Day 2266 – Hebrews-17 – Enter…But Come Clean – Daily Wisdom

Welcome to Day 2266 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-17 Enter...But Come Clean – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 08/27/2023

Enter…But Come Clean - Hebrews 10:19-39

As we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament two weeks ago, we explored the Great Benefits for Believers because of Christ’s One-for-All, Once-for-All, Free-for-All sacrifice.

This week, we see the right response: we should not neglect this opportunity to draw near to God … and come clean.

Let’s read Hebrews 10:19-39 on page 1873 of your Pew Bible.

A Call to Persevere in Faith

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[e] 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

36...

Welcome to Day 2266 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Hebrews-17 Enter...But Come Clean – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 08/27/2023

Enter…But Come Clean - Hebrews 10:19-39

As we continued our extended series through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament two weeks ago, we explored the Great Benefits for Believers because of Christ’s One-for-All, Once-for-All, Free-for-All sacrifice.

This week, we see the right response: we should not neglect this opportunity to draw near to God … and come clean.

Let’s read Hebrews 10:19-39 on page 1873 of your Pew Bible.

A Call to Persevere in Faith

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[e] 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,

“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”[f]

38 And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”[h]

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Over and over again, from various angles, the author of Hebrews presents evidence that Jesus is superior as our High Priest. No other priest could fling open the door to heaven for sinners. No other person could qualify as the Mediator between a holy God and an unholy humanity. No pious person could live up to the precise demands of the Law. No sacrifice could completely pay the price for sin and cancel the debt of sinners. Only Jesus. This point has been stated and restated in Hebrews.

 

Now, the emphasis shifts again from Christ’s superiority to our responsibility. In strong and somber terms, the writer looks into his readers’ eyes and says, “No matter how you look at it, the person and work of Christ is superior to everything. Now, here’s what you need to do about it.” /At this point, the proof of Christ’s primacy and the reality of our responsibility are so overwhelming that the implications are clear: If we don’t trust and obey Him entirely, we’re in big trouble.

 

This leads to the fourth of five warning passages in the book of Hebrews. You may still recall the first in Hebrews 2:1–4: “Pay attention lest you drift!” The second warning passage (3:7–4:13) then urged the audience, “Beware of a hard heart!” The third encompassed the hard teaching of falling away: “Don’t stray from the path of spiritual growth” (5:11–6:20). Now, in this fourth warning passage (10:19–39), the author shouts out, “Stand firm in the faith or be judged by God!”

 

At the end of this passage, we’ll know two things very clearly: (1) God requires that His children trust and obey Him; and (2) if we don’t, serious consequences are in store. We’ll walk away from this passage with a choice: But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. (10:39) NLT.

10:19–21

Under the arrangement of the old covenant and its priesthood, the holy of holies—situated in the back of the tabernacle—was the most sacred place on earth. Only the high priest, after a precise process of ritual cleansing, could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. For everyone else—even other priests—it was off-limits. When the temple replaced the tent of the tabernacle in Jerusalem, a giant veil (curtain) still separated the holy of holies from the rest of the temple. When Jesus died, that massive curtain was torn asunder from top to bottom (rip) (Matt. 27:51), signaling a dramatic change from the old system to the new.

 

No longer did God say to the unclean sinners, “KEEP OUT!” Now, since the blood of Christ cleansed believers from the stain of sin, we are free to enter the holy of holies with “confidence” (Heb. 10:19). Now God bids us, “COME IN!” He invites all people—Jews and Gentiles, men and women, adults and children, rich and poor—to enter the sacred place, representing a personal, intimate, permanent relationship with the living God.

(Bulletin Insert)

For those of us who may hesitate to enter out of fear or shuffle our feet out of shame, the author of Hebrews strengthens our steps with confidence in two essential facts that summarize what he has been asserting in the previous chapters. First, Jesus’ blood—His perfect sacrifice for sin—has opened the way for us to enter into a personal relationship with God (10:19–20). Brown comments on the author’s imagery in 10:20: “Just as the heavy temple curtain was torn from top to bottom on that first Good Friday, so that pure and spotless body of Christ was rent for us. He shed his blood that the approach to God might not be barred as in earlier centuries, but open to all.”

 

Second, Jesus remains our Great High Priest over the house of God (10:21). The image “house of God” appears in several places in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews itself refers directly to the Old Testament people of God (3:1–2) and indirectly to all creation “built” by God (3:4), of which Christ is the heir as Son of God (3:6). However, even tucked within this discussion of “house” in Hebrews 3, we catch a glimpse of two other related aspects: the New Testament community, the church, suggested by 3:6—“whose house we are”/ and also individuals who hold firmly in their confidence to the end (Heb. 3:6).

 

In the context of Hebrews 10, the image of “house” is drawing on the background of the tabernacle or temple/—that holy place expressly set apart for the worship of God. When we look at how the New Testament applies the image of the temple in a spiritual sense, our understanding of the image in Hebrews 10 is narrowed to two ideas: the church as the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21) and the bodies of individual believers as God’s temple (1 Cor. 6:19). Both of these ideas are ultimately in view in this passage—indeed, the Bible never separates the individual from the community, nor the community from its individuals. However, the personal nature of the commands and warnings in the remainder of Hebrews 10 suggests that the concept of “house” has specific implications for the individual. The author doesn’t deny that Christ is our Great High Priest, but in Hebrews 10, he wants us to remember that Christ is my High Priest.

 

10:22–25

Based on the two facts underscored in Hebrews 10:19–21, and because each of us is accountable to our High Priest on a personal, individual level, the writer sets forth three commands to obey, each introduced by the exhortation “Let us …”

 

First, let us draw near to God (10:22). We’ve already seen that the saving work of Christ has cleansed our consciences from sin and guilt (9:14). This internal cleansing of the heart (10:22)—the internal, invisible dimension of our being—should be marked by the washing of our bodies—the external, visible aspects of our lives. Though the phrase “our bodies washed with pure water” could be taken as a reference to water baptism, the author’s emphasis is on what baptism signifies: the dedication of a person’s life to following Christ with a changed lifestyle. Thus, the exhortation to “draw near” invites believers who have been eternally forgiven by faith and committed to a life of obedience to go deeper in their relationship with Him.

 

Second, Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess (10:23). The term “profess or affirm (NLT),” homologia, refers to an “expression of allegiance as an action,” or “professing,” but it can also refer to a “statement of allegiance.” Because the emphasis in this passage is internal and external—the conformity of the whole person to Christ in faith and obedience—the author probably has in mind a confession with both words and actions. Notice that this confession centers on the hope rooted in God’s promises (10:23). With a strong confidence in the superior priesthood of Christ, we can continue to confess Him with our mouths/ and continue to emulate Him with our lives/—serving as His representatives in a world that desperately needs to see Christ in us.

 

Third, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds (10:24–25). Here, the author shifts the emphasis from the individual to the community. But this shift isn’t like switching from low to high gear; it’s shifting weight from one leg to another. Remember, individual believers are part of a community of faith, and the commitment of individual believers strengthens the community of faith. As members of the body of Christ, the church, we are responsible for living lives of faith and obedience to positively stir others toward spiritual growth. As external expressions of drawing nearer to Christ, we should encourage the internal motivation of others—love; in turn, this internal motivation should manifest itself in external actions—good deeds (10:24). To do this, we can’t simply retreat into a corner and cradle our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, cutting ourselves off from the rest of the body. Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (10:25).

This passage (10:24–25) has important implications for attending church gatherings for worship, instruction, fellowship, and expressions of faith, hope, and love (Acts 2:42–47). We can’t fulfill the command to spur one another on if we’re living like islands isolated from each other. Scripture's various “one another” is only possible in the gathered community. But neither is it helpful for uncommitted, rebellious, unloving, and disobedient believers in Christ to gather in community with each other. The notion that individual Christians have something positive to contribute to the community presupposes that those individuals have been striving to “come clean” as they “draw near.”

10:26–31

What will happen if we, as believers, neglect these commands in 10:22–25 and fail to draw near, profess, and spur on? In 10:26–31, the author presents a strong warning for those who may do the opposite: shrink back from intimate fellowship with God, hide the light of our confession, or forsake the community of faith. In the broader argument of Hebrews 10, these verses present the negative side of two contrasting categories of people, summed up in 10:39—“ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, are addressed in this first passage, and “but to those who have faith and are saved.” are addressed in the next section (10:32–39).

 

The first question we must answer regarding 10:26 is: Who does the “we” refer to when the author writes, “If we deliberately keep on sinning ”? Some say it’s the unsaved—people with an ungenuine profession of faith, as evidenced by failing to cease from sin. Others say it refers to those who were once genuinely saved but who lose their salvation due to their apostasy (unbelief): “true believers denying their faith.” Because the language, imagery, and even structure of this warning passage is very similar to that of Hebrews 6, Bible scholars usually treat the recipients of these two warning passages as belonging to the same category: either those who were not truly saved,/ those who lose their salvation, /or those who are saved /but face severe judgment./ My view falls into the third category. The warning in Hebrews 10 addresses those who have genuinely received eternal salvation by grace through faith, but who, through backsliding, can enter a state of sin from which there is no possibility of return. As such, they face temporal judgment and loss of heavenly reward, (service in the Global Eden) but not the loss of eternal life.

 

As Guthrie rightly notes, the first-person plural, “we,” indicates that the writer of Hebrews “identifies himself with those who receive the warning.” Moreover, Allen says, “Such language strongly indicates the warning is addressed to believers.” Therefore, we shouldn’t understand this as a warning to unbelievers who have experienced a mere brush with the gospel or false believers who appear godly but have never experienced true salvation. The people in view in Hebrews 10:26–31 have fully received “the knowledge of the truth” (10:26). This strong Greek word for “knowledge,” epignōsis, is used in passages that imply a full, genuine, saving knowledge of God, not just a faint awareness. This is confirmed by the fact that knowledge of the truth was received, /not simply heard. Also, the fact that the author alludes to God judging “His people” (10:30) further indicates that “we” refers to genuine believers—the people of God.

So, the author addresses a potential category of people who are genuine believers but whose lives are so contrary to a life of faith and obedience to Christ that they are visibly indistinguishable from unbelievers. They are believers who backed away from Him rather than drew nearer to Him. They have withdrawn from the community of spiritual growth and encouragement and have become isolated from accountability. As such, they have betrayed their confession of faith in the person and work of Christ—>the only one whose work can pay for their sins. They have been born again, but they sin—willingly, knowingly, and continually (10:26). This isn’t just a stumble, a season of rebellion, or a constant struggle against temptation and sin. We all experience these. This is outright opposition against the gracious, loving, merciful Father.

 

Again employing an argument from the lesser to the greater, the author of Hebrews notes that under the old covenant, those who rebelled against the Law received harsh judgment (10:28). How much more should those be judged who blatantly rebel against the grace of God under the superior covenant established by Christ’s death and resurrection (10:29)! They have opposed Father, Son,...