I had an unexpected very emotional experience this past week.
At a little after 6 on Tuesday morning I came to page 884, the last page of probably the longest book I have ever read apart from the Bible. As I’ve mentioned previously, I have been reading the massive scholarly work written by Professor Craig S. Keener entitled Miracles, The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts. And as I completed reading the last few words of the book, I found myself reduced to tears, and not just momentarily, but for most of the next 30 minutes.
It seemed like an incongruent response. Massive, scholarly, intellectual books don’t normally elicit that sort of response from me. Of course, I don’t read many of them. But this one was different. Why was it different? I think it’s because it told story after story after story of the mercy and faithfulness of God demonstrated by His powerful and miraculous answers to prayer in working miracles not only through history, but especially in this present time. Keener sought simply to prove that it was intellectually feasible for scholars and intellectuals to believe that Jesus and the Apostles worked many miracles in the New Testament because there are eyewitness testimonies to millions of miracles which people all over the world have experienced that have occurred in our time. But in the process of sharing these stories, He reminded me of the mercy, the faithfulness and the power of God demonstrated through history toward sinners like you and me.
And that really is in part the story of the Book of Hebrews, and the whole Bible. That we have a merciful and faithful God who has powerfully worked to save us from our sins. More than that, He has sent His Son Jesus to represent His mercy and power and love in saving us from our sins, and since He has been so faithful to us, how can we be anything but faithful to Him. How can we even think about abandoning Him, even if circumstances make it difficult to be faithful to Him?
Now the issue nearly 2000 years ago, when this book was written, that was discouraging believers from being faithful to Jesus was persecution. Today, in might be said, that the issue has become the Pandemic. The reason why people in Judea in the first century were falling away from Christ, or thinking about it, was decades of persecution from unbelieving Jews because they followed Jesus. Now, there are different crises. One is the pandemic; the other is the drift of the culture away from morality and spirituality, so that I believe it was just this week for the first time a survey demonstrated that less than half the population of the United States claims to be in church on Sunday.
So the words of the writer to the Hebrews, the Word of God, are incredibly relevant in the U.S. today. Though the reason folks are falling away from Christ, the exhortation is the same. Since Jesus has been so faithful to you, be faithful to Him and to His people. Since Jesus has been so incredibly faithful to you, be faithful to Him and to His people. And in a few verses, he sums up what it will look like, what we will do, when we are faithful to Jesus. This is the heart of the message of the book of Hebrews. Don’t abandon Jesus. Be faithful to Him because He’s been so faithful to you.
Now we’ve just finished the major teaching section of Hebrews, that section which extends from Hebrews 7 through chapter 10 verse 18. The writer to the Hebrews has shown us that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of all that the Law and the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed and essentially predicted. He is the great high priest who offered the one sacrifice once and for all time and people that takes away sin—the sin that could at best be covered by all the Old Testament sacrifices of bulls and goats. He was indeed the Lamb of God who alone takes away the sins of the world by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. And he has now opened the way for us to come into the very presence of God Himself in prayer and in every other way, by His death on the cross that paid for our sins.
And so based on all that we see the word therefore in verse 19. It’s telling us that we are at a turning point in the Book of Hebrews. We go from the teaching of the truth about Jesus and His superior sacrifice of Himself for our sins, and its effect on our relationship with God to now our proper response. As the writer does so, He reviews the eternal and infinite impact, the change that has taken place in our relationship to God because of Christ’s death for our sins on the cross.
Now it’s important to remember the background for what He’s about to say. In the Old Testament, as the writer has carefully explained, there were a series of barriers set up between the sinful people and the Holy God. As people approached a relationship with the Holy God, and His manifest presence in the inner sanctum of the Tabernacle and the Temple, they encountered barriers protecting them from the manifest presence of a Holy God, who because of His holiness might break out in justice against their sins at any moment, if they approached His presence in the most holy place, or the holy of holies, in the center of the Tabernacle/Temple apparatus. So the common people were limited to the outer court, outside the Tabernacle or the Temple itself. And then within the tabernacle or temple, there was a chamber called the Holy Place, a place where only Priests and Levites could go to offer various sacrifices for sin before the Lord. And then there was the most holy place, or the Holy of Holies, the small chamber in the center of the temple where God manifested His Holy Presence. Between the common people and the Most Holy Place was a veil separating where only priests and Levites could go—the Holy Place--and then finally there was a thick curtain or veil between the place the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. This prevented anyone from entering the very manifest presence of God, except the High Priest who could only enter that Most Holy Place, or the Presence of God, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, and not without the blood of sacrifices that could be sprinkled on the altar there to cover both His sins and the sins of the people. The writer is saying that what all this revealed is that the way into God’s very presence for mankind had not yet been revealed in the Old Testament. That because of our sin, and the fact that it had not yet been paid for, so that access to the very presence of God was extremely limited—in fact it was off limits to all but the High Priest once a year. What He’s about to say is that this has all changed, it’s all been changed by the great ultimate High Priest Jesus Christ, and His final one-time sacrifice for our sins on the cross.
Verse 19: “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence (even boldness) to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new a living way which he inaugurated through the veil, that is His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith.
Now, of course, you might wonder what he means when he describes the veil as Christ’s flesh. This is obviously a reference to the fact that at the very point Christ died, the very point at which He sacrificed His body on the cross for our sins, as recorded in three Gospels, the veil that separated mankind from the most holy place was rent in two. So the veil is clearly identified with the sacrifice of Christ’s body on the cross—the body crucified is the veil rent—the means by which every single one of us, not just the high priest once a year, can come into the very presence of the Holy God. And so that’s the reason for this exhortation. Now, because of the blood and body of Jesus Christ, we can have confidence, boldness, to enter that most holy place, the very presence of God, especially in prayer. We have a new and living way, as opposed to the old way, and the Old Covenant and the dead sacrifices of bulls and goats. The way has been inaugurated by the Blood of Christ, and that new way is a living way because Jesus Christ Himself, by virtue of His indestructible life, sits at the right hand of the Presence of God the Father in Heaven, interceding for us. And so our prayers will now be heard as they have never been heard before. Since all this is now true, it is only fitting, and how can we ignore the tremendous privilege of being able to enter ourselves into the very manifest presence of Almighty God. Verse 22: “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Now what’s that all about with respect to “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water?” Well, it’s a reference to the preparations the Old Testament priests made before the entered into service, and before the made sacrifices in the Holy Place. They were sprinkled by the blood of bulls and goats, and they were to wash themselves before they entered into service in the tabernacle and temple, as is found in Exodus 29:1-4. But what Hebrews is alluding to is the fact that the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ has accomplished all of this for all of us, not just the priests, but anyone and everyone who applies the blood of Jesus Christ to His sins, can now do what only the High Priest did once a year—because the only blood sacrifice that ultimately mattered, the one that took away sins, was offered by the great High Priest Jesus Christ when He died on the cross for our sins.
And so the first point this morning—since Christ has opened up the most holy place for all, since He’s made it possible for any of us who believe in Christ to enter the very presence of God, we should all take advantage of this incredible opportunity. We should come before His presence especially in prayer.
Now I think this is all in accord with the predictions not only with regard to the coming New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, but the fulfillment of the promises of the book of Joel in Acts—the coming of the Holy Spirit with attending signs and wonders and miracles--the very thing we see happening all over the world today in response to prayer. There has never been a time when the prayers of God’s people have been answered in such an amazing fashion, not just in Israel, but all over the world. And why we don’t take advantage of this opportunity to come into the very manifest presence of God should be a mystery to all of us.
God has been faithful, ever so faithful to us to send Jesus to make the way open to us to. We should also be faithful to Him to take advantage of this great opportunity. Be faithful to draw near to God with a sincere heart and a full assurance of faith.
So do we take advantage of this great opportunity? Do we spend time daily in prayer? Do we spend time in prayer with each other? Toward this end the elders are offering a better opportunity for all of us to pray: If we began praying again after the service, instead of Sunday night, would some of you join us? Let us know.
Secondly, he tells us the next proper response to God’s faithfulness, is to be faithful in our confession, our profession of faith. Be faithful to confess or profess Jesus as your Savior.
Now it wasn’t a small thing to continue to do so in first century Judea. The open confession of Jesus, and the hope, or confident expectation of eternal life, was a big deal. It’s the very reason why these believers were being persecuted. If they could just stop talking about Jesus and go back to being good little Jewish boys and girls who dutifully offered their sacrifices in the temple, if they could just go along to get along, everything would be okay.
The writer to the Hebrews insists this would not be okay—it would not be okay with the One who really matters, God. So he says, the proper response to all that God and Christ have done and given is to “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Don’t waver. As one version puts it. Let us be unswervingly faithful to Christ, in our profession, in our confession before me, because he has been faithful to us. What we say matters. If we confess Jesus before men, Jesus will confess us before our Father in heaven, but if we don’t confess Jesus before men, neither will He confess us as belonging to Him in heaven. In other words, don’t even think about trying to be a secret Christian—he who is ashamed of Jesus, Jesus will be ashamed of in Heaven. As Romans 10:9-10 says, the open profession of faith in Jesus is part of what’s involved in salvation.
And finally, the writer tells us to be faithful to God’s people Since Jesus has been so faithful to you, now it’s time to be faithful to His people, His body, the church.
Another series of exhortations. Since you’re not abandoning Christ, then don’t abandon His people either. Don’t abandon the fellowship of believers.
Verse 24: And let us consider how to stimulate ne another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Now this is an exhortation, actually a command of God about this whole matter of not only going to church, but being in fellowship, being in a committed and giving relationship to other believers, considering their needs before your needs.
That’s the first point here in verse 24. Consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. The word “Consider” in the Greek means to put our mind down upon something. In other words, to think hard about something. And what you’re to think hard about is how to stimulate others to love and good deeds.
So my question to you this morning, was this your thought upon coming to church this morning? Or is it your thought in the course of the week? As you come to be assemble with other believers, are you simply fulfilling an obligation, putting in your time, or hoping that somehow you will be stimulated or encouraged or loved by others. Or have you given any thought to how you could stimulate others to love and good deeds, how you can meet their needs? Remember, the New Testament pattern here is not that I’m the minister, but you’re the ministers. We minister to each other. Think for a moment about how could stimulate others in the course of a Sunday morning, or a Bible study, or a church social event. Or perhaps even apart from one of those. What could you do? What do you do? Be creative.
Fact is, during the pandemic, some of us have had good and honorable reasons for not being physically present for fellowship. Hopefully, that’s about to change. But what’s been different during this time is how technology has made it possible for us to be virtually present with others, how we can use our screen time, which has become part of so many of our lives, to stimulate others to love and good deeds. Have you given any prayerful thought to that? How could you use your screen time, texting, or even perhaps use face-time, to encourage others? You could send people Scripture verses, short spiritual encouragements, offers to pray. Just initiating with another believer could be of tremendous encouragement to others, especially during these times in which isolation has become a health mandate for so many of us. Think about this. This is God’s will, not just that you show up for church on Sunday, but that you be all about stimulating others to love and good deeds.
The Greek word for stimulate is interesting as well. It’s means to incite, or to spur on. In a negative sense, it was used of the conflict between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:39 over John Mark’s continued involved in their ministry. A “sharp” disagreement broke out between the two. It has the sense of spurring others on to action, creating pain to motivate action. God wants us in fellowship, and God wants us spurring one another on to action. He is so opposed to apathetic unlove, that he encourages creating pain to spur on love and good deeds.
One of our number, don’t know that she wants her name mentioned, is always looking out for the hurting, and the ignored. She’s planning a work-day to help one of our number who has been through a tremendous trial for the last couple years to get his house and yard together. One Saturday sometime this spring we’re going over there to help this brother get his life back together. This is a great way to encourage a believer, but also a great way to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Not only help someone who really needs it, but to get others to come along and help as well. Many hands make light work, and a lot of fun!
And then it explicitly tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Already, I know of a few who were part of our congregation who because of the pandemic have made is such a habit to forsake the assembling of themselves together with us that it may nowbe the habit of a life time. I fear we may not see them again. Here we have what is a command of God not to do this. Just as you don’t want to abandon Christ, don’t abandon His people. How can you love each other when you’re never with each other? It just doesn’t happen. You want to know God’s will—it’s to be in meaningful relationship with other believers, not just sitting and soaking on a Sunday, but to be actively involved in loving and being loved, even as Christ instructed us to be.
And the whole idea is to encourage each other in the faith00notice what it says, “And all the ore as you see the day approaching.”
Some versions capitalize the word “Day” because it’s referring to the Day of Christ, the Day of Christ’s 2nd Coming. In other words, there will be a test. There will be an accounting. We want to be eager for Christ’s coming. It’s hard to be eager for Christ’s Coming when we know we have disappointed Him.
The encouragement here is not to slack off in our serving one another, or loving one another, or being in fellowship with one another. I know many of us as we grow older are in the mindset that perhaps it’s time to retire from service, or ministry or fellowship. The sense here is anything but that—to relentlessly continue, even to rev things up if it is at all possible as the day we meet Christ approaches ever nearer. We don’t retire from God’s service until He retires us. In other words, were always to be abounding in love and good works to the very end—until Christ comes, or we meet Him because our time has come.
Christ has been faithful to us to the very end. He made the way to God by the sacrifice of Himself. The only appropriate response his to be faithful to Him and to His people to the very end.
Jeanie reminded me of someone who was part of Risen King for the last decade of her life. A number of you will remember her: June Vanderhorst. June and Van didn’t begin attending Risen King until they were in their late 70s. But June never excused herself from service because of her age. She jumped right in and taught Sunday School, and loved those little kids and continued to serve in that way even well into her eighties, even while she was confined to a wheelchair, until months before she passed on. She didn’t excuse herself for a moment by saying that she would let the younger women take care of their own children. No, she was right there for the Lord and for his people to the very end. What a testimony of faithfulness.
That’s how faithful Jesus has been to us. That’s how faithful we all ought to be to Him and to His body.
This week, consider, think hard, about how God would have you spur one another on to love and good deeds.
Lets’ pray.
