Sermon Manuscripts
How to Approach God
a sermon in the series,
Hebrews: An Epistle of Encouragement
A sermon delivered
Sunday Morning, July 29, 2001
at Oak Grove Baptist Church, Paducah, Ky.
by S. Michael Durham
© 2001 Real Truth Matters
Hebrews 10:19-25
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
It’s fascinating to watch an artisan at work. I especially enjoy watching master woodcarvers. What talent to take a chunk of wood and turn it into a figure that looks so life like. I’ve seen men who carve wooden duck decoys and after they finish painting them, you could barely distinguish them from a real duck. The magic that it is in the artist’s hands.
The more I study the book of Hebrews the more I am impressed with the author’s artistry. As we study through this book, we are watching the creation of a masterpiece unfold before our eyes. Like a great sculptor, the writer chips away layer after layer until the image of Christ in its pristine beauty is seen. How thankful I am for this book, and how it has caused me to see the Christ of heaven more ably.
The blessed author has laid out the great and lofty truth in the first nine and half chapters of this book. He has made a beeline to doctrine so that he may establish the foundation of his encouraging message. You see, he was writing to encourage a weary people. Weary from persecution, privation and poverty, these folks needed hope. What firmer foundation can hope have than truth that is rooted in Christ? Therefore, from the end of chapter four through our text today of 10:19-25, Hebrews’ author has laid out the greatest doctrinal treatise on the priesthood and work of Jesus. Prior to that, in chapters one through three, he established the superiority of Christ. But why all of this attention to doctrine? If one needs encouraging doesn’t it make sense to be more personal and deal with the specific issues that the discouraged party is facing? You would think so.
But the writer realizes that for the Christian there can be no encouragement without an anchor. When the howling winds of adversity blow fiercely against your tiny ship, you need an anchor. Without an anchor your vessel is thrown off course and driven wherever the wind dictates. Ah, how often have I seen good folk blown off course and drift out into waters where a Christian has no business sailing. But if you have truth as your anchor, and you have set the anchor deep, then you can survive. The winds will still come and you will still feel their might, but you will not be blown off course or destroyed.
The anchor holds
Though the ship is battered
The anchor holds
Though the sails are torn
I have fallen on my knees
As I faced the raging seas
The anchor holds
In spite of the storm
---Ray Boltz
Like a master painter, our author has painted a picture for us in this book. When we were in New Orleans there was a Thomas Kincaid gallery that we visited one afternoon. One of the paintings that most fascinated me was a lone ship upon a distressing sea. The name of the ship was Faith. Faith is that which will keep you afloat. But faith always has an anchor and the anchor is Christ. This Spirit-inspired book has given us the anchor of our soul. The author of this book has given us an in-depth look at our Savior in a perspective that had never been explored by any other New Testament writer. Some of you may have labored through these chapters and thought they were much too heavy for you to carry. But oh, the heavier the anchor the better! You may have found nothing attractive about the anchor, but anchors are not known for their beauty but for their strength.
I pity the poor fools who think studying doctrine and theology is a waste of time. They discover no beauty in truth and are always in pursuit of a feeling. But without truth there is no true joy, because it is the truth about Christ and His finished work that is the source of joy. It is doctrine that the promises of God are built upon. It is doctrine that provides the practical. Without doctrine you have no bearing or knowledge on how to live for Christ. Good doctrine will always promote good living. We must never tire of studying God’s word for it is “given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore, the writer of Hebrews has put forth the doctrine that will now fuel the practical section of the remainder of the book.
Verses nineteen through twenty-one are a restatement of the main ideas our author has expressed from chapters four until now. It is a summary, if you please, of the main arguments concerning Jesus’ priesthood.
First, we can enter with confidence into the very presence of God because of the blood sacrifice of Christ. He is the veil that has been rent in two and is the door leading to the Father. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Second, this way to God is new because it is the way of a New Covenant. It is a way of grace contrasted with the way of works in the Old Covenant.
Third, we have a great high priest that is over the house of God whose house we are. We are part of a family where our elder brother serves as our mediator.
To the Jewish Christians these three arguments would have been conclusive that Jesus was superior to any covenant or system of worship they had previously known. As a result, the writer of Hebrews now turns his attention to our practical response to these truths, “Ok, Jesus is High Priest; so what am I to do with that information?” This is a question the writer wants to address.
Three things are expected of us in light of these three facts about Jesus. All three responses are prefaced with the words, “let us.”
One, we are to boldly draw near to God.
Two, we are to keep our faith without wavering.
Three, we are to consider others and motivate them to keep their faith without wavering.
Today we will only deal with the first “let us,” which is to boldly draw near to God. The way we are to approach God, as our Father, has already been determined because of Jesus and His Priestly and sacrificial roles. How are we to approach our God? Some advocate a misconceived idea of humility that is really nothing more than timidity. Others preach a manner that is nothing less than arrogant. While even others state we ought to approach God in fear and trembling. So let us find from our text the properly determined way to approach the Lord God.
BECAUSE OF CHRIST OUR APPROACH TO GOD IS TO BE CONFIDENT
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22).
Our manner of approaching God the Father is to be a bold deliberateness. The writer says in verse nineteen, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”No timidity! No fearful doubting! We are to come to the throne of God with the ease of a child approaching a beloved father. Often a small child will approach his or her father for no other reason than just to be able to recline in daddy’s lap. No pretense and no questions of whether their father will pick them up. It appears that they come closer to demanding it rather than asking. Their little hearts do not quiver with fright wondering if their father will rebuke them for doing so. Oh no, they come expectantly.
This should be our approach as well. We are commanded to come with the utmost confidence that our Father also will pick us up and seat us in His loving lap. To approach the Lord in any other manner does not honor Him nor does it testify to the sufficiency of Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice.
Let me explain. First, God desires our company.
It is the very heart and delight of God that we keep company with Him. As a father, He too enjoys His children. He is often amused, just like I am as I watch my Victoria do the things that toddlers do. The silly grins, the very wet kisses, the overturned giggle boxes. Oh, how these things bring much pleasure to my heart. Don’t you think we often amuse our Heavenly Father as we are trying to discover His world? I am not talking about sin but about our truly innocent tries at being more mature than we really are. I am talking about our learning to walk in the Spirit. We, like a child learning to walk, teeter and totter and fall. How silly we sometimes have to appear to Him.
And then there is Zephaniah chapter three verse seventeen that tells us that the Lord delights in His children.
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee [is] mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).
How often our children do things that bring us displeasure, but they are still our children and we rejoice over them. Here we are told that our Heavenly Father rejoices over us. He sings over me a song that tells of His love for me. Don’t be afraid of your Father. May the Holy Spirit help to change your mind and view of God if it is any different from what I am presenting from God’s Word. This is what He is saying about us, He enjoys us.
Hear me, God enjoys you and enjoys your fellowship. He is not like absentee dads today. A father that chooses to leave his family is a man that does not love his family nor care for their presence. He abandons them to pursue the things that bring him pleasure. But not our Father. Oh no! He is as the father of the prodigal son who so missed his wild and wayward boy. Each and every day his heart ached for his son as he stood on the front porch looking down the road to see if perhaps his boy was returning. Nothing could ease the hurt of his heart. The songbirds in the garden could not comfort him. Luxurious meals could not refresh his spirits. His prosperity and increasing wealth could not assuage the agony. Nothing, but to see his lost boy come down that dusty Palestine road. And when at last one day he saw the silhouette of a lone traveler and the gait of his step, reminding him of his son, what rising of hope in his heart. But positive identification could not be made for the distance was too far; therefore he leaped off the porch, clenched his long robe and gathered it up in his hands around his thighs. He ran to find out if this was what he had waited for. He could not wait. And when they embraced the father could not keep from clutching the soiled, swine-smelling son. Oh, how he held on to him as if he would never let him go again.
Know this, you wayward believer or you who have been avoiding the Father of lights, He misses you and longs for your return. Come home where you will not be ashamed. Come home to your Father who waits for you. Our God desires our company.
Second, God is glorified when we desire His company.
How my heart is greatly touched as my sons, who are quickly becoming young men, desire my company and just want to be alone with dad. What a powerful joy reverberates in my heart as the bells of happiness are rung by my children. And, oh, how my children know how to ring them.
Our approaching our Heavenly Father without confidence and with timidity is dishonoring to Him. Again take any of your children. How would you feel if your child avoided you when they were in your presence and acted very nervous? Why, I am sure it would break your heart. You would plead with your dear little one that daddy or mommy loved them and they had nothing to be afraid of. If others witnessed this they would naturally think that you had wounded the child’s spirit and had abused the child in some way. How then are others to think of our Father if we speak of Him and approach Him in the same manner? Therefore, God can be either glorified or not by the manner and frequency with which we approach Him.
I don’t think I am doing injustice to the passage to suggest that frequency is involved with our coming to God. I dare to say that once arriving at the royal and regal seat of God we should never turn and stray. It should be our home. We should feel at home there. But again using the illustration of children, I think our attentions can be easily diverted and we run off pursuing these other distractions. Little Victoria will come to me and reach up her arms indicating that she wants me to hold her. But she can be in my lap only a few moments when something will get her attention and she is hurriedly shimmying down my legs in order to gain whatever has captivated her. Truly, as John Piper has said, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Do you desire to glorify your Father? If you are truly a son or daughter you do. And if so, then desire Him and His presence, and you will show forth to others that there is no more valuable prize than God Himself.
Oh, God is glorified when we desire His company!
It is so heart wrenching to watch and hear some Christians who are so afraid of how they approach God that the truth is they are actually timid. But if you are afraid that God will not accept you or that He may inflict some pain by your coming, you do show dishonor to the Lord’s death by which we have access. You show dishonor to God’s character by portraying Him to others as an abusive Father. Some literally believe the closer they become with God the more He is going to require or the more difficult their way will be. Thus, they fear getting close to God. Others approach our Father of love rigidly, trying to dot every “i” and cross every “t”. You would think they were approaching a policeman rather than their loving Father. The safest place is by His side. Come boldly! Come confidently! Come quickly!
But there is another approach that is equally flawed and dishonoring to God, and that is coming arrogantly. Many mistake boldness to mean flippant or haphazard. To come disrespectfully before God and say it is being bold is as wrong as coming timidly.
Word of Faith movement teacher Kenneth Copeland has written and publicly taught that he is like God. He would not admit that he is claiming to be God, but he came close to saying so when he stated, “When I read in the Bible where He says I AM, I just smile and say, 'Yes, I AM too.'"
He has also said, “Every Christian is a god . . . You don't have a God in you; you are one.”
Popular TV personality Benny Hinn is quoted as saying,
When you say 'I am saved,' what are you saying? You are saying I am a Christian. What does that word mean? Means that I am anointed. Do you know what anointed means? It means Christ. When you say I am a Christian, you are saying...I am a little messiah walking on the earth in other words. That's a shocking revelation...His spirit and our spirit man are one. United. There is no separation, it is impossible. The new creation is created after God in righteousness and true holiness. The new man is after God, like God, God-like, complete in Christ Jesus, the new creation is just like God. May I say it like this, you are a little god on earth running around (Benny Hinn, "Praise-a-thon" TBN, recorded November, 1990).
It is men like these who advocate a boldness that is actually blasphemous. They teach that we have a right to demand from God whatsoever we want. They preach that God likes such boldness. The audacity to think we are on the same par and plane as the Lord God Almighty is a presumption and profanity of the highest order. We dare not think boldness means that we can waltz into the presence of God, in the Holiest of All, and kick up our feet and chum with God. Respect and a holy awe of God must be maintained. This verse is not meaning we can approach God with a pride that thinks we are equal with God. So what does it mean to boldly draw near to God?
First, the author tells us it means to approach God with “a true or sincere heart.” We are to come to our Lord with no duplicity or hypocrisy. Why the Lord knows what we will ask before we know. He knows our hearts better than we do. It is impossible to fool Him or conceal anything from Him. But a better question is how do we ever draw near to God with anything but an impure and insincere heart? Jeremiah said that the human heart “is deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). The truth of the matter is our hearts are so deceitful with us that we cannot always be sure that we are as sincere as we think. Then how can we ever confidently draw near to God?
Hebrews has already supplied the answer. Look at Hebrews chapter ten and verse fourteen,
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14).
Our hearts have already been changed by the promise of the New Covenant. Now read Hebrews ten and verse sixteen.
This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them (Hebrews 10:16).
God has given us a new heart that is motivated to love and obey Him. A heart that hungers and thirsts after Him as the deer pants after refreshing streams of water. Therefore, our text is saying that because of Christ’s work of redemption we can now come to God in sincerity.
Notice also that the author says to draw near with a true heart, not mind. Oh, the power of the mind! It is with the intellect that we perceive and understand the truth of God. Earlier in my message I spoke concerning the importance of truth. Doctrine has no value to you unless you know it and understand it. How can you practice right doctrine if you cannot comprehend it or don’t know what it says? Our author, as we said earlier, has spent a great deal of time in this book giving truth and appealing to our minds with it. But the mind was not the ultimate goal he had in view. No, the ultimate goal of truth is the heart.
What is the heart? It is not referring to the pumping organ that beats even now in your chest. Heart here means that part of our being that is the seat of the desires, affections and will. In other words, God wants the very depth of our being. He wants the part that produces the fire in us. Let a man’s heart get involved and he will then do something. I read this week that many of the great things that have been accomplished in the world have not been the result of great intelligence and abilities but of energy. Give me any day a man with energy, or heart, over a man with intelligence. When passion gets involved, get out of the way, because the man is committed.
With how many of us does God have just our minds? I ask my friends who fill pulpits as I do, “does God have your heart as much as He has your mind?” It can be a whole lot easier to study than pray. One can labor for God, without God having one’s heart. God wants us to love Him supremely and desire Him above all other pursuits more than He wants our brains loaded with knowledge. Christ maintained this principle that you can have great understanding of God and even perform acts that would be considered worship, but without heart, it is unacceptable. In Matthew chapter fifteen and verse eight Jesus said, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with [their] lips; but their heart is far from me.”It’s the heart God is after!
Can you say with David, “I will praise [thee], O LORD, with my whole heart”(Psalms 9:1)?
Want the blessings of God? Then obey and seek Him with your whole heart. Blessed [are] they that keep his testimonies, [and that] seek him with the whole heart (Psalms 119:2).
We can conclude that drawing near to God with boldness does not mean some arrogant irreverence but a heart eaten up with passion and love for God. Do you long for Him? Do you desire Christ more than you do your favorite pastime? To come boldly is to come fervently. It is to come enthusiastically. It is to come with heart ablaze with adoring love. Ah, “perfect love casteth out fear.” We are to fear God with what is called a “holy fear” but that does not mean we approach Him with timidity, but with the zeal of God eating up our heart.
Second, Paul says to come confidently to God means to come in “full assurance of faith.”
How can you come boldly if you are full of doubt as to whether God will accept you? Assurance of faith is extremely important in our ability to come with boldness. This is the second time the author has used this exact wording “full assurance” in the book of Hebrews. The other time is in Hebrews chapter six and verse eleven,
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end (Hebrews 6:11).
The writer is desirous that his audience enjoy the full benefits of our Lord’s work on Calvary. Some believe that a Christian can go their entire lives without having any degree of assurance. I find no scriptural warrant for this statement. To the contrary I find we are to have not just assurance but “full assurance.” This is not a suggestion but a command. A soldier has not obeyed his commanding officer if he partly obeys his command. Partial obedience is no obedience. It is not honorable to come to God and doubt His Word. He has stated simply, “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:15). That is His Word. We accept checks from men on nothing more than their word. Their signature is nothing but their word to fulfill the amount upon the cashing of the check. Shall we not take God at His Word? If you have believed with the heart, you are saved! It is that simple. Dear believer, if you have believed but now doubt as to whether or not you are His, you dishonor the truthfulness of God. Some boast of their doubts as if it is great humility. It is great pride and it is a discredit to God!
Hebrews’ author will go on in the next chapter and tell us that without faith it is impossible to please the Lord. God cannot delight in us when we refuse to believe in Him. But one may challenge me this morning and say, “I do not want to think I am saved if I am not. There are so many who claim to be Christians and are not.” My dear friend, the antidote to these hypocrites’ presumption is not doubt but genuine faith. And where does faith come from? It comes from hearing the Word of God. What does the word say of any who has ever put all their trust in the Lord’s death for sin as their own? Does it not say, “Believe upon the Lord and thou wilt be saved?” Yes, oh yes, it does. Happily, I confess to you that if you take God at His word, faith will rise in your heart. It may not be attended with great feeling or dramatic flare. But faith is to have eyes on Christ and not feeling or flare. Look to Christ and believe upon Him according to the testimony of an irrefutable record, the Bible.
A brave and gallant warrior is one who with all his heart believes in the cause. It is his faith in the mission that will swell his heart with bravery, and heroic deeds will be his to do. He, because of belief, can willingly lay down his life in the service of the cause. It is those who are of “full assurance” that are the ones of God’s army who will rise above mediocrity and do great exploits for their God. Who did the prophet Daniel say would be strong and do great exploits? He said those “who know their God.” It is the ones who are confident in their knowing. But the knowing is personal, for Daniel did not say, “know God,” but he said “know their God.” Throw off your doubts for they are the flaming arrows of Satan. Withdraw them from your heart by believing God’s promises. To doubt God’s truth is to first believe the devil’s lies. Get out of your misery today and become a valiant warrior for Christ.
But again you object and ask me, “But how can I be sure” when I see so much evil in all my ways?” This leads me to my final heading, which is the reason why we can come boldly.
BECAUSE OF CHRIST OUR APPROACH IS TO BE CLEAN
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22).
For those of you for whom your own corruption and evil plagues your assurance of salvation, let this phrase be your consolation, “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
We are clean not by our merit. This is the good news of the New Covenant. We are clean by a substitute. In Hebrews chapter nine and verses thirteen and fourteen it says,
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13)
Our conscience has already been washed that we may now enter the presence of our King and Master. We may approach His holy throne without fear of reprisal because of the blood of Christ. The glorious and all-powerful sacrifice of Christ has forever justified us, and we can approach our God with a clean heart.
Listen to the words of verses seventeen and eighteen of the chapter ten.
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more: Now where remission of these [is, there is] no more offering for sin (Hebrews 10:17-18).
God sees not one stain of our evilness, and all our sins and iniquities He refuses to lay at our feet. He cannot lay them at our feet and He cannot put the blame of our hands upon us. Why? Because upon the hands of Christ He required their penalty; at the feet of our Sin-Substitute He laid our sins. He pinned Jesus’ hands and feet to the tree of offense and by His death we are washed in the blood of the Lamb and made clean.
Can the conscience ever accuse us? May it still condemn us? Oh, yes indeed. John said so much when he wrote, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” (1 John 3:20). But perhaps the question ought to be can a Christian’s heart ever become polluted or deceitful? Yes, it can. But the truth that Hebrews has been teaching is that our standing with God is never compromised because of our transgressions as believers. The death of our Sacrifice is complete and ultimate. He did not die for some but all of our sins.
But do not think for a moment that sin is of no consequence in the believer. For when we sin our conscience is attacked, and it will cry out against us. It is here that full assurance will wane and slip away from us if we do not do what must quickly be done. We must immediately repent and confess that sin and claim the blood of Christ as the only solvent that can cleanse the conscience from the foul stain of sin.
Let me again borrow an illustration from the sea. When the waves of our consciences tear against the side of our ship, we sense the danger of capsizing and being lost at sea. Tidal waves of guilt beat down upon us and threaten to break our tiny ship in two. Our heart’s storm condemns us. It is the “perfect storm.” It is the very storm that can plunge us to the bottom of the Ocean of Despair. Satan will agitate the conscience with the torrential wind of accusation. It is then we must hurriedly raise up the mast the bloodstained banner of Christ. We must fly the color of red and sail under its protection. When Satan sees the flag under whose authority we sail, he must cease his howling. When our heart sees the bloody flag waving, it must be calmed.
What then is the answer to our conscience and our accuser? Why it is nothing more than by faith appropriating the cleansing and merit of Christ’s blood. This is it and nothing more. When you sin, quickly confess that sin to God and say, “My wickedness is ever before me, but I claim my Lord’s blood and I know by His righteousness I am also righteous.” Throw away any thought of restitution to God. Avoid a lying spirit that would cause you to focus on your own work and not Christ’s work. Jesus, and He alone, is our confidence and assurance.
Each time we approach the throne of God we are to be clean. And we are clean as we, by faith and assurance, rest in the completed work of our Savior. This is the glorious news of this whole book. Before the Jewish Christians were believers, they did not hear or know of anything about coming into the presence of God. All that the Jewish synagogues had taught them was “stay away!” Don’t dare come into the presence of God. All the rituals of the temple shouted at them “Do not approach God!” No one even so much as dared to look beyond the veil that separated the Holy Place of sacrifice from the Holy of Holiest where the presence of God was to dwell.
But now through the High Priesthood of Jesus and by His once and for all offering of His own body for sin, they and every one that believes can come to God, but not just come. They are to come boldly. The cry of the blood sacrifice is come. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” ( John 7:37). “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
There is a full and free salvation offered to you today if you will only trust and treasure Christ and His finished work of dying for sinners. Lay hold of what He has done and confidently claim it as your own. Cling to it and never part with it. You can have a full assurance of life everlasting.
To the child of God whose ship is sinking in condemnation and you have lost full assurance of salvation, I wish to give a final word. When assurance is little do not try to bolster it up with the works of your hands. Do not try to keep the ship upright by your own strength. This is why you are drowning in despair now. What is in you that you should stand where others have fallen? Oh no, my precious friend, it is not in you but in your Jesus. Your Father so misses your fellowship. Come back home where you belong. Don’t come timidly. Exercise the blood of Christ and come running back to Father. You should not and must not doubt His Word. When I rest alone upon the finished work and righteousness of Jesus, and believe it is finished, then I can sing, “Now unto him who is able to keep me from falling, and to present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, be glory, majesty, dominion and power, for ever and ever.” Amen. |
