Sermon Tone Analysis

At the moment I have my study in my house.

My office is in the basement of the parsonage.

My children are most of the time at home and they know that daddy needs his time alone to get his work done.

In order to keep out the noise of a house full of six boys I usually study with my door closed.

Every once in a while one of my kids will come downstairs because they need something from daddy.

Most of the time they sneak down stairs as quietly as possible and all of a sudden I will see their fingers stick out underneath my door and hear them whispering on the other side.

And then I will usually say, “What do you need.”

Then they will start talking to me through the closed door and of course I can’t hear a word they are saying, so I will say, “Come in.”

And I try to always give my kids access, even if I am busy and in the middle of prepping a sermon I will allow them to come in.

Some don’t know any better, like my 2 year old, he will wonder downstairs and just open the door (he has figured out how to do that now), and with a big smile on his face he will look at me and cry out, “Daddy” and he will come and make himself comfortable in my lap.

He has direct access to his daddy.

Hebrews 10:19-25 teaches us a wonderful truth.

If you are a believer in Christ, if you have been fully forgiven, fully sanctified, fully perfected (positionally), then you have direct access to God.

In fact you can come boldly into the very presence of God the Father.

In this sense, all believers are themselves priests before God, because every believer has direct access to God.

Any believer can come into His very presence and perform the duties and functions of priests.

We call this the priesthood of the believer.

What the author of Hebrews is explaining in chapter 10:19-25 are the privileges/responsibilities that every believer has because of his or her direct access, because of their function as priests before God.

What are the believer’s responsibilities as a priest before God?

I.

As priests believers must draw near to God (vv.

19-22)

A. Every believer should experience great confidence in entering God’s presence (vv.

19-21)

Here the author of Hebrews draws upon the imagery from the OT temple and he states that believers have the most remarkable privilege.

We can boldly enter the holiest of holies.

This is the place in the OT temple where God’s glory dwelt.

In the OT this was a privilege reserved only for the high priest, and only once per year on the Day of Atonement.

Every year the high priest had to offer sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people.

And his entrance was anything but bold.

Knowing that mere animal blood could never forgive him of his sins, it was with great fear that the high priest would enter.

All animal blood could do was purify the external, the flesh.

It could not purify or perfect the heart.

Imagine entering in through the veil of the temple, into the place where the glory of God dwelt, having only been sanctified to the purifying of the flesh.

How much confidence would you have?

But you believer, enter into the very presence of God, not on the basis of an imperfect sacrifice, you may enter boldly because of the blood of Jesus Christ!

Christ has purified our very hearts fully and completely by becoming our perfect sacrifice!

Through the perfect sacrifice of the Jesus Christ, those that place their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, those that have been wonderfully saved- those ones have been fully sanctified, fully forgiven, fully perfected forever.

In his perfect sacrifice Jesus Christ has once and for all perfectly satisfied the wrath of God- he is our propitiation, and he has wiped away all the guilt of our sin- he expiated our sin.

No charge or accusation can ever be levied against us, because all of our guilt all or our sin debt was nailed to his cross and He took all of the guilt of our sin and wiped it away!

Jesus Christ was not only our perfect sacrifice, he is also our perfect priest.

Christ, acting as priest, has through His flesh opened a way through the veil into the very presence of the very glory of God.

Therefore, believers, you have boldness to enter into the holiest!

Every believer, because of the sacrificial and priestly role of Jesus has great confidence to enter into God’s presence.

The implication is that each believer now exercises the highest privileges of priesthood, having been granted access to the very presence of God!

Every believer is a priest before God, and even the most ordinary believer, has been grated the highest possible privilege of priesthood.

Because of Christ’s work on your behalf every single believer has access to the very presence of God!

That is incredible!

B. Every believer should experience great intimacy in entering God’s presence (v.

22)

If you are a believer in Christ, you have direct access to God.

And since you have the right of entry into the very presence of God, you are expected to use it!

Brethren, you have boldness to enter into the holiest, therefore DRAW NEAR!

As you enter God’s presence and draw near you do so with true hearts in full assurance of faith, grounding your your confidence upon the cleansing you have received in Jesus Christ.

In Christ you have had your hearts sprinkled from and evil conscience, and your bodies washed with pure water.

Again, the author of Hebrews is drawing on the OT concept of the Day of Atonement.

Before the High Priest could enter the holiest he had to wash his body and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice.

And all this could ever do was purify the flesh, the external.

Mere water and mere animal blood could never true forgive sins.

That is why this was such serious business.

Do you think there was much confidence on Aaron’s part?

Do you think there was a genuine intimacy / drawing near?

But any believer can draw near, with a true heart in full assurance of faith- because their confidence is grounded in the true cleansing they received from the blood of Jesus Christ.

And not only can you enter inside the holiest, you can draw near unto God.

“The greatest imaginable intimacy with God is given as a gift to the most ordinary believer.”

Bauder

There is a great truth carefully taught here in Hebrews 10.

One the one hand we need no other priest than Jesus Christ our Lord with reference to offerings for our sins and trespasses.

Any religion or system that creates the office of a priest other than Christ for the forgiveness of sins is a denial of the faith.

In just a moment we are going to partake of the Lord’s Supper.

Some systems of religion believe that the elements of the Lord’s Supper in some way bestow saving grace upon the recipients.

This is a great error!

We do not need the Lord’s Supper to provide any kind of saving grace for our sins whatsoever.

Jesus Christ is all we need!

His completed sacrifice has provided the satisfaction of God’s justice and the removal of sins for all believers for all time.

In this sense, no other person can ever act as a priest, and those who claim that they can are denying the gospel itself.

One the other hand, because every believer has the right of direct access to God, made possible only because of the sacrificial and priestly work of Jesus Christ, every single believer is qualified to function as a priest.

Every believer, even the most ordinary Christian, has the privilege of standing face-to-face with God for worship, for thanksgiving, for petition and intercession.

Every believer can draw near to God, theirs is a relationship of personal, close, intimate fellowship with God Himself.

In just a moment we will observe the Lord’s Supper.

Many people assume that the pastor of the church has the be the one to officiate the Lord’s Supper.

In fact in many non-Baptist churches, the Lord’s Supper is served from an altar that stands behind the minister.

The minister acts as a mediator between the congregation and the altar, which represents the presence of God.

In our church the table is out front, and the entire congregation gathers around the table.

Usually the pastor will administer the elements, but in principle the church could appoint any brother to perform the task.

Why?

Because we are all of us priests before God.

Pastors are priests only in the same sense that all Christians are priests, no more no less.

It should be a man in the church because women are not permitted to teach or exert spiritual authority over adult men in the church setting.

But any man in the church who is a member and is appointed by the church could do so because he has just as much access to God as any other believer has.

And the administration does not exercise any spiritual authority, but merely distributes the elements so that the ordinance is conducted decently and in order.

In fact I have asked one of our deacons if he would be willing to administer the Lord’s Supper this morning as an illustration of the priesthood of all believers.

This morning as we partake of the elements, the bread and the juice.

I want you to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ how his body and blood and his ministry as priest has made it possible for anyone who repents of their sins and puts their faith in Jesus’ blood can be fully forgiven and have access to God.

Our ability to draw near is only possible because His death, burial, and resurrection have made it possible for us to be perfected in God’s sight.

Only those who have been forgiven can draw near to God.

Lord’s Supper Slide

II.

As priests believers must be faithful to God (v.

23)

III.

As priests believers must encourage one another (vv.

24-25)

A. You are a local body of believer priests

The idea of considering one another, of provoking one another unto love and good works, or assembling of ourselves together, and exhorting one another is all connected to the concept of being priests.