WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.600 Good morning, Church. 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.519 Today's reading is from the Book of Hebrews, chapter ten. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:16.480 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. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:28.640 And, since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with the true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:34.479 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:46.320 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. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:47.600 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:48.719 You may be seated. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:00:58.159 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:00:59.280 My name is James Rathman. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:01.520 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.040 This is our last sermon in our summer series, which is called Christ is Enough. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:14.480 And we have looked at uh three practices, which are uh prayer, generosity, and Sabbath. 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:26.640 And we've looked at these at three levels that we participate in them, which are the level uh personally, you as a as a person, uh at the level of uh family, and then at the level of church. 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:33.040 And this last uh time together, we're looking at how we participate in the Sabbath as a church. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.879 And so this is basically just one big go-to-church sermon. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:44.159 Um, so let's pray, and then I'll tell you all, I'll tell you all to do what you're doing right now. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:47.519 Holy Father, we thank you for this time to gather together. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:02:12.000 We thank you for uh we thank you that you live, uh, that because you live, uh, we are not gathering uh meaninglessly, but to celebrate the resurrection of our God and your eternal reign in the heavens and the hope that we have that you will return and that you will uh answer this prayer that you taught us to pray, that it will be on earth as it is in heaven, uh, that we will celebrate the resurrection. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:22.319 Lord, I pray that you would teach our hearts to hold fast to that hope and to participate in that hope as we gather together week in and week out to hold one another to this hope. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:24.000 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:24.879 Amen. 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:43.039 Now, when you uh lay out a sermon series on your Excel spreadsheet, as you all do, and I imagine a couple times a year, we uh it uh it's it's amazing how often they just fall perfectly, and it's like providence uh for where a sermon lays. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:51.280 For example, the week that COVID started, I was preaching on the flood, uh, which was uh like a worldwide shutdown. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:55.280 And I remember saying something just in hindsight looks just completely absurd. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:01.199 It was like, you know, they were on the ark for a for 40 days of rain, but then it was like 300 days. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:04.960 That's way, that's nowhere near as bad as two weeks to flatten the curve. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:06.159 I said then. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:12.319 Turns out that was about about the same. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:14.719 It was about the same the amount of time in the arc. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:20.960 It was two years later, we're standing on the front sending out birds, uh, hoping something returns. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:40.639 And uh but just before that, I had timing that was just as good because we had just moved into this building and we were preaching through Genesis, and and instead of having like a kickoff service, because lots of folks from the neighborhood came because they'd worked to preserve the building and keep it from getting torn down. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:45.840 Us moving into this building, if you've seen the movie The Goonies, it's the same plot. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:53.840 There was a developer coming in that was going to tear this down, but then Goonies never say die, and we rallied together and we saved the we saved the house. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.159 Um apparently none of you have ever seen the Goonies. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:12.560 Um But anyway, uh so it's this big kickoff service, and I was preaching through Genesis, um, and I decided to just keep going through Genesis, and so for that kickoff service I preached on the Nephilim. 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:21.519 Which is probably one of my most idiosyncratic takes, is like it's like, well, we're so glad to be in the neighborhood. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:31.519 The these angels came and tried to uh uh join themselves together with the daughters of man, and therefore the wrath of God built up against the world. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:36.000 And it uh none of those people um ever came back. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:48.480 Uh this Sunday is about church attendance, um, and it's Labor Day weekend. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:53.199 So um uh thank you all for being here. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.560 This is actually more people than I expected to be preaching to today. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:06.560 Uh you can find the podcast in the Redemption Church Denver app, and uh you can send this sermon later in the week to all of the people you notice aren't here. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:09.279 That's who it's really for. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:18.480 Our ordinary modes of talking about church attendance uh are pathetic. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:28.800 Uh we we have just like terrible ways of thinking about uh the requirement of church attendance, and I and I know because I've heard a lot of them. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:33.439 Um there's uh one guy that I that I met with. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:37.600 I can use all these examples because these are things that I've been told by people who don't come. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:45.439 Uh one guy I met with, and he described to me that he was he was so mature in his faith. 00:05:45.680 --> 00:06:03.600 He had reached such a level of maturity in his Christian walk that he he didn't need to come week in and week out to hear the speech and to like you know get you know, get the songs and get this emotional motivation and get all you know pumped up and that sort of stuff. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:08.399 It was he was such a mature Christian that he didn't need to come to church. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:12.800 So that's one reason to not come to church, spiritual maturity. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:24.800 But I've also heard people describe themselves where they're so immature that that's why they can't come to church because of their level of immaturity. 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:34.959 Because their Sunday, like when you really do the math, this is really their only day in the week that they can sleep in is Sunday mornings. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:38.959 Uh we don't start till 9:30, you know what I mean? 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:48.079 And um uh I they nobody who has uh a kid has told me that. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:56.000 Because those folks are up anyway, and 9.30 is already a little oddly late. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:02.879 Um, but what folks with kids say is it really interrupts our nap time rhythm. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:23.519 To uh uh just like right where church falls, it's just we've got this great nap time system going, and so we can't until that changes, you know, which is up to the kid, um, then we will not we will not gather together with the uh Lord's people. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:34.560 Um because otherwise that my child was just going to cry more than they normally would, is the exchange that's being made there. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:41.199 Um I've heard one person say that um they it it's for evangelistic reasons. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:54.639 You know, all their non-Christian friends are available on Sunday mornings, and this is the time where they want to really be with them to be able to share the gospel, and there are golfers, you know? 00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:14.399 So it's look, they just see the mission of the church, the church militant out there taking ground for the gospel, and because they care about that so much and the great commission so much, then they they there's no reason to come to church uh and gather with God's people for that. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:16.240 What is that Great Commission again? 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:20.560 Um, teach them to obey all that I have commanded you. 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:26.319 A good place to start, I guess, teaching people to obey all that God's commanded us is disobedience. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:27.199 Yeah. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.120 Good place to start. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:34.240 Uh others I I've heard are uh I'm going for it this morning, by the way. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:37.600 I've had a couple weeks off. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:45.679 We're not getting much sleep with this new baby, and I'm just here to take out my week on you guys. 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:55.279 There's I've heard uh other people say that they are uh uh everybody in church is just faking it. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:03.360 You know, there, I just can't stand being around those hypocrites and like standing here and looking around at how hypocritical everybody is. 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:06.559 Now, these people are so genuine. 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:08.720 They're such genuine people. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:17.360 If you were to meet them, you would you would only need to meet them once and you would know them for the rest of their lives because they're so genuine, it would blow your mind. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:27.919 Uh they're so genuine, in fact, that to even be around hypocrites is just so taxing on their uh uh souls. 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:30.480 So that that one makes sense. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:31.600 That one makes sense. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:32.320 They get a pass. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:38.480 Because if you're that morally pure, then this probably isn't the place for you. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.360 Look, the list could go on. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.799 The mountains are some people's church, they're not. 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:51.200 The mountains don't have uh elders or a body, uh any sort of polity. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:54.159 There's no mountain polity uh that holds them in. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.159 They weren't baptized into the mountains. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.759 Um nobody's even read any John Muir. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:07.279 They just say that one quote about the mountains calling. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:09.840 That's a good one, actually. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.320 I would accept that excuse the mountain called and I must go. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:17.120 Never read the book. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:18.879 I know nobody's ever read any of him. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:19.600 Okay. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:24.799 These are all quaint reasons that we have for skipping church. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:34.399 Um, the Bible, and in the passage actually, that's just right after, it's what leads the passage I'm preaching on this morning leads into this next passage. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:43.759 Um, and it talks about uh forsaking uh assembling together in extremely stark terms. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:50.639 Uh it describes it as a deliberate sin, it's described in Hebrews 26. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:11:03.039 It is akin to trampling underfoot the Son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant of grace. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:05.200 That's in Hebrews 10, 29. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:11.759 The writer goes on and says, The Lord will judge his people. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.039 That's in chapter 10, verse 30. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:20.480 And it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:23.039 That's in verse 31. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:34.720 But the mountains called trampling underfoot the Son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:38.639 Those are completely different categories for us. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:47.200 Would you think would you think that the context of of those phrases was forsaking to assemble together? 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:49.440 I wouldn't. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:56.720 That wouldn't be what what that wouldn't be my expectation if I were reading through scripture. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:06.559 I would think it was something, uh I would think we were talking about like like stealing or adultery or some something, you know, uh newsworthy. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:21.840 But this is the language that scripture uh uses to describe the deliberate sin of a habit of skipping church. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:29.919 Now, in a uh who wrote Hebrews, you know, but man, it feels like Paul sometimes. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:44.480 Because in this section, for example, he makes his argument for why uh you should have a habit of going to church in terms of Paul's favorite way of making arguments, which is faith, hope, and love. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.279 And when you see someone do that in scripture, you think Paul. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:52.000 And this is the way the writer of Hebrews, I'll be generous, and say the writer of Hebrews does that. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:57.120 Here, he makes his argument for why you should attend church in terms of faith, hope, and love. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:00.480 And so I want to uh follow along his argument. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:09.519 I want it to uh uh uh make sense to us that for the reasons of faith, hope, and love we gather together. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:26.399 Because I I think, you know, before Paul makes the the case of describing the deliberate sin and um uh the the nature of missing church, he describes sometimes I think we we miss it because we just don't know what we have here. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:37.279 And you we we have forgotten how incredible of a thing this is, and uh, and that we've been given a means of participating in that incredible thing. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:39.200 And it looks as simple as this. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:43.519 So you might miss it for its simplicity, but but Paul opens our eyes in this passage. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:50.080 So we see the confidence of faith, we see the steadfastness of hope, and then the action of love. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:53.039 These are the reasons that we go to church. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:55.600 Hebrews 10, 19 through 20. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:12.159 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. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:17.679 Reason number one is that it's the confidence of our faith. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.120 This is going to be a reminder of what you have. 00:14:24.720 --> 00:14:29.919 This whole book is Paul. 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:31.360 Can I just do that? 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:38.559 And when I say Paul, just copy-paste the writer of Hebrews, but I'm just becoming more convinced that it is, Paul. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:47.360 Um, is just making this case, Christ is better. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:49.279 Christ is better. 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:52.080 Over and over again, that's what's that's the case that's being made. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:55.120 All the revelation that's come before, Christ is better. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:15:00.799 Because here in this last days, at this last time, the highest revelation has been made. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:05.679 He's better than the angels, and he's better than the law that the angels delivered. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:09.039 He's better than the high priests that we've had. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:14.559 He's better than the temple sacrifices that the high priests have had to make. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:23.279 He is better than all of these things because he is the completion, he is the real thing, and all these other things were just shadows that were pointing to him. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:34.320 So the writer makes that case, and then he gets to this point and he says, Therefore, considering how great Jesus is, therefore, brothers. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.320 And he says, brothers, and that's a, he's, he's talking to us. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:47.519 And it's also a callback because he says earlier, Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call you brothers. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:57.200 That means that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, entered into the world, and he calls those in his church brothers, which means he says, These are my family. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:02.399 So I'm going to tend to them as though they are my family. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:08.080 When I advocate before the Father, I advocate for them as though they are my own family. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:15.759 So the writer himself says, if Jesus is not ashamed to call you brothers, of course the writer will call you brothers as well. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:29.440 He says, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, that's not that many words, but it's it's saying this just unimaginable thing. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.639 It's bringing us into this unimaginable reality. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:36.399 We have confidence to enter the holy places. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:43.039 The holy places is a uh um a short way of saying the holy of holies. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:52.639 The holy of holies is that place in the temple, which is the most central room, and its uh uh dimensions are a perfect cube. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:17:04.079 And so you walk into, it's like the Fifth Avenue Apple store, and there's uh in this perfect cube, it's it's set off from the rest of the temple by a thick curtain. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.240 And within it is the Ark of the Covenant. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:34.079 And the Ark of the Covenant, on uh which contains the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain, and the cherubim uh are uh on the top of it and their wings meet, and on top of the Ark of the Covenant is the place where God uh meets his people, speaks to them, and where the high priest enters once a year to sprinkle blood for the atonement of the sins of the people. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:38.720 One person is able to enter, and that is that high priest. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:42.240 And that high priest is able to enter only once a year. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:18:00.640 After their own ritual cleaning and purification, after they purify themselves and make themselves clean, then they are able to enter into the Holy of Holies once to atone, once a year on the day of atonement, to atone for the sins of the people. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:03.119 And they walk in trembling. 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:10.160 Because remember, when they were just moving the ark once and someone stumbled and accidentally touched it, that person died. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:14.480 And this person, can you guys hear that? 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:17.039 I'll let it pass. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:32.160 And this person who enters, knowing that they are unclean, must go through this process of purifying themselves, and it is likely that the their own coming into the presence of God in this way will result in their death. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:37.599 They have a rope tied around their ankles so that they might be pulled out in the event that they die. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:45.599 How do we enter such a place with confidence? 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:49.680 Do you hear what's being said here? 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:51.359 Do you remember, do you remember? 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:58.079 Has this grown dull like a coin where the embossment has worn off and we forget what it means, what it stands for? 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:10.000 You therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, what people are we? 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:16.640 There used to be one high priest, now you all are, because of the blood of Jesus. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:28.400 And you can cut you can stroll in to the holy places by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.359 I'd mentioned the thick curtain that separated. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:35.920 Remember, at Jesus' crucifixion, it was torn in two from top to bottom. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:50.720 The dividing wall was broken down, so that now by the blood of Jesus which cleanses you, by his torn flesh, which is the curtain that was torn, you can walk into the presence of God. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:20:00.319 You enter into it easily, confidently, confidently, not trembling, like the one high priest did. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:04.480 You walk confidently into the presence of God. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:12.559 Once I worked on a startup because I graduated from college in 2014, it was a decade where money was free, and we all had startups. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:19.839 And so there was the startup that I was uh working on, um we were raising money for. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:26.160 And I uh by sort of happenstance, traveling once, met a man who had a lot of money. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:31.200 And he is this well-connected politician uh in California. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:36.319 He had a lot of money at a dinner that we met at, because I run in those circles. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:38.160 I don't. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:40.960 The uh but one day I did. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:44.640 And and uh we kind of hit it off. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:53.119 He was interested in this project that we were working on, and he he made the mistake of saying, reach out to me and maybe we could connect and I could you know be involved in this in some way. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:57.200 I lived at the top of that guy's inbox. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:20:59.920 Man, what a huge mistake he made. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.839 And then finally I warmed down and he gave me an hour. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:26.799 So I flew out to California for that hour, walked in trembling as the little beggar who needed he needed his great money and his wonderful connections and the keys that he had and the Rolodexes uh that was behind you know, behind the doors that those keys opened and the, you know, whatever. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.119 Uh it didn't work. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:39.119 You know, as it turns out, the i the it we didn't really land the we didn't land that whale. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:45.440 Um it swam off uh and later came back and wrecked our ship. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:58.799 Uh an important man, right? 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:12.799 W all the preparation, all the strategy to enter the room, to get a sit down in the room. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:23.759 You walk confidently into the holy of holies. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:32.799 Have you forgotten the room that you get to enter? 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:36.000 Has it worn off? 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:38.640 You go in by prayer. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:45.839 And you just get an audience with the living God. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:48.720 Sinner that you are. 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:54.640 There's even more. 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:58.720 By the blood of Jesus, you just get an audience with the living God. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:01.920 It doesn't even matter how you start your prayer. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:02.960 You know? 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:06.160 I start most of my prayers, dear God. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:08.640 Like I'm writing a letter. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:17.279 I don't speak that way in any other context at all, but it's just a habit, and they get in to him. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:19.839 I don't even think about it. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:23.279 I just confidently speak. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.119 And I know that the living God hears me by the blood of Jesus. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:29.759 When was the last time I emailed that guy? 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.680 It's been, you know, we should give him a week because we could be on vacation. 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:48.079 And then, okay, so since I emailed him on this Monday, I'm gonna wait until Friday, and I'm gonna say something that's kind of direct but kind of gentle, and I'm gonna do a sign-off that says something precise, like I look, I look forward to hearing from you soon. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:49.279 You know, is that a good one? 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:51.279 Does that actually compel people to do anything? 00:23:51.440 --> 00:24:10.799 Has anybody ever read that and been like, I wasn't going to, but now, since he's looking forward to it, to a positive response, the living God, by the blood of Jesus, I just start talking. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:16.720 This is the confidence that you have what Jesus has purchased for you. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:19.359 You have this audience with the living God. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.440 And it's even more than that. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:38.319 In verses 21 through 22, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:51.039 Yeah, look, I could get an audience with the living God, but look, once I'm in the room, I know I'll blow it. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:25:03.039 Because I'll be stepping all over myself and I'll say the wrong things, I'll pray the wrong prayers, I'll have my heart so disordered that I don't even really know what to ask for. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:05.599 It doesn't matter. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:21.039 You have with you in the Holy of Holies a great high priest who stands right next to you and lives to intercede on your behalf. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:24.640 Stumble through whatever you have to say. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:35.920 And God the Father really trusts this great high priest, this great high priest who lives to advocate for you. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:38.720 Fumble as much as you want. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:53.920 And your great high priest is it's easy because he'll step in and he'll say, you know, uh what he meant to say, actually, was uh your kingdom would come because he this is actually what he's pulling for. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:55.440 You know. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:59.839 And you walk in and you're like, I can't talk to the holy of holies. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:01.920 This is not, I'm not dressed well. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:09.759 And this great high priest will say, Don't worry, I'll vouch for you. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:40.079 And he said, and you you walk in and and uh you walk in with this with this great high high priest, and you start to stumble and you you start to uh lose lose yourself in what you're you're supposed to be saying, you start praying the wrong things, and then even you start recognizing how foolish it was for you to even approach in the first place, because you know now is not the time that God would listen to you. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:47.839 Because sure, Jesus has done these great things, but your you know the condition of your own heart. 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:54.000 And your conscience will begin to attack you. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:01.200 Your conscience will begin to accuse you of of the sin that you committed the night before. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:18.400 The thing that you're asking for, I bet, has some strange mixture in it of goodness that you can attribute to the Lord, but also some twist of selfishness or vengeance or fear that you're carrying close to the chest. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:21.599 And you recognize this is not something that I could carry in here. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:26.640 And if I do, and if it gets exposed, then I will certainly be cast out. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:28.640 But look what it says. 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:40.240 We draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, because our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:54.960 You have a high priest who is able to transform your own heart so that you can walk in and say in faith, My conscience is clean. 00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:57.359 Well, how can that be? 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:00.640 Well, here's how it can be. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:04.559 Whose thoughts about your conscience are more important? 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:12.160 Your own thoughts about your conscience or God's thoughts about your conscience? 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:14.799 Which one are you going to depend upon? 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:18.559 To bring cleansing to your own heart. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:21.920 You cannot cleanse your own heart. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:24.799 Christ's blood has. 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:29.759 You cannot bring forward a sufficient sacrifice. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:34.160 You have a great high priest who does. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:45.279 Walk confidently into the throne room of God, stand next to your high priest, enjoy the advocacy of Christ. 00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:50.400 It is not self-deception to enjoy a clean conscience, even with all that you know. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:54.559 It is agreeing with the sacrifice of Jesus. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:04.319 This is our full assurance of faith. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:11.680 This is the writer's way of saying Christ really did what he said he did. 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:16.400 His death really atoned for your sins. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:19.440 You are really brought back to God. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:22.880 He was really resurrected to lordship. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:29.359 He really is the great high priest who lives to intercede on your behalf. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:32.079 He pleads his own blood. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:33.839 He doesn't need yours. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:38.400 And it's effective. 00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:42.960 You have an audience with the living God. 00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:44.799 Enter that room. 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:48.480 That is our faith. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:50.400 Our hope. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:30:00.720 Hebrews 10 23 says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:05.680 Yes, this is the story of what Christ said, and it has happened. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:15.839 The sacrifice of Christ has taken place, but will it be effective for this future that looks uncertain and strange and like things are just getting worse and worse? 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:22.079 My sister works at a Christian high school in Loveland, and she they just went on a retreat. 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:28.319 Uh, they kick off their school year with a retreat, and so she was completely exhausted this weekend from having been on that. 00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:34.960 And uh I was talking to her, and she was sharing like what the graduating seniors, like where their heads are at. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:40.640 And they're like, all we're hearing is that the world is ending. 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:46.640 And we don't understand what type of a place we're about to join. 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:56.960 And we just hear that it's that it's all over, it's it's all getting worse and worse, and there's no place for for us to go. 00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:04.400 That's that's what it's like to be a uh graduating senior uh currently. 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:07.279 And many of us share that sentiment. 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:14.480 You know, that this is just what it's like to be alive at the end of an empire. 00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:18.640 People unironically use the phrase late stage capitalism. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:22.799 I guess I'm the only one that thinks that's funny. 00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:29.440 I just like it when I like it when people just are like, I know where we are in this story. 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:31.519 We're at late stage capitalism. 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:32.400 And it's like, you do? 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:33.920 Where are you standing? 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:36.319 Where you can see the whole thing. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:39.599 I wish I could, could you show me where I could stand there? 00:31:40.640 --> 00:31:41.440 Here's the point. 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:53.119 There's there is it in the real world, it is not ordinary to hold fast to hope. 00:31:54.319 --> 00:32:03.759 In fact, when we see that happening, we often call it something like naivety or their not being realistic. 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.640 I'm not pessimistic, I'm just a realist. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:11.920 You know, so uh so I'm crafting my life in this way that's just hedging and hedging. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:19.200 Because I'm I'm a realist about the way things are. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:21.200 What is our hope? 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:25.920 The gates of hell will not prevail against Christ's church. 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:32.640 That he he has all authority in heaven and on earth. 00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:34.960 He will be with us always. 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:41.839 He will return, he will put all of his enemies under his feet. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:49.680 All of his enemies will be made his footstool, and he is in that process now. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:55.599 There is not one whom he has died for whom he will miss. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:21.359 He will gather his people, he will crush his enemies, there will be justice in the world, and whatever trajectory you think you're mapping onto right now, of the rises and falls of empires that you see that we happen to be a part of, the decay of culture that we witness, which uh I think the Carl Truman's term anti-culture is an appropriate description of our culture now. 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:23.759 It is a culture of tearing down. 00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:28.319 That is its only unifying feature is destruction. 00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:32.240 Now, how do you hope in the face of that? 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:37.839 He who promised is faithful. 00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:41.279 Stack up all that you want. 00:33:42.960 --> 00:34:03.599 I want you to get your uh I want you to s uh uh take your climate model, and I want you to take your economic model, and I want you to take your predictions on interest rates, and I want you to take your population collapse models, and I want you to use ChatGPT to put them all into one mega model. 00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:10.239 And I want you to click solve, and the answer comes out bad. 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:13.840 You know, what does future look like, ChatGPT? 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:17.280 Bad, bad is what it looks like. 00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:26.719 And here's 15 new artificial intelligence dystopian movies to teach you what it's going to look like soon. 00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:42.880 And then you need one piece of evidence to stack up against all of those future predictions that that uh that that garner your hopelessness, that that make your hopelessness feel legitimate, and you need one. 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:47.199 He who promised is faithful. 00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:54.639 He's faithful. 00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:56.559 He does what he says. 00:34:56.800 --> 00:34:58.960 He said his kingdom's coming. 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:01.199 What's his kingdom gonna be like? 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:05.599 He uses a bunch of parables to say, you'll really like it. 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:17.199 It's like if you bought a field and there was a pearl in it, and you liked that pearl so much that you sold everything to get it. 00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:19.760 Well, that sounds like something that I'd like. 00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:23.920 Something that I like so much that I would sell everything else in my life to get. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:25.679 That's something I like. 00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:29.280 This is called exegesis. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:37.679 That's what the that kingdom is coming under his rule and under his reign. 00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:42.000 But we've got to hold fast to that hope. 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:45.440 You're not gonna gather evidence for that hope. 00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:51.440 Not in any place that, not let me put it this way, not in any of the news that finds you. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:36:00.239 You know, maybe some news that you could go looking for, but the news that finds you is not going to describe the hope that we have. 00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:03.599 And so we hold fast to that hope. 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:10.559 Now we have this assurance of faith from what Christ has accomplished and what it means that He is our great high priest. 00:36:10.719 --> 00:36:22.400 We have this steadfast hope that we need to unwaveringly hold to, faith and hope, but these must be matched with the action of love. 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:30.320 Because love is the manifestation of faith and hope. 00:36:30.639 --> 00:37:01.280 Love is the way that we participate with one another in the characteristics that show that we really believe what we say we have faith in, show that we're really looking forward to what we really have hope in, and allow us to know in a in a tacit way, because you've experienced it with and from one another, that his kingdom really is coming and it really will win. 00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:10.400 So this is the way that the action of love is told to us in this passage by the writer of Hebrews. 00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:12.480 Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. 00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:29.039 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. 00:37:29.519 --> 00:37:32.400 So, what do we do with this great faith and this great hope? 00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:36.320 Let's consider how do we stir one another up towards love? 00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:42.639 How do we make sure that with our with our lives we're participating in the truths that we're seeing here? 00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:45.599 Because if we aren't participating with it, then we'll miss it. 00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:48.639 And it'll become something that we it'll become just this. 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:55.840 We can get the answers on our Christian doctrine test right, but our lives are not informed by it. 00:37:56.000 --> 00:38:24.159 And so we don't actually know how to participate in it here in the in the real world of our relationships, which, by the way, is the world that Jesus Christ entered into, when he took on flesh and became one of us, and went around and forgave sins and healed people's broken bodies and showed us what it looks like when his kingdom, which then he's saying those things, and he says, the kingdom is in your midst. 00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:34.239 Well, live by love, living by love is living in such a way where people could say, the kingdom of heavens, it's like it's in our midst here. 00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:44.719 That's a different type of knowledge that's uh tacit and experiential, and so we stir one another up to love and to good works. 00:38:44.880 --> 00:38:50.400 We encourage one another in the participation of the flavor of the kingdom of heaven. 00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:53.599 So, what's one thing we can do with that? 00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:55.280 What would be the opposite of that? 00:38:55.440 --> 00:39:11.199 It would, he says, 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. 00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:26.079 The day, that's when Christ returns, and he judges the world, he divides sheep and goats, and he says, Who was ready for me and who wasn't ready for me? 00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:40.400 And those that were ready are resurrected to new life eternally, and those who weren't ready are resurrected to the second death, thrown into that pit of fire reserved for Satan and his angels. 00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:47.199 Not neglecting to meet together. 00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:52.400 Meet together is a word you'll recognize. 00:39:52.559 --> 00:39:55.760 Uh synagogue, synagogue. 00:39:56.960 --> 00:39:59.199 That was for one person, that was for you, John. 00:40:01.119 --> 00:40:03.039 Synagogue, you know, you've heard that term. 00:40:03.199 --> 00:40:04.880 There's a couple throughout town. 00:40:05.440 --> 00:40:11.360 They uh it just means to to assemble together, to gather together. 00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:22.960 The the synagogue, you know, the the thing that's closest to what we do in our churches here is from the Second Temple period when the Jews are scattered all over and they develop the synagogue practice. 00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:28.480 And this is uh meeting once a week for worship and teaching from the word. 00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:30.320 That's what we do. 00:40:30.639 --> 00:40:34.000 We meet once a week for worship and for teaching from the word. 00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:45.840 And he says here, look, to we look at the faith that you have, look at the hope that we have, live in love in this, and look, what's the most dangerous thing? 00:40:46.079 --> 00:40:50.480 You could have a habit of missing the synagogue. 00:40:50.719 --> 00:40:53.920 You could have a habit of not going to church. 00:40:54.480 --> 00:40:58.400 And then he goes on to list those things that I just described. 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:01.280 It is a deliberate that I described at the beginning of this sermon. 00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:04.639 It's this same chapter, it's the next phrases, it's a deliberate sin. 00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:18.719 It's profaning the blood of the covenant, it's trampling on the Son of God, it's it's setting yourself up to be thrown into the hands of the living God, and that is a fearful thing to be thrown into the hands of the living God, and God will judge. 00:41:19.039 --> 00:41:30.239 So, what is the mechanism that God has put in place to preserve his people in a world where it is hard to hope and we haven't seen the things that we have faith in? 00:41:30.480 --> 00:41:32.960 He has given us this method. 00:41:33.519 --> 00:41:35.199 Go to church. 00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:38.079 Oh, it's so simple. 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:44.079 Don't we have better rivers in Syria that I could have washed in, you might say? 00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:50.960 And then you think to yourself, well, this river here in Judea is not so bad. 00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:54.079 Maybe I'll dip a couple of times into it. 00:41:55.039 --> 00:41:56.079 And you're healed. 00:41:56.320 --> 00:41:58.079 Look, this is that simple. 00:41:58.239 --> 00:41:59.039 Go to church. 00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:00.320 Oh, come on. 00:42:00.719 --> 00:42:01.920 That can't be it. 00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:08.480 Look, I think that the most important thing you can do for your faith is go to church. 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:11.519 People always ask, how do I get involved at church? 00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:14.480 Like, what's the thing that I want to be involved with here at church? 00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:16.320 Come on Sunday mornings. 00:42:16.719 --> 00:42:24.400 Sing on Sunday mornings, gather once a week with these people, learn their names. 00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:27.199 That's how you one another each other. 00:42:29.440 --> 00:42:32.320 It should, it should be, it should. 00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:39.360 I want it to be sort of shocking, the juxtaposition that we see here. 00:42:41.039 --> 00:42:49.280 The faith that was described, the holy of holies, the hope that has had Christ's kingdom coming, the one who promised is sure. 00:42:49.440 --> 00:42:51.280 And then what does the writer of Hebrews say? 00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:52.880 Don't miss church. 00:42:54.239 --> 00:42:56.000 Do you see what you have? 00:42:56.960 --> 00:43:06.400 I want to list out a couple of things while I have your attention, and I and uh and this is just my pitch for church to all of you who are already here. 00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:10.800 This is called preaching to the choir. 00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:17.599 Christ promises to attend in a unique way his gathered people. 00:43:17.840 --> 00:43:20.880 It's promised to us in Matthew 18. 00:43:21.440 --> 00:43:29.360 We are commanded to sing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs to encourage one another in Ephesians 5. 00:43:29.599 --> 00:43:31.840 Oh, just go do that some other time. 00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:33.760 Yo, you can't. 00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:35.840