Hebrews 10:22a

Let's turn in your copy of God's Word with me to Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Those of you who have been with us for a while might be scratching your heads.

I did say Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

We're going to take a little break from Romans and spend the next couple of weeks, a few weeks, three to four, in the book of Hebrews

to take a brief break and to talk about something that's kind of been pressing on our hearts.

But before we get started there, let's pray together.

Father God, thank you for the congregation.

Thank you for those whom you've called your own.

And I thank you, Father, that you've called us together this morning to study your Word.

I pray, Father, you'll be generous to us in understanding, that you will fill in the gaps in my preparation,

those that I know about and those that I don't.

I pray, Father, that I will speak accurately and truthfully for the edification of your church this morning.

And we pray this in the precious name of Christ who makes it possible for us to pray.

Amen.

So as we have been praying through our preaching, something that we try to make a habit of doing,

kind of sticking our finger in the air, seeing which way the wind is blowing,

we felt that it was important for us to take a little break from Romans,

not that things are going poorly there,

but just to stop and talk a little bit about the vision of Christ's family church,

which is not an odd vision.

It shouldn't be a foreign thing to any Christian.

We place a statement that we call our vision statement on the screen.

If you've been here at all, and I hope paying attention,

you'll know that that statement says,

Christ's family church exists to experience, proclaim, and display the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things.

What we want to talk about is how that actually fleshes out.

Because it's just a sentence, otherwise.

How is it that we experience, proclaim, and display the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things together as a local church?

And so we have a little analogy we like to use,

and I keep saying we, I'm talking about the leadership of the church,

which you'll maybe key into because you've seen our logo.

It's a group of trees standing together,

and you may notice that they're not spindly pine trees,

but they're mighty oaks, I say, or some sort of hardwood, pick your favorite.

The large difference between these varieties of trees is that one's a softwood and another's a hardwood.

One puts down a different type of root.

Pine trees put down a taproot.

If you ever see a field cleared,

the first type of tree to come back into that field is a pine tree.

And the pine tree knows that in order for it to compete with large hardwoods that cast lots of shade,

they have to grow quickly.

So they put down what's called a taproot, a long root,

and they send out little roots from that, and they grow.

But what happens around here when we have ice storms come?

When those trees get a little heavier than they should be,

they're the first to go, right?

That's that snapping you here in the middle of the night,

and you hope that one of them doesn't snap and fall on your house.

Those are the pine trees,

because all it takes is the weight to snap that one root,

and the whole thing comes down.

It's not the kind of trees we want to be as Christians, right?

We want to put down deep, solid roots that reach out deep into the Word of God.

So that's one area, one thing we do together is we study together.

We read God's Word and we understand it together.

We also want to put our branches high into the air.

We want to exalt God in all that we do,

in our singing of praises to His name,

in our prayers, in our proclamation of Him.

And so those are the branches.

And we also want to bear fruit,

the fruit of love, both to the church and to the world.

So you find in that this neat little four-week sermon series, right?

It's little fruits, branches, fruit to the church, fruit to the world.

It's a nice little package, and that's kind of the way we set out.

Nathan, we're going to take a break from Romans,

and we want you to preach on these things.

This is what we're going to do together as a church.

God tends to thwart our plans, though, doesn't He?

As I began preparation to study this morning to talk about roots,

kind of topically talk about that,

what it means for us to study the Word of God together,

I was led to Hebrews chapter 10 as a text to preach from.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

And I discovered in this, all of these elements are contained.

So I'm not going to preach over the next few weeks in the neat little roots,

branches, fruit to the church, fruit to the world, order.

However, we were going to get all that in there,

which is why I'm giving you this lengthy preface.

So I'm just going to verse by verse preach through verse 19 through verse 25.

So let's read that together.

The writer of Hebrews writes,

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 frinkled 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.

Now we're going to spend most of our time this week and next in verse 22.

I have six points I want to pull out,

squeeze out of that one verse,

verse 22.

But I think I would be remiss if I didn't talk first about the first three verses,

which we're going to get into as we progress through this text in the coming weeks.

But I feel it's very important that we set the stage properly

as we begin to talk about what many have called,

and I've been reminded over and over again this week,

is the lettuce patch.

Let us, let us, let us.

So verse 19 through 21,

the writer of Hebrews has just finished talking about the old sacrificial system.

All right?

For those of you who aren't totally versed in your Old Testament knowledge,

the Old Testament sacrificial system,

there was a temple,

and within that temple,

there was an inner sanctum called the Holy Place.

And within that place was a place called the Holy of Holies.

And this is where the glory of God dwelt.

Physically, we could see it, the Shekinah glory,

where we could actually see the glory of God dwelling in this place.

All right?

Unless I misspeak, we couldn't actually see it.

But one day a year,

one guy, the high priest, could see it.

It was a very special day,

the Day of Atonement.

And I won't get into all of the ritual that was taking place there,

because I don't have time.

But there was much preparation,

lots of things he had to do

to be able to enter into the presence of God.

In fact,

they sewed bells into his garments

and tied a rope around his ankle

in case they heard the bell stop moving,

because they would know he died

because he did something improperly,

and they could drag his dead body

out of the Holy of Holies.

That's how serious it was

to enter into the presence of God.

So the writer of Hebrews

is either teaching us for the first time,

for many of us,

but here he's writing to a Jewish culture

and he's reminding them of this.

What an awesome thing it was

to enter into the presence of God.

He goes on to tell us

that there's now been

that atoning sacrifice,

once and for all,

has been made by Jesus Christ,

our great high priest.

Greater than any of the high priests,

he has made one sacrifice

that has officially and forever

atoned for the sins of God's people.

So now,

we come to verse 19.

Therefore,

since we have confidence

to enter the Holy Place

by the blood of Jesus Christ.

How shocking would that have been

to the readers,

the original readers of this letter?

We read past things like that, right?

Yeah, confidence, yeah, yeah.

To enter into the Holy Places.

Confidence.

Even the high priest

didn't have confidence

when he entered in.

He had safeguards.

The safeguards.

The bells and the rope.

Guys, I'm going in.

You may not come out.

Pull me out, alright?

Bury me somewhere.

Don't stink up the Holy Place

because I'm not sure

how this is going to go.

We, though,

by the blood of Christ,

we have confidence

to enter into

the Holy Places

by Jesus'

body.

The curtain

that was torn.

You remember

when Christ died?

The temple curtain

that was dividing

the Holy of Holies

from the Holy Place

tore from top to bottom.

And here the writer of Hebrews

says it was his body

that tore that curtain

for us.

And then verse 22,

let us

draw near.

And that's where we're going to

spend our time

this morning.

We'll get to the rest of the verse

next week.

But this morning,

we're going to spend our time,

verse 22,

let us

draw near.

Christian worship,

let me say.

Because we can,

let's do that.

Because this is a grace

given to us,

let's draw near

to God.

Now,

we all worship all the time.

And I know that.

Alright?

If you don't,

we all worship all the time.

It depends on what

you're worshiping.

So this morning,

we're talking about

Christian worship,

not the worship of other things,

of your stuff,

or yourself,

or your girlfriend,

or your wife,

your favorite football team.

We're talking about

Christian worship.

Because we all worship

all the time.

And particularly,

we're going to talk this morning

about those things

that we do corporately,

together.

Certainly,

there are times

for individual worship.

I would encourage you to it.

But specifically this morning,

about those things

that we do corporately,

the prayers we pray,

the songs that we sing,

and the study

of the Scriptures.

Now,

this concept of worship,

this idea,

the subject of worship,

has spawned many battles

in the church.

In fact,

officially,

they're called

worship battles.

When you hear that term,

it's in reference

to songs,

specifically.

We've probably all

participated in that

in some degree,

or at least been around that.

I like the drums.

I don't like the drums.

I like hymns.

I like modern praise

and worship.

I prefer the contemporary service.

I'll go to the traditional service.

I like things acoustic.

I love an electric guitar.

These types of arguments,

which are much heat

with very little light,

if that makes sense

to you at all.

These arguments

are predicated

on opinion.

We do the same thing

with preaching.

There are varying

preaching styles.

Some preachers

use their hands,

as you'll notice I do.

Some stand kind of stiffly

behind a lectern.

I like his preaching.

I get a lot out of it.

I don't prefer his preaching.

I don't enjoy it.

Many, many things

that cost heat,

but very, very little light.

And all are predicated

on opinion.

So who gets to define

how we worship?

Is it us?

Who gets to define

how we worship?

Ultimately,

who has the final say

in what happens

here

in Christ's family church

on Sunday morning?

Who decides that?

God decides that.

Beloved,

the Bible gives us

much latitude

in the particulars.

Much latitude.

There is no

New Testament-inspired liturgy.

An order.

I could preach

at the beginning

and we could do

all the songs

at the end.

I could preach

at the end

and all the songs

at the beginning.

I can preach

right in the middle

like we do.

There is no

inspired liturgy.

There's much latitude.

We can play drums.

We don't have to use drums.

We can use an organ.

It doesn't matter

if we don't.

There is room

for preference.

But ultimately,

how do we filter

what we do?

How do we hold it up

to light

and see if what we're doing

is proper

on Sunday morning?

Now, it's not my burden

this morning

to prove to you

that what we do

is right.

I am sure

we can improve

what we do together.

I just want to hold

what we do up

to the lens of Scripture

to the very beginning

of verse 22.

Let us draw near.

And here is the reason.

In Matthew 15,

Matthew 15:8

verse 8 and 9,

Jesus says this

to the Pharisees,

This people

honors me with their lips,

but their heart

is far from me.

In vain

do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines

the commandments

of men.

Does that scare you

a little bit?

It scares me.

Let me explain to you why.

Jesus says to them,

Your worship

the thing you call worship

and I am calling worship,

so catch that,

is in vain.

So we can call

what we do worship,

even God will call it worship.

But if we don't worship

rightly,

it's in vain.

That frightens me.

And for these people,

it wasn't that they were

worshiping the wrong God.

they were worshiping

the right God

wrongly.

So let's learn a little bit

about how to worship

the right God

rightly.

Let us draw near.

And the implication is

let us draw near

to God.

So if you hear me say that

and your text doesn't read

that way,

I'm adding the to God

because of the

preceding verses.

Let us draw near to God.

I discovered this week

that this phrase,

I thought I was being

very holy to preach

on just one little phrase,

it's actually,

in the original language,

in Greek,

it's actually one word.

So I'm preaching on one word

this morning.

That word is

proserkamai.

Don't write it down.

Proserkamai.

And I'm going to

break out some of this

for you,

but it is

plural,

present tense,

in the active voice,

and in the subjunctive mood.

This one word

tells us

an immense amount

about how we ought

to worship together

corporately.

So I have three points

this morning.

Number one,

Christian worship

is

corporate

in emphasis.

It's corporate

in emphasis.

We can see that

in the plural form

of this word,

as well as the rest

of the text.

Take a quick look with me.

Verse 22,

let us,

our hearts,

our bodies.

Verse 19,

since we have confidence.

Verse 20,

that he opened for us.

Verse 21,

since we have a great priest.

Verse 23,

let us hold fast

the confession of

our hope.

verse 24,

let us

consider.

Now,

I understand

that worship

is a lifestyle.

I'm one of the first

people to complain

about folks

who just call

music worship.

Right?

To think that

only the time,

the only time

I can come

and worship God

is when

I come to church

and we sing songs

together.

That's improper.

Entirely improper.

However,

worship is

congregational

in emphasis.

If you look

throughout the scriptures

at the instruction

for worship,

it is

heavily weighted

to the side

of the congregation.

I'll explain

why in a second.

But here's the problem

with the

worship is a lifestyle.

I hear people say that.

Well,

worship is a lifestyle.

So what we tend

to do then

is use it

as an excuse

to not meet

with the congregation.

Some of you

may know somebody

who says,

I just feel close

to God

when I go hiking.

So I'm going

to go on Sunday

mornings

to worship God

on the Appalachian Trail.

Now,

there's something

wrong with you

if when you hike

the Appalachian Trail

and you get to some

of those grand overlooks,

you aren't caused

to worship God.

You should worship God

when you spend time

in nature.

He created it.

It speaks of His glory.

You should do this thing.

However,

God's character

culminates

in the person

and work

of Jesus Christ.

The redemption

of His people

and we must

be in the midst

of His people

to have our minds

and hearts

lifted properly

to God.

The grandest

overlook you've seen

on the AT

does not compare

to the people

sitting in this room.

We're all

a pitiful looking

bunch of people,

but what Christ

has done for us

is awesome.

We properly

worship God

when we're with

His people

because we see

the greatest

work that God

has accomplished

amongst His people.

Martin Luther

said rightly,

if you expect

to have God

as your father,

I just fancy

lost my spot.

There we go.

Sorry.

There we go.

If you expect

to have God

as your father,

you must embrace

the church

as your mother.

If you expect

to have God

as your father,

you must embrace

the church

as your mother.

Any expression

of Christianity

devoid of the church

is totally

foreign

to the pages

of Scripture.

I encourage you

to begin

reading

Scriptures

in that way.

Pay attention

to the pronouns.

The writer of Hebrews

did not get himself

trapped

in a pronoun

conundrum.

He didn't start

verse 19

and say,

therefore,

brothers,

now I've got to say

all these plural pronouns

throughout the rest

of the text.

Now I'm stuck

with these

we's and us's.

It wasn't an accident.

He could have

simply gone back

and changed

brothers.

It was inspired

that way.

We have a shared

faith.

Language entered

into evangelicalism

in the 60s.

Much of the

traveling evangelists

will phrase

personal relationship

with Jesus Christ.

We're all familiar

with that phrase.

True

that Christ

saves individuals.

I'm one of them.

true

that I have

a personal

relationship

with Jesus Christ.

I don't need

an intermediary

for me

to pray.

I can go

personally

to Him

to pray.

All that's true.

But why is it

that we think

when we step

outside of the

language of Scripture

we won't have

problems as a result?

The simple

call

to salvation

is not

personal relationship

with Jesus Christ.

It's repent

and believe.

So as we

stepped outside

of that

as evangelicals

we began

to lose

the value

of church

of the congregation

the fact

that we have

been called

as a people

persons

but as a

people.

We lose

that value

in there.

Look at some

of the shocking

even language

of the New Testament.

We are

compared to

a body

made up

of many

parts

a household

made up

of family

members

a temple

made up

of living

stones.

These are the

analogies that

we're given

the metaphors

by which to

view the church

and the result

always in these

texts

is that by

themselves

they make

no sense.

The individual

parts

are meant

to be part

of a whole.

They're not

meant to exist

on their own.

Look at David

wrote many

of our

songs

most of

them in

scripture.

Psalm 22

says I will

tell of your

name to my

brothers in

the midst

of the

congregation

I will

praise you.

Psalm 40

9 and 10

I have told

the glad

news of

deliverance

in the

great

congregation

behold I

have not

restrained

my lips

as you

know

O Lord

I have

not hidden

your

deliverance

within

my

heart

I have

spoken

of your

faithfulness

and your

salvation

I have

not

concealed

your

steadfast

love

and your

faithfulness

from your

great

congregation

Psalm 149

says praise

the Lord

sing to the

Lord a

new song

his praise

in the

assembly

of the

godly

and we

could go

on and

on and

on

I kind

of

skipped

through

the book

of Psalms

for you

David

understood

what it

meant

to praise

god

in the

congregation

public

glory

brings

more

glory

than

private

glory

I

could

say to

my

wife

Sam

I

love

you

let me

tell you

how

wonderful

you

are

she

would

appreciate

that

how much

more

glory

is brought

to my

wife

though

when I

say

to

you

I

love

my

wife

let

me

tell

all

of

you

why

I

love

her

whether

she

wants

me

to

do

that

or

not

could

be

embarrassing

for her

but you

get my

point

now all

of you

know

why I

think

my

wife

is

wonderful

not

just

her

public

glory

brings

more

glory

than

private

glory

that's

why we

want

Christ

family

church

to

grow

not

because

we're

counting

numbers

I

have

no

idea

how

many

people

are

here

this

morning

we

want

more

praises

to be

lifted

what

more

glory

given

to

our

father

by

Christ

family

church

our

gatherings

as

Christians

our

gatherings

are

the

closest

semblance

we have

to

heaven

on

earth

what's

going to

be

happening

in

heaven

it's

just

going to

be

a

big

picture

church

Christ

in

the

middle

of

the

whole

thing

we

see

in

revelation

an

innumerable

company

of

angelic

beings

and

an

innumerable

company

of

redeemed

sinners

worshiping

God

together

in

concentric

circles

around

the

throne

that's

what's

going to

be

going

on

in

heaven

if

you

don't

like

big

groups

of

people

you're

kind

of

a

solo

kind

of

person

me

and

Jesus

kind

of

person

if

you

don't

like

big

groups

you

don't

like

big

music

you

don't

like

it

when

people

sing

loudly

around

you

that's

distracting

to

you

you

you

!

are

going

to

hate

heaven

this

is the

closest

thing

we've

got

if

we

don't

love

this

we're

going

to

hate

heaven

number

two

Christian

worship

is

frequent

in

occurrence

the

word

is

present

active

which

means

simply

this

let

us

when he

wrote

this

word

let

us

draw

near

he

was

saying

let

us

draw

near

now

and

continually

not

at

one

time

let's

gather

together

let

us

and

then

continue

to

gather

together

you'll

remember

after

Pentecost

as

the

believers

were

gathering

together

still

on

their

holiday

as

they

had

gathered

in

the

city

they

met

together

how

often

every

day

right

but

as

they

had

to

return

back

to

their

lives

back

to

work

and

labor

the

first

day

of

the

week

was

the

day

that

became

the

day

of

gathering

it

became

known

as

the

Lord's

day

because

it

was

the

day

that

Christ

was

resurrected

so

it

got

away

from

the

Sabbath

being

the

last

day

of

the

week

to

the

first

day

of

the

week

the

Lord's

day

that

was

a

day

of

work

for

them

so

they

gathered

in

the

evenings

on

the

Lord's

day

325

Constantine

made

the

first

day

of

Christian

emperor

made

the

first

day

of

the

week

a

day

of

no

!

work

so

what

do

you

think

the

!

did?

they

began

to

meet

both

in

the

morning

and

in

the

evening

they

didn't

say

oh

great

now

we

got

some

time

that's

fantastic

let's

do

morning

that's

a little

more

convenient

for

us

others

said

nah

we

like

the

evening

we

like

to

get

up

and

go

hiking

and

we'll

meet

in

the

evening

they

met

at

both

times

for

two

reasons

one

they

believed

that

God

was

worth

it

rather than

giving

God

a little

bit

of what

they

had

they

gave

God

much

of

their

day

and

number

two

they

understood

that

corporate

worship

is the

primary

place

of

blessing

you

guys

know

that

our

times

together

your

fellowship

of

believers

is the

primary

place

of

blessing

it's

the

place

in

which

our

spiritual

gifts

are

activated

when

we're

together

as a

body

of

believers

it's

when

we

function

as we

should

function

with

the

body

it's

when

our

gifts

are

activated

we'll

be

blessed

by

God

meet

with

the

congregation

I

think

that

we've

far

too

much

taught

church

attendance

as a

legalistic

matter

you

should

be

here

which

is

entirely

true

you

should

be

here

but

why

why

should

you

be

here

why

should

you

want

to

come

together

with

the

people

of

God

I

can tell

you

that

the

people

I

know

with

the

most

immovable

faith

those

who

despite

the

circumstances

in

their

life

have

a

spiritual

solidness

in

them

have

already

settled

in

their

mind

this

issue

of

whether

or

not

corporate

worship

is

important

they've

already

come

to

understand

I

need

the

body

of

Christ

cannot

do

this

on

my

own

those

are

the

people

I

see

as

the

most

firm

in

their

faith

are

you

one

of

those

people

I

tell

you

that

brutally

honest

I

wake

up

fairly

early

most

Sunday

mornings

530

ish

and

sometimes

I

hit that

snooze

a couple

of times

6

ish

I

don't

always

want to

come

here

on

Sunday

mornings

I

wake

up

and

think

just

to

have

a

day

off

to

catch

up

around

the

house

be

so

nice

and

after

our

morning

service

we

go

home

and

it

become

my

habit

to

take

a

short

!

while

Kate

is

napping

and

kind of

recoup

from the

morning

and I

often

wake up

from that

nap

and think

we have

to do

this

again

tonight

we're

getting

back

together

again

I

have to

prepare

I

haven't

even

looked at

the text

we're

studying

this

evening

the

thing

that

makes

me

come

even

sometimes

I

walk

in

these

doors

not

wanting

to

be

here

the

thing

that

makes

me

come

is

I

know

this

to

be

true

I

know

that

throughout

my

life

I

have

been

most

blessed

by

God

when

I'm

with

his

people

if

you

have

not

experienced

that

I

would

invite

you

to

involve

!

yourself

with

the

congregation

now

of course

there

are

exceptions

!

we

can't

all

be

here

all

the

time

conveniently

I

get

to

schedule

events

I'm

part

of

that

process

so

I

can

schedule

things

around

my

schedule

so

I'm

not

talking

about

people

who

have

to

work

sometimes

I'm

not

talking

about

those

who

physically

can't

get

themselves

out

of bed

to

come

I

hope

I

think

that

God

gives

extra

grace

to

those

who

are

invalids

and

can't

actually

make

it

to

meet

with

the

congregation

I'm

not

talking

about

people

in

our

case

that

live

too

far

away

to

be

at

everything

that

we

do

ultimately

what I'm

talking

about

is our

hearts

I'm

talking

about

people

who

just

find

something

else

to

do

there's

something

better

something

comes

up

we

all

have

those

friends

that

you

ask

if

they'd

like

to

hang

we'll

hang

out

if

something

better

doesn't

come

up

a lot

of

people

treat

church

that

way

we'll

see

how

things

are

going

that

morning

a lot

of

us

lead

ourselves

into

that

day

that

way

I

can

go

to bed

at

two

o'clock

in

the

morning

and

if

I'm

feeling

chipper

I

will

go

meet

with

the

congregation

if

I'm

not

I

can

always

stay

home

that's

what

I'm

!

talking

about

not

those

exceptions

some

people

may

ask

well

how