A CALL TO ENCOURAGEMENT
Hebrews 10:19-25
The book of Hebrews was
written to Hebrews. That sounds like I
am stating the obvious and perhaps I am, but it needs to be underscored if we
are to understand the passage before us.
The author of the epistle is unknown.
He is unknown to us but the last chapter of the epistle makes it clear
that he was indeed known to the recipients of the epistle. But what is known and what is very evident,
not only from the title, but also from the text itself
is that this epistle is addressed to those who had originally been under the
law.
This passage contains a
doctrinal truth and it also contains the practical application to that
truth. Like so many of the epistles that
begin with a teaching of what you are to believe and then proceed to how you
are to live on the basis of what you believe, this passage moves from the
principle to the practical. It moves
from that which you are to believe to that way in which you are called to live
as a result of that which you believe.
It moves from the doctrinal to the practical. Doctrine is like that. It always takes us to the practical. There is not a single truth given in the
Bible that is divorced from a practical application. Jesus never sat His disciples down to teach
them, “Take this stuff down and put it in your notebooks for a rainy day; it
will help you to win a game of Trivial Pursuit.”
The doctrinal section is
stated in verses 19-21 and it is stated by way of a conclusion. We see this in the opening phrase when he
says: “Since therefore...” The author
has written the previous nine and a half chapters of the epistle to bring you
to this point and now he concludes.
19 Since therefore,
brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of
Jesus, 20 by a
new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His
flesh, 21 and
since we have a great priest over the house of God... (Hebrews 10:19-21).
His conclusion is that we
have two things:
First, we have confidence. This is not self-confidence. Now there is nothing wrong with
self-confidence unless it is a misplaced self-confidence. If self-confidence is misplaced then it is a
bad thing. We don’t have self-confidence
to enter the holy place because we are not holy. Instead, we read that we have confidence to
enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. He is the source of our confidence. He accomplished for us that which we could
not accomplish for ourselves. He lived
the life we should have lived and then He died the death we should have died
and He served as our legal representative as He lived and as He died.
God looks at us now as though
we had lived the life that Jesus lived.
He looks at our sins as though they had been nailed to the cross on
which Jesus died. Because of that, we
now have a new confidence. That new
confidence flows over to how we are to live.
This is important. Faith always
leads to works. Good theology always
leads to good living. Right attitude
leads to right action.
There is in this passage a
call to action. It is a call to respond
to the grace of God. The Bible tells us
that, because of that which has been provided for us through the sacrifice of
Christ on our behalf, we are to take action.
Because God has provided, we are to respond. The action we are called to take is given in
what initially sounds like five parts, but which is really two:
|
Verse 22 |
We are called
to draw near |
This speaks of
our relationship with God |
You shall love
the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind (Mt 22:37) |
|
Verse 23 |
We are called
to hold fast |
||
|
Verse 24 |
We are called
to stimulate one another to love and good deeds |
This speaks of
our relationship with other believers |
You shall love
your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22:39) |
|
Verse 25 |
We are to
encourage one another |
Notice how the climactic
point of this passage is a call to encouragement. The writer to the Hebrews calls us to a
ministry of encouragement.
There is a false perception
of encouragement to which we sometimes hold.
Maybe you’ve seen it. Maybe
you’ve even bought into it. It is the
perception that encouragement is a thing to be avoided. This false perception takes a number of
forms:
• The idea that we don’t want to come
across as too encouraging in our comments because that might lead to pride and
pride is wrong, so therefore we will withhold our encouragement in order to
prevent the rise of pride.
• The thought that our encouraging words
might be taken as a form of flattery and so therefore we withhold such
encouragement because we don’t wish to be seen as a flatterer.
• The feeling that our encouraging words
might bring glory to people instead of bringing glory to God. In such a way, there is an attempt to
sanctify this absence of encouragement and to make it sound as a more spiritual
approach. The problem is that it is not
biblical because the Bible itself says some very encouraging things about
people.
While it is true that there
is such a thing as man-centered encouragement that promotes those things that
ought not be promoted, that does not negate the value or the necessity of a
true God-centered encouragement that sees value in people because they are made
in the image of God.
The book of Genesis tells us
that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God. Even though man fell into sin and even though
that image has been distorted by man’s sin, that image has not been destroyed. There continues to be within mankind an image
and likeness of God. That is to say that
you can look at man and you can see God pictured in a way that He is not
pictured in a rock or a tree or a dog or a cat.
While this is true of all
mankind, it is especially true of believers because there is a process going on
within us called sanctification. That
is a big word that means God is producing within us the untarnished image of
Jesus. He is at work within us to make
us like Christ. That means I can look
into the life of the believer and I can begin to see the very character of
Christ beginning to emerge. It is not
fully formed. There are days when it is
hard to see it at all. But it is a
process that the Bible teaches is taking place.
When I encourage others in
this sense, I am bringing glory and honor to the Lord because I am encouraging
His likeness and His image in others.
The encouragement of that likeness and image unleashes and stimulates a
power of godliness in a person’s life.
THE BASIS FOR
ENCOURAGEMENT
The basis for encouragement
is seen in verses 19-21. It is
introduced in verse 19 by the word therefore.
There is an old adage about Bible study that says when you see the word
“therefore,” you need to look to see what it is there for — it is a
summation. By using this clause, the
writer is going to sum up everything that he has said in Hebrews 1-9. We have in these three verses the Reader’s
Digest Version of the book of Hebrews.
19 Since therefore,
brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of
Jesus, 20 by a
new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His
flesh, 21 and
since we have a great priest over the house of God... (Hebrews 10:19-21).
This passage tells us that we
have two things. First, it tells us that
we have confidence. This is not
self-confidence. Now there is nothing
wrong with self-confidence unless it is a misplaced self-confidence. If self-confidence is misplaced then it is a
bad thing. We don’t have self-confidence
to enter the holy place because we are not holy. Instead, we read that we have confidence to
enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. He is the source of our confidence. He accomplished for us that which we could
not accomplish for ourselves. He lived
the life we should have lived and then He died the death we should have died
and He served as our legal representative as He lived and as He died.
God looks at us now as though
we had lived the life that Jesus lived.
And He looks at our sins as though they had been nailed to the cross on
which Jesus died. And because of that,
we now have a new confidence.
The second thing that we have
is a great high priest. Verse 19 says,
“Since we have confidence,” and verse 21 continues on and says, “And since we
have a great high priest.”
This passage says we have two
things, but really we have only one. We
have Jesus. He is our confidence and He
is our great high priest. That is temple
language. It calls to mind the temple
that stood in
Then he would have to do it
again on the following year. And again the next year.
Year after year, decade after decade, century after
century in a never ending succession of sacrifices.
We have a great high priest
who entered, not into a temple made with hands, but into heaven itself. The blood that was offered was not a mere
animal, but the lifeblood of the Son of God.
He is both high priest and sacrificial lamb and temple. All those images are fulfilled in Jesus.
He calls us today, not to an
altar, but to a table of remembrance.
The sacrifice was made and never needs be repeated. Instead we are called to come and to remember
and to partake by faith of that which was offered on our behalf.
THE PROXIMITY OF
ENCOURAGEMENT
...let
us draw near 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.
(Hebrews 10:22).
We are to be encouraged as we
draw near. To whom are we to draw
near? We are to draw near to the
Lord. He calls us to come close. The reason we can come close is because He
first drew near to us.
It is hard to draw near to a
holy God when you are not holy yourself.
You will recall the actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after
they had eaten of the forbidden fruit.
They heard the sound of the Lord in the Garden and they immediately
sought to hide themselves. They drew
away. They ran. They hid.
What was the response of the Lord?
He called to them. He drew them
near.
We can draw near because we
have been cleansed. It is a cleansing that
penetrates down to the depths of our hearts.
But it does not stop there. It is
a cleansing that affects both conscience and even our bodies.
THE HOPE OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Let us hold fast the confession
of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).
We are called to hold
fast. The use of the present tense
suggests a continuity of action. We are
being urged to continue holding fast the confession of our hope. We saw in Hebrews 7:19 that this was a
“better” hope. It is better because it
is a hope in the One who was only promised in the Old Testament but who now has
come and who has fulfilled that which was previously seen only in shadow.
At
the same time, it is called “hope.” What
is hope? It has been defined as “faith
in the future tense.” We have a hope
today and the reason we have a hope is because we still await a final
consummation in the future.
As oxygen is to the body, so is
hope to the soul. Hope is like a trapeze
artist who hopes the hands will be there to catch him. There is a confident assurance as he lets go
his secure perch and flies through the air, but there is also a momentary gap
as he hurtles through the air and just prior to the connection of the hands of
safety and security. It is in that time
of hurtling that you find hope. – T.J. Campo.
We are called to be
unwavering in our hope. That is a
difficult thing, especially in this age of skepticism. The reason we can hold onto our hope is
because He who promised is faithful.
Our hope is strengthened by knowing the faithfulness of the One in whom
our hope resides.
THE POWER OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Let us consider how to stimulate one
another to love and good deeds, 25 not
forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging
one another (10:24-25).
Notice that encouragement is
the result of considering how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds. That is, the result of
encouraging one another will be that we are stimulated to show love and to
engage in good deeds. Conversely, if we
look at the best way to engage people with the love of Christ and the good
works for which He has created us, we will find it to be through encouragement.
There is great power in
encouragement. Instead of serving as a
deterrent to love and good deeds, encouragement helps to stimulate such
things. Encouragement is a motivator and
we see from this passage that it is a biblical motivator.
When I think of
encouragement, my mind goes back to the Barcelona Olympics of 1994. I’m not much of a fan of spectator sports,
but I recall the day when Derek Redmond was running the 400 meter race when he
pulled a hamstring and crumpled on the track.
The rest of the runners sped by and the race was won. The medics were on the scene and they came
out with their stretcher, but Derek waved them away and got up and proceeded to
hobble down the track in an effort to cross the finish line.
The crowd was in amazement as
Derek began his slow and painful way along the remainder of the course and they
were even more amazed when Derek’s father was seen climbing down from the
stands to come up to his son, put his arm around him and help him along the
way.
“I’m here, son. We’ll finish together.”
As the father and son limped
down toward the finish line, 65,000 fans began to applaud and the applause
turned into a roaring cheer of encouragement that did not end until they had
crossed the finish line.
There is great power in such
encouragement. If you have found
yourself taking such a role, then I can say with Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 —
Therefore encourage one another and build up
one another, just as you also are doing.
There are some for whom the ability to encourage comes easily. There are others for whom it is more
difficult. We all need to be engaged in
a ministry of encouragement because that is a part of what makes us the
church. We see that in our next point.
THE PLACE OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Not forsaking our own assembling
together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another (10:25).
Notice that the command to
encourage one another is given in parallel and with contrast to the command not
to forsake our own assembling together.
These two are to be understood as opposites.
That means the place in which
you are to encourage one another is when you assemble together. Where does this take place? One of the places where this takes place is
when the church meets together on the first day of the week in corporate
worship. But I submit to you that this
is not the only time this is to take place and while it may indeed be a time
when we encourage one another, I submit that it is not the only time when this
takes place. How do I know that? Because I have the example
of the early church. Indeed, I
have the example of the very church to whom this
epistle is addressed.
The epistle to the Hebrews is
addressed to the Hebrews and since every other church of which we know in the
New Testament was composed of both Jew and Gentile and because the recipients
of this particular epistle seem to be exclusively Jewish, that suggests this
epistle is addressed to the Hebrew believers who resided in
We know something about the
church that was at
You remember the story. Jesus had ascended into heaven and His
disciples had gathered together to pray and the Holy Spirit came and there was
a sound like a mighty, rushing wind and they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit and there were manifested flaming tongues of fire to accompany the
supernatural proliferation of languages that burst forth in their midst. Neighbors and nay-sayers
gathered around to see what was going on and Peter preached a sermon explaining
how these things all testified of the risen Jesus who had purchased our
salvation through His death and burial and resurrection. As a result, 3000 people were baptized and
joined the church.
They were continually devoting
themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42).
We read not only that they
were teaching and fellowshipping and breaking bread and praying, but that they were devoting themselves to these things. These activities were not merely engaged if
and when they happened to fit into a convenient schedule, but they instead
became a priority.
Verse 46 goes on to say...
Day by day continuing with one
mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking
their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to
their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46‑47).
Do you see it? These spiritual disciplines were embraced day
by day. There was a
regularity to these activities.
They took place in the temple and they also took place from house to
house. I am a strong believer in the
importance of small groups that meet together for ministry, for growth, and
yes, for encouragement. Indeed, I would
go so far as to suggest that one who is not involved in a small group of some
sort is not really involved in a church and therefore is missing out on a vital
part of what it means to be a member of the church.
If all you do is to come to
church on Sunday morning and maybe even if you are really spiritual, on Sunday
evening, but have no small and intimate connection with a smaller group within
that church, you are disconnected to an important part of the functioning part
of the church.
I am not saying that to try
to make you feel guilty; I am saying that so you can find the encouragement you
so desperately need. There may be some
here who have never experienced that sort of encouragement because you have
never been a part of such a small group where that takes place.
On the other hand, there may
be those who have been a part of such a group and then other things began to
get in the way and edge out your small group involvement. That is what happened here in the book of
Hebrews. There had been a time when the
entire church was involved in a connection that took them both to corporate
worship as well as to a fellowship that went “from house to house,” but then
something happened so that now we read that there were some who were actually
forsaking the assembling of themselves together.
What happened? I don’t know.
Perhaps it was persecution. In
our own day, it is more likely to be, not persecution, but pleasures that pull
us away. No matter what the situation,
it is needful and necessary for you to be in a place where you can receive
encouragement and where you can give encouragement to others.
THE PROGRESSION OF
ENCOURAGEMENT
Encouraging
one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near (10:25)
There is to be an increase in
our encouragement as we see the day drawing near. To what day does this refer? We are not told. The most obvious conclusion is that it is
speaking of the day of Christ’s return.
When Jesus left planet earth, He said that there would be a day in which
He would return. We don’t know when that
is. I have to laugh when I hear people
speculating as to when will be the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus Himself said that no one knows when
that will be and He said that He did not even know when it will be.
But we do know one
thing. It is closer today than it was
back then. The day is drawing
nearer. As that day does draw closer, we
are to be more and more involved in a ministry of encouragement.
Why is this? What is the connection between encouragement
and the return of Christ? Why is it
necessary to encourage all the more as you see the day drawing near?
First we have to ask
ourselves what it means to see the day drawing near. If that refers to bad things taking place
(and the Bible makes some hints about bad things taking place that precede the
return of Christ), then this would be a reason why more and more encouragement
is needed.
On the other hand, there is a
sense in which you see the day drawing near in a personal sense as you
go through life. The day when you shall
finally stand before Christ is closer today than when you first believed. When you are young, you tend to look at life
through one paradigm as you have your entire life before you. But there comes a time in life when you are
struck by the realization that there are more years behind you than are ahead
of you before you will see the day draw near.
Whichever sense we take this
term, we need to be encouraged because our time on earth is limited and
eternity is eternal and what we do today counts for tomorrow.
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