And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter
heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and
life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who
rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with
sincere hearts fully trusting him. For
our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us
clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the
hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another
to acts of love and good works. And let
us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one
another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10: 19-25(NLT)
Thomas Merton wrote: We
are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope.[2] Fr. Merton points us to the reality
(according to Matthew’s Gospel[3]) that Jesus Christ, the
hope of the world, is our hope only when he’s our only hope.
There is a phrase in our text that evokes a picture. That phrase is through the curtain. The sky was clear the morning they led Jesus
through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha, but it didn’t stay clear! Near mid-day the sky went dark; three hours
later it was still dark when Jesus breathed his last agonizing words: it is finished.
At that moment the earth began to shake like a bad California
day. Matthew[4]
tells us the earthquake was so violent huge rocks were split in two. Tombs were opened when this happened; corpses
were raised and they were seen walking in the cities nearby.
Notice what else happened:
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in
two, from top to bottom. Matthew 27:51a(NRSVA)
This is the curtain Paul mentioned when he wrote to the Hebrews of
how Jesus made a way for us to enter God’s presence. The curtain was a separation in the Old
Testament temple. It separated everyone
from the holy presence of God. The
reason for the veil was sin; that veil separated the place of God from the
place where man stood. The veil
represented the darkness of having no hope to approach God. Sin takes our hope away, because it separates
us from God, which makes life unbearable.
Author Lee Stroebel talks about hoping for success in explaining
Easter. He tells how his brother-in-law
tried to do that with his 5-year-old son Sean.
They were sitting in church on Easter, and just before the service
began, my brother-in-law pointed to the cross and said, See the cross? The people put Jesus on the cross. The people
killed Jesus. Sean looked around
very nervously, then asked cautiously: These
people?[5]
That is always the reaction; we are astonished that we have the
capability to put God to death – yet the very presence of the curtain said so! And when that curtain was torn in two it was
because the sacrifice of blood on the cross was final; it was a victory over
sin and death.
Our text tells us to do three things in light of that veil being
torn down…
1. Enter god’s presence
Entering God’s
presence is possible because when Jesus died for our sins, he
proved the truth of what he said in His teachings: for God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotten son.…[6]
I don’t have to be
encouraged to draw near to the ones I love.
Sometimes I need a reminder, because I get distracted doing things. But the normal thing to do when you love someone
is to hang-out together.
The how of hanging-out
with Jesus is found in the word trusting. We have been cleansed by His blood, so we can
draw near to God, trusting, in full confidence that our faith has brought us
into God’s Forever Family!
Why should we do that? His
sacrifice makes our salvation certain.
To be saved is the most important reality in life. We live on this planet for less than 100
years in most cases…150 would be astounding.
Eternity is a lot longer than that!
The conclusion here is simple; if our lifespan is relatively
short, and eternity is really long, you should do what you need to prepare for
the long run. Draw near to God…join with
His household…be adopted into the family.
The second command is to hold fast to the faith.
2. Hold Fast to God’s Faith
Paul says: Let
us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm
One of the reasons true Kingdom families hold together better is
that we were designed to be people of faith.
The how of holding fast to our “confession of hope” is without
wavering.
It is certainly easy to get
sidetracked these days. I see it every
year when the Nominating Committee attempts to enlist people to serve. Holding fast to God’s faith has more to do
than just being convinced in your mind that Jesus saves, saying a little prayer
and then living like you used to; it has to do with serving consistently.
Every believer who draws near to God’s house should hold fast to
the faith with serving God. The why
of this is found in what Paul said about the promises of Jesus – they’re
faithful; they always come true.
Jesus promised rewards to His followers who serve Him faithfully –
it is a true promise! He also promised
chastening (the woodshed) for those who are less than faithful servants; that
is no less a true promise.
First draw close to God, then hold fast to God’s faith, and
lastly…
3. Plan to Make an Impact on God’s World
Paul said we should:
…think of
ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
That’s making a plan for impacting each other and the world.
In addition Paul gave us the how to do that in two simple
ways that you will recognize; he said we should continue with God’s plans by
meeting together and by encouraging each other.
This is walking it and talking
it!
I am only vaguely aware of how God fits everything together. But, often looking back we see more
clearly. I was searching through some
old papers and came across a note from Sarah.
Sarah was our youngest daughter, Carrie’s friend when we served a church
in Jacksonville, Florida. She rode our
van to church each week even though her parents never came. I had the privilege of baptizing Sarah.
One Sunday little Sarah came to me with a two-fold request. She wanted me to pray for her uncle and his
wife; that was no problem! But she also
wanted me to go see them to baptize their baby.
When I met Sarah’s uncle and his wife it was clear they had very
little church background. What they had
was worried hearts over a very sick, premature baby in an incubator. They wanted me to baptize their baby; the
doctors said he was going to die within a day or so. My heart went out to them. As a Baptist pastor I couldn’t baptize this
infant, but I offered to pray for him with everything I had.
I was fearful of the trust that couple placed in me as they asked
me to talk to God for their son. I told
them the little kitten-sized child was in God’s hand. I held their hands and we prayed.
That was in 1990. Five
years later Sarah wrote me this note:
…I still remember
the day you prayed for Scott (my cousin) and gave his parents faith and helped
them believe. On the 28th of
this month he turns 5 year[s] old. Today
is his party. Thank you for giving me
the faith and hope. Thank you, Sarah.
Sarah remembered that day as a time when her pastor gave her hope. To be completely honest, at the time my main
thought was frustration over a 10 year-old putting me in an awkward situation
about baptizing a baby. I’d never even
laid eyes on his parents. I went because
I was her pastor and she asked. But I
went mostly because I couldn’t deny Sarah’s pleading eyes.
Looking back, I know, (and Sarah also probably knows) it was God
who gave her faith and hope. In the end,
God used a pastor doing his job to build faith and hope in a little girl. And God used a 10 year-old kid’s faith to
spur a forty-something, Christian pastor into good works. Sarah impacted my life with her faith, and my
faith was strengthened because of her impact.
Our hope is all about
drawing near to God, holding fast His gift of faith, and making plans to impact
each other for good…that brings the good
medicine of hope to the soul!
I believe God has given us a few questions through this text, and
He wants us to wrestle with them until there is an answer formed in each of our
minds about what it means to truly go through the veil…to truly come right up
alongside the throne of God, holding faith without wavering, and in so-doing,
encourage each other to good works.
Those questions:
· Have I truly entered God’s Sanctuary…Am I saved?
· Am I truly holding fast…is serving through my church a priority in
my life?
· Am I impacting the lives of others for Jesus Christ?
You wrestle with those
this week, beloved!
In the name of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Go to VIDEO
[4] Matthew 27:50-55
[5] Lee Strobel in "Jesus is Alive -- True or False?" a
sermon on SermonCentral.com
[6] John 3:16
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