One Triumphant Sacrifice (part 2) - [Hebrews 10:11-18]

The Central Message of Christianity and the Hinge of Hebrews

If I had to ask you what the central message of Christianity is, I wonder how you'd respond. What is the central theme or message of Christianity? Maybe some might say to be nice, others might say the golden rule, maybe some people would say God helps those that help themselves, be a good citizen.

What is the central message of biblical Christianity? Well, years ago Francis Schaeffer wrote this wisely, the central message of biblical Christianity is the possibility of men and women approaching God through the work of Christ.

One day everyone will die and stand before God and will they see, figuratively speaking, a welcome mat or will they see a no trespassing sign? That is really the issue. The question is always relevant when Jesus asked the disciples, who do you say that I am?

I'd like you to take your Bibles please and open to the book of Hebrews because that central message of Christianity, the approach of God through Jesus Christ, is the theme of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, Jesus the high priest.

He is the way, the means, the access point to God the Father. You need that advocate, you need that mediator as do I because one day we'll stand before God and we need to have our sins forgiven. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19 and following, this is the hinge in the book of Hebrews.

This has nothing to do with do I think tattoos are right or wrong, but I often see tattoos on people's legs and calves, and I don't know if I've ever seen a good calf tattoo. I don't mean on a cow, but I mean on a man's calf.

And I see bicycle chains and spokes and all this stuff. And so I saw a tattoo on somebody and it was on the back of their knee. I couldn't figure out what it was, some guy and I got closer. It was a hinge and on his other leg he had another hinge.

And so I guess his legs were somehow tattooed on. Crazy. This is the hinge. By the way, that wasn't in the sermon notes, the tattoo part. This is the hinge. Other books would say, let's say Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3, doctrine, then 4, 5, and 6, we get to the duty.

Colossians chapter 1 and 2, well through about chapter 3 verse 5. Here's what we believe and here's how we live. We've taken 10 chapters and 18 verses to get to this part now where how do we respond? Jesus is this high priest.

He's better than Moses. He's better than Aaron. He's better than the prophets. He's better than angels. He's better than the sacrifices of the old covenant. He's better than the priests of the old covenant.

And all these things now come to this point with this question. Now, what do we do? So what? Does it matter that this has been such a lengthy message of Jesus, the high priest? How do we respond to the Lord Jesus?

So that we're going to look at today. The response must not be indifference. The response must not be delayed. What is the response that Jesus dies for sinners, is raised from the dead? How do people respond?

How must they respond? And if you look at chapter 10 verse 19, the first word is therefore. And instead of reading all of chapters 1 through 10, let me just read to you one verse per chapter. So you get the idea of the therefore.

So if today's your first day here, you're like, what's going on in the book of Hebrews? I could read one verse per chapter and you would go, oh, that's the truth, therefore. So let's just do that. Back to Hebrews chapter one, we're going to survey the first 10 chapters of Hebrews.

So we know what the therefore is therefore. Hebrews chapter one verse three, knowing these truths, how do we respond? Chapter one verse three, he's the radiance talking about the Lord Jesus of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.

And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. And after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Since Jesus is this exalted sin bearer, how do you respond?

Chapter two verse 17, therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service to God to make propitiation or assuage wrath for the sins of the people.

Since Jesus is so merciful, so faithful as assuage the wrath of God that we deserve, what's the response? And you're going to see that no response is the wrong response. Chapter three verse one, therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession.

This great sent one the apostle, this great high priest, he's the exalted high priest. He's the king of the universe. What do you do? How do you respond? Chapter four verse 15, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.

If you could have such a high priest like that, how would you respond? With thankfulness, with gratitude, with indifference. Chapter five verse five, so also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son today, I have begotten you.

God the Father sets up and ordains and appoints Jesus to be this great high priest. What's the response to that? Chapter six verse 20, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner, a pioneer on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

He's a special type of priest. What's our response? He's a forerunner. What's our response? Chapter seven verse 25, one of the greatest verses in all of Hebrews. Consequently, Hebrews 7 .25, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

This great high priest, what does he do? Like any good priest, he makes a sacrifice and he prays. This is a great sacrifice, great prayer for his people. How do we respond? Chapter eight verse one, now the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest.

He's not dead in the tomb. One who is seated at the right hand with the throne of the majesty in heaven. How do we respond? And then finally chapter nine verse 12, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by the means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Chapter 10 verse 19, therefore, so in light of all this about who Jesus is, how do we respond? I guess there could be lots of responses, right? Faith, gratitude, what times did patriots game on? Right, there's gotta be some kind of response.

The weight and the majesty of who Jesus is forces you to respond. When Pastor Steve read Acts 2, Peter did not say, here's what you need to do, repent, believe, be baptized, et cetera. They heard the message about the exalted Jesus and they said, what should we do?

This revelation from God demands a response. It's the same thing in nature, is it not? You see Niagara Falls, you see the Grand Canyon, you see a baby born and you just go, this is incredible. Revelation, natural revelation demands a response.

This kind of revelation demands a response too. Jesus is this high priest. Maybe I could say it crassly, so what's the big deal? So what? And Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 22 answer that question.

Jesus is this great high priest, so what? Let me read verses 19, 20, 21 and 22. It's one long Greek sentence. And I think even in the ESV, it's one sentence. Jesus is high priest, what's the big deal?

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 of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.

Our bodies washed with pure water. Now, it shouldn't surprise you that the book of Hebrews is written to some Hebrew people. Is that surprising to you? Right, remember, was it Barnhouse that said Hebrews is written by a Hebrew to Hebrews to stop being Hebrews anymore kind of thing, right?

This is language of the Hebrew. You would only have to read verses 19 through 22 going, this sounds Jewish to me. This is language of the day of atonement. This is language, typology language of the holy of holies where the priest would have to go in and he'd have to make sure he was all taken care of with his own sins and sacrifice for himself and then he'd have to go in on behalf of the nation.

This sounds like language of the atonement, Jewish language, and you would be right. The writer of Hebrews says Jesus is a high priest, what's your response? Here's how I would say it if you were a Gentile.

Any Gentiles in the congregation? Quite a few. Jesus is this great high priest and you can be forgiven. Here's your response to the Gentiles. Here's how you would say it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved.

You know how he talks to Jews? He uses this language of the temple of the holy of holies and it's basically a beautiful picture of belief. What's the response? We would say believe and that's a right response.

But what they would say is that holy of holies that's over there, that's reserved for the Shekinah glory and one maybe pre-high priest with fear and trepidation to walk in there. We say believe. The writer of the Hebrews to the Hebrews says with language of the Old Testament, essentially believe but he says enter, draw near, believe, repent.

The response to Christianity is not first we better do something, we better be something. The response is what? Believe. This makes all the sense in the world. Jesus is this great high priest whether you believe it or not, he is.

But this is a message preached to you so that you do believe it, that he is this high priest. And he uses these priestly concepts, enter and draw near as a synonym, a Jewish synonym for faith. It's picturesque, it's wonderful.

Do you see it in verse 19? Since we've got this confidence, to enter the holy places. He's wanting you to say, dear Jewish people, if you're listening back then, are for us. We say, you know what? These claims of Jesus are true, they're right, they're good.

Who could be a savior like that? What's my response? Enter, believe. It's just a Jewish way of saying to believe. And if you're thinking like me, you'd be thinking, wait a second, I think I'm too sinful to go into the holy of holies.

You know, it's kind of like, if I was gonna teach kids, sometimes kids think we have some humor in sermons I've heard. Never a joke though. Have you ever heard me say, did you hear about the priest, the rabbi, and the such and such that walked into the Chuck E. Cheese?

You'll never hear me say that. There might be some comic relief, but we don't joke. Do we? I'd be thinking some kind of Indiana Jones deal where here there's all kinds of knives and everything, you're trying to go in to get the chalice or the something or other, and he's kind of the penitent man, the penitent man.

He's like, how do I get through there? This is the holy of holies. Remember, people are pulverized with the glory of Shekinah, the Shekinah glory, because they just kind of saunter into the presence of God.

Nobody saunters up to the mountain when Moses is on it, because even if an animal does, you kill it. Nobody walks in with David Thoreau like sauntering into Walden Pond into the holies of holies. You're dead if you do.

But now he says, Jesus is the high priest. He's paid for sin. He's the mediator. You can trust him. He's sympathetic. He's a human. He's added this human nature to himself, and he's God. And so here's what I want you to do, dear Jewish people.

Walk into the holy of holies. Just walk in, not on your own accord, but because you can do it because of the Lord Jesus. Remember back in the day of atonement, Leviticus 16, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they drew near before the Lord and died.

And the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.

You just don't saunter into God's presence. You don't trapeze in. You don't flippantly just kind of go, well, I'm here. You know, you're lucky to have me, God. No, but what God is saying is He's holy.

And you have to have sin offerings and atonement. And remember what Moses also is told. When you go into the holy of holies, take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar and incense and put the incense on the fire before the Lord so that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not die.

Give me some smoke for refraction and reflection because the glory of the Shekinah is going to incinerate me. Help me. And now, because of this high priest, who's this advocate, who's the mediator, who loves sinners, here's what he says.

Walk in. Go ahead. Enter. Sounds like Lord Jesus' words in Matthew 7. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

So I ask you, I've presented for the last several years the glories of Jesus as the great high priest. So what are you going to do about it? The response, the knee-jerk response is, I believe, because we'll get to behavior later, but the first response is sola fide, I believe.

And dear friends, I know what you're thinking. Some of you here aren't Christians today, and you're thinking, you know what? When I clean up my act, then I can approach. You could never clean up your act enough.

So approach now while you're dirty and defiled and full of sin, because God justifies ungodly people. Did you know that? You don't have to do anything in order to be saved. We've tried all that. It's called the garden, it's called fig leaves, it's called babble, it's called everything else.

Since we can't do anything and we're slaves to sin, God says, my son has paid for all your sins. My son has perfectly obeyed in your place. Enter, and how do you enter? By faith. People say, well, I'm too wicked to be saved.

If I walk into the holy of holies, I will be obliterated. Well, you're forgetting, although I'm glad you believe how you're wicked and you're sinful, but you're forgetting who this Jesus is in chapters one through nine.

Therefore, enter, believe. People don't believe for lots of reasons. George Barna had a report and it said 51 of Americans believe that a person is generally good or did enough good things for others during their life, they would earn a place for heaven.

And if you saunter in without the covering, without the shield of the Lord Jesus, believe me, there's not gonna be just one O-ring that's defective in your shuttle. There's gonna be a lot of them. But since the Lord Jesus perfectly obeyed, remember, he said, I always do what's pleasing to the Father.

There's no way for the glory of God to get through Christ's perfect covering and righteousness for you. Jesus calls for a verdict. You can't just learn about Jesus and go, I live my life the way I want afterwards.

No, you have to believe. I have great news for you. No matter how sinful you are, unbelieving friend, you can walk right into the presence of God, the holy God, the thrice holy God where the angels cover their eyes because if you walk in trusting in Jesus, he's your advocate, he's your protection, he's your savior.

So enter in. Why would you not enter in? You have free access to the mercy seat. Bold access. It's open. And if you go down to find verse 22, there's another idea here of belief. Jesus is presented as savior and high priest so that you believe and he uses Jewish language of enter.

He also uses Jewish language of draw near. Do you see it, verse 22? Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, access by faith. I have a heart that knows I need help. I can't do it on my own and I'm gonna be trusting in God that he's going to help me and that he will do what he says.

This is exactly what the book of Hebrews wants you to do. Everybody says, well, there's five warning passages in Hebrews and it's so difficult in Hebrews and all these warning passages and apostasy. Those warning passages are in there to even get you to believe, to discourage you, to have assurance so you can walk right in.

That's amazing to me. I say to myself, how can God be fully cognizant of all my sins and I know he is, but he is persuaded to accept me based on the work of another, this high priest. How can it be? I don't know how it can be, but it's true.

So draw near, get close. Not by your works, but by the works of another. No guilt, all paid for. You can't please God in any other way. The Bible says, he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them.

So if you're not a Christian today, what is stopping you from coming to the Lord Jesus? You say, well, once I stop my sins, then I'll come. Friends, then you'll never come. He came to seek and save those that were lost.

You can't do anything in order to be saved. Jesus saves ungodly people, as I said, the lamb slain. If you go down to verse 26, if you won't enter, we'll talk about this next week or in two weeks. If you go on sinning deliberately, that is rejecting who Jesus is.

I know all the facts, but I don't care. I'll do it later. I'm more concerned about my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my career, fame, fortune, living my own life. I present you Jesus, and if you say no to entering in and drawing near, you sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, chapters one through 10, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

But a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy. You think that's bad? Verse 29, how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who was trampled underfoot the son of God and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and outraged the spirit of grace?

For we know him who said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. So you have two roads, trust in this great high priest and you're forgiven and you have access to heaven, not now for prayer, but also for the future.

Or there's gonna be judgment day, consider your end. I love when the tax collector understood this. He stood far off in Luke 18. He would not lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

And by the way, this Jesus loves to be merciful to sinners. You have to enter, you have to draw near. You simply trust in him and believe. Now there's all kinds of other Jewish language here. Let's look at some of this Jewish language.

Verse 19, it talks about the blood. He uses Jewish language to kind of amplify this idea of entering. Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the sacrificial death of Jesus, you don't saunter into God's presence because you're good, because you're nice, because you've been circumcised, baptized, catechized, or whatever it is, confirmed, you go to church.

There's one way in, the wages of sin is death. Somebody has to die, either you die or Jesus, the sacrificial lamb that's slain before the foundation of the world, he dies. And if he dies and all your sins are taken care of, why do you have to walk in afraid?

You don't have to walk in afraid, you just trust in what Jesus did. The blood of Jesus is simply a concise word that means the sacrificial death of Jesus. So draw near, there's no more, no trespassing signs, approach.

If I had to summarize what Jesus did, maybe I would summarize it by blood. Everything that he did, offering himself for sinners. Somebody wrote this and it's true. For it is written that the chastisement of our peace was placed on the Son of God and that we are healed by his wounds.

He was led to death as a lamb, he was numbered among sinners and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared that he was innocent. So he paid back what he had not stolen and suffered, the just for the unjust in both his body and his soul in such a way that when he senses the horrible punishment required by our sins, his sweat became like big drops of blood falling on the ground and he cried out, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

And he endured all this for the forgiveness of our sins. Many of you are Christians today, I'm glad you believe, but those who are not Christians today, enter in, draw near, how? By your own merits? No, by the blood of Jesus, by the blood of another.

Well, there's another Jewish word here. This is interesting to me and that word is veil, veil. Oh, before I forget, when it comes to blood, let me say something else before I get to veil. Remember back in the old days, good picture of our sin and God would be a leper and I didn't say leopard, although my first pastor, his first language wasn't English and so he would always talk about those 10 leopards that got healed and only one that came back to say thank you.

I said leper. Remember lepers couldn't have access, they couldn't go places, they couldn't get close, they'd have to say unclean, unclean. What a great picture of our own sin before God. How are we gonna enter in as spiritual lepers?

Listen to what Leviticus says about lepers cleansed by blood. In this case, the leper's disease is healed by in the leper's person, the priest shall command them to take for him who was to be cleansed two live birds.

Okay, my leprosy's gone, I got two birds. In an earthen vessel, oh sorry, the priest shall command them to take for himself, cleansed two live birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop and the priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water.

He shall take the live bird with the cedar wood and the scarlet yarn and hyssop and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. So you take two birds, kill one, dip the one bird in the blood of the other and what do you do?

He shall sprinkle it seven times on him who was to be cleansed. So now you sprinkle it on the leper's person. Then he shall pronounce him clean and then what do you think he does next? Here's the person, I can't go close, I can't get anywhere, unclean, unclean and I'm ostracized and I can't get close to the temple, can't get close to my wife, can't get close to the society and everything else and you take that bird and you put the sprinkles on there and you're showing him ceremonially and visually kind of like Jesus with the saliva and other things and what do you do?

And he shall let the living bird go into the open field. You ever think about that? You kill the one, take the blood, you let the one go, kind of makes me think of the scapegoat idea and right in front of that leper's person who's been cleansed, you take the bird and you go, free, fly.

What do you think he was thinking? What was going through his mind? My disease is gone, I'm free, I can go back to society. You know what he might be thinking? I'm free as a bird. I bet you every time he looked at a bird again, he's thinking, I'm free.

Some of you, I know, music people are going thinking about something like free bird or something. Don't you dare, I'm looking at you. I had to go off on this tangent because many of you look extra sleepy today.

I don't know if it was the high from the baptisms or not, but you should see yourselves. Lots are sleeping. I gave you the bird thing for free to wake you up. You can't get close because you're a leper.

And now you get to go close and you see right before your very eyes, freedom, fly. How can we get close to God? We're spiritual lepers. It's because of the Lord Jesus. He wasn't the bird as a sacrifice.

He was the lamb. And the Bible teaches that the one who comes to me, John six, I will certainly not cast out. I don't care how leprous your sin is, unbeliever. I don't care what skeletons are in your closet.

Jesus Christ, grace is greater than all your sin. The second word he uses here, got blood. Look at veil, verse 20. He's trying to use all kinds of Jewish terms. So that Jewish person would think, I have to trust in Jesus.

I have to believe in the Lord Jesus. By a new and living way, verse 20, which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. Now think like a Jew. What would a Jew be thinking? I now have access, not by blood, but also through the veil.

And you'd be thinking there was that huge veil, 60, 70 feet tall, super thick, that the holy of holies was in and the high priest would have to go into the veil and nobody could see what was going on.

It was a restriction. It was access blocking. And now Jesus, who is the temple and who is the veil, his flesh? Do you not see it in verse 20? Through the veil that is his flesh. When the veil has been torn when Jesus died and now you have access, you have access.

Jesus sheds his blood, finishes his work of atonement. The veil's torn from top to bottom. God is in charge. And now you get access to God. One writer said, they walked confidently through the torn curtain of Christ, so to speak, into the presence of the Father.

What used to block you from coming to God, now it's open for you. Come in. What are you waiting for? And by the way, in verse 20, it's something very fascinating, by the new and living way. The word new there is a wild word and it means freshly slaughtered, freshly cut.

Only occurs here. It means fresh or recent. This has written this book, I don't know, 60 something AD. Jesus died 33 AD. And 30 years later, this blood that the Old Testament priests would have to use up before it got coagulated, it's still fresh.

It's still available. It's still for you. The picture is 30 years after the crucifixion, Christ's death is applicable for you. Fresh, life-giving. So why wouldn't you believe? The Holy of Holies has been opened up and Jesus Christ's body proves it.

Well, there's another word here. This is fascinating to me, kind of more Jewish terminology. And we've done this before. It's priest in verse 21. Everything about this passage is intended you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it uses language like enter and drawn near with words modifying like blood and veil. And here's another one. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, your access is grounded in the priestly work of Jesus.

That's been our sermon for the last 50 sermons. I like Chrysostom, that great preacher. He said, you cannot banish me from this world. It's my father's house. He stands before the emperor and he has his Luther moment.

I will slay you, said the emperor. No, you cannot. For my life is hid with Christ in God. I'll take away your treasures. No, you cannot. For my treasure is in heaven and my heart is there. I will drive you away from man and you shall have no friend left.

No, you cannot. For I have a friend in heaven with whom you cannot separate me. I defy you, emperor, for there's nothing you can do to hurt me. Because if you have a high priest, that's how you talk. Christ for us.

If Christ is for us, who can be what? Against us. There's another Jewish word, verse 22, sprinkled. Everything here is designed for the Jew to say, I get the mental picture. I get the figure of speech.

I get the typology. You want me to trust in, believe on, rely on, rest in, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by language of tabernacle, temple, holy of holies. Enter, draw near, blood, flesh, priest, and here, sprinkled.

Verse 22, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. What do people do today? You can drown out your conscience lots of ways, but can you clean your hearts?

It's like when people have anger problems, I'll work on my anger problems. But what happens if you're the problem? How do you get a new you? This has to be done by God on the inside. Are our hearts sprinkled clean?

This is language of taking blood and sprinkling the goats, sprinkling the people, sprinkling Aaron, sprinkling the garments. So that they'll be holy. But no matter how much blood you try to sprinkle on Aaron, it would never go onto his heart.

Here, the Lord Jesus on our hearts. It reminds me of 1 Peter 1, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling with his blood. How guilty your heart is, it can be cleansed by the Lord Jesus. That's the point.

Washed whiter than snow, no matter what you've done. And then fifthly, do you see this word washed? This is more Jewish language. Verse 22, if you're not a Jew, enter, draw near, believe, repent, trust in the Lord Jesus.

If you are a Jew, let me use this language of Hebrews. Enter, draw near. By Jesus' blood, through the veil, with your high priest, sprinkled on the inside, and our bodies, what? Washed with pure water.

Now, some people think this is baptism. Okay, you can if you want. I don't think it is. Calvin didn't think it is. If you're ever trying to argue with people about baptism, just say Calvin, and you have to go along with them.

No, this is, Jewish people would be thinking this way. Ezekiel, then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idols. If you're not a Christian, I offer today, through the Lord Jesus Christ and His word, forgiveness.

Wouldn't you like to be cleansed? Wouldn't you like to be forgiven? Wouldn't you like to approach God on that day, that day that's getting closer every day? We heard three testimonies today, did we not?

I used to be blind, and now I see. And the theme of every one of those testimonies is not just that they were all sinful and didn't deserve it, but there was only one way. There's one way to be cleaned on the inside, and it's through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jew or Gentile. Boy, those Old Testament priests had to wash themselves and wash themselves and wash themselves to get into that temple. Was it enough? The Lord Jesus' death was enough on account of blood.

Holding Fast the Confession of Our Hope

You say, well, I'm already a Christian, what do I do? That's a good question. You're already a Christian, what do you do? Verse 23, the unbeliever sees the claims of Christ and her only response should be, enter, draw near, that is, believe.

But what about the believers? Well, it's not going to surprise you, dear Christians, that the response is, keep believing. Before you do anything, keep believing. So the unbeliever sees the claims of Christ, his response is, her response, believe.

The believer sees the claims of Christ, that you have access, you have all these things, you keep believing. And he uses language that the Jew would understand. I would say, keep believing from my Nebraska background.

Here we would say, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hold fast, Christian, keep believing. This has nothing to do with works or how much you hold.

This is the object of your faith. This is language of Hebrews 3 .6, hold fast our confidence. This is language of Hebrews 4 .14, hold fast our confession. This is language of Hebrews 6, hold fast to the hope set before us.

Hold fast means to commit. God is a great God, and I've trusted in Him, and things are going bad now, but I still have to keep entrusting myself now. I'll commit myself to Him now. I'm going to keep believing.

This is 1 John language, present tense, keep on believing. What's the opposite? I give up the faith, I defect, I apostatize, I depart. God's going to keep every one of His promises, so why would you not keep believing?

He'll say later, I'm never going to leave you, I'm never going to forsake you. Who talks like that? Hold fast to your confession. Keep believing. And notice the text. I find this fascinating. The confession of our hope.

This is not just, you know, I'm going to grind down and just hope it's over soon. This is, I have hope. The Lord's coming back. Christians have hope. Not just love, joy, and peace, but also hope. Remember that great story when Luther was going through so many problems, and his wife Katie thought, you know what, he is so despondent, I've got to kind of knock him out of his despondency, and I know my wife would never do anything like this.

She's just quiet, and she just lets me be. I didn't mean that, honey. This is a good wife right here, and I like him as a good wife. Okay, you're going to act like there's no hope? Dear Christian, even though these other things are happening?

She put on funeral garb. She dressed in all black. Started walking around the house crying, not talking, sullied face. It took him a while to notice, but after he did, Luther said to Katherine, Katie Von Bora, Who died?

God died. She said to Luther. God died. What? Well, you're acting as if God is dead. For the Christian, remember, they're getting persecuted. They'll die soon. Yes, if you're not a Christian, believe, enter, draw near.

But if you're a Christian, no matter what your troubles are, keep believing, because this has a great hope aspect to it without wavering, without leaning. Well, yeah, but is there anything else I should do?

We've got to end because we had our baptisms. Jesus is a great high priest. So what? Believe if you're not a believer. Keep believing if you are a believer. And then finally, verse 24, we'll pick up this next week as well.

Stirring Up One Another to Love and Good Works

Serve others, love others. Here's the practical application. You believe and then you serve others, verse 24 and 25. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.