Why Did You Come to Church this Morning?

Hebrews 10:19-25

Why did you come to church this morning?

Perhaps you came here because thats the thing to do on Sunday morning.

Perhaps you came because you really like the music.

Perhaps you came because you knew that a certain attractive someone of the opposite sex
would be here.

Perhaps you came because you wanted to hear some preaching.

Perhaps you came because you thought this service would help you worship God.

Why did you come to church this morning?

Some of those reasons are better than others. But I suggest this morning that if those are the only
reasons you came you are misunderstanding an important aspect of this time together. You are
failing to put into practice an absolutely vital biblical command.

Let me put that positively: Any congregation that improves in following this biblical command
will have greater joy, closer fellowship, greater spiritual growth and will bring more glory to
God.

What is this vital biblical command?

Lets read the passage, and see if you can pick out the command Im referring to: Ill be reading
from my own translation of these verses.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence of an entrance into the holy places by the blood of
Jesus, 20 by the new and living entrance that he opened for us through the curtain, that is,
through the agency of his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, because our hearts have been sprinkled
clean from a guilty conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold
fast the unwavering confession of our hope, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us
consider one another carefully, how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging, exhorting, and comforting
one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:19-25

Notice the structure of the verses: Verses 19 and 21 contain the word since. These verses give
reasons, grounds on which the author bases the upcoming commands. Verses 22, 23, and 24 all
contain the words let us. Here the author provides us with three actions to perform because of
the reasons given in the earlier verses. Lets summarize these reasons and actions:

Since we have confidence of an entrance into Gods presence, and

Since we have a great High Priest, Jesus

Let us draw near

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope

Let us consider one another carefully

Which do you think is the vital biblical command I referred to? Im not going to say yet; well
come back to it. Well go through the verses quickly, and come back to this question.

First, the two foundations, which explain why the three commands, are logical. These two
foundations draw on the earlier themes of the book. Lets consider them one by one:

Since we have confidence of an entrance into Gods presence

Hold it! Why should I have confidence that I can go into the very presence of God?

I can think of many reasons why I should not be confident: Who is God? Who am I? How can I
be confident of an entrance?

Remember Esther? She wasnt even confident on an entrance to an earthly king her own
husband! If he hadnt held out the golden scepter to her, she would have been done for! So how
can I, a sinful human being, be confident to enter into the presence of someone much greater
than the King of Persia - the perfect, holy God Himself?

The author gives us the reason: Jesus opened that entrance for us through the agency of His
blood. Back in chapter 9, the author refers to the blood of Jesus 12 times. Here are a few
examples:

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:22

13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of
a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. Hebrews 9:13-14

Jesus blood purifies our consciences. Jesus blood enables us to serve God. So we have entrance
to the presence of God! We are sinful, but we are purified! Forgiven!
Thats one basis for the three upcoming commands. Heres the second:

Since we have a great High Priest, Jesus

What does a priest do? A priest makes intercession for the people: He goes to God on behalf of
the people, and offers sacrifices for them.

In chapter 2, the author explains what Jesus does as a priest on our behalf:

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the
people. Hebrews 2:17

Jesus is a merciful and faithful High Priest, and what does He do? He makes propitiation to
appease Gods wrath. Thats not a word we use every day, but the idea is straightforward. God
hates sin. As the moral ruler of the universe and the judge of all, He must punish all evil. He
must exhibit His wrath against sin. But God sent His Son Jesus to make propitiation for the sins
of the people to pay the penalty for our sins, turning Gods wrath away from us.

So, though there are many reasons why we cant enter Gods presence, though we are all guilty
of many sins, Jesus opened the way, taking Gods punishment for sin on himself. Chapter 7:25-
26 explains more:

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since
he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have
such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the
heavens. Hebrews 7:25-26

Thats the priest we have: Merciful. Faithful. He saves to the uttermost. He always makes
intercession for us. He turns away Gods wrath.

Now, lets move to the commands. We have our two foundations here: Since we have entrance to
Gods presence, and since we have such a High Priest:

Let us draw near!

Here is our first command:

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, because our hearts have been
sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

See how this builds on what comes before? We alone could never do this!

Suppose that the Super Bowl was being held at Ericsson Stadium (where the Carolina Panthers
play but this will fit at any Pro football stadium.) You would love to go, wouldnt you? What do
you need in order to get in? You need a ticket! If you dont have a ticket, theres nothing you can
do you can stand outside the stadium and look sad and plead with the ticket takers at the
entrance, but unless you have a ticket, you wont get in. But, imagine you do have a ticket.
Youre standing outside the stadium, ticket in hand, and your friend walks up and says, Lets go
in! Lets go see the Super Bowl! What are you going to say? Would you say, Nah, Id rather
stand out here on Trade St. Maybe Ill go pass some time sitting in the Greyhound station.

That would be ridiculous, wouldnt it? You have the ticket! You have entrance into an exciting
event! So you will go in!

How much more into presence of God! Before, our way was blocked by sin. We had no access to
God. But now, Jesus has made a new and living way to enter into the presence of the living God
a new way into something much better than the Super Bowl!

Think about this some more. What does the author mean by drawing near? What kind of
drawing near is he talking about? Is he, perhaps, talking about coming into Gods presence by
coming to church? Or praying?

No. We know that God is ever present, in every place. Thus, this isnt talking about physically
going somewhere. Rather, as the author says, we are to draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith. We are to have a God ward orientation. Drawing near to God is directing
our heart to the wonder of Gods presence. As the Psalmist says:

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Psalm
42:2

The answer? Its given to us right there in verses 5 and 6:

I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

I come and appear before God whenever I praise Him. So you too can draw near to God by
seeing Him for Who He is, and praising Him in response. You can do that right now, while Im
preaching. But you dont have to be in church to do this. Praise God while driving in the car.
Praise God while eating dinner. Praise God while taking a shower. Indeed, 1 Corinthians 10:31
says: Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

That is how we are to draw near. We dont draw near as those who are self-assured, confident in
our own righteousness, but as those who are Christ-assured, confident in the sufficiency of the
shed blood of Jesus. Whatever we have done, his blood is sufficient to open the way to God.

In your visitors packet, you include a pamphlet entitled Things you can expect from New
Beginnings. I particularly like the ninth expectation:

#9: A Place where a person can start over in life and in Christ, irrespective of what he/she has
done in the past.
Indeed. Any true church should be a place where we know forgiveness, where our hearts are
cleansed, and God forgiveness becomes our forgiveness of each other.

We have our new and living entrance opened to God. If you belong to Him, you have the ticket.
So draw near!

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope!

The second command tells us to hold fast the unwavering confession of our hope, for He who
promised is faithful.

Are you tempted to waver? Are you tempted to lose hope? What do you do when you face such
temptations?

Look at our text here: He promised! If we are tempted to waver, we are to look to the promises
of God.

Recall some of these promises:

I will never leave you or forsake you

A broken and contrite heart, you will not despise

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there
be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore

Paul said at the end of his life, I have fought the good fight.

What fight was he referring to? The fight to believe! The fight to believe in all of Gods promises
even when everyone around you is telling you it is foolish to believe.

So hold on to Gods promises! Hope in Him! Trust Him!

So, we have looked at two of our three commands: Let us draw near, and let us hold fast to our
hope. Finally:

Let us consider one another carefully

And let us consider one another carefully, how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging, exhorting, and
comforting one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Does this command surprise you? Look again at the list of things we have just examined:

We have confidence of an entrance to God!

 We have a great priest!

So let us draw near!

Let us hold fast to our hope!

What might you expect to come next? It would seem logical for the author to say, Let us do
good works!

But this is not what he says. Instead, we are told: let us consider one another.

How many people go to church considering one another? Most people, on going to church, are
thinking: What am I going to get out of this service? Their focus is on themselves. They think,
This church thing is all about me and Jesus, me and Jesus! I come here, sing songs to Jesus, and
relate to that pastor up there.

Think now: At many churches, when the sermon ends, when the music stops, what do people do?
They walk out! They dont even say anything to anybody else! Or, if they say something, they
just talk about how many games the Panthers are going to lose next season.

Let me ask you this: What name should we give to you all sitting out there?

What are you? Are you an audience?

If you go to a concert, youre an audience. In an audience, you dont care who else is there. You
go because you want to see the performance up front. Once its over, you dont even notice the
other people who are there, except to wish they would get out of your way so you can get home.
You dont speak to anyone else; you just honk your horn at them in traffic.

But this is not a concert. This is not a performance. No, you are not an audience.

What should we call you? New Life FGB Church, here on Sunday morning, is not an audience,
but rather a congregation! Gods people gathered!

Now, am I communicating to you? I certainly hope so. I hope you are listening to me carefully
and letting the Word of God have its mighty effect on you. You should benefit from the service,
from the preaching. But there is much more going on here this morning! You should also be
communicating one to another! You need each other. There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger
Christian.

So what does all this mean? What are we supposed to do? The author gives us three ways to
obey this command. Look at the remaining verses:

Spur one another on to love and good works

Not neglecting to meet together

 Encouraging one another

Consider the last phrase: Encouraging one another.

The Greek word is one of the most important in the New Testament: parakaleo. This word has a
broad range of meaning, including exhort, encourage, and comfort.

Thus we are to come here thinking, What might I be able to do for others at the service today? I
know George lost his mother this week. He needs comfort maybe just a firm arm around his
shoulders. Then theres John I know hes not walking with the Lord these days. He needs a
good kick in the behind! And what about Joe? Hes doing very well. I should just encourage him
to keep on doing what hes doing.

Thats what you should be doing before you come. Not only on Sunday morning, but it should
happen on Sunday morning.

Recall at the beginning, I said: Any congregation that improves in following this biblical
command will have greater joy, closer fellowship, greater spiritual growth and will bring more
glory to God.

So which command was I referring to? Consider one another carefully, how to stir up one
another to love and good works. When you are considering one another, when you are
comforting one another, when you are exhorting and encouraging one another, you will grow in
joy and fellowship, glorifying God in the process.

But really, all three commands lead to these outcomes, for all three go together. Part of
considering each other is helping all to draw near; helping all to hold fast to the confession of our
hope, to believe Gods promises; Part of considering each other is spurring all on to love and
good works, encouraging, comforting, exhorting. Oh, I pray this for Desiring God Community
Church and New Beginnings Community Church.

So what does this passage tell us about motivation for coming to church? You are to come here
to help yourself draw near to God, this morning and throughout the week; you are to come here
to help yourself hold fast to unwavering confidence in God, now and throughout the week; and
you are to come here to help others to do the same! To help others to live lives of faith, showing
Gods love to the world around us.

Why did you come this morning?

Maybe for you its to open the entrance to God for the first time. Do you have access to this
living way? Are your sins covered by the blood of Jesus? Have you drawn near to God?

If not, were so glad youre here. Only believe; no matter what you have done, the blood of Jesus
is sufficient to cover all your past sins.

Now, those of you who are Christians: Why did you come?
You too need to draw near; you too need to hold fast to that unwavering confession of hope; and
you need to consider each other.

May New Beginnings and Desiring God Community Church be places where each member
considers all others carefully; where each member encourages, exhorts, and comforts each other;
where each member helps all others fight the fight of faith; where each member spurs the others
on to love and good works.

Study Tools
Hide

Bible
Commentary
Word Study

New International Version

Hebrews 10:19
Hebrews 10:19-25
Hebrews 9:22
Hebrews 9:13-14
Hebrews 2:17
Hebrews 7:25-26
Psalms 42:2
1 Corinthians 10:31