Practices of New Life

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0:00Good morning, everyone. Good morning, church. It's great to see you familiar faces and new faces alike. It is really wonderful to be worshiping with you all today. My name is Joel, and I'm happy to be serving you all as pastor here. And we are in a sermon series on Hebrews called Toward an Enduring Faith. We are working our way through Hebrews. Last week, we finished up a four-week look at the heart of Hebrews, the middle of Hebrews, the big message of Hebrews, which is all about the work of Jesus as our high priest. Now, some things are so great, so wonderful, so glorious that they evoke a response from us just naturally. Legend has it that at the premiere of Handel's Messiah in London in 1743, King George II heard the majestic hallelujah chorus and rose to his feet in response to the beauty of the music. And it became a tradition.

1:10Now, whenever the hallelujah chorus, when it gets to the hallelujah chorus, or when just that chorus is performed, everybody stands. He just had to do it, evidently. He heard the stirring majesty of the music, the words, and he stood in praise. Other times, a response is called for, and it's evoked, and it's appropriate because we have been changed. We have experienced some change. When I became a dad, it was more than just another person in the home, more than another mouth to feed. It was more than that. I had to learn new things. I had to learn taking care of a little one. I had to learn how to manage my time differently, our money differently.

2:00Our marriage was different because of having children. It's safe to say that nothing about me was unaffected by having kids. Those of you who have kids know this. It changes you. You have to respond to it because something new has happened to you. You have a new status. You have a new role. It demands a response. Now, church, the work of Christ demands a response from us. Right? I'm going to say it again. The work of Christ demands a response from us.

2:33It's far more glorious and wonderful than the hallelujah chorus. Way more. And it brings about a far more profound change in us than becoming a parent does. It's both of those things times infinity. So, of course, it demands a response to us from us. How should we respond? How should we respond to this? That is what today's passage is all about. So, turn with me to Hebrews 10. Let's be reminded of something more glorious than the hallelujah chorus and more profoundly changing for you if you're in Christ by faith than taking on a new role, even the role of becoming a parent. Let's come to God's holy word, his infallible word. It's trustworthy. It's true. It's completely without error. And it is not only can you build your life on it, but you should. Because God does not lie. And his word comes to you for your good, even when it is challenging to hear. Amen? Okay. So, Hebrews 10, verses 19 through 25. We've been plowing through some big sections of Hebrews today. It's a shorter section. It's in your bulletin. It's in your Bibles. It's up on the screen. So, please, follow along as I read this. This is God's word. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession

4:32of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all the more, as you see the day drawing near. Pray with me. Lord God, help us to kneel before your word. And because you've promised this, I ask it boldly and in faith, make it go out with power right here and right now to change us, to arrest us.

5:16Lord, we want to be, we want to have our eyes fixed on Christ, our high priest, the anchor of our faith. We want to see what it is about our lives that needs to continue to come into conformance with him. And we want our worship and our joy to increase as we do it. Lord, you have the power by your spirit to do all those things. So we ask you to do it as your word goes forth right now. Lord, I am a clay vessel, ordinary man. These are ordinary people gathered here today, but we all through Christ can experience supernatural new life. So do that, continue to do it among us and in us.

5:59In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Practices of new life. Practices of new life. Here they are. Drawing near in faith with faith, holding fast in hope, stirring up to love. Drawing near with faith, holding fast in hope, stirring up to love. This passage is the pivot, the turning point in Hebrews. The first six chapters of Hebrews lays a lot of Hebrews lays a lot of groundwork. And then in the next three and a half, the main point is made. We've done some heavy lifting together. We have been doing some chewing and digesting of deep truths. We don't have very much more heavy lifting when it comes to theology in the book of Hebrews. Some of you are like, whew, that's a relief. But we have a lot to apply.

6:56We have a lot of truths to apply into our lives. And that is what the turning point is. The author, by the Spirit of God, has shown us the supremacy of Christ in his work. This is what enduring faith rests on. The person of Christ, the work of Christ. And now we pivot. The rest of the book basically is about what this faith looks like and how it should be worked out in our lives. So if you have come today and we have some visitors today, if this is the first sermon from Hebrews you're hearing, it's a good one because it's the pivot point. It's the pivot point. This passage itself displays that pivot. It has a structure to it because this is true.

7:41We should do this. It's all bound up here in this passage. Our, our actions are as a response to, and they're fueled by what he's done for us. The author uses a key phrase two times in the first two verses. Since we have, if you have a pen and you're, and you'd like to do this kind of thing, circle it in your bulletin, circle it in the passage. Since we have, he's giving us a recap of what we have in Christ. When I visit someplace special, when we're out as it would have been out on an outing with the, with our family or we're in someplace new, a new town or something, something I really enjoy is going behind the scenes. It, it could be a museum. It could be a concert hall. It could be a factory, a cruise ship, although I've never been on a cruise ship or even an amusement park. When I, what I want to see is what's really happening behind the thing that they show us, right?

8:43I want to see the machinery. I want to see the logistics, the system, the planning there. There's so much happening in these places. Think about a cruise ship. How do they get all those meals ready for all those people at mealtime? That's an incredible amount of things to do, right? I want to see how that happens. How do they do that? Sometimes places will offer behind the scenes tours, but they're expensive, so we rarely get them, and they never really show you everything. Well, I want to see it all. I want to see all of it. The door that catches my eyes is the one that says authorized personnel only. What's behind that door? I want the backstage pass. I want to go behind the curtain, but I can't. Even if I pay the money, I can't. What I don't have is someone on the inside. Someone to escort me in. Someone to say, he's with me. We're going everywhere. That same feeling of looking longingly at a secret place, wanting to enter but not being able to, that is exactly what God's people had for generations. Generation after generation after generation. They went to the temple and they knew that somewhere in there was a room called the most holy place. They knew what God had said, that his presence dwelt there in a special way, a particular way. They heard about this. They knew it was there, but they could never, ever go in. Never. A heavy curtain separated that room from everyone.

10:42And that heavy curtain was for their protection. Just like the door that says authorized personnel only is really for my protection. I might hurt myself if I go wandering where there's machinery. And sinful people will get hurt if they come before an awesome and holy God who is holy, holy, holy. That curtain was there for their protection. There was no backstage pass. There was no behind the scenes tour. They could not come into God's presence because there was no sacrifice.

11:16Yet, that was sufficient. There was no way to be that clean, to be that holy. They had to settle for the high priest as the representative entering once a year and only briefly, only briefly to offer a sacrifice on their behalf. But now it's all changed. It's all changed. That's what Hebrews is saying to us. We have confidence. Confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. As the final high priest, Jesus brought an offering that's better than a bull, better than a goat. He offered himself his own perfectly righteous life to atone for sin. And now we can enter the presence of God. The curtain is torn down. The door is flung wide open. Jesus is the backstage pass. He's the one who brings us in by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain. The door is open. The curtain is torn down. Friends, this is amazing. This is unheard of. The people of God for generations, this would have been jaw dropping for them. In fact, it's so amazing to them and it's so amazing to us that we have a really hard time believing it. Don't we? Have you ever heard of imposter syndrome? It's the feeling that you don't really belong in your job, in your school, around your peers. It's the feeling, it's the thought of if people found out the truth about me, they would say, get out of here. How did you even get in here? You don't belong here.

13:13You don't belong among us. We have the same thought about God and about being in his presence. I know you do. I do too. Surely not me. God knows what I've done, what I've said. He knows even the thoughts that I have. He knows my past. He knows my struggles. Maybe other people can enter, but I can't. Surely I can't. I am here, dear ones, as an ambassador of Christ, to tell you, you do belong in the presence of God by the blood of Christ. If Jesus is your Savior, don't believe those lies. You belong in the presence of God. The way has been opened. If you're trusting in Jesus as your Savior, you have confidence to enter. You belong in his presence just as much as the person that you look at and you think to yourself, I wish I could be like them. They really have it together. This passage makes a point to emphasize this to us. It doesn't say we have access to enter. It says we have confidence to enter. Don't believe the lies and keep yourself away from God. That's what the evil one wants.

14:40Walk in the confidence that is yours with Jesus as your Savior through faith in him. We have confidence to go into God's presence where God dwells into the holy places. And we have someone to bring us in. We have a great priest over the house of God. Jesus is our advocate. He's our intercessor. He's our escort, our guide. He's the one on the inside who says she's with me. He's with me. I'm taking them everywhere to the places they couldn't go before. You don't need anything or anyone else to come to the presence of God. Now, this is the summary. This is the summary of what he has unpacked over the past few chapters. These are the two since we have statements, since we have confidence to enter and since we have a great priest over the house of God. All of that encapsulates what is ours in Jesus.

15:43These are the familiar truths that we've heard. Those of you who've been here, you've heard this several times already from the book of Hebrews. I take the time to remind us because it's his work that changes us and propels us forward. We have to remember it. We have to rest on it. We have to be reminded of it because we're forgetful people. This is what propels us forward. God initiates and we respond. That's the pattern. And so let's talk about the response. He's summarized what God has done. Now let's talk about how we should respond. Before I start this, I just want to say like I do sometimes before we get to applications and the rest of this is application. You're going to hear things here that you think, well, I think I'm trying my best to do that. And I want to say that's great.

16:38Keep going with it. Right. Not everything you hear is application in a sermon. You have to think, well, I'm a miserable failure at that. Sometimes you just need to hear encouragement of that's right. Keep at it. Keep going. But you may hear things today that you're like, you know what? I have really fallen off the wagon when it comes to that. OK, so hear both of those things and encouragement to keep going and maybe some things to pay attention to, to start doing or to keep or to start doing again. OK, so how should we respond? How should we respond to this great salvation that's ours in Christ? In this section, you find another key phrase. Go ahead and circle it. It's let us three times. Let us. The first one is this. Let us draw near with a true heart. The heart of the Christian life is about relationship, a reconciled relationship with God through Christ. Now, the Bible depicts this relationship that we have with God in a couple of different familial ways. It depicts it as we are the wife and God is the husband and we relate to him in that way. And it depicts us in another type of relationship. We are the child and God is our father. Both of those metaphors tell us about the relationship is the fundamental aspect of your Christian life. And like any relationship, it needs attention if it's going to grow and grow deeper. I walked down the aisle with Nikki 23 years ago.

18:24Last Sunday. And after we took our vows, it was just the beginning of our relationship. If you asked me about our marriage now, 23 years later, and all I ever talked about was our wedding day or honeymoon. That's all I ever talked about. If you asked me about about our marriage over and over, eventually you'd start to wonder about us, right? That was 23 years ago, Joel. What about your marriage lately? And yet sometimes when a Christian is asked about their relationship with God, all they have to talk about is I walked down the aisle at an altar call? Or let me tell you a story about how 15 years ago I came to the end of my rope and I got down on my knees and I prayed to him.

19:19Those are important moments. But what about lately? What about recently? When you get asked about your relationship with God, what do you have to talk about recently? If you've come to God through Christ, you have a part to play in making your relationship with him strong. That's why the meaning of this here and actually all three of the let us, they're phrased in a present tense that displays ongoing action. Let us continue to draw near, continually draw near. He's given us his word. He's given us prayer. He's given us the Lord's supper. He's given us the fellowship of the church. All of these are means of grace by which we draw near to him. But be careful because no matter what we're doing, we can only draw near to him with a true heart. You can, you can go to the Y and you can lift weights and you can hate it every minute of doing it and you will still get stronger. You can open up a can of paint and you can paint your wall and you can be mentally checked out the whole time wishing you were anywhere else and the job still gets done. The wall still gets painted. But to draw near to God, you have to have a heart that sincerely wants to be with him doing these things, these means of grace by themselves without that heart. It doesn't do anything. With a true heart, you have to have a heart that sincerely wants to be with him. Isn't that how all relationships grow? If I went on a weekly date with Nikki and I was checked out every time on my phone, distracted, wanted to be somewhere

21:17else, our relationship would not grow. And she would be able to tell how much more so God. Now, there are many reasons why we stop drawing near. We get complacent. We get busy. We might feel hurt or angry, angry or guilty. But I want to tell you today that if that's where you are right now, you can draw near to God again. You can come back to him. He will receive you. Remember, we have confidence to enter in Jesus. We have our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. So draw near over and over, even if it's been a while. We are adopted children, but not adult children who have moved away to start their own life. Calling every now and then visiting on the holidays. We are children like toddlers are children. Those children draw near to their parents without hesitation, right? Because their needs are so great and they know that their parents are the only place that they could meet those needs.

22:36They draw near without hesitation. Child of God, your father has set the dinner table. He has a place for you. He wants you to sit down. He wants to feed you and nourish you. He wants to listen to you. Talk about your day. Talk about your struggles. He wants to give you wisdom and strength and grace. He wants to remind you who you belong to each and every day. The place at the table is waiting for you. Draw near. Draw near. Draw near. He will always receive you. It doesn't matter how long it's been.

23:20Come to him now. Say, God, it's been a minute, but I'm seeking you again. I'm coming to you now. My needs are great, but you're greater. Give me the rest and the peace that I need that is found only in you. That's the first one. Here's the second one. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. Right now in this world, being true to yourself is more important to people than learning what is actually true. Being true to yourself is counted as more important than learning what is actually true. But this leaves people unsatisfied and uncertain as they go through life. It is not enough to just be true to yourself. And it leaves people helpless when life gets hard, when the waves are crashing in. It's no good to just be true to yourself. If something is pushing against you, you can't push back unless there is something solid underneath your feet. Hardship is going to come.

24:36For many of you, it has already. Maybe even several times in your life. Maybe even right now. Our endurance comes from leaning into the confession of our hope. Being true to yourself is not enough. You have to hold fast to the confession of our hope. And our hope is not in technology or money or government or medicine. Our hope is in God. His promises, His saving purpose, His power, and His Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. And all of these unshakable truths, they are not discovered and they're not deduced.

25:20They're not revealed to us by philosophers or sociologists. They come to us from one place and one place alone by God Himself in His Word. That is the only place to learn unshakable truth. To be grounded in unshakable truth. If we are to hold fast to the confession of our hope, we have to saturate ourselves with His Word. What other choice is there? It's not to be found out there. It's not to be found inside of here. We need to hear Him tell us His promise. I know the plans I have for you.

25:59Plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. We need that, don't we? Oh, we need to hear that. We need to hear Jesus assure us in the world you will have tribulation. Jesus, I know. Thank you for acknowledging the truth. But then He says, take heart. I've overcome the world and we think, oh, thank you, Lord. Now I can keep going. Near the end of the last book of the Bible, we read this. He who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Also, he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. Do you see this? God knows that we need help. And to help us, He gives us trustworthy and true words to ground our hope. These things were written for our sake. This was written for you so that you would endure.

27:00It's not just to begin your relationship with Christ. It's so that you can endure in it. You have to know it so well, deeply. Read it. Study it. I implore you. Commit passages to memory. Aim to know His words so well it comes to mind when trouble hits. Know it so well that it quenches the lies that you hear every day out there. Know it so well that it comforts you when you weep. Know it so well that it guides you when you're confused and you don't know what to do. Don't wait until those moments come to start thumbing through your Bible. What does it say about this? I don't know. Learn it ahead of time. Get grounded on the solid Word of God so that when something pushes against you, you can stand firm. This is more than memorizing some words. This is holding fast. He who promised is faithful.

28:01All right, here's the last one. Finally, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. I'm not saying I love parts of the Bible more than others or something, but I just really love this one. So this might, this was going to be a little bit longer than the other ones, but I am going to close here. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Once in elementary school, a long time ago, progress reports were handed out and my best friend and I were doing what you do, you know, you're comparing, especially what the teacher wrote about us. I said, I said, she wrote on mine, distraction to others.

28:58What about you? Was she right? And my friend picked up his and he said, negatively influenced by peers. And I looked up and I was like, Hey, wait a minute. She's talking about me.

29:19Our ability to influence one another is huge, right? So I use that power for the bad, right? In elementary school. But the solution is not, the solution that God has in mind is not that we have no influence, right? Christians should use the ability to influence positively for the kingdom of God and for his glory. We are supposed to stir up each other. Now, this word is very revealing. It could be translate, provoke or agitate. It reminds us that when we are left on our own, we tend to settle. We get comfortable. We get complacent. Things settle in us. We're like a jug of orange juice. What's the first thing you do when you pull out the orange juice out of the fridge? You shake it up because it settles. You don't want to drink that watery orange, you know, stuff on top. You want the, all the good stuff to get mixed up in there. Better yet, kids, what do you use, what do you have to have to make hot chocolate? Milk. Okay, that, that's, that's, that's highfalutin. That's like bougie hot chocolate. That, that's awesome. I'm going to come to your place, Haley. Okay, so milk. What else? A mug. For me, it's the packet of hot chocolate mix. I don't know what's in that, but it just, it makes hot chocolate. A mug, right? Hot water.

30:55What else do you need? You need to have a spoon. Without that, you know what happens. The mix just floats on top of the water. It, you cannot drink that. It's gross. Hot chocolate can't mix itself. It needs the spoon to stir it up. Years ago, there was a baseball player on the Yankees called Reggie Jackson. He was very, very good, right? He was getting interviewed by a reporter during the World Series, and they were asking him about, you know, his, his influence on the team.

31:34And he said something, he said this, he said, I'm the straw that stirs the drink. And that, he got into a lot of trouble for saying that. People felt like he was elevating himself above the team. But what he was saying is that I come into the team and my, my role here is to get everyone going. It actually was not a bad thing that he said that. Christian, you are the straw that stirs the drink in this place. We are all like the hot chocolate with the mix floating on top.

32:04You all are spoons for each other to stir it up. We settle, we get stagnant. We need to be stirred up to be at our best. And that is what we do for each other. Now, this stirring up is not to be done recklessly. It's not to be done without thought. In fact, it's to be done with careful thought. The command is actually, let us consider how to stir up one another. Another translation could be contemplate. Let us contemplate how to stir up one another. We're supposed to think about each other, their personality, their giftings, their passions. We're supposed to get to know them, right?

32:47How could they serve? How could they help? How could they grow? And we're supposed to think about the setting that we're in. What are the needs that are out there? What is the kingdom of God doing around me? Where is God moving? We're supposed to put those two things together and say to someone, hey, you ever thought about doing this? Or we're supposed to say, boy, I love seeing you do this. Keep at it. That's amazing. That's stirring also. Keep going with what you're doing. Good fruit is happening. And if you don't see it yet, I know that you will. Keep at it.

33:29Stirring up one another in love. A huge part of Nikki and I's adult life has been influenced by one conversation. When we were at Weston Press up in Richmond, this was like two years into our marriage. One of the pastors there is Kevin Green. We knew Kevin when he was helping with InterVarsity at VCU where we went to school. He married us. He knew us both well. And we were chatting with him after church and the church was getting ready to plant the church in Mechanicsville, right? We had heard about it. We'd heard updates about it in church. It was pretty new. And Kevin walked up to the two of us and we were just chatting and he said to us, hey, have you guys ever thought about being a part of that church plant up in Mechanicsville? And we looked at each other and we were like, well, no, but maybe we should. And we went home and prayed about it. And God started doing something.

34:31And we went on that church plant and our lives haven't been the same since. I mean, I stand before you today because of that conversation. A simple conversation from someone who knew us and loved us and saw what the kingdom of God was doing and said, have you ever thought about this? He stirred us up to love and good works. But listen, this is not just the job of a pastor. This is a command to all Christians. I love doing stirring up. It's one of my favorite things to do as a pastor. I walk in the footsteps of my mentor and friend, Kevin Green, but it is for everyone to stir each other up to love and good works. It doesn't take a pastor. It just takes a Christian. It just takes the spirit of God in you. And you can be a spoon stirring up somebody to love and good works. Think carefully about how to provoke others to practice love and good works. And for this mutual stirring to happen, we must ensure that we are not neglecting to meet together. A spoon can't stir up the hot chocolate if it stays in the drawer. It's not going to stir anything. One reason why God calls us to physically be together is so that we can influence each other. Our culture is so very individualistic. If you're practicing biblical Christianity, your individualism, which I guarantee you is in you stronger than you would like to admit or even know, if you're practicing biblical Christianity, your individualism will be challenged. It will. And I hope that God's word wins that battle for the sake of you and the sake of the people around you. Don't neglect the gathering of the church. You need

36:33to be stirred up and other people here need you to stir them up. And finally, the stirring up needs to be with the intention of encouraging one another. The stirring we need, it's not shaming. It's not harshness. It is done in a spirit of encouragement. It's the stirring we need is the kind that speaks of God's calling for our lives and God's grace towards us. To use us, even if we feel weak. You put those two things together and that's biblical encouragement.

37:11The stirring each other up. It's reminding each other of the since we truths of this passage and the let us response of this passage. Let's do this for each other. Let's do it all the more as we see the day drawing near. Because have you ever thought about this? Every day that dawns, you're one day closer to Jesus' return. Every day that passes. One day closer. One day nearer to his promises being fully and completely fulfilled for you. Christ has opened a new and living way to God by his blood. Let's wait for his return by drawing near, by holding fast and by stirring one another up.