Love And Good Deeds

“Love & Good Deeds” Hebrews 10 - October 14, 2012

Turn with me in your bibles to Hebrews 10. We have been going through the book of Hebrews, and we are camping out for a month looking at the five calls to us given here in chapter 10. The book of Hebrews is a book of the Bible written under the inspiration of God himself, through a human author, I personally think Paul, and written to Jews, saved by faith in Jesus Christ who is the promised Messiah, the anointed one of God. This book tells these Jews that they no longer need to be bound by all the rules and regulations of the OT sacrificial system. Jesus has provided a better sacrifice than all the bulls and goats that were slaughtered to cover over the sins of the people for a short time. Instead, his sacrifice takes away sin for all time.

As we have gone through the book we have seen that Jesus is better than OT prophets who only had bits and pieces of truth, better than angels who are merely servants while Jesus is the Son, better than Moses the lawgiver, better than any high priest, even Aaron, the first high priest, and even better than Abraham, the father of the Jews. Then we saw four dangers we are warned about in Hebrews.

• We need to pay attention to the truth - or we will drift into error

• We need to make sure our hearts are not hardened by sin

• We need to make sure we are growing spiritually, not staying spiritual “babies”

• We need to make sure we do not give up or become lazy spiritually

Then we come to chapter 10, where we see that we are to live boldly as Christians. No longer do we need to be passive about our faith or rely on mediators, going to priests to find forgiveness of our sins. Instead, we have confidence to come right into the very presence of God. I’ll begin reading at verse 19, and I’ll be reading from the NIV.

Read 10:19-25

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,

by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body,

and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Let’s pray!

We saw in weeks past that we are to live boldly, on purpose, claiming the rights that are ours as Christians, That is something that we often fail to do. Instead we live weak, ineffective, ashamed lives, trying to blend into the crowd and not make any waves. And as a result our lives make no difference, no impact upon anyone else. Instead, Hebrews gives us a call to live out our inheritance. We are given five commands. Each one beginning with “Let us.” The first is found in verse 22 - Let us Draw near to God - we are able to come into the very throne room of God, to come before His throne boldly. Heb. 4:16 tells us, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. We do not come to a God who could care less about our problems, but to a God who counts the hairs on our heads, a God who clothes the lilies of the field, and a God who sees each sparrow fall. And he says WE are far more important to him than flowers or birds. We have a God who loves to hear and answer our prayers. It says “how much more valuable you are than birds!” It’s an interesting study to go through and look at the times God says “how much more.” It tells us in Matthew, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So we draw near to God with confidence. Jesus has given access for us to God through a “freshly-slain” way, by dying on the cross for us.

Then the second call we are given - We are called to Hold on to hope! Our hope is centered on all that God is and all He has done. We saw last week that hope is the confident expectation that what God has promised surely will come to pass. Our hope is based on the fact that God cannot lie, He always keeps His word, He is always faithful. He is right now preparing a place for us to enjoy with Him forever. We have an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven for us. Our hope is not in what we can amass for ourselves down here, but in what God has promised us up there! Let’s not hold too closely to the things of this world, but let’s remember that our treasure is what we send on ahead!