Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Audio Transcript
All right, well, beautiful singing. If you have a Bible with you, open up to the book of Hebrews today. Our text for study will come from Hebrews 10. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there are pew Bibles kind of scattered throughout. I think it’s on page 584. Want to open up there and keep them open throughout the sermon. If I’ve not met you, my name is Aaron. I’m a preaching pastor here, and I’m glad you’re with us on this dreary late fall morning.
So Hebrews 10:19-39 will be our text of study. But in this time here, I’m just going to read verses 19 through 25, and then after I get done reading these verses, I’m going to pray, ask for the Lord’s blessing in our time, and then we will get to work.
So Hebrews 10, starting in verse 19, please hear the words of our Lord.
So the Bible says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us 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, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Okay, so that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me?
Lord, thank you for bringing us together on this dreary morning. Lord, we’re here because we want to hear from you and your word. So God, please, we pray through the power of your Spirit, you would open up your word through the folly of preaching. And Lord, help us to trust in you. Pray you’d use this time just to grow us in our faith. Pray so in Jesus’ name, amen.
This is a pretty popular leadership book that was written by a man named Simon Sinek. It was just titled *Start with Why,* which the book I actually really enjoyed reading. So in this book, Sinek talked about different businesses and organizations that often start out with a “why,” a “why” which is at the core of the mission of the organization, of the core of why the organization exists.
However, it’s in growth that often what can happen over time is that the “why” that was there at the start either becomes assumed or maybe lost altogether. Because as businesses and organizations grow, they get so focused on the “what” and the “how,” the different things they’re doing, that they lose track of the “why” they’re doing them in the first place.
According to Sinek, this is not only where mission drift can happen for organizations, where missions drift further and further away from what they intended to be at the start, but he also believes that this is the root of burnout and frustration as people in the organization lose the “why” that excited them in the first place to do whatever they were doing, causing them to even walk away from that which they once loved.
Now, I like this book for a number of reasons, one of which I think unknowingly Sinek is actually picking up on a biblical principle. Whereas Christians, we actually agree it’s always important for us to start with the “why” as we do the various “what” and “how” when it comes to living out our faith, which for us, our “why” always starts out with who God is as He reveals Himself to us in His word and what He has done for us through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That’s like the “why” behind all that we do. That has to be the driving force in all that we do: who God is and what He has done for us through Jesus Christ. Because if we lose sight of that, not only as a church will we start to drift from our mission, but as individuals, we actually will drift and perhaps lead to burnout or worse. We could actually lose track of who God is, what He has done for us through Christ, and we could be in grave danger of walking away from God altogether, the one that we once professed to love.
Now, I share that with you today because I think we come to a text where we’re getting a little bit of the “what” and the “how” of our faith, some expectations we’re going to do as God’s people, which are important for us to see. It’s important for us to set our hearts to be faithful to do these things. However, that being said, throughout the text, I think we also see multiple times the “why” behind we do what we do, which is so important, even like what we’re doing yet again this morning, once again, another Sunday morning together.
So why are we doing this?
All of Saturday’s instruction, if you want to look back with me starting in verse 19. And as you look in there, maybe if you’re feeling like a little uneasy in your faith, perhaps maybe you’ve lost track of your “why.” Okay, so look back at our text starting in verse 19. We see the text starts out with the word “therefore.” Now, we’ve had this word come up multiple times already in our study of Hebrews.
Therefore, as a reminder, the word “therefore” is almost like a hinge where there’s information before the “therefore” that is driving us to an application on the backside of the “therefore.” And for us, the front side of the “therefore” of our text this week is all that we covered last week, which was information concerning the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who died once for all, so that through his death, through his resurrection from the dead on the third day, he provides forgiveness of sin for all who by faith come to him, where he promises that he will remember our sins and our lawless deeds no more.
And because of that information, which, by the way, is such good news to us, therefore, in our text today, there is an application to that information. Just keep going, brothers or brothers and sisters, since we have confidence through this forgiveness of sin to enter into holy places by the blood of Jesus.
Which holy places here is referring to the presence of God. Because we have this confidence in verse 20 by the new and living way that He, Jesus, opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God.
Right, verses 19 through 21, this is almost like a summary of all the information we had last week, even actually kind of a summary of all we’ve been chewing on the last several weeks. Because of that, the “therefore” applications to keep going in verse 22 is, therefore, 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.
Furthermore, in verse 23, therefore, as an application, let us also hold fast the confession of our hope, doing so without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. An even more application, verse 24. Therefore, let us also consider how to stir one another up to love and to do good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but to continue to meet together. And let us do so in ways where we’re encouraging one another all the more as we see the day drawing near.
Okay, now let me pause. There’s a lot going on, what I just went through. So let me just walk us back through the text. First, let me just maybe try to define a few phrases in those verses that maybe are a little confusing to us.
As already mentioned in verse 19 for you guys there, the holy places. This is a reference to where the fullness of God dwells in the Old Testament. The holy places were in the tabernacle, something we covered quite a bit already in our study of Hebrews, where the fullness of God was pleased to dwell with man in the tabernacle.
But in the Old Testament, this holy place was so limited. The high priest could only enter into the most holy place one time a year, doing so with a blood sacrifice. But now, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, all who have faith not only can enter into that holy place and draw near, but we actually can do so in our text, like with confidence.
Second, verse 20, the curtain. As you also remember, in the tabernacle or later the Old Testament temple, there was a curtain that divided the temple into two rooms, something we also covered quite a bit of time in our study of Hebrews, where the curtain divided the holy place and the most holy place, where, as mentioned, just once a year, the high priest could go behind the curtain into the most holy place.
But now, through Christ, through his death, through his resurrection, through his flesh that was sacrificed on our behalf, all who have faith can now enter in.
Okay, dropping down to verse 22, the sprinkled clean. What that is. So this is speaking towards the new covenant, another thing we’ve covered quite a bit in the last few weeks, where specifically over and over again, we’ve seen in the book of Hebrews the Old Testament passage of Jeremiah 31. In fact, Jeremiah 31 was quoted last week, says, this is the covenant that I’ll make with them. After those days, declares the Lord, we’re in this new covenant. I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds.
But in the Old Testament Scripture, Jeremiah 31 is not the only place that spoke about the new covenant. The Old Testament book Ezekiel also spoke about the new covenant that was to come, the Jesus Christ would usher in. So listen to what Ezekiel 36 says and think about how this relates to our passage. Ezekiel 36, starting at verse 25, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you’ll be clean from all uncleanness and from all your idols. I will cleanse you, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I’ll put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I’ll put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and obey and carefully obey my rules.”
So that’s what the author of Hebrews is referring to in our text, with hearts sprinkled clean. This refers to the new covenant and God doing a work where He takes out the heart of stone that’s filled with sin and puts in it a heart of flesh that now beats for God, which is our hope in the new covenant. Or God does this work in ways that we can never do on our own.
By the way, on this note, John 3, remember that famous story in John 3 of Jesus and Nicodemus? Remember how Nicodemus came to Jesus, asked Jesus how to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus said how one needs to be born again, born of the water, born of the Spirit. So Ezekiel 36, that’s what he is referring to, having our hearts sprinkled clean where we become new creatures in Christ.
Okay, keep going. Later, down in verse 22, we read how our bodies are washed with pure water. And it seems the water here on our bodies, this is actually a different water than was mentioned in the new birth in Ezekiel 36. The water on our bodies here seems to actually refer to baptism, which is an act that one does after having their hearts sprinkled clean through the new birth.
So in the New Testament, what we see, the pattern is that after one believes, after they trust in Jesus Christ, they are baptized in water, where their bodies are washed with water to prove or to be like a physical testimony of what God has done in their life. And by the way, if you have yet to be baptized after receiving a new heart, I would love to talk to you more about that. So baptism is important in what we’re to do as we follow Jesus Christ.
Okay, let me point out one more verse, verse 25. You want to take your eyes there. Verse 25 speaks about a day that’s drawing near. And this day, this is referring to the day of the Lord, which is something that’s spoken about often in Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament text.
And this day of the Lord is the day when the Lord returns to judge the living and the dead, which, for those who are in Christ, who are born from above, who have a new heart, who have been forgiven of their sins, this day, this is a great and glorious day. Because on that day, not only will they be declared righteous, justified before the courtroom of God, but on that day they’ll be fully welcomed into eternal life, fully into the fullness of God in the new heavens and new earth, where God’s people will be fully freed from sin and sickness and death.
Verse mentioned, they will fully dwell with God, doing so forever and ever and ever. For those who are Christians, the day of the Lord is a day of rejoicing. It will be, however, this day, the day of the Lord which our text is speaking about. For those who are not in Christ, who are still under the weight of their sin, who are not declared righteous, justified before the court, this is a terrifying day because on that day, not only will you be judged as a guilty sinner before God, you will be eternally made a footstool of Christ, eternal damnation separated from God’s love.
So this day of the Lord that our text is speaking about, this is the most important day that we all will face. This is a day that we must consider, a day that we can’t be confused by or dismissed. As mentioned, this is the most important day.
So hopefully that gives us a few helps on perhaps some of the confusing phrases in those verses. And I’m going to point out to you just a repeated phrase in our text. If you take your eyes back through what we first started to read in our passage, as you see in our passage, this phrase “let us” notices how it comes up multiple times.
So we see this little phrase in verse 22 with “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” We see it again in verse 23 if you want to take your eyes there, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope, doing so without wavering.” Again, the same little phrase in verse 24, “let us consider how to stir one another up in love and good works.”
And as we see this repeated little phrase, not only see what the verses are calling us to do, right, let us do this, let us do this, let us do this with all the different do this, do this, do this, we also see that we are to do this together. This is a group application that we are to live out on this side of the “therefore” of our passage.
So “let us”—this is not “let you,” like a single person pronoun, but “let us” in the plural. And friends, this is actually really important for us to see. So yes, as individuals we have to come to Jesus individually to find forgiveness of our sins. That’s the only way we can get it.
Furthermore, on the day of the Lord, we will stand before the judgment seat of God as individuals. However, as we receive individual forgiveness, as we individuals enter in behind the curtain of faith, that is through the flesh of Jesus Christ. As we do that, we are now to live in light of that forgiveness in community with others, starting with others within the local church, which is what we get baptized into as our bodies go under the water.
So just notice how important that is as Christians, but we do this together.
Third, let’s go back to the intro and the opening verses of today’s passage. This is where we start to see the “why” of our text and how and the “what.” So this is so important for us to get the “why” right before we move to the “how” and the “what.”
So in the text, once again, what’s the “why”? It’s everything on the front side of the hinge that we looked at last week with the author summarized for us in verses 19-22. This is the “why”: who Jesus is, what he has done for us, how he opened up the curtain through the shedding of his blood so that we can draw near to God.
And because of that “why” in our text, what we are to do, we’re to draw near with the full assurance, we are to hold fast our confessions. And how we’re to do that is by doing it together, by stirring one another up in love and good works with encouragement, by not neglecting to meet together, which is an easy habit to get into, which we’ll be talking about more at the end.
But just take note, what we do, how we do it, is always flowing from why we are to do it, the “why” founded in Jesus and the forgiveness that he offers to us.
Keep going. Verse 25, our text tells us, “For if we go on sinning deliberately, you know, without care, sin without concern, sin without trying to fight against temptation. If we do this deliberate sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, our text tells us there is no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”
And the reason being, if you reject the truth of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ at the payment of your sin, you can’t just go look some other place to find the debt of sin. And the reason being is there is no other option. This is it. Forgiveness is only found by faith, faith alone in Jesus Christ and what he has done on the cross in his resurrection.
So finding forgiveness, it’s not like going to the grocery store where there’s options and how we’re going to pay what we owe. You know, you pay with cash, you get paid with credit card, debit card, gift card, whatever it may be.
Say it again. For our sins, friends, only Jesus is able to pay the debt of our sins in ways that we can find forgiveness. And if you reject Jesus Christ, if you reject his forgiveness, there is no hope for your debt to be paid. There no longer remains a sacrifice for sin because of that.
Verse 27, our text, the only thing you have before you is a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries of the Lord, which is obviously speaking about the day that is drawing near, which he keeps saying it’s a day of dread and terror for those who reject Jesus Christ.
And this verse here, this is perhaps the strongest warning of all different warnings we’ve looked at already in the book of Hebrews. A warning that comes from rejecting, from walking away from Jesus Christ. There’s dreadful eternal consequences in doing so in the text.
Verse 28, if you want to take your eyes there. “And who has set aside the law of Moses? The Old Covenant dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.” Who are witnesses, who, in agreement, testifies to a person’s guilt? This here, this is a reference to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 17, an instruction of how the Old Testament courtroom was to be set up and how verdicts were to be given, including verdicts resulting in death based on two or three witnesses.
So verse 29 of our text. “So if the Old Testament courtroom gave a sentence of death, how much worse do you think will be deserved by those who trample underfoot the Son of God?” Or those who have profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sacrificed and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
Verses 28-29, this is like simple logic here. So if the Old Covenant, which we learned in the Book of Hebrews was like a shadow, a copy of the New Covenant, does it come? If in that Old covenant, sin was dealt with so seriously that based on the witnesses, certain deliberate sins would receive the sentence of death as justice to the law, then logically it makes sense that the sentence would be even greater in the New Covenant for those who not only sin but more so reject the truth, that is Jesus Christ, which is rejection, that is trampling Jesus underfoot, profaning the blood that he shed, as if Jesus wasn’t important or needed, as if his blood that was spilled wasn’t important or needed, which our text tells us is an outrage against the work of the Holy Spirit of grace.
Verse 30. “For we know him,” meaning we know the Lord, who is the very one who said, “vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “the Lord will judge his people,” which both are quotes from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 32, which actually records a song that Moses wrote at the end of his life, which is a song that had a lot of the history of God’s people in the song, which is the history that included the judgment of God on them.
For when they rejected the Lord, when they walked away from him and the good word that he had given to them. This here, this is the writer of Hebrews in our text, right? This is another strong warning to continue to warn his readers, including us today, of the dire consequences of rejecting, leaving, walking away from Christ, which by now in our study we know this is something the first readers were very much entertaining to do.
Which, by the way, this also is connected to the “why.” Why do we not walk away from Jesus Christ? Why? Because who our God is and what he will do, which includes taking vengeance on sinners who trample the Lord Jesus underfoot.
Furthermore, in this warning, verse 31, if you take your eyes there, it’s a reminder, friends, it’s a fearful thing, a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, which if you’re not in Christ, or perhaps maybe this morning, like, if the first readers are actually entertaining walking away from Christ in your minds, this is something you must consider.
Consider falling into the hands of the living God, the one who is all-powerful, who has all authority to judge, the one who is so holy and perfect, He must deal with sin. And as He deals with sin, He declares, “vengeance is mine, and I will repay.” That’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, to fall in ways without the forgiveness of sin that Jesus offers to all who by faith come to him.
Verse 32, to the first readers, say it again, we’re considering walking away from the faith. We see that after this warning, we see then the writer actually tries to encourage them, which he does by having them take a trip back in time, where we see in the text that they were to recall their former days after they were enlightened, which was referring to when they heard about the good news of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, where they heard about in ways they actually professed that they were believing because they professed that their hearts had been sprinkled clean as their bodies were washed under the water.
In the text, the writer of Hebrews tells them, “Hey, go back in time. Recall back to that time and remember how while it was a great time, it also was a very hard time when you first believed.” Because in the text, we see that they had to go through hard struggle with suffering, where they had to go through a lot, where they had to endure a lot because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 33, those sufferings included at times where they were publicly exposed to reproach and affliction. We see at other times the suffering they had to endure, including being partners, where they stood beside others who were treated in that way.
Verse 34, if you take your eyes there, at other times, including standing by others who were put in prison for their faith in Christ, as they stood by them, having compassion on them while they were in prison. This suggests, I think, that somehow they actually went to visit other brothers and sisters in Christ who were in jail, maybe bringing them basic things they needed to live. Things like maybe food or water or perhaps clothing, which this not only would continue to communicate how compassionate they were, but to think to show compassion to others in prison, friends, that had to be a very risky thing for them to do because as they went to prison, they would have been marked as ones who were to be watched more closely by the governing authorities, right? The very ones who threw their friends into prison.
It was risky. It would have been just safer just to keep a distance, to fly under the radar. But the text says they boldly show compassion to those in prison.
By the way, that’s the type of community that we desire to have here. Go back through all the various “let us” encouragements that we read earlier in the passage. Let us have a community that’s so tight that we stand by each other during suffering, where we even do risky things to show compassion to one another.
Keep going. Verse 34, read more. How these first readers suffered in their former days when they first were enlightened, we see they also joyfully accepted the plundering of their property, which seems to be pointing to their homes. How awful that must have been.
We want our homes to be our refuge. We want our homes to be a place of comfort and peace. Yet for these first readers, they had people coming into their homes to plunder their places of refuge, to cause chaos in their places of peace, which had to make it hard for them to sleep at night. What do you think about that? Like every noise you hear, how to have your minds racing.
Perhaps someone has broken in. Or for you with parents, just think how awful it must have been to have young kids at home where there’s this threat of people plundering it. That would be an incredibly scary time. Yet in the text, in these former days, when they first professed faith in Jesus Christ, we read they joyfully accepted the plundering of their possessions.
My friends, the only reason they could do that, because in verse 34, they remembered the “why,” as they knew that the Lord, the one who, He is the one who promised to do great things for his people, including a promise to give his people a better possession, an abiding one that awaited them all that which is found in eternal life to come.
Who God is, what he has done for them, allowed them to find joy even in incredible suffering in the text. These first readers, who in their former days went through all these things, who endured so much for the sake of following up to Jesus Christ, these first readers almost become confusing now to the author of Hebrews as they now were considering walking away from the faith, which is his argument actually in verse 35, if you want to take your eyes there.
Early church, you went through all of that in verses 32 through 34, all this information on that front side of the hinge. Therefore, the application is to not throw away your confidence. Don’t throw away your confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal hope that he promises to bring, which is an eternal life that he will bring with a great reward.
In short, early church, you endured so much already. You persevered through so much already. Don’t give up now, but keep going, keep persevering, keep holding fast to your profession.
Verse 36, early church, you need to continue to endure by continuing to trust in Jesus Christ, doing so all the way to the end, to that great reward that will be given on the day of the Lord, which God promises to give to all who persevere, who in our text have set their heart to do the will of God all of their days, so they might receive that which is promised.
So over the years I’ve been involved in church life the way that I have, I’ve learned how important it is to get off like good, faithful starts, which certainly is true. The readers here, that’s a pretty good faithful start in verses 32 through 34. But what’s more important than how one starts is how one finishes, if they finish.
Recently, doing some membership interviews, where in the interviews, I was kind of flipping through the pages of our membership book that we have here as a church with all the different names, many of yours who have been members of Red Village Church over the years.
And this membership book is not only the telling of like, historical evidence of God’s grace to us as a church, where we see how God has kept and sustained the church through all the different members he’s given to us. My friends, that book is also actually a great warning because there are names in that book of people who have actually walked away from the faith, some who seemingly had like great starts where they’re baptized in the church, where they even endured some pretty hard things in the early Christian walk.
Yet over time we’ve had members who quit enduring, who quit persevering, who quit the pursuit of the great reward that lies ahead, where in time they rejected the Lord, they rejected what Jesus Christ has done, where they began to trample Jesus underfoot.
Friends, that’s what the author is communicating in this text and both the warning and encouragement to his readers. Yes, their great start really was a great start. But in time that great start will only prove to be great if they continue to endure, if they continue to persevere, if they continue to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, where they remember it’s a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God apart from Jesus Christ.
Verse 37, which is further encouragement to persevere. To persevere in the face of difficulty. We see in verse 37 rather than looking back to former days, we see in verse 37 there’s actually now an encouragement to look ahead and understand why we continue to endure, and understand that as we endure, it’s only going to be yet for a little while where we persevere, where we endure for a little while, trusting that eventually, at the right time, the coming one, the Lord, he will come, and he will come without delay.
This encouragement here to look ahead, so look ahead to endure for just a little while. This here seems to be a reference to Isaiah 26. Let me read this to you. It says, “Come, my people, enter your chambers, shut the doors behind you, hide yourself for a little while until the fury has passed by. For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for the iniquity, and the earth will disclose the bloodshed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”
This week as I was thinking about this verse, my mind also went to 2 Corinthians 4. I thought about this a little while. 2 Corinthians 4 says this, “For this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory that’s beyond comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Friends, for as real and painful, whatever form of suffering that we have in this life that we’re trying to endure, as tempting as it is to blame or walk away from God in these moments, we must remember those moments, as real and as painful as they might be, they’re just moments. Moments that in a little while they will be behind us. Because when our Lord returns, doing so without delay, every pain, every difficulty, every hardship we are trying to endure, they will be taken from us where all we will know, all we will forever know is the weight of glory, which by the way is also very much tied to the “why,” why we endure.
Because this weight of glory is worth it. It’ll be satisfying. So it’s hard, it’s difficult. Things come our way. We endure doing so. In verse 38 of our text, we endure as Scripture tells us about my righteous— the righteous one shall live by faith.
These words here, this is a reference to Habakkuk chapter two, which actually some of the most significant words in all of Scripture. In these verses we see how we are counted as righteous before God on the day of judgment, as the righteous shall live by faith, for Christ’s righteousness will be counted as our righteousness.
And this significant little phrase written by the prophet Habakkuk was actually written during a very difficult time for God’s people, maybe particularly for Habakkuk himself. And the difficulty was brought on because of the sin of God’s people, where God was judging them for the sin, were very surprisingly to the prophet, God actually decided to use the ruthless Babylonians to be the rod of his fury.
And even though enduring this was not hard, confusing, frustrating to the prophet, after all, how could God do that? How could he use ruthless evil enemies like the Babylonians to judge his people? At the end by faith, the prophet set his eyes to the Lord, knowing that somehow God was at work where he worked all things together for the good of his people, doing so without delay as the righteous were to live by faith, even when it called to endure hard things.
Finally, our text ends today in light of these words from Habakkuk 2, the final warning of our text today, if he shrinks back, which is the shrinking back from faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord says, “My soul has no pleasure in him.”
And why would the Lord have pleasure on those who trample Christ underfoot, the columns from shrinking back from him? However, for the author of Hebrews, although he was clearly concerned for his first readers, he ends our passage today with asserting some confidence in them, confidence that they will hear this warning in ways that they will endure.
Verse 39. “But we’re not those who shrink back and are destroyed. That’s not who we are. But we are those who have faith and persevere their souls.”
Friends, as we end our text today, the author here is no doubt absolutely concerned for his first readers, which is why he continues to warn them. Yet he’s also confident they will hear and respond to the warning.
Now let’s bring this sermon to an end. I just want to spend just a few moments here just thinking through the “why” which leads to the “what” and the “how” in our Christian faith, which is something that is actually really important for us to get right, to know and to continue to know who God is, what he has done for us.
We actually have to get this ordering right. We have to get the “why” right first and then respond with the “what” and the “how.” By the way, this is actually what separates Christianity from all of the religions. Christianity starts with the “why,” who God is, what he has done, and then moves in response to the “what” and “how” we’re to do in light of this. Other religions, they actually start with the “what,” the “how,” right, do this, don’t do this. But the hopes if they do this correctly that perhaps God will respond.
So let me start with the “why,” who God is, what he’s done for us. And these things just always go hand in hand. This morning I’m just going to stick just with the text on who God is, what he’s done.
But as I do that, let me mention if you’re looking for a fresh way to do your daily devotions. So one of the things I’ve done in the past is I had my Bible reading plan and I just simply jot down the “why” as it came up in the passages I was reading know that day, right? Who God is, what he has done.
And if this sounds appealing to you, perhaps just start with the book of Hebrews. Who God is, what he’s done in Hebrews. There’s actually a lot for us to chew on this.
So the text, who God is in verse 20 and the person, Jesus Christ, he’s the great high priest over the house of God. Verse 23. Who God is, He’s the one who is faithful. Faithful to all that he has promised to his people, including the promise in verse 37. He’s going to come again without delay.
Verse 27, following who God is. God is a just judge, one who will come with the fury of fire on his adversaries as they fall into the hands of the living God. Because he is the one who declared, “vengeance is mine, I will repay.”
Verse 38. Who God is, God is the one who declares that all who by faith come to him, that they are declared righteous. These are things we see in the text and who God is.
And because of who God is in our text, we also see a number of things, what he’s done for his people. Verse 19 through 20 for you guys there through Jesus Christ, through the shed blood that he shed for his people, where through his flesh he opened up the curtain. That’s what he’s done for us.
He’s opened up the curtains for us to enter into the holy place where we are saved from judgment, saved for eternal life. God did that for his people. Verse 22 what God has done for us, he has sprinkled clean water on the hearts of his people so that we can know Him. We didn’t do that. That’s what God did.
Verse 35. You want to take your eyes to the air. What God has done, he’s given us a promise and a great reward for all those who follow Him. The promise in verse 36 that any suffering will do just for a little while, because he will come without delay.
Friends, this is the starting point of the “why” of our passage. These things of who God is, what he has done, that is not to drive us on what and how we are to do it. And this is why.
This “why” is something we can never lose track of; we can never take for granted. Rather, we keep coming back over and over and over again to these incredible truths of who our God is and what he has done for us through Jesus, and because of who he is, because of what he has done.
Now let me share in our text some of the “what” and “how” we are to respond. Let me start with just some of the “what.” So in light of who God is, what are we to do? Verse 19 we are to draw near to God with confidence.
What are we to do? Verse 20 we’re to draw near with a new and living way, a way that honors God, that seeks to do his will. Verse 23, in light of who God is and what he has done for us, what are we to do? We’re to hold fast our confession of faith in Jesus Christ, and we are to hold fast without wavering.
Verse 24, what are we to do? In light of who God is, what he has done for us? We’re to consider how to stir one another up in love and good works.
Verse 25, what are we to do? In light of who God is, what he’s done for us? We’re to encourage one another all the more as the day is drawing near.
Verse 26, in light of who God is and what he’s done for us, what are we to do? We’re to not sin deliberately. Rather, we’re to cut off all sin, flee from all sin, nail all sin to the cross, remembering it’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Verse 32, in light of who God is, what he’s done for us, what are you to do? Is we’re actually to recall back to our former days when we first were enlightened and remember the testimony of how God brought us to faith in Him.
By the way, if you have not done this in a little while, let me encourage you to do that, to just pull on the thread to remember how God brought you to faith in him. Verses 32 to 34, in light of who God is, what he’s done for us, what are we to do? We are to endure suffering for our faith, which includes potentially being publicly reproached and afflicted.
What are we to do? We are to stand by others who have been reproached and afflicted. What are we to do? Perhaps we might have to be willing to be thrown into jail for our faith or even have our property plundered.
Verse 38, in light of who God is, what he has done for us, what are we to do? We are to live by faith, doing so in verse 39 that we’re not shrinking back, but we’re persevering, friends, in light of who God is, what he’s done for us through Jesus, that’s what we’re to do.
And as a close, how are we to do it? Well? Verses 22 to 25 we’re to do this together. In light of who God is, what he has done through us, for us, through Jesus Christ. Let us together as a church family, let us help each other to persevere all the way to the end.
Let us come alongside one another in ways where we’re stirring one another up with love and good works. Let us do this week after week after week after week, never neglecting to meet together, which is a habit or a trap that’s so easy for us to fall into, but that may not be us.
Rather, week after week after week, by faith may we meet together. May we live in community together to encourage one another as the day is drawing near, where in that encouragement we continue to set our minds and hearts to the “why” that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is worthy of all things that we do.
Church, may we not only start with the “why” of who God is and what he’s done for us through Jesus Christ, but may that “why” drive all that we do and may it drive us all the way to the end for the glory of Christ and our enjoyment of Him.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for Jesus. Thank you. In your love and your mercy, in your grace and your kindness, you sent the Lord Jesus to die in the place of sinners like us, only to rise again from the dead.
Lord, may we never lose sight of who you are and what you’ve done for us through Jesus. Lord, I do pray that you would help our church family to persevere all the way to the end. Lord, I pray for those who are here today, who maybe are wavering in their faith, maybe even considering walking away from the faith in Jesus Christ.
Lord, I pray that today you would give them repentance, that they would turn and trust in you afresh, that you fill their hearts with great confidence to draw near. And Lord, please bless this little church here for your glory and our joy in you.
Praise on Jesus’ name, amen.