Heb 10:19-22 Constant Need
Notes
Transcript
From the moment we are born, actually, at the moment we begin our existence, we are in constant need of many things, especially food and water. It is part of our nature as human beings to be needy and dependent on other things for our existence. We don’t need to tell others that we need food and water, it is an instinct of our nature to feel the need and seek what satisfies the need for our existence.
Besides our physical needs, all human beings are born with a spiritual need and a desire to know God and have a relationship with Him. We know that this relationship is restored and because of Christ there is one way; through Christ that we can know God. The Scripture text that we are going to study this morning reminds us again of the privilege and need that we have to constantly draw near to God. If you fall asleep or your mind wanders away for the rest of the sermon, I hope you will remember one thing from this passage, we are commanded to draw near to God. We are not told when we find time or when it is convenient we should attempt to draw near to God, we are simply commanded to draw near to God.
My first intention was to cover until v 25, but the more I studied this section of Scripture I was convicted of the importance of the commandment in v 22. However, before the commandment, there is an introduction from v19 – 21 that reminds us of the reasons for the commandment that will follow.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
The paragraph starts with “therefore”. Every time we see a “therefore”, we should ask, what was before the “therefore”. Previously, the author had shown us how much Jesus is superior to the Old Testament tabernacle, priesthood, and sacrifice. Jesus entered not the replica, but the true temple in the heavenly realm. The author of Hebrews spent a significant time in the previous chapters showing that Jesus is a far superior High Priest. Then in the near context, the author has been arguing that Jesus' single sacrifice is far superior to the multiple animal sacrifices.
It is because of all of this that we have the confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Later, the author will command us to draw near to God. The emphasis here in v19 is not as much as entering the holy place, as it is entering the heavenly temple into the most sacred place, into God’s presence. The focus of this verse is the means of access, it is by the blood of Jesus. We must never forget that without the blood of Jesus, there is no access, no forgiveness, no redemption.
It is because of the blood of Jesus that we can enter into the Most Holy Place that there is in the entire Universe. It not only says that we can enter because of Jesus’ blood but there is so much power and cleansing, and forgiveness in Jesus’ blood that we enter into God’s presence with confidence, with boldness.
For example, if you go to visit Washington DC and as you visit all the tourist spots you might want to visit the white house. As a constituent, you have access to the white house, and there are public tours almost every day of the week at no cost.
Therefore, as a citizen, you have access to the White House. Let’s imagine that while you are touring the White House you are tired and hungry from all the walking, then you stumble across a fridge. Even though you have access it doesn’t mean you have the boldness to just open the fridge and grab something to eat or drink. In the same manner, if you stumble past a bed, you are not going to just go and lay down. You have access, but no bold confidence.
However, when you are in your own house you have access and bold confidence because there is where you belong, if you see a fridge, you will open it and look for something to eat, when you are tired you will just go and lay down. When you have both access and bold confidence you not only instinctively go, but there is also a level of expectation of what is already yours.
The other way I think of bold confidence is when one of our kids is hurt or in need or wants something, he or she will just run to me, or to Leanna crying Mommy, mommy, mommy.
Because of the blood of Jesus, we not only have access, we have the bold confidence to run to our Heavenly Father, crying out Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. If you belong to Jesus and you are covered in the blood of Jesus your home is where your Heavenly Father is. Not only that, we have bold access to God that we can approach Him for anything.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
If we don’t have Jesus we don’t have anything, but if we have Jesus and we are covered by His blood we have eternal life and we belong to His Kingdom. Furthermore, we have Jesus as our High Priest, who is interceding for us. It is because of Him that in the end, He will present us unblemished before the presence of His Glory with great joy.
Before we move forward to the next verses, we should notice v20 and the analogy that the author of Hebrews brings between the curtain and Jesus’ body. The Old Testament High Priest once a year would pass through the closed curtains into the Holy of Holies as a representative for all the people. Now in the New Covenant, we the people, enter the Holy of Holies not through the curtain, but through Jesus’ flesh. In that sense, Jesus’ flesh is the curtain that separates all humanity from the presence of God. If you are covered in Jesus’ blood there is access, forgiveness, and eternal life, without Him, there is only expectant eternal condemnation.
Jesus is the door, the curtain. The only access to God is through Jesus, through His body, through His blood. Without Jesus there is no forgiveness of sin, there is no life apart from Jesus.
Furthermore, v 21 says “since we have a great priest over the house of God”. We have studied before about the importance and the benefits of having Jesus as our High Priest, now the author of Hebrews just makes a mention of it as a way of reminder, that we are not only covered by the blood of Jesus, but Jesus is our High Priest, who is interceding for us, who offered the only and sufficient sacrifice of His flesh for us, that through His priestly office, He has given us His righteousness. Therefore, we should have double confidence, we are cleansed and given new garments and Jesus is with open arms waiting and leading us to enter God’s presence.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
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.
The commandment here is to draw near. This is a frequent commandment in the Hebrews letter, it is repeated several times in this letter. We could say that the Hebrews letter is characterized by its exaltation of Jesus and by one commandment that repeats over and over, let us draw near to God.
We are so accustomed to and familiar with the idea of approaching God, that often we might in our practice have little regard for this immense privilege that we have. We might confess with our mouths that approaching God is a privilege and delight, but does our daily lives show this to be true?
It does no good to confess and believe that prayer works, if in our day-to-day struggle, we actually don’t pray, don’t take the time to fellowship with God, to worship Him or to pray for others. I’m not saying that we will do this perfectly, but we should analyze our actions and see if they match our beliefs. If upon doing this you feel the need to pray more, I encourage you to set aside 5 additional minutes each day to draw near to God. Some might say 5 min? That is too short. And you are right, but if all of us would take only these 5 minutes each day to draw near to God, we will be transformed, our church transformed and on fire for the Lord. Do you want to see masses of people coming to faith in our community? Take each and every single day to draw near to God and I suspect that soon you won’t be watching the clock… and you will be spending more than the “mere” 5 minutes.
The wording “draw near” not only appears several times in this letter, but it is the wording used in the Old Testament referring to the priests approaching God with a sacrifice for worship. Because of the time we are living and how often we have heard this truth of our privilege of drawing near to God we miss the astonishment the first readers of this letter would have had.
They knew that when the author of Hebrews said “let us draw near” he was using the same wording as is described of the Old Testament priests drawing near to God in the temple. Their first thought might have been, “No I can’t, I’m not allowed to draw near, or I can’t draw near I’m not worthy, or I’m not a priest or a high priest, this is not my responsibility to draw near; and behind all of these is the understanding that God is Holy and I’m not so if I enter His presence I will perish”
However, because of Jesus, we are cleansed, made pure, sanctified, and allowed to enter God’s presence if we pass through His flesh, the symbolic curtain, to the curtain in the temple. We have a privilege that many for so many years longed for, let alone dream of actually entering the physical temple. Now because of Jesus we have the privilege to draw near to God; whenever we are … AND HE IS THERE, treasuring the time with us! This reminds me of the hymn Rock of Ages, “Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die.”
We draw near with full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. We have great confidence to enter God’s presence because we were made clean, through the blood of Jesus we have been forgiven and our hearts and consciences have been cleansed.
We know that in the Old Testament, the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper. However, the blood of Jesus purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Furthermore, through Christ’s blood, our bodies have been washed with pure water.
The priests in the Old Covenant had to go through a series of ceremonial cleansing and washings. The priests had to wash at the laver in the Tabernacle before beginning their daily duties as they drew near to God. While we in the New Covenant are washed with pure water, through Christ, there is a cleansing inside our hearts that the external physical washings were never able to do. We were cleansed and purified so much that the Holy Spirit, God can abide in our hearts.
These are some amazing realities and truths that God tells us in these verses. All of these truths point to the application of the commandment to draw near to God. Again, we are not told, when you find the time or some free time; or when you will be in trouble and out of your wits then draw near God.
No, it is a commandment that because of the amazing truths that we discussed and studied, because of this amazing privilege and honor we need to draw near to God. As we do so we will be transformed and we will long for more time.
There are several possible actions inferred when we are commanded to draw near to God. However, in these verses, the context and the choice of Greek words here indicate that the purpose for us to draw near is for the pure worship of the true and only God.
There are many commandments in the Bible, but the one that I found to have the most impact and delight in telling is this commandment. We are to worship the Lord. What is the greatest commandment? To love your God with all your heart and your mind and strength.
One of our expressions of love for God is to worship Him. The one thing we can do that will greatly affect our Christian walk is simply to spend time in God’s presence worshipping Him and adoring our Creator. Not to mention being able to pray asking for His help, thanking Him for so many blessings, thanking Him for being our Shepherd, or for giving us the privilege to come into His presence.
My heart and mind are drawn to remember Moses. Moses was given the incredible privilege of being in God’s presence. After doing so his face was shining! There was a physical change that was evidenced by those around him. Likewise, when we enter into God’s presence through the blood of the lamb, we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another.
2 Cor 3:12-13;18 “ 12Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end…then a few verses later it says 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
It shouldn’t surprise us that the author of Hebrews commands us over and over to draw near to God, as we draw near to God because of the blood of Jesus we can with unveiled faces behold the glory of God and be transformed into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another.
But what does this mean, one degree of glory to another? We know that it is not our physical appearance that changes like Moses, but it is our inner being. We don’t see God with our physical eyes, but with our hearts, and it is our hearts that are changed. It is our minds being transformed so that we are not conformed to this world and its values and priorities, but our minds are transformed to be conformed to God’s values and priorities.
Being transformed from one degree of glory to another is to have more and more of the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Therefore, let us draw near to God because we have access and bold confidence to approach Him for anything. We know this truth, I’m highly confident that you have heard this before, however, what matters is what each of us practices each day. Furthermore, we can approach God for anything, we know but in practice, we often instinctively think that we can’t really bother God with our silly thoughts or the little things we do. God cares, He invites us to share everything with Him, even the littlest thing we could imagine.
If you don’t have a specific time a day that you set aside to draw near to God, I encourage you to make a commitment now to dedicate a specific time, even if it is only 5 min each day. Furthermore, take every opportunity to invite Christ into your daily life, your activities, your work, your thoughts. The amazing thing that you will find is that Christ has a delight to share little, mundane moments with you.
1 Cor 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
We will close with the hymn Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee. May this be your prayer. It is my prayer for you that we will hide in Jesus more and more.