In our study in the book of Hebrews, we have learned much doctrine regarding who Christ is, and what He has accomplished on our behalf. Now there is a switch of emphasis in the book, and from this point on the emphasis is not primarily doctrine, but application. And so in this passage we are considering certain duties and responsibilities we have as Christians. It’s not enough to believe in facts about Christ, but we are exhorted to act in response to them. Faith requires both the acceptance of facts, and the application of faith.
In the next chapter, that two fold aspect of our faith is clearly stated. Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who [diligently] seek Him.”
So in this passage then is an invitation to enter the heavenly sanctuary, and by the means of that, we are exhorted to three specific solemn duties. You’ll notice the statements in verse 22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Verse 23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope.” And then verse 24, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”
The life of a Christian is sometimes stirred up by exhilaration to run the race, to soar to new heights, but other times it is a disciplined, step by step march in what seems like an uphill battle. The life of a Christian is not always going to be a celebration. It’s not something that our feelings are always going to support or agree with. But our faith is not founded upon our feelings, which may be up one day and down another, but our faith is founded on the promises of God, and to that we must maintain our duty to uphold.
So if we divided the book into two parts, then we could classify the first 10 1/2 chapters as phase one, as having to do with doctrine; and the remainder as phase two having to do with application. In vs 19, the author says, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter.” In one sense, that’s the summary again of the first half of the book. Then, “let us draw near” is the summary of the second part of the book.
Usually when you see a passage beginning with the word “therefore” you need to go back and review the previous passage in order to determine what it’s there for. However, in this case, the author provides a summary for us in vs 19-21 which is one great, contingent doctrinal statement of the ministry of Jesus Christ, which has been the subject of the first 10 chapters. Another summary can be found in the words of Jesus Himself, in John 14:6, as He said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.”
The point in this passage being therefore, knowing all the doctrinal aspects of Jesus’s work on our behalf, let us draw near to God. And as I said, in the first three verses are a summary of that work. In vs 19, he says that we may enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus Christ. Even as the old covenant priests could only enter into the Holy Place by the blood, so we can enter in by the blood of Jesus.
In vs20 he says we may enter by a new and living way which Jesus inaugurated by His death. The point in review here is that it is a new way to draw near to God, as opposed to the old way under the old covenant. That way is dead, and done away with, and a new living way is opened up, because Christ ever lives to make intercession for us.
And the author adds a beautiful analogy there in vs 20, in which as the temple veil separating the Holy of Holies was rent in two from the top to the bottom at the crucifixion of Christ, so he says that this new way to God was opened up by the rending of Christ’s veil, ie, His flesh.
The third point of his summary is in vs21, in which he says, we may enter because we have a great high priest over the house of God. And of course all of that doctrine of the high priesthood of Christ according to the order of Melchizadek we have covered thoroughly in previous chapters. The only point we might add is that when it says over the house of God he is not talking about the temple, or the sanctuary in the wilderness, nor of any cathedral or church building, but the house of God means the people of God. We are the temple of God who dwells not in buildings made with hands, but in the hearts of His people.
Now having given us three points of doctrinal review in regards to our privileges in Christ, he now gives us three injunctions, or three exhortations, or three responsibilities of worship. That is the point of our salvation, that we worship God in the way that is acceptable to Him. As Jesus Himself said in John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
So the author of Hebrews begins with an invitation to worship. He says in vs22, because of all that Jesus has done on our behalf, “let us draw near.” The invitation to confidently enter the holy of holies, to draw near to God. To draw near to the source of all life. Come to the headwaters of the spring of living water, let us come and drink freely. This is really the purpose of divine redemption; to enable us to draw near to our Lord Jesus Christ and to live in communion with him, He in us, and us in Him.
This Hebrew audience might have heard this invitation to draw near to God and were reminded of Isaiah 29:13 where the Lord said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me.” I suppose that same sentiment could be made in regards to the modern church today, “They draw near with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” The heart is the seat of our affections, and for many of us our affections are towards the world and not God. Outwardly we may feign interest in God, but God sees our hearts.
But nevertheless, God calls us to draw near to Him in truth. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” that connection between drawing near to God and purifying your heart is the concern of the author of Hebrews as well as evidenced by the next phrase in vs 22.
Draw near to God, he says, with a sincere heart, or a true heart. Now a lot of people may be sincere, but sincerely wrong. Sincerity does not guarantee acceptable doctrine or worship. But sincere in this application is better rendered true, a true heart. As opposed to a disloyal heart, or an adulterous heart. A heart which is torn between two loves is not a true heart. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” 1John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” So a true heart is a heart totally devoted to the Lord.
And then he says draw near with full assurance of faith. This speaks of the boldness, the confidence with which we may enter the Holy of Holies. This confidence is in our High Priest which has already been established in Hebrews 4:16 which says, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
But it’s not just confidence bordering on arrogance by which we enter, but in the assurance of our faith. Now if you read what chapter 11 says faith is made up of, then that almost seems like a contradiction of terms; assurance and faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of [things] hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” How can we be assured of things which we cannot see? The fact is that all of us daily have faith in things we cannot see, or understand. We have faith that our cellphones can send photographs through thin air, thousands of miles away, to just one person. We have faith in scientific works that depend upon sub atomic particles that cannot be seen. Assurance of faith then is simply to trust that such promises of God are true, and then to act in accordance with them.
So our assurance of faith is not in ourselves, but it is in Christ. Our assurance of faith is not in experiences that we might have had, it’s not in dreams that we have had, it’s not in some mystical thing by which we determined God spoke to us. But our faith is in Christ and that His finished work has satisfied the Father’s requirements of righteousness. Our faith is in Him, and He is our assurance.
Next, he says we draw near “having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” In referring to blood and water I think it refers to an inner and outer cleansing from sin. Our hearts are sprinkled clean by the blood, and our bodies are washed with the water. One cleansing is inside, and one is outside. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. The hymn Rock of Ages speaks to this double dose of cleansing. It says, “Let the water and the blood, from thy riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath, and make me pure.”
Now some theologians want to correlate the water to baptism. And though I don’t believe that is what is being indicated here, yet is is true in that baptism symbolizes dying to the flesh, and being raised to newness of life in the Spirit. However, perhaps a more appropriate reference to the washing of the body with pure water is found in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” So the effect of the word of God upon the body, soul and spirit is that we might be washed, having no spot or wrinkle, but holy and blameless. That certainly is in keeping with the intent of our text. And as Psalm 119 says, “Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
In the Old Testament as well, there was an emphasis on the new covenant’s ability to cleanse us from sin as evidenced by Ezekiel 36:25-27 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
Those who have been cleansed inwardly by the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse themselves outwardly from every defilement of flesh. 2Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” So when we worship God, we can come into His presence in assurance of faith, because we have a clean heart and a body that is in submission to HIs word.
The second injunction is “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.” Holding fast is our response to be steadfast, to hold on to what we have confessed, our faith in Christ. Satan loves to try to shake our confidence in Christ. He raises objections and questions as to why God allows this thing to happen, or why did God allow that to happen, to make us wonder if God really cares.
But the injunction is to hold fast without wavering in our hope, because He who promised is faithful. What is meant by hope? What are we hoping for? Let’s look again at 11:1, which says, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So hope is the invisible object of our faith, that which is not yet evident.
Someone has said that “Faith is the beginning of our spiritual life, and hope is the continuance of it.” Faith looks to the past. Hope looks to the future. And our future is founded upon the promises of God.
He says, “For He who promised is faithful.” That is, the promises are connected with the promisor, so the promises of God are the words of God and, thus, their authority, their power, is the fact that they proceed out of the mouth of God.
Our salvation is dependent upon whether or not we have faith, but our hope is dependent upon God’s faithfulness. Our eternal life is dependent upon God’s faithfulness to complete that which He has begun, to fulfill that which He promised. 2Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” Our hope is not in our faithfulness, but in His faithfulness.
I’ve often told the story of my kids when they were little and we had to cross a busy road. And I would always tell them, “Hold on to Daddy’s hand.” I wanted them to hold on tightly. To stay close to me. To obey me. But their security was not in their ability to hold on tightly. Their security was in my ability to hold them tightly. Thus he says hold fast your confession, but God’s faithfulness is the reason for our confidence.
The third responsibility we are given is let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Notice the three Christian virtues we have seen so far in this passage; faith, hope and now love. Faith looks backward, hope looks forward, and love looks outward. That’s so important to understand. Love from the world’s standpoint is all about me. How I feel. But Christian love is sacrificial love for others. It is outward, not inward. True Christian love is outward.
Now the means by which we can love one another is found in the second part of this injunction; "not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together.” We can’t stimulate each other to love one another unless we’re in the presence of one another. You can’t stimulate a TV set to love someone. You can’t encourage anyone through your car radio. Church is not just a Sunday service, it’s not just hearing and singing songs, it’s joining with the body of Christ, the communion of the saints, assembled together before the Lord.
Let’s read vs 25 in it’s entirety again just for emphasis; “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.” If the characteristics of someone who is spiritual is having the virtues of faith, hope and love, then you can be sure that when a person forsakes the meeting of the saints, that’s a sign of declining faith, decaying hope, and dwindling love.
I want to emphasize the point he is making about stimulating one another to love and good deeds, or to encourage, or your version may even say provoke one another. The Greek word there is parakaleo, which is usually translated as encourage, or exhort. And it’s meaning according to the Greek lexicon is to call to one’s side, to address, to speak to, to exhort, entreaty, instruct, admonish, beseech, to encourage, to strengthen, to teach. In other words, its the teaching of the word of God, the preaching of the gospel. That’s how we stimulate one another in the assembly of the saints.
In fact, you remember the disciples, as they are walking down the road toward Emmaus, and talking with the Lord who they thought was a stranger, and he was drawing out from them what they felt about the things that had been happening. And then he expounded to them the Scriptures and, you remember, they said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us along the way?” And so they walked with him as he spoke from the Old Testament about himself. They listened to his word. Their hearts were stirred and then the Scriptures said, they gathered together. So they gathered, met together, and then our Lord departed from them. It’s almost a parable of what it means to grow in the knowledge of the Lord, spend time with the Lord, listen to him as He, through the Spirit, expounds the word of God, enjoy the fellowship with him, eat with Him and grow in grace in the knowledge of the Lord.
So in closing, he says we should assemble together so much more as we see the day, the day of our Lord’s appearing, approaching. We don’t know the day when the Lord will return, but each day brings us closer to His appearing. We are looking for that day, waiting for that day, working for that day, when we will receive our inheritance. Let us be found faithful when He comes, and let us encourage one another to love and good deeds in keeping with His word.
I extend an invitation to all who are here today, that you draw near to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, through a new and living way. Come in faith, with assurance that Christ has gone before us, providing the perfect sacrifice for our sins, that we might be reconciled to God and have full access to the Source of all life. Draw near to Him today in faith, and be cleansed from all unrighteousness. The price has been paid in full, the invitation has been given to all, it depends on you to accept this gift of God, even everlasting life.
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