Hebrews 10:19-25 - Growing in Jesus - Together Draw Near

March 14 - Growing in Jesus - Together Draw Near - Hebrews 10:19-25

HBI - As we love God and draw near to Him with hearts cleansed by the blood of Jesus we need to love others and help them to draw near to God as well. Let us together draw near.

We need to work together, mentor each other, sharpen each other as the body of Christ so we can all grown closer to Jesus together. 

Intro

Imagine if you will what it was like before Jesus came to enter into the presence of God and have your sins atoned for. 

God would dwell with His people at this time, but He would dwell in the tabernacle then later when the temple was built He dwelt there. 

The Tabernacle represented God’s desire to liver in the midst of His people, but also that His presence was to be taken seriously. 

But there was a problem, the people are sinful and can not be in the presence of the Lord. So there where specific instructions on how to enter into the presence of God. 

The tabernacle consisted of a fenced off outer courtyard that was about 150’X75’. This is the place where the people would come to bring there sacrifices for the priests. 

There was a tent set up in the courtyard that contained the Holy place and the Holy of Holies. The priests performed daily tasks inside the Holy Place: they had to keep the lamps burning, offer incense twice a day, and bring fresh bread weekly to the table.

The Most Holy Place was a unique place. The ark of the covenant was in this room. God’s very presence dwelt in the Most Holy Place. Only the High Priest could enter this room once a year, protected by a cloud of smoke from burnt incense. The most important celebration in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement, had its climax in the Most Holy Place, where the high priest offered the blood of the sacrificed animal to God to atone for the people’s sin.

If they did it wrong, if the took one step wrong in entering into the very presence of God just once a year, then they would die. Aaron the high priests’ sons entered the Most holy place wrong once and died. 

Imagine that life was still like that. But when Jesus came and offered up His life as a living sacrifice for our sin something amazing happened. 

The great curtain that separated the holy place from the Most holy place tore in two when Jesus died on the cross. 

Gone was he times when we needed the high priests to enter the most Holy place into the presence of God for us, Jesus paid the price so we could enter directly into the presence of God on our own, whenever we wanted. 

This is the opportunity that we are given, as we grow closer to Jesus, we are reminded that we can enter into the presence of God, through the blood of Jesus. 

Not only that we are told to draw near to God like this together, as the body of Christ. This means that it is not just about you, but about us together entering into the presence of the Lord for the Glory of the Lord. 

As we love God and draw near to Him with hearts cleansed by the blood of Jesus we need to love others and help them to draw near to God as well. Let us together draw near.

Read Hebrews 10:19-25 and Pray

19-21 - Enter God's Presence

We have been learning lately that growing in Jesus means that we are the body of Christ, that we are to do this together as one in unity. 

We keep this in mind as we get into this passage to figure out what it is telling us. We have learnt earlier that if we truly want to know Jesus that we need to seek His face. 

That is what we remember as we look into what it means to draw near to God together as the body of Christ. 

Hebrews 10:19 19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—

Therefore, means that because of what has gone on before. So we go a little before this passage to get a little bit of the context as to what was going on. 

Earlier in the chapter we see a common theme emerge, in verse 9 we read that the first was taken away to establish the second. 

The law that was established through the Mosaic covenant was pointing to the need for something greater that needed to happen. It was meant to point to a coming messiah who would take over. The second would fulfill the first. 

We read about the law being only a shadow of the things to come, a promised hope that was so much greater. It was impossible after for the blood of animals to take away the sins of the people but rather they would just cover them year after year. 

It was a serious thing they had to do. God dwelt in their midst seated on the ark of the Covenant, this is what the burning incense covered as the priest went in once a year. 

Once The ark was lost to the philistines because of the sin of the people of Israel. Through a series of circumstances, the ark ended up not in its rightful place but being looked after in an Israelite city. 

David heard God had been blessing this place and He wanted to bring the dwelling place of God back to its rightful place. So, He started transporting it wrongly by a team of oxen on a cart. 

This went against the law of God and when the oxen stumbled the ark wobbled and someone reached their hand out to steady it and God struck that person dead. 

Why is all this important to know? All this to say that we are called, as the body of Christ now to enter the presence of God, we are told to draw near to Him. 

Imagine what the people knew about the temple and what it used to be like, and we are told that now, because of the blood of Jesus we do not need that high priest to enter on our behalf anymore year by year. 

We can through the blood of Jesus enter the very presence of God. A sacrifice was still necessary, but our sacrifice rose from the dead so that eternally we could enter the presence of God. 

But what even does it mean to draw near to the throne of God? It is like getting to know someone. Have you ever met someone who has become a great friend? It seems like you have a lot in common.

When you meet a person like that it seems like no effort at all to get to know them, and you spend the time to do it because you have those things in common, you do all you can together to get to know each other better. 

 If you are married, when you first met your wife how much work was it to get to know her and spend hours talking to her and flirting with her so you could get to know her better. 

Hebrews 10:20–21 (CSB)20 he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,

22-23 - With Full assurance

What Joy this should give us, we can now draw near to God with full assurance because of the body and blood of Jesus. 

Hebrews 10:22 (CSB)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 in pure water.

So first of all we can draw near to God now Because of the blood of Jesus, what Joy that should bring us. 

Not only can we now draw near to God, but we can also do it with full assurance. No old covenant worshipper would have been bold enough to do something like this. 

We have an open invitation to enter the very presence of the Lord most high with full assurance, that is trusting that God is faithful and will do what He said He will do. With boldness enter the presence of the Lord. 

But we also need to consider what is involved in this wonderful invitation. We must prepare ourselves spiritually as we enter into the presence of God.

As the priests of old, who had to wash themselves, put on clean linen clothes before entering the presence of God we need to prepare our hearts to draw near to God. 

Fellowship with the Lord demands purity. With our hearts sprinkled clean. The book of James gives us an idea of what this looks like. 

If you have committed any sort of sin, then we need to confess it to God. That is we need to get rid of it and put it under the blood of Jesus. 

The idea behind this is that we need to keep a short account of sin. Is there some sin that you are holding on to as you attempt to draw near to the Lord? Then ask God to make that clear to you. Seek the forgiveness of God as you draw near to Him. 

Ask the Lord to examine your heart, your motives and the things that make you do what you do. We need to learn to bring our hearts under the Lordship of Jesus as well. 

Be in prayer that our words and actions will be a manifestation of the Lord giving us a clear heart and a clear conscience. 

Hebrews 10:23 (CSB)23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

Hold fast to the promises of Jesus. If we are to look back on what we have gone through let it be to remember our faithful Lord who pulled is out of darkness into His glorious light. 

Look to Jesus and His coming again as the great hope that we have. Let our hope be fixed on Jesus for He is unwavering. 

This is what it means to draw near with full assurance and hope in the one who is forever faithful, but it does not end there. 

24-25 - Helping Others along the way. 

While we draw near to God, we need to seek to help others along the way for we called to encourage and hold each other accountable. 

Hebrews 10:24–25 (CSB)24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 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.

We need to help each other along the way. We are to draw near to the Lord but we are not to do it all alone. 

As we draw near to God, entering into His presence with full assurance and a hope that comes from looking to the future promises God has in store for us we need to look around for our brothers and sisters who are struggling and not doing so well. 

There are those that can not see far enough past their own sin and failings to know how to draw near to God. They can not seem to lay hold of this promise. 

Fellowship with the Lord must never become selfish. We must fellowship together, whatever that looks like. 

Sometimes I have seen people attend church for what they can get out of it but as we can see that is not the point of why we go to church. It was never about you. 

But rather what the emphasis is on what we can do for others as we draw near to God together. We are to spur one another on to a closer relationship with God and good works. 

So What? 

What can we take from this as we go from here? The first thing that comes to my mind as I work through this is how often have, we taken drawing near TO God together as the body of Christ for granted? 

We have had freedom for so long to worship as we see fit and so many people come up with excuses to not worship together. 

There are countries that face persecution for worshipping God, and they put their lives on the line every time they gather together to draw near to the Lord together. 

One thing these restrictions have done I believe is make us realize again the importance of being together and worshipping the Lord together. Never again should we take for granted the freedom we have in drawing near together. 

As we approach the Lord in eternal Hope and full assurance that God will do what He has promised, confess any sins that may have become an obstacle between you and God. 

Our hearts many not be pure but part of the full assurance that we have is that Jesus will forgive the sins of those who approach Him with repentant hearts. 

Have we wronged others, or have we wronged God? ask for forgiveness, confessing our sins and approach the throne of God. 

Lastly are their others around us struggling with how to do this, struggling through their sin and hopelessness with know way they can see to Get out? 

Seek How you may love them and point them in the right direction. We can not do this on our own strength and we where never meant to. 

Are you struggling with this and have not told anyone? Do not be afraid reach out to someone for help if you need it for encouragement and accountability to help us work through our sin. 

What I hope this will do is produce a culture of mentoring and accountability in our midst. Look to the great Hope that we have encouraging one another as we see the day of the Lord approaching!