All because of Jesus!

[0:00] If you would take your Bibles and go to the book of Hebrews. Book of Hebrews. I've got two filler sermons. Book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10.

[0:13] Today is gonna be a filler and then next week I set it to Psalm 24. And then the goal is to start Judges in the third Sunday on the 21st.

[0:26] Today Hebrews 10, Hebrews chapter 10 starting in verse 19. 10, 19. So again Hebrews 10 today. Next week Psalm 24.

[0:39] And then Judges. I'm hoping to start then. I've been doing a bunch of reading trying to get myself prepared. I got another 50 pages. Well probably another 100 pages to read.

[0:50] So there's a lot of reading involved to try and get myself prepared. And that's not even including just reading the book of Judges itself. So I gotta read that another. Two, three times would be great. Read it with me if you would.

[1:03] Keep reading the book of Judges. It will, you'll be glad you didn't live in that time period. And yet you'll be thankful not just that you didn't live in that time period but realizing that we live in evil times.

[1:18] People are evil and they do evil things. Right? There's no peace in the world because Jesus doesn't reign. We don't believe in a democratic republic. We believe in a theocracy.

[1:30] And one day there will be a king who will reign forever and ever and he will put everything right. So in the end we believe in a theocracy where God is ruled. And he's ruler and he's ruling.

[1:40] That's what we believe in. So you'll see that in the book of Judges. God's plan to be the ruler of this world. So today though I thought it would be most appropriate to do a Lord's Supper sermon which I've done that in the past.

[1:56] In Hebrews chapter 10 a very appropriate passage for the Lord's Supper. Hebrews 10 starting ah, read verse 18. That's kind of fun.

[2:07] Now where there is forgiveness of these things there's no longer any offering for sin. Verse 19 Therefore, brethren since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh and since we have a great priest over the house of God let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled 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 stimulate one another toward love and good deeds not forsaking our own assembly together as is a habit of some but encouraging and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

[3:00] She didn't get much of a head start in life A bout with polio left her leg crooked and her foot twisted inwards so she had to wear leg braces After seven years of painful therapy she could finally walk without her braces At age 12 she tried out for a girls basketball team but didn't make it Determined she practiced with a girlfriend and two other boys every day Next year she made the team When a college track coach saw her during a game he talked her into letting him train her as a runner By age 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the U.S.

[3:54] In 1956 she made the U.S. Olympic team but showed poorly that bitter disappointment motivated her to work harder for the 1960 Olympics in Rome and there Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals the most a woman had ever won in that time period You see the perseverance and endurance almost a tenacious hope in getting what she wanted for something that's gonna fade If perseverance endurance and tenacious hope is displayed in winning gold medals for the Olympics which is here today and gone tomorrow how much more can we as God's people who have who hope for the eternal crown be able to endure to have hope and to be encouraged in love during these days that we face

[5:02] It's kind of like a comparison smaller to greater the smaller thing with Wilma Rudolph and the greater aspect of the life of a Christian that seeks after Christ and I titled this section here in Hebrews all because of Jesus all because of Jesus my goal is to to help us to just narrow our thoughts towards gospel truth not that we don't do that every Sunday but even more so because you will get to feel smell and even taste the goodness of God in these elements as a reminder to you of how much God loves us in His Son of how much the Son of God loves us by giving His life on our behalf all because of Jesus all because of Jesus person and work we can persevere in faith grasp firmly in hope and be roused towards love because the gospel is not just a gospel in an end of itself we seek after Jesus which affects us and infects us to love each other in the same way that God has loved us at 1 John remember loved by God 1 John all because of Jesus

[6:47] His person and work you can persevere in faith you can grasp firmly in hope you can be roused towards love that's what we'll see another way to say it in times of suffering and in the face of our sin God gives us the grace to have enduring faith to grasp firmly in hope and encourage each other towards love in times of suffering difficult days and in the midst of your sin and your sin it's hitting you like smack dab right there in the forehead and how sinful that you are yet God gives us grace to have enduring faith to grasp firmly in hope and to be roused towards encouraging each other towards love and these elements are reminders physical reminders for you to do that physical reminders of the finished work of Jesus it's why we do that it reminds us of gospel truth and reminds us of the communion and the fellowship that we have with the Father through Jesus and the fellowship we have with Jesus because of Jesus all because of Jesus does that make sense?

[8:14] so let's walk through this first number one the basis based upon Jesus work verses 19 through 20 he begins with since therefore or therefore brethren therefore looks back to what he said about Jesus in the first 18 verses of this chapter really in the first 10 chapters of his letter the all sufficient work of Jesus what he's done for us as sinners on the cross he said in chapter 10 that he offered his body and has taken away all our sins look at verse 10 by this will we've been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all friends this is why we're not Roman Catholics this is why we don't believe that the elements become the actual body and blood of Jesus because in Roman

[9:15] Catholic dogma they crucified Jesus again that's ridiculous foolish and heretical and outside of scripture you don't do that it's done once for all one time he had to die one time once for all notice verse 11 and every priest stands daily ministering and offer time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins he's looking back to what the temple was all about but notice he says verse 14 for by one offering that's Jesus he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified we're perfected we're completed we're made right with God because it's based upon the work of Jesus it's all because of Jesus so therefore brethren notice he says since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus confidence that was something that the priest the high priest did not have the priest did not linger near the holy place especially on the day of atonement he got in and he got out you didn't linger around in the holy of holies you didn't linger around in the most holy place you say hey God how you doing hey how's it going no you didn't do that he would get in and everybody went about out oh but Christian not so with you we can enter this holy place

[11:06] God's presence by the blood of Jesus his saving death and stay why do you want to leave you can stay you don't got to leave judgment isn't going to come upon you you stay the reason why you want to leave is because there's fear fear involves punishment we saw that in 1st John 4 but Jesus took the punishment you don't need to leave you can stay we are encouraged to come into God's presence with great confidence by Jesus blood that's the work that he's done we have confidence through the gospel we have confidence to come into the most holy place and stay we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus notice verse 20 by a new and living way what does he mean by this new in that what Christ has done has brought about a new situation living in that just as

[12:31] Christ is alive this way is bound to Jesus himself so since he lives we always can come if he didn't have if he would not have resurrected you could not come but because he lives because he was resurrected the living way you can always come this road leads us into God's very presence the only way into the presence of God is through the Lord Jesus Christ the only way into the presence of God is through the Lord Jesus Christ it's not by your good deeds it's not by your good works it's not by being a nice person it's only through Jesus and his work this is the gospel God is holy

[13:32] God is just God should condemn us we're sinners yet Jesus lived he died shed his blood and he resurrected from the dead and our response repent and believe repent and believe we trust that that's the gospel if you're here and you're not a Christian that's the gospel you should repent you should trust Christ that's the only way you can have access to the very presence of the one who's created us it's the only way he's the only way the new and living way and notice what he says about that way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh what does he mean in other words inaugurated he began this work by offering his body as the sacrifice he has begun the new covenant he has fulfilled the new covenant that's why it says from verse 18 where there's forgiveness of these things there's no longer any offering for sin he's fulfilled it you don't need to offer it you don't need to kill

[14:48] Jesus all over again what do you want to do that for that's ridiculous it's done he's fulfilled it and notice it's done through the veil that is his flesh what's he saying his flesh is the veil that had to be ripped away for us to be able to have complete access total communion true fellowship and actual connection with the father his flesh was the veil and what happened to the veil says Matthew torn in two it was ripped away so his flesh is the veil that would be ripped away for us so that you can come in and stay and this is the point is supposed to point you to that these elements the

[15:52] Lord's supper is supposed to point you to that and remind you of that as the curtain of the tabernacle was the way to God and in passing through it the high priest would have passed into God's presence so Jesus flesh is the veil that was torn on the cross opening the way for us towards God Peter says that he might bring us to God 1 Peter 3 18 you've total access now it's open it's all the time and by his sacrificial death on the cross Jesus has removed the separation or the veil between God and his people this table reminds us of that separation and how it's been ripped away by Jesus that's it's one of the reasons why we take this to remind you that's the fellowship you have that's the communion you have that's the connection that you have that's the access that you have it's not because of you

[17:05] Christian it's not because of your good deeds Christian it's not because you do all these good works things nice things for people it's nothing to do with it it's all because of Jesus it's all because of who tell me Jesus it's all because of Jesus all because of Jesus work and now based upon Jesus person now notice what he does verse 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God we have this confidence not only because of his blood but because of who he is he's our priest he stands in the gap he's the representative for you he is a forever perfect priest for us when he says great priest over the house of

[18:06] God the writer of Hebrews merged two titles together and Jesus the high priest which he brought up earlier in this letter chapter 4 verse 14 and over the house of God or he brings this up in chapter 3 Jesus who rendered himself to lowly service by his death on the cross he's of highest honor because of who he is he's God the son the eternal one who took on flesh and now he's our high priest he's always standing in the gap always and yet you may feel like God's wrath is upon you you may feel like this you may feel like that you may feel like his love is not there and where there's sin rightly so but that's when you come you say I acknowledge my sin and I acknowledge I don't deserve this and

[19:07] I acknowledge that Jesus only in what you've done and who you are thank father you love me and there's brokenness and there's coming to him with such humility because he says to you come he doesn't move you do God's house is where his people dwell Jesus is over that house because he's the builder of it he's our great high priest in whom we have direct access to God so that now God dwells with us so you see this based upon the work of Jesus based upon the person of Jesus based upon who he is and what he's done based upon the person and work of our Lord one persevere in faith persevere endure endure stand strong be steadfast in faith verse 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith we should be stirred into action of drawing near of coming together with a sincere heart listen persevering of faith if

[20:38] God's people are to approach him they must be made right inwardly with real genuine true hearts which he has done that in us he's given us new hearts he's going to bring that up in just a moment and notice he says with a sincere heart true heart in full assurance of faith full assurance it is only by faith in Christ and his work that we can draw close to God we're trusting in Jesus and his work so persevere in that faith Jesus saves us by faith alone in him alone persevere in this faith be steadfast be strong in this Christians can have complete confidence in God because they have fully embraced the truth of the gospel we have hearts that display total trust and devotion of

[21:43] God in the gospel and it's doubt that keeps us from approaching God and his throne don't doubt persevere in that faith full assurance of faith he says your Lord has satisfied God's justice your savior has exhausted God's wrath the Messiah has removed all your sins Jesus has redeemed you from the curse of the law you're reconciled you're justified you're adopted full assurance of faith persevere in that notice what he says here too having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water this is this change that's happened hearts sprinkled our conscience which convicts us and condemns us has been sprinkled clean by

[22:57] Christ's blood he's talking about the internal cleansing there's an internal cleansing that God has done by his spirit and when you think about the sprinkling immediately as a Jew if a Jew's reading this he would think about Moses when Moses sprinkled the blood upon the people back in the book of Exodus in Exodus 25 as Moses sprinkled the people with the blood to inaugurate the old covenant so we've been sprinkled with Jesus blood to inaugurate the new covenant which deals with our conscience which deals with the internal cleansing you've been cleansed you've been washed and notice our bodies washed with pure water and some say this denotes baptism but your bodies aren't clean by well your bodies are clean by baptism for those of you who don't take bath but if our hearts are sprinkled by

[24:07] Christ's blood that's internal washing internal cleansing then by that same cleansing our bodies are washed but what does he mean by bodies well bodies denotes actions so now our actions are acts of holiness and works of righteousness now that we've been changed there's there's an internal cleansing and it comes out in the way you live you're changed from the inside out that's why he's saying you can persevere God has done this so we can persevere in trusting God drawing to him with confidence because of the person and work of Jesus trust him be steadfast in this faith second persevere in faith grasp firmly in hope verse 23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering it's not the first time he said this holding fast he said in chapter 3 verse 6 verse 14 he said in chapter 4 verse 14 you're familiar with that let us hold fast our confession that's not the first time he said that what's he doing what's he saying grasp firmly in hope he wants them again to firmly grasp or keep the confession of the hope but yet it's interesting why does he describe it as a confession of the hope you would think he would say confession of our faith right why hope well because he just said faith well yeah but why does he say faith here why does he say hope because hope anticipates that

[26:11] God will fulfill his promises hope strengthens faith hope relies on faith looking to the future to be a reality it's firm we look to the future to be a reality for us it's not well I hope it's going to happen I hope it doesn't rain today I hope it doesn't do blah blah blah and we use the word hope as a wish but that's not how the Bible uses it especially here hope is confidence it's hope relies on faith looking to the future which is going to be a reality it's going to happen whether you believe it or not it's firm our salvation is coming it's yet to be fulfilled it's firm so that's why he says hold fast of our hope without wavering don't waver in that we place our hope in

[27:24] Christ alone who is totally able to keep his promises God is the one upon whom we can rely why because for he who promises faithful because he who promises faithful see when God makes a promise to his people he will perfectly keep it he promised you'll be resurrected he promised you'll be with him forever he promised all your sins are forgiven he promised that and the way that promise is sealed that you can grasp firmly in hope is because Jesus resurrected from the dead that's how you know if God didn't keep his promises he wouldn't be God God cannot not keep his promises double negative there

[28:29] God can't not not keep his promises cannot not not keep his promises he can't do that it's impossible if he did he wouldn't be God he would stop being God he kept the promise of his Messiah persevere in faith grasp firmly in hope and then notice a third one be roused towards love 24 and 25 and let us consider highly encourage he saying how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds how to stimulate literally unto encouragement of love and good deeds good works and the word stimulate denotes almost like exasperation ardently roused the Christian life is communal expressing itself in deep love since we share in the benefits of Jesus priestly work as brothers and sisters that's one of the reasons why practically speaking we take the Lord's

[29:46] Supper together why can't you just do it at home we do it together because he gave his life for his people for us together collectively we have a responsibility towards each other we are called to rouse one another towards love and good deeds and this love has the cross as its ultimate model this love is a product of community the very thing that drives us to be one and he actually gives only one specific way these love and good deeds verse 25 not forsaken our own assembly together one way we rouse each other in love is this care for one another by not forsaking the assembly which was a formal gathering of some kind maybe the spiritual zeal some of these

[30:58] Christians that the writer of Hebrews was writing to at a decline so they were walking away a first way we show our lack of love for each other staying away from the Christian fellowship from our time that we gathered together and I'm not talking about people not coming because of the virus I'm talking about that but having said that have you seen articles about this I have where once everything gets back to normal whatever that means that people have been gone for so long are they gonna come back have you read articles like this I have because of the temptation right one writer says this quote the Christian forsakes the communal obligations of attending these meetings and displays the symptoms of selfishness and self-centeredness what is the best way to express your love for someone you spend time with them if we are followers of Jesus then we should rouse each other toward love and good deeds and notice it's not just checking off the box well I've come to the service and now I can go home that's not what he's talking about not just checking the box off you're roused towards love and the way you do that you gather together to interact with each other and rouse each other towards love and good deeds there's connection there's body life and if we're rousing each other toward love and good deeds and we're taking active roles and being present with each other and encouraging others to be present with us to love and care for each other not forsaking our own assembling together as is a habit of some but encouraging we all have the task as the faith community to encourage each other to be with God's people not just through a screen it's connecting with each other on a personal level to love and care for each other and if we persistently deliberately abandon the fellowship of the believer community we're in danger of abandoning

[33:30] Christ himself and notice he says and all the more as you see the day approaching you would think it would be the opposite well Jesus is going to come back soon so let's stop meeting no he says the opposite we should keep encouraging each other more as you see that day when Christ's return gets closer there's a sense of urgency the closer we come to his coming the more active we should be in spurring each other on to loving and caring and encouraging and being gracious to each other we've been so struck with the gospel truth of Jesus person and work that we're roused to love each other the way Christ has loved us see how this connects with the Lord's Supper I hope that that's what's going to happen to you in just a few minutes we're going to partake of the

[34:36] Lord's Supper and connecting with with Christ remembering that you're connected and unified with Christ and the gospel and then you're unified with each other too all because of Jesus of his person and work we can persevere in faith grasp firmly and hope and be roused toward love innocent times of suffering in the face of our sin God gives us the grace to have enduring faith to firmly grasp and hope and encourage each other towards love be roused towards them and the Lord's Supper is for Christians if you're here you don't know Jesus not for you and if you're here you're not from I don't go to this church if you come from a church of like faith and practice and we would probably prefer you've been baptized by immersion partake of it with us you can we encourage you to if there's something that you have against somebody else and there's not gone to through the mode of being able to reconcile with that person maybe you shouldn't partake of the Lord's Supper instead wait and then go reconcile with that person and then next time the next month we do this once a month you can partake of the Lord's Supper with us

[36:03] I'm gonna take a moment and pray and then I'm gonna have you do this time of silence where you can just focus and speak gospel truth to yourself and encourage your heart and these truths that we've seen from God's word and so we pray Father help us to be spurred on help us to be steadfast and trusting you to grasp firmly in hope you're gonna be faithful to be roused to love each other which is an outflow of of this gospel truth remind us

[37:18] Father of your grace and your love reminds us how we don't deserve it and yet remind us it's as we sang a few moments ago is not in me but only you have mercy on me