Good morning. Happy Youth Pastors Preaching Day. I've seen a number of memes of today, I guess, as Youth Pastors Preaching Day. And so I am thankful for the opportunity. I feel like it has been a while, as I've been able to share with y'all. And not because of lack of opportunity, but more just kind of the last couple months have been wild. And so, but I look forward to it this morning as our senior pastor Brian is gone. As you guys know already, today is New Year's Eve, the day that we eat all the candy, cakes, and pies in our house because tomorrow we start the diet. Gorge ourselves today because it's gonna be a new start tomorrow. Also the day that we stay up much later than we want to just simply to watch a ball that has way too many lights slowly go down and watch the clock hit midnight. But as we look at New Year's Eve, there's an anticipation for the new year. As we eagerly await for the new year to come, whether it's out of excitement, whether it's wanting a fresh start, or just simply ready for the old year to be over, and ready for the new year to come. We eagerly await for that clock to hit midnight. There's another time, as we just celebrated Christmas, Christmas Eve. There's also a level of anticipation on Christmas Eve, whether it's one of two things. One, as we wait for the birth of Christ on Christmas, whether it was actually the 25th of December or another day, as we celebrate the birth of Christ and anticipate the Messiah. as we celebrate that, or as it's a child, as you wait for that next morning and knowing of all the gifts that are gonna be under the tree to the point where you're so excited that you're not able to sleep. Some of you kids that are in here probably experienced that this past week of just waiting to wake up to see all the presents. My boys were very much that way for days, I can't wait. I can't wait, I can't wait. And then it became the day before, I can't wait for tomorrow. And so they were eagerly waiting, this anticipation. Or maybe there's a level of anticipation that comes maybe not on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, but a level of anticipation as we wait maybe for a new job, maybe for a vacation or your wedding or the birth of a child. There are many of us that are probably not morning people, But if it's the day that something exciting has happened, we're up out of bed so much faster than any other day. And there's this level of waiting and anticipation for something to come. As those that are mothers in this room, as you enter into the eighth month, there is an anticipation and excitedness for your your little one, maybe because you're eight months pregnant and you're ready for it to be over, but also a level of being able to hold your child as you wait for that day. But as we look in Scripture, the greatest anticipation comes in the promise of the Messiah in Genesis chapter 3, where salvation is found and the curse will be lifted. And so you think of thousands and thousands of years Generation after generation, waiting with eager anticipation for the Messiah. When will it happen? I don't know this for sure, but I imagine as each son is born, or each little one is born, that there's, is this the Messiah? Is this the Messiah? As they wait. And so we see this anticipation of the Messiah to come. We even see in the covenants, as we look at the covenants with Abraham and Adam and Moses and Noah and David in the new covenant, that there's this constant theme, this constant reminder, this constant reminder of the Messiah to come or the one to come, of I will be your God and you will be my people. If you look at that, there's not much choice in it. It's not maybe you will be, it says I will be your God and you will be my people. As we have just come off the Christmas season, we see the fulfillment of that through Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, the fulfillment of this promise that I will be your God and you will be my people. And so we see that Christ, that Jesus is the fulfillment of this thousand years of promise That He, literally, you cannot be any more with us than being here on earth. That through His life and His death and His resurrection, that that's where our hope is found. That God is with us and we are His people. So as we see this morning, that it's at the cross that our eager anticipation becomes our blessed assurance through the work of Christ. And so here in Hebrews 10, as we read here shortly, the author is going to show us the reason behind our assurance and how we can draw near to the Lord. So let's read Hebrews 10, verses 19 to 25. It says this, it says, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to draw near, or have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he had 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. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is in the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day drawing near. Let me pray for us. Lord, we are thankful for this morning to open up your word, and as we just sang that great is your faithfulness, or that we have wandering hearts, And one reminds that often fade away in our focus on many other things and that we are unfaithful. So that we worship a God that is faithful, that keeps his promises. Lord, I pray that you'd be with us this morning that we can see of your mercy and grace. In your name I pray, amen. Often at the beginning of the year, we make resolutions. I don't know if any of you guys have plans for that. I always have plans, I don't know if I follow through with them. But I have plans or resolutions of things that I want to change or things that you want to change or not change. This actually has been going on, these resolutions have been going on for over 4,000 years. Started with the Babylonians as they were the first group to kind of bring in the new year. Other people, of course, had a calendar and had a new year. but they were the first ones to really celebrate it. And one thing that they would do is they would have resolutions of things that were done for their gods to look favorably upon them. Resolutions of things that they could do for their gods to look favorably upon them. But as we look at our passage this morning, that my challenge for us as believers is slightly different than that. Not a matter of resolutions of things that we can do for God to look on us, That it's not about making resolutions to God, but looking to God who is purposeful and unwavering. See, the word resolute means that. It means doing something that is purposeful and unwavering. And so as Christians, we are to do just that, not in our own accord, but to look to the Lord because he is purposeful and unwavering. A matter of keeping our eyes fixed on Christ. who as we have just seen in this passage is the assurance of our faith. And so as we go into the new year, I have four things that we're gonna look at from this passage. Four ways of keeping our eyes fixed on the cross in 2024. I think as believers, this is of the most importance in terms of our resolutions, our way of being resolute, is to look to the Lord. things that are not based on our works, but are rooted in the unwavering finished work of Christ. Our first thing that we see from this passage, a reminder of things to look forward to or to look to in 2024, a way of keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord, is to have confidence. Within this very first verse, verse 19, there are kind of three ways, it's kind of built into the text, three ways that we see this. three things that the believer now possesses in Christ. The first one we get from it, and if you have a different translation, it might not say confidence, it might say boldness instead, that we are to have a boldness. As believers, we're to have a boldness. Well, what are we to have a boldness in? Well, actually, we only have to go one verse back, in verse 17 and 18. where it says, as he quotes Jeremiah 31, he says, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. And in verse 18, where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. He's got to the point, as the author of Hebrews is writing here, that he has kind of laid out why Christ is better. That's the theme as I've kind of slowly been working through, even slower than Pastor Brian with the book of Luke. I have been working through the book of Hebrews. And so I, we've seen in the other passages of this theme of that Christ is better. And so here in this verse, he's kind of taking that next step. There's that therefore, therefore means to connect to what he's already said, Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. So what are we to have boldness in? Are we to have boldness in the work of Christ? But it goes even further than this. We have to have not only an understanding here of what the author of Hebrews is saying, but what everybody else has said so far in the Old Testament. We need to understand the old ways, the old covenant, that we need to look back at Israel and the old sacrificial system. See, the idea of someone entering in the holy of holies other than the high priest would be shocking to a first century Jew. This was not something that happened. So as we see here in this text, therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter into the holy places, that is a shocking statement. For us, we have the whole word of God, and so we kind of have a deeper understanding, but for a first century Jew, This is something that's so out of the picture. Only the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies and would only do so once a year. One time a year to make sacrifices for the people. But not only would they enter in once a year, they did so timidly. You probably have heard before as they tied a rope around his ankle, not knowing if he would be struck dead as he went into the presence of God, that they could draw his body back out because nobody else would want to go in and get him out. Of going in to the Holy of Holies timidly, would he be considered clean in the presence of God? There's a level of uncertainty there because it's based on them following the standard that God had set. a sinner in himself, in the high priest, would he be considered clean in the presence of God? So as the author of Hebrews says in verse 19, that we are to enter in with a boldness, to enter into the presence of God. See, because the boldness here that the author is talking about is not a boldness in our own works, in our own abilities, It's not in our ways of following the law and to make ourselves clean. But the boldness here comes from and comes by the blood of Christ. I also see that when the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies, that he did so by the blood of animal sacrifices. And that he was only sace as long as he followed these detailed instructions. And that under the new covenant that's promised in Jeremiah 31, that everything is different. That we need to be confident that God is for us and that we can stand in his presence. Not because I've checked off all the boxes. Not because I'm wearing all the right garments. Not because I've said all the right things. That we stand in confidence because we don't go in alone. We don't go in alone because we are in Christ and whose blood guarantees our salvation and our acceptance. It's not off our works. One theologian says it like this, he says, our boldness therefore derives from our understanding of what Christ has achieved. For his blood bought people and from our faith and the perfection of his offering. See, our confidence, our boldness is not achieved by looking inward to ourselves, but outward to Christ, that our confidence lies in another, in the Son of God. And so we have confidence because there's this boldness, but we also have confidence because of a certain access. The scripture there in verse, 20 says, by a new and living way. A new and living way. Well, it's new because it differs from the way that people came to God under the old covenant. With the priest coming to the tabernacle with dead and ultimately ineffective sacrifices. That it's a new way. We see that in Romans 5 verse 2. It says, through him we have also obtained access by faith. and to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And it says there, through him, it's meaning Christ, it means the work of Christ, that through him, through Christ, we have now obtained access, not by works, not by good deeds, not by following the law, but by faith in the finished work of Christ. And so it's new in the fact that it's different But it's also living because our way is through Christ. That no one comes to the Father except through Christ. These words are often words that we use in the sense of new people coming to know the Lord. That no one comes to the Father except through Christ. But this statement equally applies to the believer. It's not as a way of Christ is the gatekeeper. Christ doesn't show us the way and or open the way and show us the direction we should go, but that Christ is the way. Christ is the way. That through his life, death and resurrection is where our hope is found. And so as we see here also in verse 20, as it continues on, a new and living. It says access, but it also says through his veil that is his flesh. John Calvin says it like this, it says his flesh conceals like a veil the majesty of God. It's a very short quote, but there's a lot to it. We could probably just unpack that for the next 30 minutes. but it reminds us of the price that Christ has paid to secure our freedom, that our relationship with the Lord can be restored because of the work of Christ. Each time that we take the Lord's Supper, each time that we take communion, we're reminded of just this. We're reminded of the work of Christ as we drink of the wine and eat of the bread, that we are reminded of the price that Christ had paid on the cross, that his blood was shed for us. That it is through his flesh that the veil we even see in the passage, the veil is torn, that it is through Christ that now that relationship with God that was severed because of our sin, Because our disobedience is now restored because of what Christ has done on the cross. That our access to God was made possible only by the finished work of Christ. And so it's through Christ that we have our boldness and this access, that he also is our great high priest. That our boldness and access must be traced back to the person and work of Christ. That Christ alone is our means and right of access to the Father. And so as we enter into the new year, there's this level of confidence that we have, not to boast of our own works or our own good deeds, but to have a boldness in the work of Christ. As we go into the new year uncertain of what things will look like, that we know one thing will never change, and that is the God that we worship. We know one thing that's always certain, and that is the finished work of Christ. And so that's where our boldness is found. The second thing that we can look to this coming up year is to draw near. The author begins this section a matter of having confidence, And he's telling us that we should not be fearful of coming to the Lord. And he says not only that we shouldn't be fearful, but that we should draw to the Lord. We should draw near. Not only that we can, but that we should. We have the opportunity to now because of what Christ has done for us, but that we should draw near. And so we have this boldness because of the finished work of Christ that we are to draw near to the Lord. He's telling us that we need to do that. That we need to be more than hearers, but doers of God's good word, or God's word. That we are meant to live by God's word. I think of the word drawing near, it means to get close to something. To come close to something. That we are to approach the living God because of what Christ has done. with reverence and awe, recognizing his glory and honor. One way that we see that in this text is it says that we are to draw near with true heart and faith. True heart and faith. Whoever the author of Hebrews is, he knew his Old Testament very well. As he's writing here, we see of this true heart and faith as it connects back to the heart obedience that we see in Jeremiah 31, of the new covenant. In Jeremiah 31, 33, it says, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. We see it even again, I think it's in Deuteronomy 30, as the Lord is talking with Moses. It's kind of fascinating. I recently wrote a paper on this, and I'm not going to be able to find it. Maybe I will. They're in verse six, chapter 30, verse six. And it says, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring. What's interesting is the connection, right? Because as Moses is writing this, as he's given this from the Lord, they're going back and thinking about the covenant with Abraham, a matter of circumcision. I will circumcise your heart. And then now we see in the new covenant, as Jeremiah is writing, right? He says, I will put the law within them. and I will write it on their hearts. And so you see kind of this kind of theme, right? You see the covenant that's given to Abraham, and then you see here in Deuteronomy 30 is Moses makes reference back to circumcision that was given to Abraham, and then as Jeremiah's writing in chapter 31, he's making reference back to the covenant with Moses and the law that was given to him. And so we see this inwardness, right? The old covenant was a matter of an outwardness, of sacrifices of the high priest, whereas there's now this new inwardness that comes from the new covenant. That those that draw near with true hearts should anticipate a gracious reception. That those that know the Lord should come expecting this gracious reception. that those that come to the Lord should expect God's grace, as we've seen it from the beginning to now, this scarlet thread that is weaved through all of scripture, from there even in Genesis 3, as they are kicked out of the garden and God kills an animal and they are clothed to cover their shame, to cover their sin, they are clothed for the shedding of blood of this animal. So then we see with Abraham and Moses this scarlet thread that weaves through all of scripture of I will be your God and you will be my people. Of seeing God's grace, those that draw near. That any less of this would be doubting the sufficiency of Christ's work. Is Christ's work enough that by the work of Christ that we, the believer, have been made clean? Hebrews 9, 14 says, how much more would the blood of Christ, who though the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, to purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? How much more will the blood of Christ How much more will the work of the Son of God cover our sins? That by the atoning and finished work of Christ that we have been made fit clean, or we have been made fit clean for his presence so that we can hold and should draw near to the Lord. Now the passage we see this is in Zechariah 3. Zechariah, a prophet, is given this vision from the Lord of Joshua, the high priest. If you're not familiar with it, I encourage you to read it this afternoon. It's a great passage of seeing the gospel in the Old Testament. If you ever wanna see the gospel in the Old Testament, Zechariah 3 is a great one. You could also read the book of Hosea, and actually, you just read the whole Old Testament. Yeah, just go ahead and do that this afternoon. Just read the whole Old Testament. But Zechariah 3, as he's given this vision, of Joshua the high priest. Remember before, the high priest would come in clean garments, right, as they went into the presence of the Lord? Well, Joshua, in this vision, is clothed in filthy garments. Dirty, filthy garments. And it's the Lord that changes his clothing, gives him clothes that are white, makes him be able to stand before the Lord in the robes of the righteousness of Christ. We very much are in that same situation, that we are clothed in filthy rags before we come to know the Lord, and the Lord works in our hearts, that we see our sin, that we see the work of Christ, and that we can be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. One way that we can draw near, not only that we should, or not only that we can, but that we should draw near to the Lord is in prayer. To come to the Lord with true hearts, with sincere hearts. Our prayers don't always have to be perfect and scripted. There are times that we can come to the Lord with our deepest and darkest needs. of the troubles that we were going to, to lay them out before God with true hearts. And so our second challenge there for the new year is to draw near to the Lord. Draw near to the Lord. Our third is to hold fast. To hold fast. I think I've said this multiple times, but hope found in the Bible is the assurance of something not yet fully experienced. is different from the uncertain wishful thinking of the world. I hope for something, I don't know if it's gonna happen. Hope in scripture is different because we know that it is certain, we just don't know when it will come. That those that have Christ are to look forward to their final and full glorification with great confidence. because it's not based in who we are. It's not based in our works. It's not based in our wavering emotions and our inability to get things done, but it's based in the finished work of Christ. Hebrews 6, 19 to 20 gives us a connection to this when it says, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That we are to hold fast, because Christ is our sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. As he enters into the veil, as he enters into the holy places, that it's sure because it's definite, it's finished, it's certain. Or as we look at the word resolute, that it's purposeful. And that it's steadfast because it's reliable and faithful, as we sang recently of great is thy faithfulness, that it's, as we see with the word resolute, it's unwavering. That God's word is purposeful and unwavering, that the work of Christ is purposeful and unwavering. There's great encouragement to know that we have an anchor for the soul that is firm and secure. It'd be silly if you owned a boat and you just went and found a rock outside, a very small rock, and you're like, ah, this little pebble, this is enough to hold my boat secure. Or you go and you print off an anchor, right, tie a rope to it and drop it in. It just floats right on the top. That we have an anchor of the soul that is sure and steadfast because it's based in who Christ is and what Christ has done. One that never wavers, that is firm and secure. So we can hold fast because of what Christ has done. So we look to our hope of something that is something not fully experienced, but that hope is also an important part of the gospel of grace, because it's securely based upon the faithfulness of God. That this hope not only sustains and anchors the soul for our salvation, but also anchors and sustains the soul during our time here on earth. That our salvation is maybe Maybe this is kind of a strange way of explaining this. Our salvation is not simply just fire insurance. Our salvation is not simply just security that we won't go to hell. There is the element of that, that we will spend eternity with the Lord, but there is also hope now in this life. And I don't know about y'all, The stresses of life often can really weigh us down. There are times in our lives that are definitely a lot harder than others. And that each one of us in this room has probably felt that, whether it's this year, maybe that's why you're looking forward to the new year. Maybe it's in your past. so that we as Christians can look to Christ to keep us steady during the good and the bad. That we, the reason why we can hold fast is because he is the one that is holding us. We must hold fast to this hope because it is grounded in the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ. So as we look to the new year, that we can hold fast as Christ is the one that is holding us, that we have a sure and steadfast anchor for the soul. The last one is slightly different. There at the very end of this section of scripture is to consider one another. So we're to have confidence, we're to draw near, we're to hold fast, but we're also to consider one another. This is an odd connection here, but it makes sense. The author of Hebrews has been giving all these benefits of things that we receive as believers. Not only just things that we've seen here in Hebrews 10, but things as you read the rest of the book of Hebrews of things that we receive as believers. But there's also an element of responsibilities. The first we see, and it kind of connects all of them, is that we are to consider one another. According to Strong's coordinates, consider means to perceive, observe, or understand, or to consider attentively. to fix one's eyes or mind upon. And so when it says here to consider one another, it means more than just that I know that person's name and I know that face. It's more than just polite behavior to one another. It's an outgoing, ongoing, compassionate, caring, and loving consideration for every believer in Christ. Now you might say, James, that's quite the task, as there are millions of people that know the Lord. And this is not just limited to the local church, but effectively, this is the way that it's practiced, is through the local church, through the body, to love and to care for and to seek out others, to consider one another. And so how are we to consider one another? where we are to stir up love and good works. We are to stir up love and good works. Well, how do we stir up love and good works? Well, one way, as I said earlier, is through prayer, that we should be in constant prayer for our other brothers and sisters in Christ, that we might not know the specifics of what's going on in their lives and what they're personally dealing with, but that we can pray for them that they might continue to draw near and hold fast to the Lord. We might not know what they're struggling with, but we can pray that they will keep their eyes fixed on Christ, that we see that their rest and their hope and comfort is found in the finished work of Christ. We also can, by example, stir up love and good works. One author says it like this, he said, is it a fact that God It is a fact that loving God, a man, and doing good deeds are more readily caught than taught. To provoke others by example. The verse here doesn't say just tell people to walk in love and good deeds. It says to stir up by example. But talking about is not simply enough that there must be example and leadership in doing so. Another way is through God's word that we can stir up love and good works. That the word of God is the base for everything. It's the base for love and good deeds. Of knowing that I will be your God and you will be my people. Knowing the word of God also allows it to flow from us and through us. As we have conversations with others in this church or others that we know that are believers, One of the most important things that we can do is to point them back to Scripture, to point them back to the cross. And so as well as we know Scripture, that we can come quickly to our minds of pulling up verses that may have a significant importance to the struggles that they're dealing with. One way we can do that is I encourage you to read the Psalms. They speak from the heart of the struggles of men thousands of years before us. And their constant focus on the faithfulness of God. The last way that we can stir up love and good works is by encouragement. That an encouraging word can have a mighty impact on a weary soul. To point others to the truth of the gospel so that way they can see the rest that they have in Christ. To encourage them to draw near and to hold fast and to know that the Lord is there in the midst of their deepest, darkest struggles, not the matter of everything's going to be great and you're gonna get everything that you want, but to be there with another brother or sister that is struggling and to point them to the cross. And the last thing that we see in the sense of way to consider one another is that we must meet together. That we must meet together. This can be done both in fellowship and worship. I think there's a specific emphasis here on worship, that we must gather together to worship, to praise the Lord. You know, what's interesting is here, you know, 70 AD, they were dealing with the same struggles that we deal with now, as it says that some of, there's a habit that some people aren't going to church, right? Church has only been around for 30 years, and they're already struggling with it, that people aren't going. It's important for us to gather together. It's hard to consider one another when you're not with another. Every summer we go to camp, a summer camp with the youth. Middle schoolers go to one, high schoolers go to another. And there's a closeness in spending a week together, not just simply living together. It's more than just smelling stinky teenage boys' shoes for a week. But there's a closeness that comes from worshiping with one another for six days in a row. of worshiping in the morning, studying God's word right before lunch, and then worshiping at night, and then all the other fellowship that happens in between, there's a closeness that comes to that. And so as the church, it's important for us to be together, to worship our God together, that we should desire to assemble in the name of Christ. So we go into the new year, and as I was studying this and reading over this passage, there was a hymn that just kept coming to mind. I just kept singing it as I was writing, not out loud, well, sometimes out loud, as I was singing this hymn. It's Blessed Assurance. Blessed Assurance, it just kept coming to me. It says, Blessed Assurance, the first verse, Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. heir of salvation, purchased of God, born of a spirit, washed in his blood. And then it goes to the chorus, this is my story, this is my story. As we know that hymn, we think on our assurance that we have because of who Christ is and what Christ has done. And so as we turn into the new year, into 2024, that we must rest in the fulfillment of this new covenant, that we must rest in the fulfillment of the work of Christ, that it's through Christ alone that we have the full assurance of our salvation. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, Lord, we are thankful for this passage. It's a reminder of the blessings that you have bestowed upon us because of the work of your son, that by his life and his death and his resurrection that we have full assurance of salvation. Not based on anything that we do, as our emotions and our works often waver and we often fall short because of our sin, but that we can rest and have hope because our salvation is solely found in the finished work of Christ. Lord, as we go into the new year, that we allow this hymn, that we allow these words, that we allow our assurance of salvation to ring and to sing in our hearts, that we will keep our eyes fixed on the cross. In your name I pray, amen. I'm going to read as we close our time together. two things to to leave with you is one is to as we go into the new year to remember of that scarlet thread that promise from that's giving to Abraham all the way through the new covenant to the fulfillment in Christ of knowing that I will be your God and you will be my people.