Please take your copy of the scriptures and open to the book of Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 as we take a break from our study on the Sermon on the Mount and think a little bit more specifically about baptism today Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 25. Hear now the word of God. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to 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, in 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 let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Let's pray. O Lord, would you please have mercy on us now as we hear your word. We are needy people. We are hungry for your word, starved by the lies of the world that we have heard this week. So would you please fill us with your truth, and in doing so, grant us life, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, today we have a baptism, and so we are going to think, as I said, we're going to think a little bit about why we do baptisms, what it symbolizes. There are, in fact, many components to the symbolism of baptism. Sometimes I think we can look at it rather simplistically, as though baptism is just my statement to the world that I am a Christian. That's actually not really the primary way that the Bible talks about baptism. Yes, that is a part of it, but that's a smaller part of it, or a secondary part of it. Baptism is less about something that we do for God, It's more about something that God is doing in and for us. Today we'll get into some of the symbolism and the way it connects to the Old Testament. And in particular, we're seeing how it connects to the idea of being priests. You think about the Old Testament priests and how that connects to today. We know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament picture of priests. But we will also find that there are some senses in which Christians themselves are said to fulfill the Old Testament picture of priest also. And our text, Hebrews 10, 19 through 25, does both of these things for us. First, it talks about Jesus as our great priest. Second, it also talks about us as being priests as well. And then, it draws out three or four applications based upon that. And that's going to be our outline for today. First, Jesus as our great priest. Secondly, us as lesser priests. And then thirdly, the applications that are drawn from it. We don't have time to give an extensive review of what has come before our passage in Hebrews, but I'll give you just a very little bit of context for it. where we've read here, verses 19 through 25 of chapter 10, is really a turning point in the book of Hebrews. It moves us from a section of teaching doctrine to some more practical matters. The section on teaching that has just been finished is essentially all about how Jesus is the Great High Priest. We've been told that he comes from the order of Melchizedek, not from the priestly line of Levi, and that's a greater priesthood because it is an everlasting priesthood. We're told that he is perfect, unlike the old covenant priests who needed to make sacrifices for themselves before they could make sacrifices for the people. We are told that Jesus ministers in a better temple, in a better covenant, with better promises. And what is significantly different between the priesthood of Jesus and the priesthood of the Old Testament, what's significantly different is that Jesus is not only the one who is making the offering, But he is the offering himself. He offers himself. Something that none of the Levitical priests ever did, right? None of the Levitical priests ever climbed up on the altar and sacrificed themselves. They would take a lamb or some other animal and sacrifice it, but Jesus is the priest who sacrifices himself. He is the perfect, spotless sacrifice, and therefore needs to be offered only once, not over and over and over again, like in the Old Testament. So those are a few of the things that the writer of the Hebrews has been telling us about the greater priesthood of Jesus. And now, as it turns the corner in verses 19 and following, it picks up on several of these themes in order to make this transition. So, in verse 19, for instance, it says that we enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. There's a reference to his priestly work, that atoning sacrifice that he has offered, his own blood shed for us. In verse 20, we get a continuation of this theme, it says, Jesus has opened a new way of access, opening the curtain, which is his flesh. Now this is a reference to the Old Testament tabernacle, or the temple, which had these different rooms, and the most important room was known as the Holy of Holies. It's where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. And what divided it from the rest was this thick curtain that blocked the way. The High Priest went into this room only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. But now, Jesus has opened a new way into the true Holy of Holies, not the physical temple in Jerusalem, but into the very presence of God. The curtain has been torn, that is, his flesh, his own body has been broken, to make a way for us to have access to God. This is his priestly work. And then, if we weren't convinced yet that this is speaking of Jesus as a priest, in verse 21 it removes all certainty. He says, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God. Since we have a great priest over the house of God. And those words, house of God, those are important too. What would that have meant in the Old Testament, to speak of the house of God? It would have meant the temple, right? But now it's being applied in a different way. Again, we've moved away from things like the physical building. What is the house of God now? It's the church. It is the church. He's the great priest over the church. Think about 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15, where the apostle Paul says, I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. House of God is the church. So here we have this starting point. Jesus is the great high priest. He's the one who makes us to be right with God. He is the one who gives hope and salvation. This is how our sins are dealt with. This is how they are forgiven. It is by the blood of Jesus. After all, we are all sinners. We have all come short of the glory of God. We have all broken God's law. and because of our sin, God's stance towards us, from the very beginning of our lives, is that we are guilty. We deserve his punishment. We deserve his judgment. And that judgment will surely come unless, unless something changes. But we can't make that change ourselves. We can't make up for our sins. We can't think, well, okay, I've done some bad things, but if I just do enough good things, it'll make up for it. No, doing good things doesn't erase the fact that you've done bad things. We cannot buy our way out of punishment. But Jesus comes as our high priest to suffer our penalty by dying in our place. And he gives to us his own perfect obedience, so that we do have something to offer to God. We have nothing but our sins. Jesus comes and he says, I will take care of your sins, and I will give you the obedience that you need. This is what our great high priest does for us. He opens a way of access into the presence of God by purifying us through his own sacrifice. And here I want to pause and speak directly to each of you. These things we've just discussed, this priestly atoning work of Jesus, these are not things that you can just gloss over. This is not something that you can just pass by quickly or even dismiss, say, yes, well, that's what those Christians believe. Jesus really died on the cross. He really died on the cross. It's a historical fact. And the reason he died, he really died because we are really sinners. Really guilty before God. It's not just something people say, like trying to make you feel bad about yourself. No! It's true! There is a terrible punishment ahead for anyone who is not rescued from their guilt and their sin. We are sinners, standing under God's judgment, unless we are purified by the blood of Jesus. And so, the question we each must wrestle with today, Have your sins been forgiven yet? Have your sins been forgiven? Forgiveness doesn't just happen. It comes only when we trust in Jesus, when we look to him and we say, Lord, I am a sinner, I deserve God's judgment, but would you please rescue me, save me from my sins? Forgiveness comes when we confess our sins, believing we are guilty, but believing that Jesus really, really does save sinners. He really does. And this is what we are celebrating in the baptism today, that a sinner has trusted in Jesus and has been saved from death and given eternal life. Now, there's no secret to this. There's no magic formula. There's no secret knowledge you have to have. There's no hoops you have to jump through. All we have to do is acknowledge our guiltiness and ask God to save us, trusting that Jesus, that through Jesus, he will make us one of his children. As we think about the rest of the things that we'll say here today, as we watch the baptism, this is the question I want you to have in your mind. Have my sins been forgiven yet? That's why Jesus came. He came as the great priest to forgive the sins of sinners. But now we want to see how the verses in front of us also speak to us as priests. Lesser priests, but still priests in some sense. Let's read verses 19 and 20 again. It says, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to 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. It says, since we have confidence to enter the holy places. If the book of Hebrews is picking up on the Old Testament or Old Covenant language, who was it in the Old Covenant, who was it who would go into the most holy place? Who was it that would minister before the Lord? It was the priests, right? Notice verse 19 says, we are to enter the holy place. We are to enter the holy place. And it is through the curtain in verse 20. This is saying that we now play a role in the fulfillment of what those Old Testament practices were pointing to. They described the actions of the priests in the old temple but they were pointing to a better and greater priesthood. And we are members, that is Christians, are members of that better priesthood. And what this is telling us too, it's telling us to engage in priestly activity. You, Christians, you are to enter into the holy place, the thing, kind of thing that only priests do. We've been given confidence. to enter the holy places. Confidence, why confidence? If you know the Old Testament, you might know that in the temple, the holy place was so holy, no one could just wander in there. If they did, they might die. Even most of the priests couldn't go in there. Even the high priest could only go in once a year. Listen to Leviticus, chapter 16, verse 2, where it describes this a little bit. The Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother, Aaron would be the high priest, tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the holy place, inside the veil, that is inside the curtain, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. Tell the high priest, don't go in there, or else he might die. And now, it says, we have confidence to enter the holy places. Confidence. How could anyone have confidence to go into that most holy place? Well, it tells us. Because Jesus, the great high priest, has opened up a new way. What was it that kept the priests from entering the holy place? It was the fact that it was holy and they were not, right? Sinners are not holy. Every single priest The Old Testament was a sinner, even the high priest. In fact, when the high priest did go in, he first had to offer sacrifices, and then he had to be dressed in the right clothing in order to be considered holy and to be allowed in. But in this new holy place, a new way of access has been made. By the blood of Jesus, we are made holy. And so we, even though we are lesser priests, we have the freedom and even the confidence to be able to go right into the holy place, right into the presence of God, for worship, for prayer, for praise, to bring our requests, and eventually to live with Him forever. You see, you and I, if we are trusting in Jesus, we are priests to God. Not priests that have to offer sacrifices to atone for sin, but priests that offer sacrifices of praise and worship and thanksgiving. And that's why we started our service with the call to worship from Romans Revelation chapter 1. There we are called priests to God. We also got that language in our scripture reading in 1 Peter chapter 2. Right? But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are made to be lesser priests, made holy by the blood of Jesus and given freedom to enter into the presence of God. to bring him our sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise. Now, everything we've said so far has been trying to set ourselves up for what comes next. We've seen Jesus is the great priest. We are these lesser priests. Now, one thing that's helpful to know about verses 19 through 25 is that in the original Greek, they make up one single long sentence. My ESV translation breaks it up into three sentences because it's just not very good English to have such a long sentence, right? If you write a sentence like that in your English class, your professor's gonna write, run on sentence, rewrite. But in Greek, it's just one sentence. And it's important because it shows the connectedness of all these ideas. You could say it's a single thought. All of these things have to be taken together. It's not possible to just take out one part of this, separate it from the others. It's the whole package. We have to treat it that way. We need to see the interconnectedness of these ideas. So what we're finding is that in light of Jesus as the great priest, and in light of us as lesser priests, the writer to the Hebrews now gives four applications or exhortations. The first three of them tell us to do something. They say, let us do something. And then the fourth one tells us where these things take place. Let's work through these now. The first application, or the first exhortation, comes in verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us draw near. So here's a continuation of that priestly language, right? Drawing near, entering into the holy place. In fact, it's reminiscent of passages like Leviticus chapter nine, verse seven. Then Moses said to Aaron, draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them as the Lord has commanded. Draw near, it continues, the priestly language. They draw near to the altar, in the temple, to worship God. And now we are commanded, we must do the same. We must. We must draw near to God. It's not a suggestion. It's a command. But then we are told more about how or why we can do this. It says we are to draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. With a true heart. full assurance of faith. Now, assurance of faith here, we shouldn't think of this so much as the subjective feeling of confidence, but the objective reality of assurance. Whether or not I feel confident doesn't always match up with whether or not I actually have salvation and the right to enter God's presence. God could say to someone, you have the right to enter my presence, and for some reason they may still feel like they shouldn't. We're not talking about that subjective feeling. We're talking about the objective reality where Jesus' blood has made a way for his people to enter the presence of God. That's the full assurance of faith here. based on the objective realities of what Jesus has done, we are to draw near. And then next, watch this closely, it says, draw near with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. We get two water metaphors. The first one, the sprinkling clean from an evil conscience. And the second, our bodies washed with pure water. And these two things make up the objective realities that provide the full assurance of faith. The full assurance of faith comes from objective realities, things that have happened to us. What are those things? There are two of them. It's right here. Our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. The first objective reality is that our hearts have been washed clean. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins, and the Holy Spirit washes us in regeneration so that we are clean before God. By faith in Jesus, our guiltiness is removed, our sins are washed away, and this cleansing gives us the ability to draw near to God in full assurance. But that's just the first one. The second one. having our bodies washed in pure water. What is this referring to? It's baptism. This is baptism. In baptism, our bodies are washed as preparation for drawing near to God. Now, here's what's really interesting about this, at least to me. Maybe it's not to you. I think it's interesting. Where does this idea come from? Being washed clean, your body washed clean, in order that you may draw near to God. This is more of that priestly language. In the Old Testament, before the priests could draw near to God, what did they have to do? Wash their bodies. Leviticus chapter 16, verses 3 and 4. And by the way, this is following on from what we read earlier in Leviticus. In Leviticus 16.2 we read about how Aaron cannot just enter the holy place at any time whenever he wants. Here we get the next verses. It says, but in this way Aaron shall come into the holy place. So here's the way he can enter into the presence of God. Says, with a bowl from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, he shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body. And he shall tie the linen sash around his waist and wear the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them back on. So before the priest could enter into the holy place, he had to be properly dressed, and he had to be washed. How did our passage begin, right? Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places, right, are we seeing the connections here? Here we are finding the Old Testament background for baptism. Turns out it's not circumcision. It's the priestly washings. Before drawing near to God, the priests had to be washed, so also we are to be washed in baptism as we draw near to God. And there are a couple of implications to this. One, if you are a Christian, you ought to be baptized, and you ought to make it sooner rather than later. You, as a Christian, you have been given the priestly task of worshiping God. But if you've not been baptized, then you have not been appropriately prepared to engage in that task. If you are a Christian, I would urge you, do not put it off any longer. Seek to be baptized now. Second, see how baptism is an objective reality that gives us assurance to draw near to God. That's the point of this in the text. We have so many doubts and fears, don't we? Satan accuses us. He tells us of our sin. He says, I saw that thing you did this morning. I know what you are thinking. Those who have been baptized can look back at their baptism and say to their doubts and fears and accusations, I have been washed clean. And so God welcomes me into his presence. You know, when we have a baptism, it's not just for the person who's being baptized. It's for all of us who are watching it as well. Some who are watching it are not yet Christians, and to them, this is a sermon that you also need to trust in Jesus for salvation. You also need to be washed clean. For those who are already Christians, it's a reminder of the work that God has done in our lives, and it bolsters, it strengthens our assurance. My being washed in the water of baptism speaks to the truth that my heart has been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. And we are to draw assurance from it. So there's the first application, the first exhortation that we find in our text, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. The second exhortation, and we'll move through this a little more quickly now. Verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hold fast our confession. That sounds a bit like baptism also, doesn't it? In baptism, we confess our faith. He says, hold fast to it. Though I think it's not only to be understood individually, but also corporately. Let us hold fast. Sometimes for Christians, baptism is something that takes place in the past, and then we kind of forget about it. We kind of leave it behind. But here we are told we must maintain our profession, holding to our confession. In baptism, we are confessing Jesus is Lord. Now we must live like it. Hold fast your confession. Live in the reality of what you have confessed. But there's an encouragement that goes along with it. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. He who promised is faithful. Yes, we are called to remain steadfast, but ultimately it will be God who keeps us secure. He will remain faithful to his promises that he is making to us at our baptism. This again is another reason why we shouldn't think of baptism primarily as something we do for God, but as something he does for us. He makes a promise to you when you are baptized. Baptism is not some grand or great thing that we do and God looks down and is really impressed by it. Wow, I can't believe that person stood in front of all of those people and confessed my name. I'm so, so happy about this. That's not what baptism is like. It's not primarily about our courage to tell the world that we are Christians, though there is a piece of that in it, but it is primarily about God making promises to us and then giving us a sign to show that he will make good on his promise. For he who promised is faithful. And then the third exhortation comes in verse 24. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. So, having assurance to draw near to God, holding fast to our confession, we also need to incite one another to good works. The word that's translated stir up is a little difficult to translate in English. Some translations will say provoke, provoke one another. It has a sharpness to it. We are prodding one another on to good works. It's not something laid back or passive. It is active. We are to push one another to do what is right in love and good works, right? Okay, I heard you profess. I heard you make your confession of faith. Now I'm going to help hold you to it and push you on in it. Stir up one another to love and good works. And then we get the fourth exhortation. And this is different from the first three. Again, each of the first three followed the same pattern. Let us do this, let us do this, let us do this. But the final exhortation stretches back to everything that's come before. Remember, this is one single sentence. All of this is connected. It tells us where and how it is that we draw near to God, hold fast our confession, and stir up one another to love and good deeds. What is it? Verse 25. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Where is it that we do all these things? Where is it that we see these things happening it's in the gathering of the church. Remember, again, this single sentence, so we can go back to the first couple verses. Where do the priests do their work? In the temple. What is the new covenant temple? The church, Jesus is the great priest over the house of God, verse 21, that's where all of this is happening. In the church, we hear the gospel preached, we receive it and have our hearts washed. In the church, we are baptized and receive the token of God's covenantal promise. In the church, we hold together, we hold fast our confession. In the church, we stir up one another to love and to good deeds. which is all to say, how can you do any of these things apart from the Church? You can't really, at least not in the way that God calls us to do it. And perhaps you've noticed as well the language throughout here of us and we, right? We have confidence. Let us draw near. Let us hold fast. Let us consider. This is a passage all about the church and the way that Christians are called to live with one another in the local church. It begs the question, what is a Christian who doesn't go to church? It's a wandering, straying Christian. They may still be a Christian, right? Someone doesn't stop being a Christian because they stop going to church, but that's the sheep that's wandering away. needs to be brought back in. A Christian who doesn't go to church is a Christian who's starving themselves. And it's a Christian who is depriving the church of the help that they themselves could bring to others. I think when we start to put it in these terms, it becomes apparent, too, that this is not simply a matter of going to church, but about being a part of a church. Scripture warns us here, says that there are some who neglect this great responsibility. Again, it's not saying, if you don't go to church, suddenly you're not a Christian. But it says, don't be one of those who neglects the gathering of yourselves together. This is something we have to take seriously. Again, not as though going to church, or even being a member of a church, is just a box to be checked off. Well, I did the thing I'm supposed to do, so I'm okay. No, that's not it. But the way that God has designed the Christian faith is that it is centered around local churches. This is where God is designed for us to express our faith most clearly and directly. This is where God is designed for us to grow our faith most substantially. And this is where God is designed for us to help others in their faith as well. That's why we start, let us draw near to worship in the Church. And where does it all start? What was the first thing commanded in verse 22? We draw near first, having been saved by the washing of our sins, but secondly, by having been baptized. Now, it has to be in that order, of course, right? The washing of our hearts has to precede the washing of our bodies. But I think sometimes we get so worried that we might accidentally fall into some kind of baptismal regeneration. Like we say too much of baptism, Pastor Mike, it almost sounds like you're saying baptism equals salvation. Sometimes we get so afraid of that that we go too far in the other direction and we minimize baptism. And yet baptism is important. In baptism, we are marked out as priests to God. It is a sign to us of the promise of God that he has washed away our sins. It gives us confidence to draw near to God. It is the establishment of our confession, and it formally begins a life with other believers where we are encouraging one another, and all the more as we see the day of Christ's return drawing near, which is to say, we need baptism and church membership even more the closer we get to the return of Christ. Which makes it such a sad thing that these two practices, baptism and church membership, have fallen into disuse and disfavor in the church today. Well, we've covered quite a lot. This is a rich and dense passage. I hope I've been able to make some sense of it for you in that you're not walking away just head too filled to know what you've just heard. But we began by seeing Jesus as the great priest, the great high priest, and that's where it all begins, with the work that Jesus has done for us, how his death opens the way for us to also be able to enter the holy place. Then we saw how we are these lesser priests, called to enter in, to draw near to God. We do this with full assurance that comes from the objective realities of having our sins forgiven, our hearts washed in regeneration, and having been baptized. That is, our whole bodies washed in water. For these are a preparation for priestly service, just as they were in the old covenant. Then we are called to hold fast to our confession. The proclamation that Jesus is Lord, something that we declare in our baptism. And then we are called to live with one another so that we are pushing one another on in godliness. And all of this finds its first and primary fulfillment in the context of the local church as we gather together at the Lord's call on the Lord's Day each week. Let's pray. O Lord, we thank you for your word, which directs us in the way that we should go. Help us to hear it and submit to it. May we not let our own ideas or desires interfere with our obedience to your word. Would you please cure us of our self-focus, so that we might first focus upon the Lord Jesus in faith and then, secondly, upon his church in love. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.