Sermon Tone Analysis

Hebrews 10:19-25

Say, Christian, What Are You Doing?

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 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 and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

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, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.[1]

| E |

ach individual who names the Name of Christ is responsible to invest life and gifts in a congregation of Christ the Lord.

Each redeemed individual is called by Christ to seek out The Fellowship wherein God would have him serve.

We saw these truths in a previous message.

The teaching is not an occasional teaching of the Word, but it is rather woven throughout the warp and woof of the fabric of the Bible.

It is based upon the fact that salvation changes the attitude of the redeemed.

When the attitudes are addressed by the Spirit of God, the actions will also change.

You will no doubt recall the emphasis I placed upon changed lives demonstrated by those who have believed.

Those who are redeemed are transformed.

This must not be construed as a hit-or-miss proposition, but it must rather be understood to be a certainty.

Underscore in your mind this great truth.

Those who have believed in the Risen Son of God, those who have been born into the Family of God, those who are forgiven their sin, are changed.

Their actions reflect the transformation which occurred in their lives.

Ray Stedman understood this change.

He wrote:

 

The result of the operation of the new covenant in the believers’ lives is a highly visible transformation of their behaviour.

It flows from an inward change of attitude which is not dependent on outward circumstances.

Believers become highly motivated to live at a new level of behaviour and need only a bit of guidance about the /form/ that new behaviour should take.[2]

Those professing the Faith who remain unchanged give silent witness that they are still in their sin.

In part, this was the basis for the Apostle’s challenge issued to the Corinthians.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.

Test yourselves.

Or do you not realise this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test [*2 Corinthians 13:5*]!

When we have examined ourselves, what will we discover?

What practical tests can we apply which will cause us to take notice of our condition despite our feelings?

In order to answer that question, I invite you to focus attention on the words of the author of the Hebrew letter and especially notice the text chosen for this day.

The Redeemed are Privileged.

The author focuses on two privileges believers enjoy.

These two privileges are introduced to us by the English word since.

Note the language.

Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, suggests the first privilege.

Since we have a great priest over the house of God, reveals the second privilege we enjoy.

The first privilege that we who are the redeemed enjoy is a confident spirit.

The second privilege which we enjoy is that we have a competent advocate.

Let’s focus on these privileges, one at a time, discovering something of the richness of the blessings we enjoy.

The first privilege accorded to us who are believers in the Risen Son of God is a confident spirit.

We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.

Read that statement slowly.

We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.

Whenever you hear this statement, what do you hear?

What are these holy places?

What is this confidence which we possess?

These are questions deserving answers, and the answers will prove vital to our understanding of who we are.

The term /holy places/, occurs in the New Testament six times, each time in this *Book of Hebrews*.

Three of those times, the term refers corporately to the holy place and to the most holy place.

The /holy place/, which is spoken of throughout the Old Testament and referred to briefly in *Matthew* and *Acts*, speaks of the sanctuary where the High Priest served God.

The holy place pointed to the outer sanctuary and the most holy place (or Holy of Holies) referred to the inner sanctuary.

Holy places is usually a general and universal reference to the sanctuary.

The holy places to which we are provided entrance is the New Covenant with Christ the Lord.

It is that new relationship we enjoy with the Risen Son of God and with the Father.

Perhaps you will recall the words of Isaiah as he speaks on God’s behalf.

/For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,/

/who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy/:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

[*Isaiah 57:15*]

 

The holy places are those places where God and humanity meet.

In a practical sense, this means that we have confidence to come to God in prayer.

There is a vast difference between “saying prayers” and “praying.”

Many people are able to recite a prayer which is designed to manipulate the True and Living God, but few enjoy the freedom of coming in His holy presence.

Listen in a fresh way to the invitation which the author of this letter to the Hebrew Christians issues.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need [*Hebrews 4:14-16*].

Trace the concept of the holy places we are privileged to enter, according to this author.

When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God [*Hebrews 9:11-14*].

Christ did not go into the Temple which was situated in Jerusalem and offer Himself as a sacrifice.

The veil was torn and the way into the Most Holy Place was exposed at His death.

Perhaps you recall the account of Jesus’ death Matthew provides?

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

And the earth shook, and the rocks were split [*Matthew 27:51*].

This is the meaning of the reference found in our text.

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 [*Hebrews 10:19, 20*].

Again, the holy places into which Christ entered as a sacrifice had nothing to do with the Temple which was once situated in Jerusalem.

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself [*Hebrews 9:23-26*].

Now we read that we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name [*Hebrews 13:10-15*].

The sum of all this is that we can enter into the presence of God at any time, and this by the merits of Christ the Lord.

He gave His life so that we might walk with Him in the heavenly places.

Now, we can enjoy sweet fellowship with the Father and with the Son.

Surely, that must be the meaning of the opening words of the Ephesian encyclical.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him [*Ephesians 1:3, 4*].

Christ has been seated at [God’s] right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come [*Ephesians 1:20, 21*].

From this exalted position, He reigns over all things in the church and as His people we serve Him.

It is to this exalted position, in the heavenly places, that we are invited to come and worship Him as King and Saviour.