How are we to live in these days?

Jeff Miller

1/24/21

How are we to live in these days?

Hebrews 10:19-25

Me: I don’t know about you, but the news just drives me crazy. I shared a meme recently that said, “I liked the news better when Huey Lewis was in it.” I’ll give you a minute to think about that one.

My wife, Diana, has gotten into the habit of watching news just about every night now. She’ll deliberately watch from one perspective––a liberal media source, and then switch to a conservative media source––just to see how each side handles the same story.

I listen to the news, myself––mostly commentators that I respect––as I’m driving a medical shuttle during the week. I have found myself switching to music a little more often, just to get my mind away from the stuff going on that drives me crazy.

My brother and sister and I message each other quite frequently to get each other’s take on the news and to share things that we want to share with each other because we tend to have the same thoughts and beliefs. And a few days ago, we talked about how it’s hard to watch the news because it drives us crazy, but we don’t want to be uninformed. Or misinformed.

My brother sent something via Youtube a few days ago, in fact I watched this on the day that I started typing out my sermon. It’s from “Real Life with Jack Hibbs.” Jack Hibbs is a pastor in California, and he said, “Time Magazine, Newsweek, Breitbart, NY Times, Washington Post, Orange County Register…all asked ‘what are you, the evangelical community, going to do now that you don’t have Trump?’”

Silly question, I know. And he answered, “We’re going to do what we’ve done for 2,000 years, nothing changes.” He went on to say, “You think our faith has been rattled by a political outcome. And if that was the case, our faith would have perished 2,000 years ago.”

We: He also said that he might have voted for a Democrat if the Democrats would stand with evangelicals on issues like being pro-life, pro-Israel and standing for religious freedom. Now, I don’t want to offend anyone who may have voted for Biden, but what I’m saying is, we as Christians have a right to vote and speak our minds. We do place some hope in a good administration, but our ultimate hope is not in who is in the White House. It never has been, it never should be. Our hope is in the one who is on the throne of the universe, the God of the Universe, the Great I Am who has always been and always will be on His Throne for all eternity.

And He is a good God, righteous and perfect. He is full of perfect truth and grace.

So what does that mean for us? What does this all mean for us who may not know what to do with the news reporters and even some who are in religious circles who have made politics their religion and wonder why we have not? They’re confused, they seem as if they don’t understand that our hope is not in our government; that our hope is not in one man…actually, it is. As Paul explained to Timothy, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.”

Although Jack Hibbs gave a great answer, if you turn with me to Hebrews 10:19-25, we’ll get a similar answer and one that we’re going to study this morning out of the Biblical text. In fact, some Bibles have the heading, “A Call to Persevere in Faith.”

The Youtube ‘show’ that Jack Hibbs is on, by the way, is called “Bible Prophecy––Happening Now.” And that’s another issue that I want to tackle a little bit today.

As you’re turning there: I just want to take a moment and say again that I don’t want to offend anyone who may have voted Democrat or third party. It’s just that on average, evangelicals––that is, people who agree with Baptist theology and that of many other denominations, but not all––tend to vote pro-life, pro-Israel and pro-religious freedom. We tend to be more conservative on other issues as well.

Those who vote Democrat tend to either not agree with those things or they’re not focused on those specific issues and vote on other issues that they feel are Christlike, such as social justice issues and others. And I’m not denying that those things have their place and have good intentions. But because we’re Baptist and Baptists for the most part are more Biblically conservative, we often tend to vote more politically conservative.

I also don’t want you to think that I’m telling you who to vote for. I don’t believe in that. I believe that is something The Holy Spirit is supposed to convict you to do. This is something that I believe must be Spirit-led. Now does the Holy Spirit contradict himself? Theologically, I would say no. But I have known Christians who have voted opposite of me. So, I’m not going to argue, I’m just going to let things be and know that I feel in my spirit a peace about how I vote.

So I hope that explains where I’m coming from well and with respect.

God: So let’s take a look at what Hebrews has to say on all of this:

A Call to Persevere in Faith:

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Central Truth: So you may remember that I referenced a little bit of this passage not too long ago. I think that this is important enough to go back and do a full sermon on this. So, the unnamed author of Hebrews here is writing to Jewish converts to Christianity. Today we would call them Messianic Jews. And this book is designed to explain who Jesus is, and what it means to be a Christian. Remember, their idea of a Messiah was different than what it really turned out to be. So the writer is explaining it all and putting the pieces together for them. He also tells us who The Holy Spirit is.

As we take a look at this passage, you’ll notice that what the writer is trying to address here is a call to holy living. As Jack Hibbs said, “we’re going to do the same thing we’ve done for 2,000 years.” Nothing has changed, even though a lot has changed. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Yes, there have been a lot of surprises last year, and I’m sure there will be surprises that may try to throw us off this year.

But, we haven’t built our foundation on sand. The news reporters and celebrities and talking heads have. They’ve built their foundation on sinking sand––one politician after another. One human being after another. One political chess move after another. To many, it’s all a game. 

But since our foundation is in Christ, let us live like Christians and go about our day as we always have. Turning on the news and stewing over what ‘so-and-so’ is doing or has said isn’t going to make anyone’s day any better. Yes, we should still be informed citizens, but what is it that God has called us to do? Has God called his people to go crazy? No, we are to be Christians and make a Christilike impact on those whom God has placed in our paths. I think the stark contrast will awaken a few people. It will show them that the kingdom that we are part of is different than any kingdom on earth.

God hasn’t put Washington or Albany politicians in our path. He’s put friends and family and neighbors and our church family and outreach ministries in our path. Our primary focus should be on living the call that Christ put on our life and be salt and light to those around us.

God: The writer begins this section with the word, “therefore.” Being a writer myself, I tend to look at the usage of words like this. Therefore is a conclusion, right? “Therefore” means, this is the point. And the point he was leading into is that Christ is our “once for all” sacrifice. We needn’t sacrifice time and again like the Jewish people did. 

I learned this week that the Catholic Church takes communion every week for the sake of forgiving sins. When Catholics take communion, which must be administered by a priest, they believe that it is the atonement for their sins. So if they sin during the week (and we all do), then they take communion for the forgiveness of sins. They also have to confess their sins to a priest. But here, Hebrews states that we do not need sacrifices upon sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins committed. We don’t need to wait until the next communion or whenever the priest is available for confession for our sins to be forgiven.

Verse 14 says, “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Notice the word, ‘being’ in the present tense. Holiness is a constant, progressive work by The Holy Spirit. I’m not perfect, but thank God I am not who I was.

And because of that, we can say, “therefore.” Therefore what? Does it mean we can go and live as heathens and do whatever we want? No, because we are being made perfect. You can’t live in sin and be in the process of being made perfect at the same time. 

So the writer goes on to say,

“19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,” 

 Another thing I referenced a few weeks ago was our ability to be brought into the Holy of Holies, or God’s presence, by the blood of Jesus. When he died, the curtain to The Holy of Holies in the Temple was opened, or was torn in two and we have access to God directly. Instead of a priest at the altar or in the Temple, we are the Temple and Jesus is our great priest––priest in the Old Testament sense whereby our sacrifice is administered. So Jesus is the Lamb of God who was slain and the Priest over the house of God who administered that sacrifice and is the mediator between God and man. 

Therefore, we are God’s people. We are, again as I said before, nestled under God’s wings and have access to God’s holy place––His secret place. A place that only He can provide for His children who come to Him.

The world does not know this secret place. They don’t have access to it. There is no way to get there by Google Maps. That’s because they’ve made this world their home and this world’s thoughts and philosophies their home. You see how they can easily turn to a human savior? File that in the back of your mind, I’ll get to that in a few minutes.

But we can rest assured that our savior is not a mere human. Can you imagine putting your faith and trust in a human or human institutions? I can’t. Verses 21 and 22 say, “ 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,”

So we are to draw near to God. We are to rest in that safety of God’s presence, in the safety of His Secret Place. And we are to do so with, “the full assurance that faith brings.”

What does that mean? Well, the writer of Hebrews goes on to talk more about that in the next chapter. 

But as Steven Cole puts it: Faith is both God’s gift and our responsibility. Faith rests on the promises of God. We are saved through faith (Eph. 2:8) and we are to walk by faith (Col. 2:6). Our faith is not a mindless, blind leap in the dark. Faith rests upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, which the author has been expounding on from the start. The better we know Him as revealed in His Word, the more we will trust Him. The more we trust Him in the difficult matters of our lives, the more we prove His faithfulness and can trust Him the next time.

And we are to do this, “having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

The symbolism of water there––remember he’s talking to Hebrews, so it’s in reference to Old Testament priests and sacrifices. We are to have our hearts sprinkled with the blood of Christ and our bodies washed with pure water, which is a reference to Baptism. We are to come to God, in other words, with a clean conscience and an outward life consecrated to Him.

Verse 23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hope, which I’ve been talking about a lot lately, points to the certain but not yet realized promises of God. Remember when we spent a full year on The Promises of God? We know that they are certain, because “He who promised is faithful.” 

I haven’t changed the sign out front in a long time because I can’t think of anything greater to say. It just simply says, “Great is thy faithfulness” based out of Lamentations chapter 3:19-26

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Verses 24 and 25:

“24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—”

You see, here the writer is encouraging us to encourage each other. While the craziness goes on in the world, and we see and hear things on the news that may be like nails on a chalkboard, right? When we see and hear things that just doesn’t make sense and we wonder what is going on and where are we all going? God wants us to not focus our attention so much on worry or confusion, he wants us to focus our attention on others––on individual people.

He wants us to focus on spurring each other to love and good deeds, not in a wag-your-finger sort of way, but in an invitational sort of way. God wants us to meet with one another and encourage one another. One of the reasons why virtual church is only okay, but being in a physical church is so important to so many people.

You know, sometimes encouragement doesn’t have to be a long, dramatic dialogue. Sometimes it can be the smallest thing. A simple friendly face can make a person’s day. 

A lady by the name of Mamie, always went to the same post office in her town because the postal employees there were friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year and the lines were particularly long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to wait in line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby. “I know,” said Mamie, ‘but the machine won’t ask me about my arthritis.”

Remember when I said to file in the back of your mind how the world is looking for a human savior? This set of verses ends with us being called to meet and encourage one another, “and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

The word, ‘Day,’ here is capitalized. Why? Because it’s referring to the day. The Big Day. The day of the Lord’s return. 

The writer here wanted to encourage his readers to encourage each other, stick together during tough times. Have people they can lean on. Do good works for those suffering during the end times. You know that doing good makes you feel good. Being delightful makes you feel delightful. Doing things out of love makes you joyful. 

How much more do we need that when the world is going topsy turvy?

Paul would often say things, which we looked at recently, like “be joyful in hope and patient in affliction.” Sure, it’s easier said than done. But the writer here gives his people a charge to do things that will give themselves joy and others hope.

And it’s going to be needed “all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Now, I’ve said this many times before, but we don’t know when that Day will be. But we are 2,000 years closer than the writer of Hebrews was when he wrote this.

And going back to the craziness in the world, we can put the pieces together and see that the Day may be approaching. Like I’ve said, it could be 10 years from now, it could be 100 years from now. But it seems like it’s on the horizon.

The world is becoming smaller, travel has increased, knowledge has increased tremendously, the plague of Coronavirus has touched the world’s economy and the world’s healthcare system, it’s touched upon freedoms and religion. We’re seeing a rise in ‘cancel culture’ or censorship and control. We’ve seen one riot after another, instability, a falling away from God, hearts growing cold. These things have all been predicted to increase in the last days.

What unites us? Our new president is calling for unity, but what unity do we have left? Especially when there are calls for doing away with dissenting voices, and eliminating the former president’s social media accounts and social media accounts of others. Some are calling for a re-education of people on the conservative side, including the religious conservatives. There are business people who are not having their products sold in stores now because they were outspokenly favorable to our former president. It’s a forced unity through silence.

It’s not the kind of worldwide unity everyone talked about when I was growing up. When I was growing up, everyone wanted to be united around freedom. Instead, it’s starting to look more like the type of unity that surrounded the Tower of Babel. With all of this happening, I think the world is ready for a great leader “to unite us.” A messiah-like leader who might be the messiah the Jewish or Muslim people are looking for. Only he will end up being an anti-messiah or antichrist.

Conclusion: If this happens within our lifetime, then we definitely need to draw near to God with clean hearts, hold fast to the hope that we have in our faithful God, stick together and encourage each other to do good works in love all the more “as we see the Day approaching.” 

Even if it does not happen within our lifetime, it is still the call of God on our lives. It is still the thing he wants us to do. Stay close to Him, and stay close to each other. Encourage one another and minister to one another. Here, we will find peace and purpose and show others the way of the Kingdom of God. 

A quote from Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom as we close: 

“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your love and your faithfulness. No matter what may happen, we know that you have your people safe and secure. No matter where the world goes, no matter what bills may be passed, no matter what alliances may form, we know that you will have a safety net for your people. Though men’s hearts may fail them, you will not fail us.

I pray that you would encourage us to encourage each other. I pray that we would be able to do good works for those around us. May they see the light and the hope that we have in you. May we be able to reach a multitude and may there be a revival poured out through our love in a dark world. 

I pray that we would remain connected to you, the Vine, so that we could be able to do the good works you have called us to do.

In Jesus name, amen.