Dear congregation, in our studies in the book of Hebrews, we are approaching a turning point. In the preceding chapters, the author of the Hebrews has been paving a pathway for us. He has shown us that Jesus is the one who opened a pathway back to God, back even to heaven, as a trailblazer, as it were. The glories of God's salvation through Jesus Christ has been shown to us in many different ways. And in the chapters ahead, he's going to switch to something more practical, something that he's going to bring, as it were, the doctrines, the glory of the gospel close to your and my life. In the chapters ahead, he's going to focus on three things, faith, hope, and love. Faith, in chapter 11. Hope, in chapter 12. And love, in chapter 13. And not surprising, in tonight's verses, we see each one of them coming back, actually. Each of these is calling us to come closer to God. Each of these are ways in which God calls us to a life of worship in His very presence. We hope to consider these two things, these things in these verses, Hebrews 10, verse 19 through 25, in two times, because there's too much to consider for one service. Hebrews 10, verse 19 through 25 is our text. And this time, we consider Jesus' better way to God, sermon number one. And first of all, we look at, enter in with boldness. We look at verses 19 and 20. Then draw near with faith, verses 21 and 22. And then next week, Lord willing, hold fast with hope and stir up with love, verses 24-25. So, tonight then, Jesus' better way to God. Enter in with boldness. Verse 19 is a conclusion. It starts with these simple words, having therefore. It's always good to ask ourselves the question, when we hear that word therefore, when you're reading your own Bible as well, what is the therefore therefore? that therefore tells us, now you have heard all this. On the basis of this, this is how you are to think or act or respond. So this word, therefore, is telling us of all the many ways, is looking back, as it were, of all the many ways in which we have considered that Jesus is better. that Jesus is better than the prophets, than the angels we've seen, and Moses, and Aaron, and Abraham, and Melchizedek, and the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Jesus came to fulfill every shadow last week, and type, everything pointed in the Old Testament. We need a better Savior. We need the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus is then also that one who opens the way into God's very own presence, as we hope to see more about tonight. Having therefore brethren, the author of the Hebrews is saying, I'm one of your brothers. He's not standing aloof like, I will tell you what to do. No, no, no. He's coming standing next to you. Brothers, if we are in Christ by faith, then we are brothers and sisters. He's coming standing next to you. Then you belong to the family of God. Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest. Now, that must have come as a great shock to the original heeders. We? Boldness? Confidence? To enter into the tabernacle or the temple, the holy place, the place where God has pictured heaven, where he has his throne, and then with confidence? Coming to a holy God who hates sin with confidence? How is that possible? God is a consuming fire. You think, you know your Old Testament, Aaron and the sons of Aaron, they try to come with, as we've heard in our study this week, in the study about the holiness of God, The sons of Aaron came into the most holy place and they were struck dead because they didn't come according to the rules that God had appointed in Leviticus. And so there was also King Uzziah later in the Old Testament. He wanted to do the work of a priest and God struck him with leprosy, a sickness he had to the end of his life. All to say God is just, God is holy, we cannot just simply enter into His presence. And then this says, therefore having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place, into God's own presence, enter into holy. That was the task only of the high priest. We've heard it last week, once a year. How can normal people? ever get to that place where the high priest only was allowed to come. That is something I don't understand, they might have said when this letter was written and preached. You know, actually, some people actually believe that after Aaron's sons were killed there in that holy place when they didn't obey God and didn't come the way, that after that, we don't know if that's true, but after that, they... had this little robe or this long robe that they tied around the foot of every high priest, that when they would go into the holy place and God, for some reason, would struck them and kill them on the spot, that they at least would have a way to retrieve them out of the holy place. Now, we don't find that in the Bible. It's something that people have probably made up, but it shows us something, doesn't it? Instead of boldness, instead of confidence, people, even the high priests, would go very carefully. Have I done everything according to the rules of God? Am I careful in approaching God? So if that's the way, I need to do this and that and the other thing and this rule and that rule. If that's the way we are to approach God, how can the writer then call us sinners, unholy, to come close and do the work of the high priest? Come into the most holy place, into the holiest of all, where only Only the high priest was allowed to come, and not even every common priest was welcome. The throne room of God, the presence of the Holy One, the one who tells us in chapter 12, I'm a consuming fire. How can we enter with boldness? Why? The answer has been given earlier and given here as well. We have a high priest, better than the high priest in the Old Testament. His name is Jesus. He's not only the high priest, he's the sacrifice. He paved this way before us. He ascended not just in the holiest, in the tabernacle, he ascended in the holiest of heaven for us. And there He shows His sacrifice that He's done on the cross to His Father. There He makes intercession for sinners who come to Him, to God through Him. And He represents them before the throne of God. Therefore, we can have boldness, because He perfectly fulfills laws of God, how to approach God, the will of God for us, His sacrifice, His promises. Now, the only reason why you and I, as sinners, can come close and in the presence of God, in the throne room of the Holy God, who must consume us because of our sins, with boldness. Yes, with boldness. Did you hear that? Boldness. What is that? It means that you and I have a reason to enter into God's presence with confidence, and we can open our heart to Him, everything that bothers us. Our sins, our troubles, our trials, our joys, our thanksgiving, praise and worship, adoration, everything. We may bring it all to the Lord. That's the word boldness. It has this speak openly what's in your heart. Bring every need that you have. That's what this is saying. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that you have a very confident feeling. I'm going with confidence in myself. No. We come with humility because we realize we are sinners. We are not worthy to enter into God's presence. And yet, God says to us, we should come with complete openness and boldness. And he gives us, through faith in Jesus Christ, a God-given right to come into the most holy place to worship him. Because our text says this, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, what he shed on the cross. You see, so often we look for confidence and look at our lives. Is our life this and is our life that? And it's good to look at ourselves at times, but we need to look to the blood. We look outside of ourselves. That blood that is more powerful, last week we heard, more powerful than any animal that in the Old Testament was sacrificed. God sees the blood. He accepts sinners who are full of sin, who have nothing to stand upon, but who plead the blood. And so we can come with openness and boldness. Maybe you remember from Egypt, when the Passover was and the Exodus, what did God say? There needed to be blood on the doorposts of the house. And God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. You see, sometimes we don't see it ourselves even, that we trust in the blood of Jesus Christ. We tremble, we look inside, and we look at all the circumstances, but God needs to see it. And if He sees it, He will pass over. And He does see it. It says something wonderful about this blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 20. Listen to this, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us." God invites us into his holy throne room. He says, come closer. I've got a way paved for you, right to my throne. Year after year, priests would sacrifice an uncountable number of sacrifices. We heard slaughtered, And nothing of that could do it. And here God says, I have a better way, a new way. Here's a new way to God. Rather than all those Old Testament sacrifices, it's the blood of Jesus. Maybe you remember that story from Abram when he had to put those pieces on, cut them and put them and then there was this path of blood and then God and Abram was expecting to walk through together. But no, God only went through. It's that path of blood, as it were. To say, someone else has suffered on my behalf, and someone else is going to keep the covenant, the rules that we cannot keep in our own strength. It's new. Beautiful word here, very precious. You know what I mean? 30 years approximately after Christ had hanged on the cross, 30 years after when this letter to the Hebrews was written, the author to the Hebrews is saying to you and me, it's still new, it's literally freshly slaughtered. The blood of Jesus Christ is still warm. The Lord sees it. It never grows cold. It never grows old. It is full of power to forgive sin. There's a new way to come close to God in the blood of Jesus Christ. This is glorious. And this is a living way. You may enter boldly into the throne of God because this is a living world where every sacrificed animal was slaughtered and remained dead. Blood dried up. Or, if it was on the altar, it was ashes. Let Jesus hang on the cross. He hanged on the cross, He went into the grave, but He came back from the dead. He is the Living One, and therefore it's better. How precious! Think about that verse in Revelation. When John looks into heaven, he sees Jesus Christ. How does he see him? He says in Revelation 5, verse 6, And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb. That's Jesus. Now, how did he see that lamb? As a lamb as it had been slain, slaughtered. Jesus Christ on the cross. in heaven, still visible as the lamb that had been slain. He's the living one. He's the risen conqueror. He conquered death. He's conquered sin. He conquered hell. He has this living way for us. He's the living lamb. The living sacrifice. at God's right hand, and therefore we can have boldness. Because their blood is so powerful that it is, as it were, still warm, yes, it's living in Jesus Christ. And so, if you know Jesus Christ, we can come with boldness. It's a consecrated way. Verse 20, which he has consecrated for us through the veil that is, to say, his flesh. Last week we heard about his body that was prepared, right? So here it says there's this way, a way that is consecrated, set apart, how? Through the veil. And the veil then is his flesh, his body. So when we come to the cross, what do we see? We see Christ hang as that Lamb of God. And His body is ripped apart, as it were. His body is ripped from His soul. He dies a real death on the place of sinners who need to hang there because of our sins. He endures the wrath of God. His body, the veil, is rent, as it were, in death. But there's another veil that is rent. Do you remember? At that very moment, we read in the Gospels that something happened that had never happened before. There is these veils in the tabernacle, in the temple, that said, stay out of here. God is holy only once a year, only according to the law. That thick veil that barred us out of the presence of God. When Christ cried out, it is finished. What do we see? God rips that veil from top to bottom and says, all those other sacrifices are worthless. Here is that one consecrated way into my presence. It was Jesus Christ on the cross. He finished it. And with that open veil and that body of Christ that was as it were ripped apart, God says, all those Old Testament sacrifices are worthless. Here is a sacrifice I am pleased with. Here is the real thing. Here is the real Savior. Here is Christ. And the veil is opened up. You know, the Old Testament priests in the Old Testament, they would go in careful, as we saw, and they would go in year by year, and they would sprinkle the blood, and they would come back in the vill, and the vill dropped down year after year, and said, stop, stay out of here. But now, look, here's what Christ has done. In His death and in His resurrection, He destroys the vill. He opens up heaven. the throne room of God, the holiest of all, and sinners may come and draw near to God through Him, through His blood, through His body, through His death, through His resurrection. He is alive. This is a consecrated way. Walk this way by faith. He is our righteousness. You know, the Old Testament temple and tabernacle, they all had to do with what happened in paradise. There in paradise, we had access to God unbridled. We were in his presence all the time. But sin, sin then kept us out of paradise. And God said, Adam, where are you? Tonight, he says it again. If you're a sinner here tonight, he says to you, Adam, where are you? Just a picture of the tabernacle for a moment. Where are you? Outside of the tabernacle? All the way outside? Outside of Jesus Christ? Maybe you stand before the tabernacle, and you see God is holy. Spotless white barriers saying, God is holy. I'm not. I'm a great sinner. I can't come in. Maybe that's how you think. Or do you come closer to the Lord into the courtyard and you see there the fire of God's wrath? Do you only see the fire, not what it does, not what it points to, the fire of God's wrath upon Christ? Do you see the fire and you say, it can be for me? Have you come closer? enter into the most holy place, we are called tonight. We have boldness to do so. Have you participated? Have you seen the Lamb of God? Have you laid your hands upon Him and confessed your sins? Then they are forgiven, when we trust in the blood of Jesus Christ. There was this altar that spoke of the cross of Christ, but then there was this laver that shows us that God can cleanse you. Pure water He can sprinkle upon you. Now you are clean, Jesus said, through the word that I have spoken unto you. But tonight we are not to stop there, not to stand outside. Not to come only to the altar and look at Christ's sacrifice and look at Christ's perfect life in our place when He sprinkles that upon us by His Holy Spirit. No, we are invited to come into that holy place, that first part of the tabernacle. Those veils are now open. The way is open. What did we see in the tabernacle? We saw a light, a light shining, a candlestick with oil. That is the light of the Lord teaching us, the Holy Spirit, God's favor shining upon you because of Christ. We hear his word. He teaches us. We see a table of showbread. that shows God cares for you. There's a rim around that table, and there's breads, 12 breads, showing the people of God in form, laid up before God, and God shines upon them, and there's a rim around, they can't fall out. God keeps you. He provides for you. In the sacraments, it points us to that. And God says, no, no, no, don't stay there. That's wonderful. Teaching, provision, light. Come closer. Come close and kneel at that altar of incense where you can pray and pour out your heart before Him. And your prayers are ignited with a call from the altar back behind you. And so your prayers are rising as incense into the presence of God. And your prayers are heard and they are poured out in blessings. God hears prayer. as you lean upon Christ, who prays for you as the great intercessor, whose prayers and blood cleanses your prayers. Come closer, the Lord says tonight. But don't stop there. You know, the holiest of all, that veil is rent in two. Come into that most holy place. What did we see there? We saw the Ark of the Covenant. The law was in there, and angels were covering their faces, as it were, and there was a blood that was the footstool of God's throne, God far greater, and He only puts His feet there. And there, in the presence of God, you may come, a most holy place, What do we do there? We cannot but bow before Him and say, Lord, here am I. I trust in the blood. I surrender my life. And you worship Him with joy and with adoration, and you pray that that law that was there in the Ark of the Covenant would be written on your heart. You rejoice with trembling. You kiss the Son. You enter into His presence with thanksgiving and joy. You trust the promises that he will give a new heart, a new relationship. He promises to remember your sins no more. Enter in, into this presence of the Lord. Andrew Murray puts it like this, it's a call to all lukewarm and half-hearted Christians no longer to remain in the outer court of the tabernacle, content with the hope that their sins are pardoned. nor even to be satisfied with having entered into the holy place and there doing service of the tabernacle, while the veil still hinders the full fellowship with the living God and His love. You are called to enter in through the rent veil into the place into which the blood has been brought and where the high priest lives. There to live and walk and work always in the presence of the Father. This is a call to all doubting and thirsting believers who long for a better life than they have yet known. To cast aside their doubts and to believe that this is what Christ has indeed done and brought within the reach of each one of them. He has opened the way into the holiest. He has accomplished salvation. which he lives, and which he lives to apply to each one of us by faith, so that we shall indeed dwell in the full light of God's countenance." God is saying, come closer. Where are you? Are you standing afar off, filled with doubts and fears, thinking, God must cast me out because of my sins. He won't receive me. Or are you still thinking, I need to somehow patch up my life before I can come? Or are you afraid of God? Or are you angry, perhaps, with God with some things that happened in your life, and you don't want to come closer to this God that treated you so badly? God says tonight, no, no, no, come closer. But maybe you say, I don't know how. Well, that brings us to our second thought. Draw near in faith. Come closer, draw near. How? Listen to verse 20. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near. We have a high priest. You look to Jesus. As you look to Jesus and all that he has accomplished, then you can come closer. Having a high priest, a great one, a better one, the Christ, that should give you confidence. There's no priest like him. He's wonderful. He's glorious. He is God himself. He is seated on the throne, but he's also very tender. Very sympathetic. We've heard it. He can bridge that chasm between God, holy, and us sinners, filthy. And he loves to hear the prayers of those who are needy. He's sympathetic. He can sympathize with our weaknesses and with our sufferings. He can support us. When he hears our cries, he runs to our support. We've heard that. That great high priest, because of that high priest, let us now draw near. In faith, draw near, this word really means like a priest, come closer. Just what a priest did all the way in the temple. Because that's what happens when we are made alive by faith in Jesus Christ and our trust is in Jesus Christ. You have been given a new identity. A priestly identity. Let me quote from Revelation 1. We hear it every Sunday night. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Now, this is what follows. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, Here's the identity. And made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let us draw near. An open invitation. When we have been made alive and our faith and trust is in Christ alone. You've been given this new identity. You may come. You may come close. The Bible tells us that we are then worshipping priests. We serve Him. We are made priests that show the world how good it is to serve the Lord. And we present our bodies a living sacrifice. Here I am, Lord. I want to serve You. We do that by faith. Is there something that holds you back tonight? Is there something else that you're focusing on? Not what Christ has done, but on your own sins, and I'm not good enough, too sinful. Come close. How? Through the blood. Let the blood bring you near. Let Christ bring you near. Come in faith. Faith in Jesus Christ. Faith that brings us near. Listen to this verse in Romans 5, verse 1. Therefore, being justified by faith. If your faith is in Jesus Christ, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access. There you have it again. Access. Come near. Access by faith into the grace wherein we stand. We have a new standing. We have a new identity. And rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. You see, faith justifies it, gives us the right to come, gives us peace with God, brings us closer, and gives us access, gives us a new standing, gives us joy. Paul puts it in Ephesians 2 verse 13 like this, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who were far off, standing outside, Through Jesus, our maiden and I are brought close by the blood of Christ. If your trust is in the blood of Christ, you need to come closer. God is inviting you closer tonight. Andrew Murray says it like this, understand how the father's heart longs that his children draw near to his blood, in boldly, sorry. He gave the blood of his son to secure it. Let us honor God and honor the blood by entering the holiest with great boldness. And maybe some struggle still. What are the qualifications? What are the qualifications? The priests needed to be holy priests. What are the qualifications in the New Testament? Verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart full of assurance of faith. In full assurance of faith, I should say. A true heart. It's not a sinless heart, but an honest heart. an honest heart, a heart that God will give. A new heart I will give to you and a new spirit I will put within you. I will take away the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh, a sincere heart, an open heart. Nothing is hidden, completely open with God. That's a true heart. A heart that says, Lord, search me and know me and see if there's any wicked thing and take it out of my heart. A heart that says, I want no lies in my life. I want the truth that sets free. I want no hypocrisy. I hate all double-mindedness. Lord, give me a true heart, a single-minded heart. And see, the more we have that, the more we will be assured of faith. Is it speaking about your heart? A soft heart, sincere heart, single-minded heart? Then praise God. Praise God if that's your heart tonight. If you are enjoying the freedom and the privileges of knowing God and worshiping Him in His presence. But if you say it's not, well, don't despair. He can still give that. He promises to give it. Confess your sin. Confess your heartness. Ask Him to change your heart. to give you this soft heart, a true heart. And he can give it, ask him to do it, through his spirit. And with full assurance of faith. Maybe someone says, well, I don't have that. So how can I come closer? Well, look outside yourself. We are to live looking to Jesus again and again. The Bible tells us that without faith, it's impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God, draws near to God, must believe that He is and is a rewarder for those that diligently seek Him. So are you looking to Christ? Are you looking for Him for the reward? Are you looking for Him to do what you cannot do for yourself? Are you looking outside of yourself? Are you looking to the cross of Christ? Look and look more and look more deeply till it takes your whole being and your whole life and gives you assurance that it's also for you. You see, sometimes we think, well, how do we gain assurance of faith? And some people think, well, it's a feeling. I must have a certain feeling. Well, let me ask you, what feeling are you looking for? Butterflies? Tingling? Joy? Can you tell me what assurance feels like? The Bible doesn't tell us. We need faith. Faith looks outside of ourselves. Maybe you say, well, I need assurance and I need a sinless life. No, no, no. You need to come with all your sin and be honest about it and trust in the blood of Jesus Christ alone. Because if you say, I need a sinless life, then you're still trusting something in yourself needs to change. It's not going to happen. Do you think you need a revelation from above? Something like a thunder clap or so, or something? And then I know for sure. Jesus said, no sign will be given unto you than the sign of Jonah. He said that in the Gospels for those who were asking for signs. And you know what that meant? Jesus was saying, just like Jonah was three nights in the well, so I was three days and three nights in death itself, in the heart of the earth. So it talks about his death and resurrection. That's the sign. That's what we need to believe. That should be sufficient. Do we want a voice from heaven? Well, there's one in Hebrews that says, today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart. That's the voice from heaven speaking to you right now, through His Word, through His Spirit. Those are not the things that we need to gain assurance with, a feeling, or a sinless life, or a revelation, or a voice from heaven. God talks to us through His Word. It says, draw near. Trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. Now this priest needed to do all kinds of things to draw near. What are we to do? Well, verse 22, let us draw near, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and the bodies washed with pure water. That's what we need. How can our hearts be sprinkled? How can our hearts be washed with pure water? Well, we need to go back again, back up a little bit. The altar. The laver. What does it mean? The altar talks about the blood of Jesus Christ that was sprinkled after the sacrifice. And the laver was the water that cleansed the priest so that he could go into the holy place. That's what it's talking about. So what is it talking about? Justification, sanctification. Justified by faith, sanctified by the perfect life of Jesus Christ. And notice, it says here, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now, I'm going to give you some grammar here. It's perfect passive. Perfect, it's done to us. Passive, it happened in the past, it's accomplished, finished in the past, and it has ongoing effects and benefits in our lives. So what are we talking about again? Again about the blood of Jesus Christ, again about the perfect life of Jesus Christ that is applied to us as we look to Him in faith. That sprinkles us, that cleanses us, that makes us ready, so that this way is again paved for us. It's done to us, and for us, and in us, by faith. And so we are ready to go into that most holy place, forgiven, cleansed, sanctified, and boldly, because of Christ. And therefore it can say tonight, with full assurance, Well, let me close with this. We've heard the invitation, enter in, draw near. Are you entering in? Have you drawn near? Are you coming closer? Are you trusting in the work of Christ alone? Are you seeing now that all that is needed for salvation is ready and finished in Christ? Come for the first time. Come for the thousandth time. Don't stay far. Even when you have sinned, look to the cross and your heart will be cleansed. Come with a heart that is open. that doesn't hide anything, a heart that trusts in His forgiveness. And you will experience what the Bible says in the glorious gospel of John, All that the Father has given me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. I will accept those who are drawn by the cross to come close into my presence. I will favor, I will accept. And the more we live by such faith in the blood of Jesus Christ alone, the more hope and love will flourish in our lives. And we hope to see that next week, Lord willing. May the Lord bless His Word. Amen.