Three Heads of Lettuce

Prayer Requests:

·         Katherine—recovering from surgery

·         Ruby

·         Danny, James, Denisha, and Sharon—power to stop smoking

·         Mary—suffering greatly in the hospital

·         Byron—doing fairly well, sleeping a lot, but needing peace and joy

·         Dwayne—continued cancer treatments

·         Robin and Stan Fine—cancer treatments for Robin

·         Pray that the Lord will have mercy on this nation for the sake of all who call on His name and are called by His name. The national problems are much bigger than us, we give them to you.

Lettuce, a photo by quinn.anya on Flickr.

Last time we were in Hebrews we saw that God determined in the New Covenant that He was done with judgment, and we now have Jesus (made like one of us) in charge of that. He is much better suited to judge, having experienced everything as we have. God remembers our sins no more; His heart to us is love. 

Hebrews 10:19-25 This message is all about “let us”, a salad sermon :)

We have entered into a new relationship with God, therefore we have two great privileges:

1.       Boldness to enter the sanctuary. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt inadequate or unequal to the task? In contrast to those times of uncertainty, there are times when we are in a situation where we have the responsibility and equipment to be confident. Petitioning the Lord should be like that last situation. We aren't adequate by ourselves, but we can have confidence to enter the sanctuary without groveling. Through Christ’s blood we can enter with trust and assurance; we don’t have to crawl into throne room or slink into sanctuary! 

2.       A Great High Priest. Through His own blood, Jesus is our perfect High priest.

If you think for a moment that you aren't worthy to go into God’s presence, come back to the truth and forget that “feeling”! Jesus entered the throne room of God as a man, one of us. We have the right because of what He has done.

This is the foundation for our message today. In Hebrews 10:19 it says, "Therefore..." Since we have the two privileges listed above, let us

1.       Draw near (vs. 22): 

• with a sincere heart -- We have access to the Father, but must do something to reach Him: draw near. How can you do this? "...with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." We do not do this by any kind of action—prayer, offerings, communion, baptism, etc.—as much as by a characteristic in our spirit. We require a true heart. An accurate translation of this word for “true” is “real”. “Real” as in real estate, which is an investment that does not fluctuate like stocks. We are to draw near with a real heart, not for show, not for what someone will think of us if we don't, no false pretense, but with full assurance of faith, confidence. This is not gained through a good track record, only through high priest.
• in full assurance of faith -- Hebrews demands that we do not come before God with a whiny attitude. Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
• having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water -- Is this verse speaking of a literal washing? Not at all; our bodies don't enter the Sanctuary. This is a metaphor for being clean, so let's get clear on what we're clean from. We have to lay down two things: guilt and shame. These are not of God; He has told us that He’s not judging anymore! One of the elemental principles of this world is that wrongdoers must pay consequences for their wrongdoings, then accept guilt and shame. But we’re living in the Kingdom of God now, so this basic principle doesn't work for us! If you feel guilty or ashamed then you are commanded to lay that down. It’s almost a slap in the Lord’s face to bring these before Him. It’s as if we went out to a cemetery, dug up a body, tied a bags of bones around our necks and carried the rotting bones around with us. We don't draw near to God to make up for our past; we draw near to God because of who He has made us to be and the relationship He's called us to. 

2.     Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (vs. 23): What is the confession of your hope? Some would say, “Jesus is Lord,” “God will make everything right,” or, “It's worth it.” If you don't have a statement like this, create it now! What exactly are you looking forward to? What promise do you cling to in dark days? Confess this, then hold on to it. Settle every future question, doubt, and concern with that rock-solid confession. Whisper it to yourself and proclaim it to others. 

     The feeling of vindication is always pleasurable, is it not? It’s nice when someone who violently disagreed with you finds out that you were right all along. One day we'll probably all feel like that when every knee bows and every tongue confesses. All those people who thought we were crazy for holding to our confession of hope will find out the truth. Get your own confession and hold on to it as your life's model.

3.   Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another (vs. 24-25): Simply meeting together does nothing, but when Christians get together and “provoke” one another to good works, amazing things happen. This is very simple: just get together and stir one another up to good works. Nothing in scripture says that we are to come together to worship on a regular basis. Worship is our lifestyle, church meetings are a chance for us to strengthen and encourage one another in our common faith.

If we want to live in the joy of the Lord, “lettuce” get rid of all shame and pretense and come before Him with a real heart, having confidence (or faith, which comes by hearing, i.e. reading the Bible), holding to our confession of hope and encouraging one another in good works.