Let's now turn for our scripture reading to the book of Hebrews, and we'll begin reading at verse 23 of chapter 9, and then we'll continue through verse 25. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Not that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another. He would then have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshippers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come. In the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will, O God. previously saying sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin, you did not desire nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Then he said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. For after He had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them. Then He adds, Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled 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 one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, our text this morning is verses 22 through 25 of the scripture reading of chapter 10, where we have these repeated exhortations in the form of, let us, let us, let us draw near, let us hold fast. And this text flows out of verse 19 and 21, where we are taught that we have indeed a high priest over the house of God. And through him we may enter into the holiest of all with boldness. And this really is a summary of this chapter concerning Christ, who is the ultimate priest. who shares our nature, who lives forever in order to intercede, who has offered the perfect sacrifice, who has entered heaven on our behalf. In other words, he has fulfilled all the Old Testament sacrifices. He has fulfilled the Old Testament priesthood that salvation is found in him, in his finished work. And if the Jewish Christians really got this, They would never revert back to Judaism. They would not fall to the temptation to think, oh, you no longer have a temple in which to worship. Oh, you no longer have a priesthood. Oh, you no longer participate in those sacrifices that have been offered for centuries. They don't need them because they've been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the exhortation to them and to every Christian today is live out of that. Live on Christ as your high priest who has fulfilled the scriptures. And that means being faithful to what you have in Christ. That's our theme that we're considering this morning. Be faithful to what you have in Christ, your priest. First of all, that means using what you have to draw near to God. Let us draw near is the first exhortation of our text. That's the language of worship, drawing near to God. It's the language of prayer. Remember this precious privilege. And you see, the only way this can even be appreciated, it can be grasped in the least bit, is to be gripped with the reality of the holiness of God. If people think of God as just some big buddy in the sky who loves everybody, who's like a genie who will offer favors if you ask him, they have no conception of the true and living God. Remember verse 19, Brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest, That is the holiest place where God himself dwells. And that's not with reference to that little compartment in the Old Testament tabernacle or temple. That's a reference to the holy presence of God in heaven. And that old tent was just a picture of that heavenly presence of God. And even that, only one person, only once a year could dare to enter into that place with blood of a sacrifice. And if you fail to keep the rules, he would be struck dead for his presumptuousness in entering the holy presence of God in his sin without a sacrifice. And so we can only appreciate this precious privilege in view of the holiness of God. He's of purer eyes to look upon evil. He's a consuming fire. And the way we as sinners may come into his presence with boldness, with confidence, is not in ourselves. through Jesus Christ. And now every believer is included in this exhortation. Let us draw near. What do we have that Israel didn't have? We have Jesus Christ as the ultimate priest who offered the perfect sacrifices that admits us into God's holy presence through his blood, right? That's the language of, again, going back to 19. We're having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus in view of his final perfect sacrifice for sin. And you need to use that. You need to draw near in the awareness of the terms of your admission into the holy presence of God. And does your conscience still accuse you that you're a sinner? Don't let that keep you away. This blood of Jesus Christ cleanses the heart from condemning guilt, right? We draw near having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Well, that's the language of the sprinkling of the blood of Christ that washes away sin. That's the language of what is signified by those Old Testament rituals of cleansing in which water, in some instances, mixed with the ashes of a heifer. In fact, it wasn't really pure water because it had to point to the sacrifice that yet had to be made. But you were washed with pure water. This cleansing of your conscience through the blood of Christ is signified by your baptism. It's interesting, isn't it, how your profession of faith looks back to your baptism and God's promises, his faithfulness. It reminds us of the terms in which we may come near to God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the foundation. This is the solid and the only basis for the full assurance that this verse talks about. Verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. In this way, for these reasons, draw near. And again, this language of drawing near, we need to appreciate that this is really the fundamental privilege that flows out of our relationship to Christ as our priest. The fact that the law made nothing perfect, but the promise of a better foundation by which we draw near to God. It connects the sacrifice of the new covenant with the fundamental privilege, worship and prayer. and it's the means of obtaining our benefits. Yes, indeed, because we have one in whom we can receive mercy and obtain help in our time of need, because we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Remember how the Heidelberg Catechism defines the most important part of thankfulness. Not in terms of works, It does deal with that too, but first of all, in terms of prayer, reminding us that the most important part of thankfulness for a free and full salvation is to continually express our gratitude to God and to seek more, to seek more blessings that magnifies his grace. And that means then don't let sin keep you away from God. Again, to think of the promises of our baptism that We're not to despair when we fall into sin, nor continue in sin, because we have an eternal covenant with God. And that's a basis to continually come to the Lord with a true heart, right? Sincerity, that's also there in verse 22. Draw near with a true heart. So that means don't continue in sin, and don't let a general sense and an ongoing awareness of your sinful weakness keep you from drawing near, but just continue to exercise faith in Christ. And I'd say set Christ crucified, the one who died for your sins, set him before your mind in prayer. When you come to God, come intentionally, deliberately, in the one and only way to the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, confess your dullness, confess your sin, confess your coldness, confess your lack of faith and love, but keep coming. Never quit coming. Come boldly, expecting every blessing in Christ. Use what you have in your high priest to draw near to him. Secondly, keep what you have with trusting determination. Verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. The confession of our hope. In Christ you have hope. And hope in biblical terms is not wishful thinking. It's not a kind of longing for something that may or may not be true. It's not questionable. not uncertain about benefits that might become ours. Well, we hope they do. No, biblical hope is well-grounded expectation of future blessings, things that are not yet seen, but the expectation of those blessings that are great, that are eternal. You might say that becoming a Christian is nothing less than taking hold of this hope, as your predominant outlook on life. You've come to understand that you are a sojourner in this world, that you're not seeking your best life now, but your hopes are fixed upon the life to come. Again, that's how this very book describes the exercise of faith in chapter six, verse 18 and 19, where it says, we have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope that is set before us. That describes Christians. We have fled for refuge. We have fled from the avenger of blood, you might say. We have fled from an avenging God to a merciful God in Christ. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, in which enters the presence behind the veil. It's a hope that brings us into the presence of God through Jesus Christ. Keep it and confess it from now on until you die. And that must be our determination. This exhortation is a charge, it's a command. Let us hold fast It's not simply an invocation. It's a third person imperative. It's a command, or first person. Hold fast the confession of our hope to the end. And that's not in conflict whatsoever with God's promise to preserve every true believer in the faith. But what it does is it shows us one way in which he preserves them. That is, he commands them, and he inspires them, and he motivates them. And he strengthens them to keep on. And any who drop out of this confession have no reason to believe that they are yet somehow, despite unbelief, saved. The just shall live by faith, we find in the rest of this chapter. But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Perseverance in the faith. And this is determined indeed. or this determination rather is grounded in God's faithfuls. You know how verse 23 ends, he who promised is faithful. Hold fast your confession, do it faithfully, and find your motivation in the faithfulness of God. Keep trusting, feed on his promises. That's the basis for the strong consolation that the writer of the Hebrews had spoken of. We have strong consolation in two things. God's promise, a blessing in Christ, and the fact that God added to his promise an oath. He swore by himself that the promise is reliable. It shows the unchanging nature of God's counsel, a God who cannot lie. And it's a promise of eternal life in Christ to all who believe. God does not waver in his commitments to us in Christ. Let us not waver in our confession of hope. Keep what you have with determined faith. And then thirdly, share what you have for the good of others. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. What we have here is another one of the many one another passages. You know what I mean? One another. So often in the New Testament scripture, we have exhortations pertaining to how we are to live together, to love one another. But that language of one another is repeated so often in the practical sections of the New Testament letters. And they all show that we're not saved individualistically. Throughout our text, it's the language of us. We have a tremendous influence on each other, and that's inevitable. And that's true of, it's really true of the most keep-to-myself kind of person. You can't escape the influence that you have on others for good or bad. We stir each other up in one way or another. Sometimes we stir each other up with hurt or embarrassment or resentment or anger or coldness. And you know what? That's really easy to do. It doesn't take much consideration at all, right? Verse 24 calls for consideration. Consider one another. Reckless words, gossip, indifference to others, carelessness about their well-being, bad examples, that doesn't take any consideration. Just act naturally. Act in the flesh, and we can stir each other up that way. We can provoke strife and unchristian living simply by being inconsiderate. Our text calls us to consider one another. positively and ask how, how will my example affect others? How will my behavior, my words affect others? How can I positively promote love, peace, and Godliness? Remember that familiar beloved passage, Philippians chapter two, but everyone not only look on his own things, but also the things of others, consider others better than themselves. How can we do that? Well, one is by way of mutual admonition, admonishing one another. And sometimes that involves warning, but that word has a broad meaning. It also involves teaching, encouraging. In fact, that language is used in this letter. In chapter three, there are a couple of examples of that. In verses 12 and 13 it says, Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, and departing from the living God. But, here's the alternative, exhort one another daily while it is called the day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. In fact, that's found in the language of verse 25, exhorting one another. That's important. Another important thing is faithful participation in the life and fellowship of the church. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some. Negligence, sloppy church attendance is not something new. The writer of the Hebrews addresses it. Apparently it was the manner of some to neglect opportunities to come together as a worshiping people of God. There are few churches that don't struggle. with church attendance. There are a few Reformed churches that I've visited with church visitors over the years that don't mention, yeah, well, the evening service could be better attended. And I realize there are legitimate reasons for that, and there are other reasons that are not so good. And here, too, it's like the point with respect to church attendance is best made in the morning service, or the ones who really need to hear it won't be here. We need to appreciate from this text that a failure to worship with God's people when we're able involves a failure to consider others, to consider office bearers who really care for your spiritual well-being, to consider other members who are affected by the absence of those who could be there and aren't, or perhaps even consider visitors or new members. How do you answer them when they ask about the Second Service? I realize it's a new thing for many people. Sometimes you have to remind them that it's different than the first one. It's not simply a repeat. There's a different message. Do you answer in a way that indicates, well, it's kind of an extra, an optional extra for the truly committed? I hope they don't ask you if that's the case. What you want to say is, well, for hundreds of years, Reformed churches had two worship services. on the Lord's Day. For hundreds of years, the Lord's Day began and ended in the house of God. In fact, up until probably 50 years ago, every church almost, whether evangelical or Lutheran, you name it, they had to worship services. Maybe people are so much more spiritual today that they don't need to go to church twice. No, encourage them that if you want to be fully involved in the life and the fellowship of church, if you can, go to both worship services. There's doctrinal instruction there where you will be grounded in the faith. You'll enter a different level of involvement in the life and fellowship of the church. You may then be eligible for serving in office or other positions of responsibility because you set an example of godly commitment to the church. You'll be blessed in this way. Don't forsake the assembling of yourself with God's people if you're able to come, but consider them. There's actually more. In fact, the next verse says four or verse 26 says, well, verse 25 ends so much the more as you see the day approaching. In other words, be all the more diligent in attending worship because the day is approaching. Well, what day is that? It's a day of judgment. The next verse says, for if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. I had a professor at seminary that would say, skipping church is the first step on the way to hell. Sounds pretty blunt, doesn't it? Maybe it's an indication of a spiritual problem. The reason people only come once is not because they love to worship God, but they're doing their duty, doing just enough to make them think they're going to get to heaven. but a careless neglect of the worship of God can be a dangerous symptom of turning away from the Lord because usually such turning away happens gradually. So it's a serious warning that's given in this passage to be faithful in worshiping with the people of God. Going to church indeed is a critical means of keeping the faith. considering others really powerfully shows true faith. It's really interesting. There are a few warnings in this letter to Christians. It's like a sermon, this letter, and it has very deep teaching, but it always follows that with application. And there is teaching here with respect to the danger of some of these Hebrew Christians actually turning away from the faith that they professed. There are strong warnings against against turning against the Lord. In chapter 6, in the previous verses of chapter 9, there's a warning against having been enlightened and then partaking of the Holy Spirit and the heavenly gift and the powers of the age to come. If they fall away, it's impossible to renew them again to repentance since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put them to an open shame. And then he says, but beloved, We are confident of better things concerning you. Not simply an outward profession, not simply some participation in some of the benefits of Christ's coming, but better things. Yes, things that accompany salvation. Religious activity doesn't necessarily accompany salvation. And then he goes, He goes on to say, God is not unjust to forget that you read really good books at home. That's not what it says. God is not unjust to forget that you watched your favorite YouTube preachers or that you prayed a lot. That's not what the apostle cites as evidence of the reality of God's grace working in their lives. What he cites is their involvement and participation in the life and fellowship of the church by way of considering others, ministering to the saints according to a great diversity of gifts. It really indicates how important this is in living out of our relationship with Christ, our high priest. Yes, the Christian life is a life of faith and a life of hope and a life of love. Be faithful to what you have in Christ, your priest. And don't misunderstand me for a moment. That's not a call to work hard to gain God's favor. It's rather your path of life in the light of that favor that has been so freely given to you by his grace. And this great high priest who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. Amen.