"Where to from here?" by Sam Reeve, 30 December 2007, Heb 10:19-25 Lev 16:1-30

[dann...@gmail.com]

Intro.: This is it. Our last Sunday as pastor at WBC. It’s been a
great 10 years. I am so thankful to God for all that He has led us
through in this time. Janet and I feel a great sense of privilege at
having been able to serve alongside you all here. It has been
wonderful to be part of your lives and what God is doing in and
through each one of us. Your partnership in the gospel has been so
encouraging, not just over the last 10 years, but the last 35, through
our early married life, training, going out to the mission field and
then coming back to minister with you. I want to thank all of you for
your encouragement and prayer that God has used to help us together
move forward in God’s kingdom work.

We have been able to carry on by the grace of God. One of the ways
that God has enabled that is through the love and encouragement that
He has given us through you. I want to encourage you to keep on doing
that for each other. I want to leave you with 5 encouragements from
Heb 10. Five “Let us”’s. Think of it as a 5 lettuce salad. If you get
stuck into this “let us” salad you will never go hungry, and you will
grow and thrive even more as God’s people here.

Why do you come to church? If someone was to come in here and
interview each of us and ask that question, what would you say? “I
meet my friends there? I like the music? It’s a great place to be?”
Often the reasons are a bit like the reasons people shop at Franklins
rather than Coles - you get a better deal. What does the Bible say
about why we should come to church? We’re going to see in a moment.
Since….

As in all Scripture, when we are encouraged or commanded to do
something, we are told the reasons. The 5 “let us” exhortations arise
out of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. That is what the
writer has spent the whole book explaining – the incredible work of
Christ. This passage is going on to spell out the implications of it
all for our relationship with God and with each other.

He says that we have confidence to enter into the most holy place.
How? Through the blood of Jesus. Behind this passage is the one that
was read to us from Lev 16. The day of atonement. Once a year the high
priest could go in to make sacrifices for the sins of the people. Only
he could do it. Once a year. Everyone else had to keep away. Even the
high priest wasn’t allowed to go in there the other 364 days of the
year – he had to keep out. It was a very exclusive system. And the
writer to the Hebrews tells us that it was a useless system if it’s
aim was to make people perfect (10:1). If it was effective to perfect
people, then why did they have to do it again the next year?

By contrast, what Jesus has achieved is a new and living way. It’s
opened through the curtain. The curtain was what separated the people
from the Holy of Holies – the holy place in the temple, where the
atonement sacrifice was made. Here he says that the curtain is Jesus’
body. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn from top to
bottom. It was symbolic of the fact that through the sacrifice of
Jesus on the cross, the way was opened up for all to come near. The
barriers were down. But it was at great cost – the torn, broken body
of Jesus. Through the broken body of Jesus that we have access to God.
What the high priest could never achieve, Jesus has done.

That is why He is the Great HP over the house of God (v21). He is the
HP to end all HPs. Literally. Because of his one-off sacrifice, the
payment for sins is made, the wrath of God is satisfied, and sinners
are forgiven. These are the stupendous breath-taking realities of the
gospel. These great realities impact our lives for eternity, and for
now. In the light of these things, He exhorts us to do 5 things:

Let us….

1. Draw near v22

• To God
The old system was aimed at keeping anything unholy away from God.
Rightly so – since we are sinful and God is holy. In the new system,
Jesus has dealt with that problem, so that through His righteousness
and his work on the cross, we can come to God. So the first response
to Christ’s work needs to be to draw near.
How do we draw near? The old dead system pointed to it. As we saw from
Lev 16, the high priest had to bathe before putting on the vestments
that he wore as he made the sacrifices. Cleansing rites - sprinkling
and washing. Hearts sprinkled - intentions of our hearts - forgiveness
for wrong intentions, Bodies washed - bathed, - actions of rebellion
against God forgiven. Washed. There is no problem to draw near. Clean.
We can come to God with confidence that we won’t be rejected, because
He has done the cleansing. Take advantage of it. We can be completely
open with him. He invites us to draw near. Do it. In prayer, in
listening to him, in walking with him.
I want to make one more appeal before I leave WBC. If you haven’t
responded to what God has done for you in Christ’s death on the cross,
if you’ve been hanging back, keeping your distance, keeping him at
arms length, let me plead with you today to draw near. Don’t be like
the person with the broken leg who refuses to go to the doctor to have
it set, and limps around in agony, bone grating on bone, pain shooting
up the leg. God is the only one who can sprinkle your conscience, make
you clean, forgive you, give you a complete new start. Don’t keep
running away from him. Draw near with confidence.

The Chinese are busy getting ready for the 08 Olympics. Spending
billions to have the best facilities for the games. Imagine the outcry
if the countries one by one had said we’re not coming - we’ve got this
and that on - we can’t come. Or worse, they had said that we don’t
like the arrangements, so we’re not coming. It would be devastating
for the Chinese, as it would have been for us in 2000 if that had
happened. Imagine how God feels when we, by our actions of not drawing
near, not taking advantage of what he has done in opening up the way
to Him, shun what he has done. The cost is infinitely more than any
Olympic games - Jesus gave his all to make it possible. Don’t draw
back, draw near.

2. Hold on v23

• unswervingly to the hope we profess
Let us hold on. To what? The hope that we profess. What hope? 7:19.
The hope that Jesus the HP gives us. The one who has gone into heaven
itself to secure our forgiveness. Our hope is in him. Not in
ourselves. He is the only one who can rescue us, deal with our sin,
etc. Hold on to him. Unswervingly. So easy to get swerved off that.
Diverted. Have to constantly check ourselves and see if our hope is
not being diverted into other things. Our own good deeds, our own
achievements, education, material things, etc. Start putting our
security in other things. Unbending - means going against the tide in
this day and age when it is a virtue to bend and twist with the
circumstances. But we must not trust in our unbendingness either –
that’s another trap. Our trust is in Jesus alone - he who promised is
faithful - v23b. Based on Jesus’ character. This God who’s promises we
believe in, is trustworthy, faithful, he never fails. We can rely on
him absolutely. It’s not the strength of our hope or faith that saves
us – it’s the object of it. And the object of our faith, the one we
believe in is absolutely faithful. It is so important what we believe,
as what we believe determines what we do – how we live out our lives.
If we believe that money can save and keep us, then our lives will
reflect that. If we believe our only hope is in Jesus, then our lives
will reflect Him. It’s important what we believe about the person of
Jesus – who is He? Good teacher, great example, historical figure or
mythical person? Lord, Son of God, God come in the flesh, Saviour? The
way you understand him with affect your life, now and for eternity.
What about the work of Jesus? How you think about his death on the
cross will influence your life immeasurably. Is it just a good example
of self-sacrifice or of humility in the face of injustice? Or is it
the Son of God paying the price for our sins, taking on himself the
wrath of God, making that once for all substitutionary payment that
achieves our eternal salvation? These things matter. They matter
eternally. Hold on unswervingly to the hope you profess.
These first two “let - us’ are directed at us getting our focus and
base right. The next 3 are about the way we relate to others. How we
behave in the body of Christ.

3. Consider v24

* how to spur one another on to love and good deeds
It’s the same word as is used in 3:1 - fix your thoughts on. There is
something that is to occupy our thinking when we think “church”. What
is it? 2 things: a) Consider one another – it can literally mean that.
Think about one another. When you meet brothers and sisters in Christ,
consider them. How are they looking? How are they speaking? Tears
running down the cheeks is a dead give-away. Going to sleep in Bible
study is another give-away – it may not be a sign of lack of spiritual
interest – it may be that they are totally exhausted from work, or
chasing a 2 year old all day, or doing an all-nighter on an
assignment, or whatever. Ask them how they are, and listen to the
answer! Consider one another.

b) How to spur one another on to love and good deeds. The word
translated “to spur on” is a word that is used only 2X in the NT. The
other place where it’s used is in Acts 15:39 where it describes the
disagreement that happened between Paul and Barnabas – sharp, painful
one. Some discomfort. The AV translates it here “provoke one another
to love and good deeds”. Indicates that it might be a little
uncomfortable. Like it is for the horse when the rider digs the spurs
in. This is difficult. That’s why we have to give it a lot of thought.
Bend your mind to the task. How can we spur one another on? It will be
different for each person, at different stages of their lives. But we
must do it, if we (and they) are to persevere in following Jesus. If
we don’t, then we oughtn’t to be surprised when people fall away and
give up. We are to spur one another on to “love and good deeds”. This
is not picking holes in the way people are. It’s helping them to be
more loving - show the love of Christ to others. Help them in their
love for God. The best way is to do it by example.

Note here that love comes first, then good deeds. One flows out of the
other. WBC is a place where people frequently say that they experience
love and acceptance from others. That has been our experience over the
last 10 years. Thank you. It’s so encouraging to be part of a church
like that. God is here reminding us that we need to keep on stirring
each other up to continue loving Him and each other.

4. Not give up v25

• meeting together
As is the habit of some. Indicates that this can become a habit. A
habit is something that you get comfortable with – do without really
thinking. Are you comfortable with absenting yourself from the
meetings of God’s people? Sunday services? Bible study? Times of
prayer and fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ?
It’s obvious that you can’t spur one another on if you don’t get
together. Perhaps these people had stopped meeting out of fear of the
persecution that was happening. We don’t have such excuses. If we meet
together so infrequently that we hardly get to know one another, how
can we encourage one another? Or if we do, we bolt off so quickly that
we never encourage anyone. People make all sorts of excuses for this.
“I’m shy. I haven’t got the time. I’m so busy”. We must prioritise.
This is really important. It’s extremely important that each of us
perseveres in our faith. That partly happens through being encouraged
by others. Don’t wait for someone to do it for you. Each of us has the
responsibility to do it for each other. If you get spurred on in the
process, well and good. If not, then keep on doing what God has asked
you to do. He will encourage you through it. When there are changes in
a church is often a time when people can slip into the habit of not
coming, or coming less often. This is the time when we need to
encourage each other more, not less. Let’s not give up meeting
together.

5. Encourage v25

• one another as the Day approaches
But what do we do when we meet together? Some people think that simply
by being here you do your job. No – it’s a lot more than that.
Encourage one another. It’s the second time this idea has come up. In
3:13 he says to “encourage one another daily, while it is still
today”. This indicates more than coming to church one a week, or 1,2
or 3 times a month. It’s hard to ‘encourage one another daily’ by just
coming to church. The weekly small groups that we have are great
places to encourage others and be encouraged yourself. You get to know
people better, support and encourage them at a deeper level, and
hopefully help each other to persevere and grow in your faith. If
you’re not in a group, make it a priority in 2008.

Here in this passage we are told to encourage one another “as the Day
approaches”. What Day? The day when Jesus comes back, and it will be
too late to help those who are struggling in their faith. When it will
be too late to encourage those who are being tempted to give up, or
may have already given up. This is what should characterise our
meetings, services, bible study groups. Encouragement. Spurring one
another on to love and good deeds.

William Barclay: “One of the highest of human duties is the duty of
encouragement. It is easy to pour cold water on their enthusiasm; it
is easy to discourage others. The world is full of discouragers. We
have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of
praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet.”

The history books are full of stories of gifted persons whose talents
were overlooked by a procession of people until someone believed in
them and encouraged them. Einstein was four years old before he could
speak and seven before he could read. Issac Newton did poorly in
school. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had "no good
ideas". Leo Tolstoy failed at Uni. Haydn gave up ever making a
musician of Beethoven, who seemed a slow and plodding young man with
no apparent talent -- except a belief in music. Don’t give up.

Spurring one another on to Love and good deeds. Let’s do it. At the
end of the service today, I want you to do 2 things - say something
encouraging to the person next to you - something that will spur them
on to love and good deeds. After the service - find someone else that
you know you can encourage and do it. Think about it during the week –
make a phone call, send an email, card, whatever, that will spur them
on. Let’s make 2008 a year in which we draw near to God, hold
unswervingly to the hope we have in Christ, consider how to spur one
another on to love and good deeds, not get out of the habit of meeting
together, and encourage one another as the day of Jesus’ coming
approaches.