Thank you, Dad, and to our session for the privilege of getting to stand before you and exhort you in God's Word. What a privilege it is to have God's Word in our own language, in our own tongue, that God has come near to us, He's revealed Himself to us, He has declared the truth of His Gospel and His Son to us by His Spirit. and what a privilege it is to get to open God's Word with you. So this is a privilege. I count it a great privilege and a joy to get to proclaim the unsearchable glory of Christ to you this evening. I would ask you, if you would, to turn in your New Testament Scriptures to the epistle of Hebrews. The epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 10. Hebrews, chapter 10. In order to sort of set the table for our study in this chapter, I want to begin with verse one and read a fairly lengthy portion down through verse 25. Hebrews chapter 10, rather, beginning with verse one, continuing down through verse 25. Let's give our attention to the imperishable Word of God. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1. For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then they would not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me. And burnt offerings as sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. above when he said sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not neither hats pleasure therein which are offered by the law then said he lo I come to do thy will O God he taketh away the first that he may establish the second by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Wherefore the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as ye see the day approaching. Amen. This is God's word. Let's all pray together briefly as we ask for the Lord's help in studying his word together. Let's all pray. Oh Lord, our gracious God and our heavenly father, we give you thanks for your word. We thank you that your word is is food for our souls. We thank you that you have promised to feed us with honey out of the rock and with the finest of the wheat. We thank you that you have come near to us, that you have revealed yourself to us in your word. We thank you for the truths that we read here in Hebrews chapter 10. And we ask that as we study together this evening, that you would fill me with your spirit, that you would be with every listener, that you would build up your people, that you would convict those who are outside of Christ, and that you would establish your church for your glory. We pray these things in Jesus' holy and precious name, asking for the help of your spirit. Amen. I want to begin this evening with a question. Have you ever received information that just did not seem useful? Maybe you have a friend or a colleague or a co-worker that just seems to be full of seemingly useless information. They may have a lot of expertise in a certain area, a certain area that they've studied, perhaps they have a degree in or years of experience, and they're full of information, of data. about that area of study, and they're constantly feeding you terms and definitions and data points, and at the end of the day, you wonder how useful this information really is. It may be interesting to know, but you wonder where it intersects with real life. Doubtless, regardless of our education and our knowledge and whatever field we may be, we've probably all had that experience where we've been given information that just doesn't seem relevant to real life. It's high-level theory that doesn't seem to have application to our daily lives. But we contrast this experience of daily life, of our human existence, with the way that God's Word speaks to us. God's Word speaks not only to our minds and our intellects, and we're thankful that it does speak to our minds, that it teaches us right doctrine. But it doesn't stop there. It also teaches us how to live. God's Word is geared for application in our lives. Just a few samples of Scripture that reinforce this point that God's Word is designed not only for right doctrine, but also for right living, for right practice. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3 that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof. for correction, for instruction in righteousness. John, when he told us why he wrote his gospel in John 20, verse 31, these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. So, believing and living, ultimately, eternal life through Christ. James well-known admonition in James 1 verse 22 be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves and these are just a few of the of the samples as it were that we read it in scripture that God's Word not only teaches us the doctrine that we are to believe and certainly our Christian faith it is right doctrine is founded in our right understanding of the truths of God's Word. It is not less, but it certainly is more. It includes our lives. It has implications for the way that we live. Monday through Saturday, God's Word changes the way that we live. So here in Hebrews chapter 10, As we've read a significant portion of the chapter, the writer to the Hebrews gets down to some serious application of the truths he has been teaching. We're going to study together, in particular, verses 19 through 25. And these verses are built upon, they flow from, the doctrinal truth taught in verses 1 through 18. You could sum up the teaching of 1 through 18 with two simple questions. Who is the perfect sacrifice, or where is the perfect sacrifice to remove sins forever? And, who is the perfect priest, once for all, removing sins and interceding for God's people? Where's the perfect sacrifice, and where's the perfect priest? You could sum up those first 18 verses with those two questions. And the writer of Hebrews resoundingly emphasizes that in Christ and in Christ alone, we have a single sacrifice that unlike all the old covenant sacrifices that had to be repeated day after day, Christ and his sacrifice for us and his death on Calvary's cross offered the one sacrifice to remove sins forever. And, unlike the priests who had to daily stand ministering in the tabernacle and the temple, Christ, in his once-offering of himself as sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and in his work of intercession, is the one priest who stands in our place, interceding forever. There's additional need for no more human human priests Christ alone is that perfect priest so after establishing these doctrines that Christ is has offered the once-for-all sacrifice to remove to remove sins forever and that Christ is the perfect priest interceding for us bringing us into the presence of God the writer to the Hebrews applies these doctrines to our lives so we're going to study these these verses under a simple theme and that the gospel, this truth of who Christ is and what he has done in his sacrifice for us, removing our sins, and in his work of intercession as the great high priest over the house of God, this gospel calls us to action. The gospel calls us to action. And we're going to note this very simply, particularly verses 23, 22, 23, and 24. There's an admonition, or what you could call an exhortation, in each of these verses. Verse 22, "...let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith." So, let us draw near. Verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, and verse 25, and let us consider one another. So there are three exhortations. Based on the truth that the writer has established previously, he now gives three simple calls to action. To draw near, to hold fast, and to consider one another. So we're going to study these briefly in our remaining time together this evening. So let's begin with that first admonition that we read in verse 22. let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." And this admonition that the writer to the Hebrews gives us to let us draw near with a true heart is, again, based on the truths that he's already emphasized. That we have verses 19 and 20, "...having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." So once again, to reiterate what I've already said, is this exhortation, this call to draw near in faith, is based upon the high priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus, the work that Christ has done. Just a brief survey of of Old Covenant and of the Old Covenant and the old the Old Testament scriptures I think helps us to understand what the rider to the Hebrews is is trying to is communicating to the Hebrews remember that At the time that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and they were banished from the presence of God, when they ate the forbidden fruit, they went their way of rebellion and sedition and treason against God. Remember that when they were banished from the garden, you'll read it in Genesis 3, 24, that an angel, a cherubim, was placed at the entrance to the garden to guard the way to the tree of life. So there was separation between Adam and Eve and the presence of God. This garden representing that fellowship, that communion that they once enjoyed with the Lord. They're now separated. Their sins have separated them from the holy and the just and the pure Creator. If you read over into the next book of Scripture, Exodus, Exodus 26 31, very interesting detail there, that as the Lord gives Moses instruction on how to build the tabernacle, he instructs him that there is to be a veil before that most holy place, and on that veil there would be embroidered the cherubim. as it were, these fiery, angelic messengers proclaiming the same message that was proclaimed to Adam and Eve. You've sinned. You can't come in. You can't enjoy, other than the high priest, once per year. on the Day of Atonement, other than His entrance through the veil, the way to that most intimate, that access to the Lord, to communion with Him, was blocked. Their sins had separated them from access to the Lord. But now as we come into the wonderful truth that Hebrews declares to us in the New Covenant, because of the work of Christ as our mediator, as our great high priest, there's a declaration that there's a new and a living way, that the veil, remember that when Christ died on the cross, when he breathed his last on the cross, that veil that that portrayed that these fiery angelic messengers, the cherubim, marking separation between the children of Israel and that intimate access to God. Remember that the veil was ripped from the top to bottom. And now, as it were, the Lord is declaring that the way has been opened up. The way has been opened up into communion with the triune God through Christ. through another veil, as the writer of Hebrews brings out here in verse 20, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, through the torn flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, in his broken body, in his shed blood, on the cross of Calvary, there's a new way. There's access to the Lord. And so now the writer to the Hebrews, on gospel promises, he now calls us to draw near in faith, to draw near in the true and the full assurance of faith. boldly coming to the Lord, not because we've earned it, not because we deserve to have access to worship and access to prayer, but because Christ has died for our sins. He's put them away as far as the East is from the West. He has poured out His Holy Spirit, giving us a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone. And so now we can come boldly and call Him our Father. There's a motivation to this call to action that the writer to the Hebrews gives us. And we read of this motivation actually at the end of verse 22. After he gives us this call to draw near with a true heart and a full assurance of faith, we have two motivations listed. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. and our bodies washed with pure water. So our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. So the conscience, that reminder, that consciousness of our sin and our failings, our hearts now, because of the gospel, we are motivated to draw near this full assurance of faith because our hearts have been cleansed, our consciences have been sprinkled by the blood of Christ. If you're dealing with a guilty conscience, that is perhaps one of the greatest inhibitors of worship and of prayer, to have that evil conscience or that conscience that's dirty, that's guilty, that's plagued by the weight of sin and its shame. But through the gospel, the gospel proclaims to you that your sins can be forgiven, that they can be washed away, that your conscience can be cleansed. So there's an object of putting away of your sin as they were imputed to Christ and he died for them on the cross. then his righteousness is imputed to you. There's also a subjective experience of that gospel reality in which our consciousness of our sin, the guilt that it brings with us, is dealt with in the blood of Christ and put away. There's also a second motivation here, that our bodies are washed with pure water. And this is likely a reference to baptism, our bodies washed with pure water. Not that baptism saves us, but remember in scripture that there's a close link between the outward sign and the inward reality. The outward sign pointing to the need for inward cleansing and inward washing. just as water washes over us and as the waters of baptism flow in the sacrament, points to that need of inward cleansing of the Holy Spirit, having our hearts renewed, having our heart of stone taken out and heart of flesh put in its place. And these are motivations for us to come. Our conscience is cleansed and our hearts renewed and washed in the gospel. So the gospel calls you through Christ today to draw near in faith, to come boldly to the throne of grace, that you have access to the Father through Christ. Come boldly to worship. Both public worship and private worship. Come joyfully because your sins have been put away and dealt with. You have been cleansed. If you're in Christ, you've been cleansed from your sin. What a motivation for us to worship. What a motivation Even for us in the daily grind of our Christian experience, when our sins, we're weighed down by the memory of our sins, and we are stricken with sin's guilt, let's preach the gospel to ourselves each day. I've heard of a well-known pastor who said that every morning he gets up, he feels as if he needs to be saved again. Not that we believe that our conversion is an experience that has to happen over and over again, but our subjective experience of the gospel is something that we must bring ourselves back to the objective truths of the gospel every day, reminding ourselves of what Christ has done in his priestly ministry, even as we read it here in Hebrews. and the guilt of our consciences can be put away as we confess our sin, as we own our sin for what it is, not hiding it, not minimizing it, not sweeping it under the rug or blaming someone else, but calling it what it is, rebellion against the good and the generous and the glorious king of the universe, but then glorying in the reality that that sin is dealt with in the precious blood of Jesus. coming and drawing near to the Lord in faith. You children are probably familiar with a simple illustration here of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. And you remember that Christian, he had a new name. He faces off with Apollyon, and Apollyon reminded Christian of his past failings. He goes through a whole list of Christian's failings. And what does Christian say? All this is true, and much more that you have failed to mention, but the prince whom I now serve and honor is merciful and ready to forgive. Besides, these infirmities possessed me while I was in your country, speaking of Apollyon's country, for there I allowed them to come in. But I have groaned under them, have been sorry for them, and have obtained pardon from my prince. So there's a glorious cleansing for us in Christ that enables us to draw near in faith. So let's do so by God's grace. The second exhortation here we read in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Let us hold fast. And there's a theme that runs through Hebrews, not simply here. But there's this admonition that the writer gives to the Hebrew, his readers, to continue to hold fast to the truth, to hold fast to their public profession, as this likely refers to, a public confession or a public profession, perhaps even in baptism or when they came before the church and publicly professed the name of Christ. There's a theme that runs through Hebrews, not just here, but a constant theme of holding fast to the truth, holding fast to what they've been taught, holding fast to their hope. Hebrews 3 verse 6, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. And Hebrews 6 verse 18, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope, Set before us which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and fast which entereth into That within the veil so you see this call to hold to hold fast to our profession to hold fast to our hope and this is this is a vital a vital message for us to understand because if you if you continue to read on and through Hebrews chapter 10, you'll understand that the Hebrew believers were facing a degree of persecution. Some of them were facing imprisonment, the loss of material goods, public shame they weren't well accepted by their culture by their society and I think that there's a there is a relevant application for these words to us to end up in a culture that is increasingly hostile to the truth of God's Word to God's righteous law There is increasing pressure on us to begin, even subtly, to give way, to become distracted, to lose our focus on Christ, on the gospel, on the life that he has called us to live, taking up our cross and following him. So to the Hebrew believers and to us, the rider calls us to hold fast, to remain steadfast with firm grip on the promises that God has given us. What is that? Just as there was a motivation with the previous command or the previous exhortation, there's a motivation for us here, and we read that in verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. For he is faithful that promised. That is the motivation. John Calvin said this in writing about this passage. Our faith rests upon this foundation that God is true, that is true to his promise, which his word contains. So what's the motivation for us to hold fast? It's not that we have the strength in ourselves to continue to hold, to continue to stand firmly in the truth, to continue to withstand against the onslaught of the culture, even the weakness of our own hearts and the attacks of the wicked one. It's the reality that God who has called us is faithful and he always keeps his promises. There's a wonderful test case of this in Hebrews 11. Verse 11 with very similar language to verse 23 We read of Sarah in Hebrews 11 verse 11 through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was deliberate of a child when she was past age Because she judged him faithful who had promised and think of poor Sarah think of poor Sarah all those years barren and going through the wilderness, leaving all that she knew, the home that she held dear, leaving those household gods, those pagan idols, and journeying with her husband Abraham through all those years of sometimes failing to really grasp this promise, sometimes sinning, sometimes struggling to follow on, but yet she counted him faithful who had promised. that even when she saw other mothers' arms full of children, she still counted God faithful who promised until that day when she was past age. That she was past that age of childbearing, she realized that He was faithful who had promised. That the God who gives the promise can be counted on to deliver upon that promise. it's not simply Sarah we have example after example of scriptural of our fathers and mothers in the faith who have gone before us who have believed God's precious promises who have thought it not thought it thought it not a strange thing to be tempted and tried by the world and who have kept their grip upon these promises that God has made." We have the testimony of the children of Israel, the wonderful confirmation of all of God's promises. I read this a few days ago and I love Joshua 21 verse 45. after after the conquest and the children of Israel have gone into the promise landed and they have realized all of God's promises to them we read these beautiful words Joshua 21 verse 45 there failed not of any good thing which the Lord had spoken under the house of Israel all came to pass our God keeps his promises and A final reminder, a pledge that I would leave you with before we move to the third and the final exhortation, is a pledge of God's promises to us. How can we know that God will bring to pass all of his promises? Certainly we have the saints who have gone before us, Sarah, the children of Israel, God keeping his promises to them, but what is the pledge of all of God's promises to us? Who is the yes and the amen of all of God's promises? Well, let's read Heidelberg Catechism, question 49. I believe that this will shed some light on the pledge of all of God's promises. Question 49, Heidelberg Catechism, of what advantage to us is Christ's ascension into heaven? First, that he is our advocate in the presence of his father in heaven. Secondly, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he, as the head, will also take up to himself us, his members. Thirdly, that he sends us his spirit as an earnest, by whose power we seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, and not things on earth. I hope you noted the language there. That we have in our flesh the pledge, a sure pledge, that he, that Christ is our head, will take us up to himself. That as surely as Christ has conquered over sin and over death and over hell, as he has been raised God-man in our flesh, True God of true God, true man of true man, ascended to the right hand of the Father. This is the pledge that we will make it home to glory. That despite the weaknesses that we see within, the sins that still so easily beset us, the opposition of the world, the attacks of the evil one, the Lord will bring us all the way home to glory. And we go back to Hebrews 10, one final exhortation. The gospel calls us to consider one another, certainly to draw near to the Lord in faith, to hold fast to our profession. But in Hebrews 10, verse 24, we read this final exhortation, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much more, as ye see the day approaching." So we are called as believers to love and to good works, to provoke one another to love and to good works. And we realize that this is foundational to our Christianity. that at the very the very foundation of God's law upon which all of his commands are predicated is the simple command to love our to love God and to love our neighbor and that's amplified for us in the church as Christ has given us the command that by our love for one another All men will know that we are his disciples." That's John 13, 35. So it should not surprise us when the writer to the Hebrews tells us to consider one another, to provoke one another to love and to good works. And this is not a love that remains in the realm of pious platitudes and of just telling one another that we love one another. But there are some specifics. The writer gets to the nitty-gritty of our lives, particularly in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. So here are some commands that the writer to the Hebrews gives us. How can you provoke one another to love and good works? And this is probably somewhat like preaching to the choir on a Sunday evening. But come to worship. Come to God's house. Come worship with one another and exhort one another. Encourage one another in the good way. Encourage one another to delight in the word, to continue in prayer, to continue to repent of our sin and to cling to Christ by faith, to continue to come to the table of the Lord, to partake of the bread and the cup, to continue to improve our baptisms every time you see another baptized. These are some of the ways that we can provoke one another to love and good works, exhorting one another with a friendly encouragement to stay on, to stay in the path of God's commandments, to continue in the way to heaven, to continue dying to self, taking up your cross daily and following after Christ. The world will try to distract us, will tell us that there are better ways to even spend our Sundays, to spend our time, will tempt us and try to tell us that what we are doing here is not really accomplishing any great ends. But let us never underestimate, brothers and sisters, the value of the ordinary means of grace, the preaching of the word, prayer, singing, the sacraments that God has given us, the fellowship, the governance of Christ Church. Let us value these things. Let us use them well. Let us use them to stir one another up, especially as we see that day approaching. And just as there was a motivation for the previous two exhortations, there's a motivation here. here at the end of verse 25, we are to do these things so much more as ye see the day approaching. There is a day approaching when all wrong things will be made right, when Christ in his unspeakable glory, unfading glory and unending light and his power and sovereignty will pierce the skies and every eye will see him. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess that our Savior Christ is King to the glory of God the Father. He is coming. He is coming to the eternal joy and delight of His people and the eternal terror of the lost. there is a day approaching. So let's put away distraction. Let's put away those things that so easily beset us. Let's put aside the weight, and let's run the race before us, looking to Jesus, who has suffered in our place, and now reigns triumphantly at the right hand of his Father, knowing that there is a day approaching, that our bridegroom is coming. So trim your lamps. Be ready. Look for his return. Labor for his return. He is returning a power and glory to judge the nations, to take us to himself, to make all things new in the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. Let us hunger for that day, and even in these Sabbaths that we enjoy in time, let's use them as a foretaste of that eternal Sabbath that is yet to come. May our attitude reflect that as we close here this evening. May our attitude reflect the psalmist in Psalm 84. my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. And verse 10 of that same psalm, for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. So let us draw near in faith. Let us hold fast our profession by God's grace as he holds us. And let us consider one another to stir one another up to love and to good works, all for the glory of Jesus by his grace. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, our gracious God, we thank you once again for the promises and the commands of your word. We thank you that you are good and the promises that you give us, that you keep your promises and that you, by your spirit, bring faith to embrace those promises. We pray that you would work faith in all of our hearts, that we would embrace these these promises and run in the way of your commandments. Thank you that you are good when you give us commandments. and that they are the commands of a good father who cares for us. We pray that you would bless your word to our hearts that you would establish us in the faith that we would continue to value these means of grace and that we would use them well for our own eternal good and for the good of our children. And we pray for any who are outside of Christ that you would bring them savingly to yourself, that you would draw them, and that you would do the work in their hearts that we cannot. We pray these things in the name of Christ our King. Amen.