Believers have boldness and liberty to enter the holiest presence of God through the blood of Jesus, a new and living way consecrated through His flesh, and Jesus Himself as our great High Priest. This privilege necessitates drawing near to God with a sincere heart, holding fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, considering one another to provoke love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, and encouraging one another, especially as the day of the Lord approaches. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus, as our High Priest, continually intercedes for us, enabling us to receive mercy and grace in times of need. The ultimate application is to live in the constant enjoyment of God's presence and to earnestly pray for the salvation of loved ones, trusting the Holy Spirit's convicting power.
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quick to beginning at verse nineteen and going down through verse twenty five chapter ten in the book of Hebrews beginning to read at verse nineteen and reading through verse twenty five the beloved apostle writing by the Holy Spirit and may I point out to you before going to verse nineteen the closing verse before it, the eighty, where the beloved apostle magnifies the great work of our Lord Jesus upon the cross of Calvary, bringing complete forgiveness of sin to those who put their trust in him.
Now where remission of sin, of these days, of their sin, there is no more offering for sin. May I just briefly emphasize, there never will be another offering for sin. What you have in wonderful comparison, in contrast, if you read the whole chapter through, all the sacrifices of the Old Testament can never be compared to the perfect, complete work of the Lord Jesus when He was sacrificed for our sin. Now notice as we read on, because of this, having therefore brethren, boldness or liberty to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated or dedicated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest, all of the house of God, Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of
faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us all fast the profession or the confession of our faith. I believe in the Greek text, the word faith is unfortunately translated here. It is the word hope. May I read it again. Let us all fast the profession or the confession of our hope, without wavering, for he is faithful to promise, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of one and our souls together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting or encouraging one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
May God bless the reading of this wonderful portion of his precious word. And may I point out, by God's grace, very briefly but clearly, I hope, that we have brought before us three definite things that we have. by five definite things we should be doing. May I repeat it again? We have three great things, three great privileges, and then five responsibilities. Let us look at them separately. Verse nineteen, twenty and twenty-one.
You have the three great things that we have. On the basis, let me emphasize that. on the basis of the death and the atoning work of the Lord Jesus may I humbly but faithfully say we can never estimate too greatly the great work of redemption that was done by the Lord Jesus himself all alone upon the cross so that the first blessing that we have here because of what he has done verse nineteen We have boldness, meaning liberty, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Now, beloved, let me emphasize where the holiest is. It is not upon the earth. Contrasting the Old Testament experiences of the believers in the days of Israel, the holiest was in the temple. or in the tabernacle of old, than in a shrine the holiest of all, as God ordained it. But it was an earthly tabernacle. But we're doomed not enter into an earthly tabernacle. Neither are we invited into an earthly tabernacle. And the holiest is not on the earth in the holy tabernacle.
It is in heaven itself. My beloved, let me please re-enter God, as you have the words implied. We have liberty to go into the holy presence of God. What a great privilege. Let me be reminded with you of the words of Paul as you wrote to the Colossians in chapter three. that ye then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
For our life is hid with Christ, saying, God. Now beloved, let me also quote another verse from Ephesians chapter one in verse three, which the Apostle Paul wrote again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, where? In heavenly places, in Christ. May I point out this one truth that we have just read in this one verse, and in Hebrews nine, verse nineteen of chapter ten, is the very heart of the teaching of the Holy Fittles.
that now the believer comes into the holy presence of God and can come with liberty and boldness. What a joy to know. Let me quote the words of the dear psalmist in chapter sixteen of the book of Psalms verse eleven. When long ago the psalmist wrote, in thy presence is what? Fullness of joy. and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. And may I just humbly but gratefully say that you and I need to experience more than we perhaps are doing, the privilege of enjoying the presence of God.
It's one that we can have constantly. One dear brother, I never will forget it. when in this Testament I often heard him give, if there's one thing better than knowing you're going to heaven, is to enjoy heaven while you're going there. And beloved, may I say, and please may I encourage you, individually, yes, and corporately, whenever we come, and gather together corporately or if we are alone in our individual walk we have the liberty of entering the presence of God hiding of a dear old saint is saying he lived daily in the presence of God and there was one old saint though he was a Catholic monk in a monastery he sought to practice what he called the presence of God This is one thing we have.
But look, second in verse twenty, twenty. We also have a new and living way. It's not the old way of the Old Testament. It's a new and living way into the presence of God, which He has consecrated for us through what? The veil, and that veil, the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, for His precious body. I'm sure we can both confess readily. It's only through his precious blood we can enter. But it is also through that blessed, atoning sacrifice of his own body.
Would you not remember with me, as you have it in the occasion of the Gospel, telling of his death, that upon saying, as you have it in John chapter nineteen in verse thirty, The Lord Jesus cried after completing the work of redemption, paying the whole penalty for our sins and the sins of the whole world. He cried victoriously. It is finished, completed. Then he bowed his head and died, giving up the goat. And immediately we read, the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom, not from bottom to top.
by an unseen hand. It was the hand of God. And as we often sing, the veil is rent, our souls draw near unto a throne of grace, and the merits of our Lord appear. They fill the holy place. So we have liberty to enter God's place. My beloved, may you and I know more about even daily and continually enjoin the presence of God, and be in the heavenly living for his glory. Then you have in verse twenty-one the third fact that we have an high priest over the house of God.
They're in the same blessed presence. You have it in chapter four, a wonderful word, as you may read from verse fifteen through the end of the chapter. We have a great high priest. Jesus the Son of God, who has gone into the heavens, dare to represent us at the throne of grace, where you and I can come boldly to that throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And please, may I re-emphasize before going further, and I cannot do it too greatly, but I do pray the Holy Spirit will rivet it to your heart and mind and conscience.
as well as my gnome. These three things we have already. Liberty to come into the God's holy presence. Second, a new and living way into his presence. The old way has been turned back forever. We come through the blessed body of our Lord Jesus Christ that was given on Calvary Cross. And third, he's there in the presence of God. And in chapter seven of Rome, of this same book, in verse twenty-five the Apostle says, he is able to save us to the uttermost meaning to the end, seeing he ever liveth in the presence of God.
Oh, beloved, may I confess, I need the joy of knowing it better. There in the presence of God, my Lord Jesus is my great high priest. Ever praying, and may I point out, I'm sure we all know it, but when we enjoy it, he never ceases to pray. He never closes his eyes. You and I may do it and have to do it, down here on the earth, but not him. And so these three things we have. Oh, may God help us by the Holy Spirit. to enter into the joys of the possession of these three great truths.
Now we come and we go to verse nineteen, as we may, or rather as we come to verse twenty-two after these verses. We come to the five things that we are to do. My beloved Vanya, and I'm sure we can recognize the first responsibility is appropriate. In verse twenty-two, Let us draw near into the presence of God with a true or a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, and as we stated in a full assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
First of all, may I liken this. As you may find it in the Old Testament particularly, I refer first of all to the action that Moses was compelled to do on the behalf of Aaron and his two sons when they were delegated the priests of Israel. They were bathed all over. They had a bath. And then they not only had a bath, But they also had to use the labor of water every time they ministered.
But there's the picture. The believer here is seen as already being constituted. A priest who is able to go into the presence of God. Now let me emphasize the verse again. And this is one I wish to emphasize. We should get nearer to that, Blessed One. Let us draw near. Oh, may I say, frankly, and here it is, before our responsibility outward, we see our first responsibility is Godward, to the person of our God and of his Christ, drawing near, with a true or sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, or the confidence that we have.
We have believed upon the Lord Jesus. And in so doing, our hearts are seen sprinkled from an evil conscience. My beloved, let me say this. You have it in the preceding chapter, chapter nine, where the beloved apostle writes of the fact, our Lord Jesus Christ, that he gave himself and that through his precious blood he might purge your conscience. from dead work to serve the living God. Beloved fellow believer, did you and I enjoy as we should that happy moment when we took Christ as Savior?
He purged our conscience in regard to our sin. And as Paul has written elsewhere here, there remained no more conscience of sin. For he's taken the moment the guilt away. And we ask thus the virtue of being accepted in the nearness of its presence. For the great joy is we should be drawing near to him. Oh, my beloved, I think of the words of an old hymn I quote briefly. Nearer still nearer, close to thine heart, draw me, my Savior, so precious thou art. Fold me or fold me close to thy breath.
Shallter me, say, in thy favor of rest. Our beloved one, the joy in is to know. We're in under the shadow of his wings, by grace divine. Let us then join and draw near to him daily. Now there's a second responsibility. Let us hold fast, and I change the wording again, the confession of our hope. without wavering. For he is faithful, they promise. Oh, beloved, what a hope we have. As we well know, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
And not only so, we are standing in grace, and we have the hope of the glory of God. Oh, my beloved, and I say this lovingly, and I say it comfortingly, What a joy to know this blessed hope that we had. Oh, I think, as we listen to the many requests for prayer, and the many that were suffering physically, we come every day sometimes to our homes, words from other places and other saints of sick ones and dear ones that are passing through great trials. But beloved, please, what a blessed hope we have.
as we sing the old hymn, when all my labors and trials are all, and I'm safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear Lord I adore. Will through the ages be glory for me? And please note again the exhortation. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without doubting. I'm doing it, knowing that He is faithful. that Christ. He said, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And may I humbly but earnestly say, I believe today there are more believers that are anxiously waiting and hoping and praying.
Lord Jesus comes to be delivered out of their testings and trials. But thank God that is all fast for that blessed hope. Then third, verse twenty-four. I note the words that they begin with. Letters. You have the word let quite frequently in this book of the Hebrew epistle. You have it near the beginning. Letters go on and so on. Many other places. And here you have it again. And what the apostle is saying? Let's do it. And here he says, let us consider one another. To provoke unto love unto good work.
And here we have an exhortation as to our conduct one to another. To consider one another and to provoke one another. Now please, you recognize it's not the act of provoking in the wrong way, but in the right way. How can we and how do we provoke each other unto love, to love each other more? But by doing and manifesting love one to another, and also by doing good works one for another, setting the example, let us do that. That's a thirsty for us to do. Now, Lord, if you will, as we read in verse twenty-five, and here you've got another exaltation.
We are not to forsake the ascending of our sons together. as the man of the sun is. Beloved, may I say, I do it lovingly, but from these words that we have read, and if the Apostle mentioned it, he knew it was happening. There were some Christians refusing to come and meet with their fellow believers. I'm sure if there's one thing I always think about, and I notice sometimes it's mentioned by some of our brethren in prayer, We miss the brethren and sisters that are after. When we gather together and they're not here.
And here is an exitation. Not to forsake and neglect. They're coming together with one another. As one brother mentioned in his prayer tonight I noticed. And now true the fact is, the Lord Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered together. They're among in the midst. And what a joy it is to know. He's with us when we need. But the exhortation still stands. Don't forsake us. For there is no question at all. We wonder now, say, well, for instance, there must be other prayer meetings going on among some of the believers all over the world tonight, or over our neighborhood even.
How many Christians are listening? So may you and I enter into the obedience of this exhortation, not forsaking them, asserting of ourselves together as the manner of some is. So now there's the fifth one, the quoting exhortation. And you have it here. But exhorting, and that word means, encouraging one another. Encouraging one another. And so much the more, as ye see the day. What's the day? I believe it's the coming of the Lord, approaching. And my beloved, I say very frankly, believers, well, I'm sure I'm conscious of the fact that our coming together tonight has already revealed it.
There has been requests for the help that is needed. for fellow believers, whether it be in sickness or any other trial and difficulty in the service and the work of the Lord. And there's the need of encouraging one another, for us to keep on going, in fellowship with our Lord and around His Word, and in fellowship with His people, and in obedience to the Word of God. And then I like the exhortation that closes with the expression, And the more so, as ye see the day approaching.
My beloved, I don't know how near we are to the coming of the Lord. But I'm sure I'm deeply conscious every day of my life, especially in the closing days in which you and I are now living. The coming of the Lord is very near. Now may I give encouragement as well as admonition. Though we pray for the blessing of God upon His work, His servants, His people don't expect the world to be converted. I do not read according to the prophecy of the Word of God.
from the lips of the Lord Jesus himself, from the writings of the dear apostles all through the New Testament, that we can expect a converted world. A fact is just the opposite. And though there is, and there will always will be danger, for the children of God in this world, may I remind you very definitely The words of the Lord Jesus. Before he left to go to Calvary and on the last occasion with his disciples, one of the last words of exhortation that he gave them was this.
He warned them. He said, the world will hate you. for it has hated me. And may I humbly but faithfully say the world hasn't changed. Not in its character. The unsaved world has not changed. The God of this age and the prince of the world is called in the Bible and by the Lord Jesus as well as his servants. The prince of this world and the God of this age, the devil. Please may I reflect as we were doing tonight.
May God help us to be exercised in prayer. Why should we go into the holiest? Why should we go into the presence of God to pray for our loved ones who are not saved? And others that may be on our hearts that are not saved. And the nearer, I tell you very frankly, the nearer that day he approaches and his approaching path We need to be more earnest in our prayer for our loved ones. And may I encourage my heart as well as your own. I thank God for the words of the Lord Jesus concerning the fact that the Holy Spirit, in chapter sixteen of the Gospel of John, he declares, When he shall come, he shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, And of judgment.
Of sin because they believe none on me. And of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more. And of judgment for the prince of this world is judged. And I seek to lay all on the... The one who is able to save your loved ones and mine for whom you and I are praying is the Holy Spirit. See, Ezekiel, let me ask you a question. Were you and I saved without his help? Never. He was the one who convicted us of our sin. And we needed Christ to save you. He was the one who convicted us.
We could only be righteous in Christ who's now risen. He was the one that convicted us. If you don't trust him, you'll face a day of judgment. And thank God, my beloved believer, you and I trusted him. And it's the same Holy Spirit. that we may pray unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior himself he will use that same blessed spirit in convicting power and concerning grace to deliver our loved ones from their unbelief to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ may I close by again saying that from this scripture we have three facts eternal Three things, precious for the believer to enjoy, and then find exhortations in responsibility to do.
So may the Lord, by His grace, happen to do one thing, fulfill the word that we have studied. Shall we pray? I didn't, beloved Father. We thank thee for thy precious word. As one of our brethren prayed in the prayer meaning, the entrance of thy word giveth light. It giveth understanding to the sinful. And again, the psalmist wrote, thy words were found, and I did eat them. And Lord, we just thank thee for thy precious word.
Thy word is a lamp under my feet, and a light under my path. Lord, we pray that even tonight, from thy precious word that we've read and studied, we may have light for our daily path to encourage you. And, oh, most of all, we thank thee for the Blessed One, who is our great high priest. In the heavens above, representing us, praying for us, and giving to us, mercy and grace when we come to him boldly at the throne of grace for every time of need.
And Father, as we close our prayer, we leave with thee and lay before thee our need. The need of every brother and sister here. The need of every brother and sister in our assembly. And even further, the need of all our loved members of our family, who may yet be unsafe. And Lord, we thank you, we can come to the throne of grace and ask thee to save them. And thus we pray, may we prove thy promises to thine honour and glory.