Therefore......

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in 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 one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:19–25)

When the evidence shows Jesus is better than every other way, the only question left is: how will you respond?

A Transition Marked by "Therefore"

Back in February we began moving through the book of Hebrews. As we come to Hebrews 10:19, we arrive at a transition clearly marked by the first word in the text: therefore. I've often joked that when you see a "therefore" in the Bible, you need to ask what it's there for, because it always points back to what we've already seen. This "therefore" points back to everything in Hebrews 1:1 through 10:18.

So this transition moves away from the largely doctrinal portion of Hebrews and into the more practical application side—into the area of our response to all the doctrine that has come before. That means we should pause and consider what exactly was in those previous ten chapters.

To Whom Hebrews Was Written

This book was written 2,000 years ago as a letter to Christians who came out of Judaism to follow Jesus. I believe it was written by a man named Timothy, a student of the Apostle Paul's ministry, a Jewish man who came to faith in Christ through Paul's preaching in what is modern-day Turkey—then called Galatia. After Timothy grew in his faith, Paul brought him along in the work of ministry, and for many years Timothy grew both as a disciple and as a pastor and church planter. He wrote to Christians very much like himself, Jews who had come out of Judaism to follow Jesus.

Sometimes when we come to a book like Hebrews, written to a Jewish crowd that understands their history, we can pass over it quickly and assume there isn't much here for us. That would be the wrong track, because there is so much here for us to learn—but the context is important.

The Pressure to Go Back

This letter was written around the mid-to-late 60s AD. A few years later, the city of Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed by the Roman Empire, and the Jewish people would be dispersed. There was huge tension between the everyday Roman and the everyday Jew. As a result, we can deduce from this letter that there was a draw in the hearts of many Jewish Christians to return to their Jewish community and to the practice of Judaism.

So the author writes to contend for the superiority of Jesus over the old ways they came out of. The first ten chapters are an apologetic—a defense for the superiority of Jesus to a Jewish audience. He shows that Jesus is better than the Jewish patriarchs, better than the prophets, better than angels, better than Moses, better than the priests, better than the high priest. Jesus, our great High Priest, offered a better sacrifice and therefore brought about a far better covenant. That has been the thrust of these ten chapters: Jesus is superior to all that you came out of, so you should not return to it.

Every Defense Requires a Response

By Hebrews 10:18, Timothy feels he has made the case that Jesus is better. So he pivots with that transitional word therefore. Because of all that doctrine showing Jesus is better, what is our response? How should we now live if all of this is true?

This brings us to point number one: every defense of the faith requires a response. And that response is a simple either-or. Either Timothy's defense is adequate, and you press on in your walk with Jesus—or the defense is insufficient, and you reject Jesus.

In the next section Timothy gives one last striking caution. If you reject Jesus and then sin—and every one of us sins because we're sinners—there is no other sacrifice. You can't go back to the Old Covenant system; it is insufficient. He writes that if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no sacrifice for sin, only a certain and fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation.

Heavy Words for a Politically Incorrect Truth

Those are heavy words, and they lay out a challenging reality in 21st-century America, where this is incredibly politically incorrect. Yet if you are a Christian, this is what you believe: Jesus is the only way to deal with sin, and to reject Him is to have nothing to look forward to but fiery judgment. That's bad news, and we have to reckon with the reality that this is the message we have. There's no way to lessen the punch of it. Our culture influences us to never want to offend, but this is what the Scriptures say, and if you're a Christian, this is what we believe.

So when you are called upon to defend your trust in Jesus—and at some point a family member, friend, co-worker, or neighbor will ask you—you must be ready. Peter says, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within you, to anyone who asks a reason for it, with meekness and fear." We should do it with gentleness, with meekness, and with reverence. I can tell you from experience there have been times I haven't been entirely gentle, and God forgive me. That's why we teach through the Scriptures and offer discipleship classes—so you can be ready to defend the faith.

And when you defend your trust in Jesus, it brings the other person to a place of decision. They can reject it, with all that implies, or accept it, which means a change in the way they live. Every defense of the faith requires a response.

Boldness to Enter the Holiest

In light of the great doctrine that Jesus is a better priest who offered a better sacrifice and established a better covenant, how should we respond? Timothy gives three responses in verses 19–25, each beginning with the words "let us."

"Therefore, brethren"—he's speaking to Christians, to those who have put their trust in Jesus—"having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus." Boldness is fearless confidence, courage, assurance. Because of who Christ is and what He has done, we should have boldness to enter the Holiest—the Holy of Holies, the Most Holy Place.

The Jewish reader knew exactly what that meant. Jewish life centered around the temple, and the temple centered around this room called the Holy of Holies. In it was a box, two feet by three feet, of wood overlaid with gold, with a cover and two carved angels with outstretched wings—the Ark of the Covenant, the manifestation of the presence of God. The Jewish reader would say it's impossible to enter there, because under the Old Covenant only one man, on one day a year, could go in: the high priest on Yom Kippur, only after a lamb without spot or blemish had been sacrificed. He would carry the blood in and go in cautiously, with timidity.

But Timothy says we who are under our High Priest Jesus, by His sacrifice and His new covenant, can come in boldly to the very presence of God. He already said this in Hebrews 4:16: "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace." We come not because of how good we are or all we've done, but because it is a throne of grace, to obtain mercy and grace in our time of need.

The Old Dead Way and the New Living Way

The Old Covenant under Moses required continual sacrifices, and sacrifice implies death—week by week, year by year, for fourteen centuries. But there is a new and better way, under a new and better covenant, because of a new and better priest and His new and better sacrifice. It is a new and living way.

Even though none of us came out of the Jewish sacrificial system, we should be incredibly grateful for this truth. The old dead way required continual religious ritual, formality, effort, and works. Anyone with a religious background knows that religion is laborious. Maybe you came out of a structured background where you had to obey a certain lifestyle, pray certain prayers, attend certain services, make certain confessions—and you never knew if you'd done enough. Under the old dead way you lived under the fear of death and the bondage of that fear. If someone asked, "If you died right now, would you be all right with God?" you'd have to say, "I don't know."

But there is good news. Under the new and living way there is confidence, joy, rest, and assurance—all the things you could never have under the religious systems of man. Why? Because the new and living way is by the blood of Jesus. He consecrated and opened it for us through the veil, that is, His flesh. His body was given on the cross, where He stood in our place to take the wrath of God upon our sin.

Essential Doctrine We Hold in Common

There is so much essential doctrine here. Some teachings are non-essential—instruments in worship, views on men and women in ministry, end-times questions about the millennium, tribulation, or rapture. Churches divide over those things. But the one thing the Christian Church has in common is the essential doctrines: that Jesus, the sinless Christ, suffered and died as a sacrifice for our sins, that He is our substitute who satisfied all the righteous requirements of the law, that He ransomed us and reconciled us to God.

We agree on these essentials with Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, and Pentecostals across the board. We do not agree on these with groups like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Jehovah's Witnesses—they speak of Jesus and even the Bible, but they don't believe these essential truths. Because we were powerless, by the weakness of our flesh, to make ourselves right with a holy God, Christ did for us what we could not do.

So point number two: in response to the person and work of Christ, we can have boldness to stand before the holy and righteous God.

Faith, Hope, and Love

How then should we respond with this boldness? "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith... Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering... Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." Our response centers around three words: faith, hope, and love. These are the marks of the maturing follower of Jesus.

We should be growing in our faith—trusting Jesus alone for salvation and provision. It's not Jesus plus our baptism, plus our church attendance, plus our tithing or serving record. It's Jesus plus nothing. When you face a trial, an illness, a bill you can't pay, do you trust God in that situation?

We should be growing in our hope—where is your hope? Not in your 401k, which would be bad to open right now; not in your good looks, which would be even worse to open, because those go quick; not in your intellect or abilities, but built upon Christ.

And we should be growing in love—love for God and love for others, expressed in good works and good deeds.

The Marks of Christians

These three are found together throughout Scripture. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." At the end of that letter he says, "we who are of the day are sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation." To the Colossians he gave thanks "since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven." And the love chapter ends, "Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Ray Stedman, commenting on this passage, said these three things are central to all Christian living—they are the evidence of a maturing follower of Jesus. So point number three: the right response to the superiority of Jesus is the increase of faith, hope, and love.

Draw Near—Don't Stand at the Door

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." In the original Greek, the mood of "let us draw near" is presently active—a decision you make now. It's not something that automatically happened when you trusted Jesus, and not something for the future. You are called to presently and actively draw near to God with total confidence that the door is open.

I have two little dogs, Walter and Jack. When I open the sliding glass door, Jack runs right in every time—bold confidence, "I'm coming in my house." But Walter backs up. I have to beg and plead with this little dog to come in, sometimes walking out to coax him, looking like an idiot. Some Christians live like Walter. The door is open, the way has been made, yet they stand outside timidly: "I don't know if I'm good enough, if I've done enough good works, given enough, served enough, prayed enough."

Let me tell you: you will never do enough, serve enough, give enough, or be enough on your own merits to come before a holy God. But we can draw near because our hearts have been sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Jesus' blood was shed, our wicked hearts have been sprinkled with the blood of the righteous Jesus, and we've been washed by the living water of His Word.

An Unwavering Hope

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering." Point number four: our trust in Jesus should produce an unwavering hope.

Do you know any religious people—maybe yourself? I'm not knocking them; there are amazingly good religious people who do religion far better than I ever could. But I've often seen in very religious people a wavering hope, the kind of wishful thinking, "I hope I win the lottery" hope—where the doubt equals the odds. Many religious people stand in that doubtful place saying, "I really hope I'll be right with God." Their hope is built on nothing but their best works.

But Timothy says hold fast our hope without wavering, "for He who promised is faithful." Underline those words. We hope for an eternal future with God, and it is not a wishful, lottery, moonshot hope—it is absolute certainty, because it is based on the fact that He who promised is faithful. Not that Miles is faithful to keep His commands; I'm not. Paul said in Romans 7 that in me dwells no good thing. He who promised is faithful. So we can sing, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness... On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

Stir One Another Up to Love and Good Works

"Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." Point number five: the overflow of faith toward God and certain hope of heaven should be genuine love for one another.

Our good works are not to earn the reward of eternity. Some do good works hoping to get in—that's the person knocking at the door hoping for one more transaction to gain better standing with God. One picture of Islam is the scales: on the day you die you stand before Allah and your good works are weighed against your bad. That is a hopeless and pitiful scenario. Our love and good works are in response to the grace of Jesus Christ. We love Him because He first loved us, and in response we love others, expressing it in good works. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven," and, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another."

To "consider one another" means to observe—to watch how we are walking out the faith of Christ and challenge each other to love God and others more. We don't usually like being challenged. When someone says, "Brother, I saw what you were doing there," we bristle. But that's what he says: observe one another's conduct so we can challenge each other to be better.

Don't Forsake the Assembling Together

"And not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." When others challenge us, our temptation is to stay home from church or take our ball and go find another church. Over the years I've seen this at our church—people get frustrated by something challenging that was said and leave. It's unfortunate, because God wants to grow us in faith, hope, and love, and sometimes that takes challenging.

Let's be honest—that's why marriage is hard. Eleven years in, we've made it this far, and there's plenty of challenging each other to be better. The word "exhorting" means to come alongside and challenge someone to press on, like a coach or trainer saying, "You can run one more mile, you can do five more push-ups." Sometimes you don't like that coach—I remember football and wrestling—but that's the picture.

Notice the word "Day" is capitalized. There is a Day coming. We don't know the day or the hour—Jesus said that is for the Father to know—but He will return, and you and I will stand before Him and give an account for our faith, hope, and love. So we need to stir each other up to greater endeavors of faith, hope, and love. Interestingly, as we move into Hebrews 11 we'll see a passage about faith, in chapter 12 we'll touch on hope, and in chapter 13 we'll talk about love. It fits together as if God had something to do with it. May God grow us in our expressions of faith, hope, and love.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your great Word. Lord, I thank You that You take the time to challenge us so that we would grow, that we would no longer be little babes in Christ, that we would no longer walk in carnality, but that we would grow in our faith, grow in our hope, and grow in our love. I pray, God, that it would be evident in us that we are growing in these things this week, evident to others as they see the expressions of our love and our good works, and that You would be glorified by these things. God, work in us, Your church, we ask. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.