Hebrews 10:19-25
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Introduction
Introduction
If you have your bibles and I hope you do we are in the book of Hebrews this morning
Hebrews 10:19-25
It is toward the end of your bible after all of Pauls letters if you need to table of contents it theres no shame its not a go to for alot of people
To stand here is an answer to 3 years of praying if not longer then that
What god was refining and growing in me for the last 15 years has a place to live and its unreal
This would nto be happening without the people of Bethesda Methodist Church across the street
We owe their gospel generosity more then we could give
They started in this spot in the mid 1800’s
They are proud of its history and so am I
To be in the place where John Wesley once spoke is incredible
He was a mount rushmore figure of church hisotry
Some words of his come to mind today as we stand in this place
Who are we going to be as a church?
What is it that we hold out that people long for
We hold out two things
THe life changing Gospel unapologetically and not watered down
We hold out how it changes everything
And we hold out real community
Real friendship
And Wesley said you can’t have one with out the other
John Wesley often reminded the early Methodist people: ’The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion”
He must have read where we are today when he came up with it because that is what the author of Hebrews is hammering home
And it is the first thing I want to set the tone of our life and culture in this place with from day one
We are going to see 2 things in this packed passage today
The Scandal of Drawing Near and the Hope of Holding Fast
The Scandal of Drawing Near 19-22
The Scandal of Drawing Near 19-22
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—and since we have a great high 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 in pure water.
In all of this language that sounds odd is the most scandalous message we could imagine
It is the message that makes Christianity unlike any other religion in the world
We have access to God like an 8 year old has with there mom because HE came to us and did the impossible
This is a letter written to Jewish Christians and in this strange imagery is scandal
In the Old Testament only the High Priest could enter before God
Now the author is saying there is a new way….any of us can
The readers would have been blown away and hesitant probably that this can be true
Here is what it means for us
Did anyone else grow up with a God you were taught to be afraid of?
A mean fun police in the sky?
A God mad at you because you did some no no’s
Maybe if you kept the rules he would be a genie in a bottle and come through
Maybe?
The author just blew that away
that is religion he is exploding on these pages with the scandal of the Gospel
This is religion vs gospel -
Our approach to God is confident and joyous; theirs was tentative and fearful. We are urged always to ‘draw near’; they were frequently exhorted to keep their distance
Can you believe that with what you grew up thinking about God?
And how did he do it
Verse 19- through the blood of Jesus
That means that God before time set his affections on those that would repent and believe and did the unimagineable
He did what you never could to make a way back to hope in a world that isn’t how its supposed to be
he has inaugurated for us a new and living way
New and living means there are old ways that never give life
There are old ways and dead ways that can never deliver on giving us hope
We have hope that is alive
What does that mean?
It means you cannot not put your hope in something or someone
We all long for hope and love and peace and wholeness
The author is saying in Jesus you can have it
Nothing else can give it
That is the Gospel
Religion says its up to how you can perform so God loves you
WHo does that place the weight of hope on?
You
The Gospel says place the weight of your hope in what has already been done for you and is alive
Easter was the coronation and the inaguration of the new way
he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—
later he makes this clear
keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
He is the pioneer going where no one has ever gone so we can follow
How do we do it in Hebrews 12-
We do it by keeping our eyes on Jesus
Christ has opened up for us a means of access to God, and thus to (eternal) life.
He did it when he kicked down the gates of hell and led the greatest rescue mission the universe will ever know
And we followed Him out to eternal life
Your pain has an expiration date because His did
Isn’t that unreal?
So let us enter
The readers are to seize the opportunity of access to God which Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice have made possible
Seize every opportunity to run to your dad when things aren’t how they are supposed to be
Why run to him and not the world?
Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—
He will give you what you need not what you want to get you home where there is no more cancer or funerals or tears
And on top of it he will give you what you cannot imagine to make you whole and keep you on a broken Tuesday that seems so unseen to the world
No matter how far you are you can run home to your father and the only thing he will see is the perfection of the Son
There is a story my pastoral Hero Dick Lucas tells of a small village in England
A kid hated the small town and hated its conservative life
He was a rebel and went to London to live it up and move away
It broke him
Addicted and broke and sure he had shamed his family in a town where everyone knows everyone he had no other choice but to call home
He said he is gonna take the train home and if its ok to come back for his parents to put a bed sheet on the clothes line that butted up against the tracks
He got on the train and as he got close enough to see he wept
Because the whole town had bed sheets flying
The town took the shame of this kid and the whole town said come home
That is the way Jesus inaugurated for you
He took the shame and shouts come home
Like the author says - SEIZE every opportunity to run to your dad when things aren’t how they are supposed to be
Even when you think you have done too much wrong to be welcomed home
That is the scandal of the Gospel
That is the access he purchased with His blood
The Hope of Holding Fast 23-25
The Hope of Holding Fast 23-25
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
How do you access the scandalous access he just described
I never saw this part before until i really studied this and it blew me away
Think about it
the way you access it is through community
Sin costs us community
If we lie we hide
if we go back to old vices we do it in secret
When I was drinking and drugging i did it alone
SIn kills community
What were the wages of sin?
Paul says in Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Something else dies because of sin as much as our bodies one day
Christ didn’t just give your pain and funeral an expiration date on the cross he conquered the life sin destroys
That is why he says before he dies my god my god why have you forsaken me
What that means is that he conquered the death of community our sin causes not just death itself
Like Paul said the wages of our sin is death of community…but the gift of God is that you will never be alone or forsaken by Him no matter how you feel in the moment
He was forsaken you never will be
The gift of God is life to all we are and all our relationships should be
that is what the author of Hebrews is saying when he says Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.
Hebews says hold fast to that and don’t let go
THe hope we have is what we long for in a world that isn’t how its supposed to be
And it is a sure hope that everything sad will come untrue because Easter really happened
So hold fast onto it he says with confidence, with perseverance, and with faith
How do we keep those three things with all we deal with and see?
How we access this amazing hope how?
By performing so God loves us?
By pulling up our own bootstraps and having our own private faith?
No we access it the author says in countercultural community
And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,
We have to know the context of this
The Epistle to the Hebrews 10:24. Let Us Care for One Another
This is a pastoral epistle to a community whose faith is in danger;
There hope and confidence in the gospel is under attack and what does the pastor tell them in this letter
We can’t miss this
He doesn’t say have more quiet time alone
Or spend more time in your prayer closet away from everyone not that those things are bad
What he says will keep their hope and confidence alive when it is under attack us community with other believers
Consider one another in the greek means to care for one another
The Epistle to the Hebrews 10:23. Hold Fast!
The basis for believers’ endurance is the reliability of God’s promise
I need you to remind me of it when I can’t see it
If I can’t see it and I am alone how would I ever hear truth unless it comes from you
that is what he is saying
Are we a community commited to doing gospel good in each others lives
I have seen it from you but we have a long way to go
Because relationships get messy
that is what provoke means
I have to give you access to my life to tell me the hard truth when you see me chasing after a lie
There is a difference in this kind of love and being judgemental
The world around you says who am i to tell you what is good for you
Do you boo
But if I see you self destructing it is the most unloving thing I could ever do to let you keep self destructing
Step into my life and remind me of what I need to do to keep my hope alive when my faith is under attack
That is what he is saying
This cannot happen if I am isolated on my own just fighting my private battles in my quiet time reading the bible by myself
We have to stick together
not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
Paul Ellingworth says here - The mutual care which the author has commended to his readers in v. 24 cannot be sustained unless members of the Christian community meet to encourage and exhort one another
Unless you come to the Silos for a mens night you won’t have community
Unless you come to a workday you won’t be able to celebrate with your friends what God has done in giving us this place
Another way to translate what he has said is let us give attention to one another FOR the provoking of love and good works….and we have to be in community to give attention to one another don’t stop getting together”
Put basically you will accomplish giving each other the hope of the Gospel by getting together
I have heard this used to beat people over the head about Church attendance
But you can brag about never missing church and be without community through the week
HAng out on a tuesday
have people in this church over for dinner on a thursday
If you see your neighbor working in there yard go help and get to know there stories
Don’t neglect the opportunity for community
Secular Government sees this
In 2023 The U.S. Surgeon General’s office wrote an Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community
Listen to His words-
When I first took office as Surgeon General in 2014, I didn’t view loneliness as a public health concern. But that was before I embarked on a cross-country listening tour, where I heard stories from my fellow Americans that surprised me. People began to tell me they felt isolated, invisible, and insignificant. Even when they couldn’t put their finger on the word “lonely,” time and time again, people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds, from every corner of the country, would tell me, “I have to shoulder all of life’s burdens by myself,” or “if I disappear tomorrow, no one will even notice.” It was a lightbulb moment for me: social disconnection was far more common than I had realized. In the scientific literature, I found confirmation of what I was hearing. In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness.1-3 And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones, and support systems, exacerbating loneliness and isolation.
People next door are longing to be seen and known and cared about
Don’t miss the opportunity to give 2/3rds of the people around you what they long for
Because a day is coming when you can’t witness to the hope we have anymore
Raymond Brown said - Believers must engage vigorously in this ministry of encouragement, because their opportunities are at the same time both immense and limited. At present there are many avenues of service, but the Day is drawing near when we can no longer witness and serve in this way. When the Day is here rather than near, we shall all wish we had done so much more.
In the last 25 years 40 million Americans have stopped attending Church
The number one reason is that they have moved
The number one reason they listed that would bring them back is compelling community
35 percent of unchurched people will go to church if you invite them, and a study found that 17 percent of dechurched people would go to church if you invited them
Let’s be this type of community people long for in the fastest growing part of one of the fastest growing cities in America
Let’s Pray
