have every right,

every right. Bold, bold to approach the throne.

Paul was saying Galatians, that that Christ came so that we might receive adoption as sons. And this is what he says. And because you are sons, God has spent sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying. Abba, father, you are his child. He is your father. He is sent his spirit to take up residence in you. Oh, but then you have to tie these two pastors together. Then in second Corinthians three, he does this. He says,

now the Lord is the spirit. That same spirit that's taken up residence in you now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom free, free to come, free to come boldly before his throne.

In fact, the author of Hebrews calls it in verse 20 that he calls it the new and living way new as opposed to the old living. And that it opens up life. It opens up life eternal with this God never to be shut again. The old has disappeared. In the Old Testament, when the priest would go in on the day of Atonement, when he would go into the holy of Holies, he would pass through that curtain that separated the holy place from the holy

of Holies. And as he passed through that curtain, as curtains do, when you pass through them, that curtain would then close. And when he was within, everyone else was barred without none were in but him. But as the writer of Hebrews has already told us, and as we know from the gospels on that day when Christ was upon the tree and he died, that atoning death for sinners, that curtain between the holy place and the holy of Holies,

it was torn from top to bottom.

But the writer of Hebrews says here, interestingly is a way was opened by the sacrifice by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain. That is through his flesh. Because his body was torn. God has been unveiled.

Way is open, it's open. And that curtain, it can't be closed any longer. It's been opened by the blood of Christ. And so you are to have confidence to enter in by the blood of Christ.

As Kent Hughes said, while arrogance can never be the Christian's way, confidence must mark his life. Confident, confidence.

Second, our privilege, Verse 22, he points out that we draw near having, it says, been cleansed. And he uses this language. He says, hearts, sprinkle clean, embodies wash with pure water. If you think back to the old covenant, blood was sprinkled upon the congregation outside the tent of meeting, and then blood was sprinkled upon the priest and then blood was sprinkled upon the mercy seat. And now we are told in this pastors that our hearts are sprinkled clean

by the blood of Christ. Now this is a side point, but this is one of the reasons that in the reformed Presbyterian tradition, we emphasize as the main mode of baptism, sprinkling and pouring. Because throughout the scriptures, cleansing was done by sprinkling. And baptism is a sign of sprinkling of this being, your heart, being sprinkled. Clean is a seal, the fact that your heart has been sprinkled clean. So we primarily sprinkle for that reason.

It's fulfilled in Christ.

The reference to washing the body here is probably a reference to the high priest as he would go into the tabernacle. There was a laver that he would consecrate himself with the water of that laver before he put on the the holy performance. And then he went into the holy of Holies. And he is most likely tying that to baptism here in which water is applied outwardly as a visible sign and a visible seal of the cleansing inward work of the spirit of Christ.

And he says this, this is our privilege. We get to draw near, he says, with a true heart and with full assurance of faith, a true heart, A heart that has been sprinkled clean. Or you'll remember just from our passage last week where he quotes from the new covenant and the new covenant promise that when the spirit comes, he is going to take our hearts of flesh and he is gonna make them new and give us new hearts and write His law upon our hearts.

We worship and privilege like none before us have ever worshiped.

Think about John four and meeting that Samaritan woman. And you remember they were discussing worship and and Jesus will say to her that God is now And in the future he's seeking worshipers. And what kind of worshipers He says, those who worship him now and continuing on must be those who worship him in spirit and in truth. Now, spirit there, he's not talking about the Holy Spirit. He's talking about rather our spirits,

that our spirits have been renewed, that they're refreshed in Christ. Now that only happens by the Holy Spirit, but it is our spirits being engaged in worship.

And that happens as we are renewed, that we're not simply going through the motions. We're not simply coming in here each Sunday and we're singing songs without thinking about it. We're bowing our heads in prayer, just kind of wandering while someone else is praying that we sit here for 20 minutes while the preacher, or 30 minutes, okay, maybe 45 minutes while the preacher is preaching and just going through the motions. I'd rather 'cause we have renewed hearts,

renewed spirits, we're engaged.

He gives us new hearts and new spirits. A true heart. He says we are to do so with full assurance of faith. This is not a reference to our subjective sense of assurance. Because if that was the fact, most of us, a lot of us would not have a lot of confidence in worship. That's not what he is referring to. That would take away confidence. No, he is rather speaking about our full confidence that Christ's sacrifice in Christ's mediation on our behalf is sufficient for us in worship.

That is that when you come in here, you know that you're weak, but Christ is strong. You know that you are a sinner, but you know that he is perfect. You know that your prayers are like filthy rags, but his are unstained and he's efficient.

So you come in here and you draw near with assurance.

You believe that Christ is enough. His death, his ministry on our behalf is enough.

This is so countercultural right now for our culture. One of the great lies of our culture is that you are what you desire.

And it is such a burden to put upon sinners. I mean just an incredible burden Because As Jeremiah says, the heart is deceitful above all else and desperately sick. And so you and I, we desire wrong things. We desire sinful and shameful things. And if I'm defined by what I desire, then if what I desire is sinful and shameful, then all of a sudden I am sinful and shameful. But that's not what the Christian message is. You and I are not defined by what we desire. We are defined by him,

by Christ, by my union with him, by belonging to him. And so by that full assurance of him being sufficient for a sinner like me that has a hard at times and at times deceitful and at times dark hard, I can boldly approach his throne 'cause he's sufficient full assurance of faith or confidence or privilege. And finally, our exhortation, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Again, remember the context. These Hebrew Christians are being tempted.

They're being tempted to run away from Christ because of the different onslaughts that they're facing in the culture of their time. And so he's reminding them, you, you have to keep confessing the hope that you once confessed. You have to keep holding fast to this confessed hope. Listen, every single one of us in this room needs to hear this.

Every single one of us that has confessed faith in Christ needs to hear this

so that you don't waver say, not me. Listen,

I've been a pastor for long enough

that it shouldn't shock me anymore. I allow it to shock me. 'cause I want to be shocked.

But that it shouldn't shock me anymore when those who have been the loudest proclaimers and seemingly the most committed to Christ,

no longer hold fast to Christ. I've seen it too many times.

They seem to be the paragon of faith and faithfulness.

Their child goes astray or they have a setback in the workplace, or they find that neighbor attractive. They stumble across the website that sucks them in

or they lose their finances

and all of a sudden they deny the one that they they best hope in.

You have to hold fast.

Never take that for granted.

I think of soldiers on the battlefield in history or different periods in history where you see this a number of times where there's a soldier on a battlefield and the enemy is strong. And so he stakes himself to the ground. He's not going to retreat. He may die, but he's not gonna retreat.

There've been, uh, videos going around this week on social media that I found entertaining. Uh, a number of, you've probably seen them where a wife or a girlfriend is asking her husband or significant other asking the man in her life. How often do you think about the Roman Empire? And women are shocked that we as men think about this. Some of us weekly, some of us daily. Uh, we think about it a lot. I got in a rutt this summer.

I I read I think five or six books on the Roman Empire this summer. I just, I gonna read more about Roman Legionaries. Uh, they're just cool. Uh,

you know, when you read, uh, different Roman generals, it is fascinating. They will often these Roman generals, they will cite Felicitas. They'll say that they experienced success on the battlefield because of Felicitas, which we would just translate that as luck. They believed that luck played a real role.

I read those accounts and I think what they often attributed to luck was simply confidence.

The Roman Legionnaire was confident. He knew that when that standard was held high and the eagle that was on that standard, that each Roman Legion had that when it was held high, he, he, he had confidence that they were going to win the battle.

And there was reason for that confidence because they could look back in history and they could see that when that eagle was held high time and again, they had defeated barbarians time and again, they defeated entire civilizations. They won.

The Christian looks back and sees him held high and says, there is victory. But We are much better in a much better, better place than the Roman Legion area because we don't just look forward with a kind of pollyannish hope. We aren't just kind of looking forward with wishful thinking, hoping that we're going to win the next.

We know, we know that he has won

and we know that we win.

We win.

If an army on the face of the earth ever knew that they win, no matter what apparent setbacks they see, they couldn't be deterred. You win

the Christian wins.

You hold steadfast your hope and you don't waver

fight on. And you'll notice here we have the great safety net of God's faithfulness under girding us. So rob ourselves of the confidence that we're supposed to have. John Owen, the great 17th century theologian said this. He said, there is not anything that the Lord is more troubled with us for, if I may say so, than our unbelieving fears that keep us from receiving that strong consolation, which he is so willing to give us.

The consolation, the peace, the hope, the confidence. He's Promised it, he's given it to us. It's yours, Christian. You just gotta press it home. You just have to hold fast to it. Now you notice the exhortation is he says, let us, that is, there's a corporate sense to this as he is saying that. And yet, even as we say that there's a corporate sense, let us, it's a plural. He's speaking to Christians as a whole. But you'll note that that's only possible as you and I do so individually,

you have to hold fast

in a very, very real sense.

This is not a, a corporate endeavor, even as it is, as we'll touch on next week. You need the church,

but you can't rely on me for this. I can't rely on you for this. I can't hold fast for you. You can't hold fast for me. Your mom and dad can't hold fast for you. Your spouse can't hold fast for you. You, You must hold fast.

In the Band of Brothers that, uh, book on the hundred first Airborne, there's a mini series that they did for television for it as well. You have these soldiers, American Soldiers, hunter First Airborne, they are getting ready to invade with D-Day. And the hundred and first Airborne is this division that is going to be dropped out of the skies in enemy territory, behind enemy lines. The United States has never done a paratrooper drop like this.

Not one of these soldiers has ever been in combat before. They're weighed down with all kinds of gear. And as they are flying at night through the air and they cross over the English channel and they enter into France, anti-aircraft fire is exploding everywhere around them. They're watching out the windows and out the open door. They're watching as other planes within their division are exploding and falling to the ground.

Their plane is being rattled back and forth,

and they have to get in that doorway. And they have to jump knowing that when they land, if they land with all the bullets flying through the air, if they land, they will, as one soldier said on their first airborne, be surrounded by enemies on every side. And They're 18 and they're 19. They're 20 year olds.

How do you do that?

One of the soldiers reflecting 50 years later said this. He Said, you have to prepare yourself mentally. Each man has to prepare himself mentally. In many ways, your fight is not a group exercise.

You Have to prepare yourself mentally. You,

You are one soldier, one battalion of one regiment and one division of this one army. It's much bigger than you and me, but an individual soldier on the field of battle as one you, you have to prepare yourself.

I grew up in the eighties. Some of you that grew up in the eighties, you were wasting your time watching My Little Pony and the Smurfs. Uh, I was not, I was watching GI Joe. Uh, so I was helping to save the world from Cobra command and shadow and mind bender. And, uh, at the end of every one of those episodes, they would equip us as soldiers on the battlefield. And they would give some moral lesson at the end of the episode

and they would always say the same thing.

And knowing is half the battle. And then every young boy would say, gee, I Joe,

hang in there. Megan

knowing's half the battle, knowing that as the writer says here, he who promised is faithful knowing that's half the battle. The other half is pressing at home. You have to hold on to it. John Owen said this. He said, the crucial work of the mind And the process of sanctification is the consistent consideration of God and his amazing grace. This does not mean considering God as an abstract metaphysical principle, rather the Christian meditates upon him and with him.

This distinction makes all the difference. It places the discussion within the framework of relationality rather than mere rationality. That is, knowing is half the battle, but it's not just simply thinking. It's Living. It's Living in that knowledge of knowing that my father, who I'm in relationship with, my father, who has made me his child, who has filled me with his spirit, my father who dwells in me by the spirit of a son who I'm

united with, everlastingly he has promised,

and now I can live in light of that promise.

It's relational. It's knowing.

He's not an abstract principle that I think upon. He is our father that I live with. So we have confidence.

He's so very faithful. So faithful.

I don't have confidence. I don't have confidence. The boldly approaches thrown in myself.

I'm weak. I'm a sinner even in Christ. I'm not the man that I'm supposed to be.

You see what he's pointing out here. Ha. But in Christ, you're to boldly approach the throne. And not just a moment, but time and time again. Why? Because you're welcome. Time and time again. It's, it's never disregard. It's never just, ah, here comes Jason again. No boldly approach his throne and enjoy our privilege of drawing there with a clean conscience and a true heart and a renewed spirit. And we have to hear the expectation to hold fast knowing he who

promised Is faithful. He's faithful, is, is yours. If you're in Christ, He's faithful,

Your blood bought, have confidence full fast. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for

your amazing grace.

You take such rtt sinners and make them sons such rebels, and you allow us to be worshipers of yours before your throne.

Thank you for giving us this grand privilege. Help us to hold fast when your faithfulness is undergirding us, and it's the soft net into which we get to fall into over and over again. That be true of every single one of us in this room. In Christ's holy name. Amen.