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A Call to Persevere
"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 toward 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. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." ( Heb 10:19-36)
Father we did not come here today just to go to church so we could check it off our mental checklist for the week. We are here Father, because of You. We are here to grow near to you, to bless you, to exalt you and to learn to live that holy life you have called us to live through Jesus Christ. You have given us a firm foundation in Jesus Christ and given us direction for our lives through the instruction of your Word_help us Lord to walk in it. My prayer today is that everyone's heart would be open to your voice. We bind the spirit of the enemy in Jesus name, so the Word of God would come through in power and authority. We ask it in Jesus name Amen.
The writer to the Hebrews in today's passage reminds the readers what Jesus Christ did for them, what He has made available for them. He reminds them to look at all Jesus Christ has done for them and then he challenges them to go on in their faith, to go on strong for Him. Today we celebrate the Lord's supper, His body and blood that He sacrificed for us. And I wonder how many of us really as we sing "we are forever grateful for the cross", are really forever grateful for what He has provided for us. Because if we were our lives would be so changed and so different. And yet so many of us are still living lives in mediocrity. We treat our salvation like just so much fire insurance. We don't live of a life of gratitude and gratefulness and appreciation for what God has done for us. We haven't let our lives been changed by His abiding presence in our lives, but do we go on willfully sinning and as the writer of Hebrews tells we "trample the Son of God under our feet" , that we treat His sacred blood as something common, that we insult the Spirit of Grace. So the writer says to the Hebrews don't turn back. Don't go back to a life of sin, but draw near to God. Encourage each other. Don't give up. Remember the hope that you have. And then he reminds them of the access that every believer has to the throne of God. In Hebrews 10 the writer reminds them of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and that Jesus after He made one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God and he writes: "therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, open for us through that curtain", that is by His body, and since we have a great High Priest over the House of God, let us draw near to God. The Hebrews were in a position of being persecuted, their possessions were being confiscated, and they were cast out of the old familiar system they were used to and as a result were wavering in their faith. The writer reminds them to remember what Jesus Christ did for them, remember the new and living way through His body and blood. And his admonition is that we can enter the Holy place.
Now in the days before Jesus, a man could go to the temple and offer sacrifice, but only on the Day of Atonement, once a year, only the High Priest could take the sacrifice to the Holy of Holies_to the mercy seat_and there offer the blood of the lamb. The Bible tells us that when Jesus was crucified, that the great veil in the Temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn in two and the Holy of Holies was now open for all who would wish to enter in. Because Jesus' blood was the sacrifice on that altar once and for all. His body was now the veil and Jesus did not block access, rather He made a new and living way into the presence of God. There was no priest necessary, no intermediary, but every believer could go to the Holy place and go before His God and express His praise and thanks and appreciation and have intimacy with God that we all desire.
Draw Near
And then there was this challenge to the believer to recognize that this is Gods heart for you to draw near to God. Many of us approach the Christian life with an attitude that we are born again and are set for life in our Christian walk. Maybe we'll yet God clean up some areas of our life. Sure we'll read our Bible, go to Church and maybe even tithe, and flee some of our old ways. But God says you never really arrive at that place God wants you to be. We need to draw near to God, that is to continuing to come closer and closer to God. The Christian life is one of growing closer and more intimate with God. We have to ask ourselves right now: Am I drawing near to God? There is no standing still. You are either drawing near or drawing away (back-sliding). Have you ever had a relationship with someone who put up a wall. You really wanted to get to know them better, but you couldn't get any closer? And we were grieved because of the distance between us. Many of us erect walls with God. Jesus had made access to the God available. He says draw near to me, come close to Me. And God says because of all I've done for you, draw near to me, come close to me.
Do Not Quit
The next encouragement is not to quit, not to give up. Verse 23 tells us to "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promised is faithful". The tendency is always to shrink back, to quit, to give up. And when we look at the road, the path of the Christian faith, we find that it full of people who have quit. They came to Christ, they came to church, they got involved, things were happening in their lives. Then all of a sudden they got some burr under their saddle. Someone said something or didn't say something, did something or didn't say something and they said I'll never be part of the Christian walk again. And God says don't turn back_look at all I've made available to you, don't turn back, don't give up. don't quit. God wants us to finish the race. That is why the Apostle Paul was able to say; "I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
We are in a battle. All the forces of hell have been unleashed against us. This is not a Sunday School Picnic. We are not talking about playing games with God. All the forces of hell are there to pull us away, but God is there to tell us to put our hand to the plow. Jesus tell us that any man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God. So when the winds of diversity come, when the wiles of the wicked one come, when the lust of the flesh and the pride of life rises up, look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of my faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despised the shame and is now seated at the right hand of God.
Some of us look back and say oh how I've failed. But you can't change one second of your past, but you can finish the race and finish it strong. Never look back.
Minister to each other
The third word of admonition is to minister to each other. Verse 24: "let us consider how we can spur each other on toward love and good deeds. " That is edifying, encouraging, not tearing down. Verse 25: "Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. (this is the assembly of the church), but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching ." Isn't it interesting that the very context of meeting together in the assembly, the very context of the body being to gather is to encourage one another. We often hear people say "I don't have to go to church, I can be alone with God, I can worship God in my home I can worship on the golf course, I can go for my hike in the woods and be with God. But the Bible says don't forget to assemble together so we can encourage one another. You are not going to church just for yourself. You are a minister of Jesus Christ to each other. And the day we feel we don't need to be there is just the day that someone else needs our ministry.
Marriages are in disarray, people have lost family and loved ones, How they need a word of encouragement. We are here to encourage one another. People who don't know how they are going to pay their next bill needs our encouragement. People who have a loved one in jail need our encouragement. And yet we are so selfish as to say I don't need to come to church, but God says we are their to minister, to be encourageres. God has called us to ministry to help one another.
We could stop this message right here, but the writer goes on to give a great warning that if we don't do these things, if continue in willful sin, that we are going to face a fearful judgment. We must continue on.
In the midst of this encouragement and challenge to draw near to God, to encourage one another and to not quit, is a somber warning. Verse 26 tells us that if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. This "keep on sinning" is in the continuous present tense. It means continuous sin with out confession and repentance. And God says if we are going to continue in our own way, if we deliberately keep on sinning, we spurn the grace of God and judgment is coming. We watch the trials that have filled the media and try to determine if justice has been done. But there is not perfect justice in this life. But God is the righteous judge. He looks at out heart. We can deceive each other, we can deceive our spouses, but we can't deceive God who knows our hearts.
A Warning
This warning to those who persist in sin is serious, but so many of us take sin so lightly. Many Christians say "I understand what God says, but..." as if God didn't mean what He says. Sin needs to be recognized, repented of and forsaken. The Bible warns that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Judgment awaits those who deliberately and continuously sin. The writer tells us why. He says in verse 28, that anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. That was talking about capital crimes. But then the writer tells us what will happen to us if we continue to sin against our heavenly Father. Verse 29: "How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctifies him and has insulted the spirit of grace."
In this context of the one who says I am going to walk the Christian life the way I want to. I'm going to continue in this sin and God, you will understand. But the writer warns us that this is not God's way and that we deserve judgment because we trampled the Son of God under foot. The Bible says we should have Satan under our feet. But when we deliberately and willfully continue in sin, we are trampling the Son of God under our feet. The passage then goes on to say that we take the blood of Jesus Christ and count it as common, of no value, that we insult the Spirit of Grace.
The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Word: "this is way, walk ye in it". The Holy Spirit identifies that we are on the wrong path, that what we are embracing is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. But we say we don't care, it is my life and we insult the Spirit of Grace. And the Bible says that will God will judge sin. Verse 30: "For we know Him who said it is Mine to avenge, I will repay."
And again in verse 31 the Lord will judge his people - it is a fearful or dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. But people think this does not apply to Christians , that it refers to God's judgment against the unsaved. But if you examine the context of verse 19, he says "therefore brothers " He is not taking about the unsaved, he is taking to brothers in the faith. So through our deliberate, willful and unrepented of sin, we trample the Son of God under foot, God's judgment waits for us. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.
But God doesn't want that. The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God wants us to repent and to seek His forgiveness so He can bury our sins in the sea of forgetfulness and remember them no more. But so many Christians are so deceived as to think God is going to overlook their sin. Not so, God says sin must be confessed, repented of and forsaken.
We are about to partake in Communion. But 1 Corinthians warns us that before we participate in communion, we need to examine ourselves. Because if we partake in an unworthy manner, we bring judgment upon ourselves. It is self inflicted when we take casually the body and blood of Jesus when we have unconfessed sin in our lives. In fact Paul tells us that because of this, that judgment had already come to the church at Corinth. He says that many of them were sick, some were dead, because they took lightly the grace of God.
God has told us this as a warning so we will come to Him in confession , repentance and forsaking, so His blood can cover every sin. It is the unconfessed, unrepented and unforsaken sin in our lives that brings the judgment of God upon ourselves. Are you struggling today? The Bible says he who seeks to hide his sins, will not prosper -- but he who confesses and forsaketh, happy is he.
The warning to the believers is this. Look at what the body and blood of Christ did for you. How can you go on continually sinning? How you continue in mediocrity and luke-warmness, when I did all this for you. God is calling us to a life of personal holiness, of personal sanctification where we are going to flee the sinful things of the world, and seek the things of God.
We are to draw near to God, but with a sincere heart. A lot of us are good con people. When we go to the court of life, we can deceive a lot of people. In fact we are so good at it , we can deceive ourselves into thinking everything is OK. But God says, no. I see you as you are. So we are to seek God with a sincere heart. The word "sincere" in the Latin, means "without wax". This word comes from the practice of making sculptures. If you made an error or found a flaw, you would take wax, melt it with some of the stone dust, and fill the gap so it would look perfect. They would then sell it for full price. But when the statue was put in the hot sun, the wax would melt and the flaw would be exposed. To come to God with sincerity means to come to God "without wax". Not to look good on the outside, but full of sin on the inside. When God looks at our heart, is it sincere. Is it a heart of drawing near, a heart of pressing in, our heart of keeping our hands on the plow and not looking back, a heart of ministering to each other. Or does He see a heart of luke-warmness? What does God see in our heart? So examine our hearts, confess, repent , to forsake and to be forever grateful for what He has done for us.
And if God considers sin in the life of the believer in such a serious manner, what about you who have not yet received God's pre-requisite for forgiveness for sin or your are just not sure about your eternal destiny. The Bible tells us about a raging fire prepared for the enemies of God. But God is not willing that anyone would go to Hell and suffer in a raging fire forever. So God has made it possible for your sins to be forgiven so you could have eternal life in heaven. But Heaven is not earned or deserved. It is by confession of sin and by inviting Christ to come into your life. So if you are not sure if you died today if you would go to heaven, you can be sure right now_by being honest and sincere before God with all your heart. For the Bible tells us, that as many as received Him (Jesus), He gave them the right to become children of God, even those who believe on His name.
So I am going to pray a prayer of invitation to receive Jesus into your life. It is not like saying an "our Father" or like reading a prayer card, it is not the words that are significant but what it means. You are going to ask Jesus to save you from your sins, to come into your heart, to be the master of your life and to take you to heaven when you die. So if you are not sure of your salvation today, and the desire of your heart is for Jesus Christ to come into your life to be your Lord and Savior, make this your prayer.
Dear Lord, I am a sinner. I confess my sins to you and right now ask you to forgive my every sin. I invite you right now into my life, to be my Lord and my Savior. Thank you for coming into my life. May never be the same again. Make me a new person in Jesus Christ for I thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
Father we thank you. We thank you for the body and blood of Jesus and as we come around your table, help us to come with a heart cleansed by the blood of Christ, with an attitude of gratefulness and a desire to walk in the holiness you have called us to. We thank you and praise you in Jesus name.
If you have prayed this prayer, please let us know by EMAIL or by correspondence. It would be a real blessing to us. And if you would like a cassette tape of this message, please send $3.00 to cover costs to: Faith Chapel 200 Gillespie Avenue Syracuse, N.Y. 13219 (315) 468-2745
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"Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
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