The Privileges and Responsibilities of the New Life - Part 1

If you would, go ahead and take your Bible and turn back to Hebrews chapter 10. We did read all of verses 19 to 25, but I think I said we will not cover all of those verses this morning. Now starting here at verse 19, we come to a very important, and this is an easy to see transition in this letter. As I mentioned in our scripture reading earlier, the author is moving along here. He moves from the theological to the practical. Some of you are probably thinking, "I'm glad.

I'm ready for some practical." The author moves from this great theological teaching that is all about Jesus and the new covenant fulfilling and replacing the old covenant to how they were to practically live out this teaching in their everyday lives. Notice this is all about the everyday lives of believers and the church as a whole. Now I will break this down for you. Some of you are good note takers, and you will be glad that I give you this information. Really the theological is found from chapter 5 verse 1 to chapter 10 verse 18. That's the heart of the theological message of the book. Now there's some practical in chapter 6.

And then the practical is found in chapter 10 verse 19 to the end of the book. This is all about living out all that we have been studying. Now before we get into our verses, I want to point out two problems that this original congregation faced and one vital issue. And if they were going to be able to live out all that the author was teaching them, they had to get these things. We have seen that the author addressed two problems that was found in this congregation. Of course there were some who were more guilty than others. We learned that along the way. Now the first problem, many of this congregation struggled with spiritual dullness.

Spiritual dullness. Back in chapter 5 verse 11, the author called them out for being spiritually dull or what I called spiritually hard of hearing. And over in chapter 6 verse 12, he called them not to be spiritually sluggish. And what we see here is this. He was addressing the fact that many of them had become spiritually dull because they had allowed themselves to become spiritually lazy which produced this spiritual sluggishness. And the result, this made it hard for them to be taught. This made it hard for them to receive this teaching concerning Jesus and the new covenant fulfilling and replacing the old covenant.

Now the second problem, many struggled with temptation to go back to Judaism. Many in this congregation were struggling with the temptation to go back into Judaism. Back in chapter 6, the author gave them a very serious warning that it was all about the temptation to leave the Christian faith and to go back into old covenant life. And in verses 4 to 6 he warned them that it was impossible to come back to repentance and faith when one had been enlightened to the truth, tasted the heavenly gift of Christ and then fallen away. So what we see here is this.

These professing believers in this congregation saw the temple and old covenant life still going on right in front of them. They saw the temple sacrifices still being practiced right in front of them and they faced this tremendous temptation, these pressures to return to life under the old covenant. And of course some did return because they were not genuine converts to Christ in the first place. Now what is this vital issue they faced? We've not covered this. I said earlier that from chapter 5 to chapter 10 verse 18 we have the theological section of the letter.

And then from verse 19 here in chapter 10 to the end of the book we have the practical, the more practical section of the letter. And the vital, I call it life and death issue for these receiving this letter was this, the fact that it was the theological that dictated the practical. Now let me explain this. For these receiving this letter understanding and embracing all that is true concerning the fact that Jesus and the new covenant was a fulfillment of the old covenant was vital if they were going to practically live how God wanted them to.

Simply understanding and embracing and living the theological determined if their worship was acceptable to God and that determined if their Christian practice in life and in the church was acceptable to God or not. And look at how this is tied to the two problems they face. This all goes together. If they abandon Jesus and the new covenant as the fulfillment of the old covenant and they went back to those animal sacrifices in life under the old covenant, well they miss God completely and totally and it was all for naught. They were apostates.

But if they remained true to Christ Jesus and the new covenant but they stayed in their spiritual dullness, this sluggishness, then they would have missed vital theological truth concerning Jesus and the new covenant. And that would have hampered and hamstrung their worship of God and their Christian practice in their individual lives and the church, maybe even severely. Let me turn it around here to the more positive. If they were spiritually attentive and spiritually obedient, then they would have received all that was taught them concerning this new life in Christ and the new covenant.

And that teaching combined with their spiritual attentiveness and obedience would have come together with this practical teaching to form them into the people who worship God rightly and a people who lived out the Christian life rightly individually and corporately as instructed here. Simply the theological informs and dictates worship and practice. Let me repeat that. The theological informs and dictates worship and practice. Proper worship of God and proper Christian practice in the personal life and the church is determined and dictated by the totality of God's Word. Now some of you need to think on that and chew on that.

Some of you got it right away. We're all different. But some of you really need to think on that and pray over the things that I have just unpacked for you. Let me give you an example. Now it's totally unrelated to what we see here but this will help you see what I'm driving out. There is a lot of Christian music under the Christian music label that really comes from human emotion, human feelings and so-called Christian experience. But it doesn't come from the Word. Let me say that again.

There is a lot of so-called Christian music out there that really flies under the banner of Christian music but it really comes from human emotion and human feelings and so-called Christian experience but it doesn't come from the Word. Now I'm not against Christian music but I'm against that kind of so-called Christian music. And look at how this applies for us today. I'm talking about this teaching.

If any of us are spiritually dull, spiritually sluggish or even spiritually hard due to spiritual apathy, spiritual laziness and maybe even sin in our lives, then our ability to grasp and comprehend and respond to what we've been learning concerning Jesus in the New Testament and the New Covenant, that will be hampered. That will be hamstrung. And if that is the case, our Christian practice as we are starting to learn here in verse 19, that will be hampered. That will be hamstrung in our personal lives and in our church. Again, some of you need to think on that and chew on that. And look, we need this far more than we know.

Now let's get into our verses. We read them earlier but we're only going to be in part of these verses this morning. Let's look back starting at verse 19. The author says, "Therefore, brothers," that can read brothers and sisters. We're going to cover that here in a moment. Since we have confidence or boldness to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He, that's Jesus, opened up for us through the curtain that is through His flesh. And this is our last verse for this morning. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God.

Now right here we know that the author has finished up his explanation of Jesus and the new covenant fulfilling the old covenant and making even the old covenant obsolete. But what comes next? For this original audience, what comes next? The original audience must not have been allowed to think that the single sacrifice for sin had been made so nothing else needed to be done. Therefore, they had no responsibilities. The opposite was actually true.

Since the single sacrifice for sin had been made and perfect salvation had been provided, the author then began to explain that those who had come to saving faith in Christ were in a tremendously privileged position with tremendous Christian responsibilities. And that is just what he explains here in these verses. Verses 19 to 21 are all about the privileges, the privileges that they had in Christ Jesus under the new covenant. That's what we'll cover this morning. In verses 22 to 25, those verses are all about the great responsibilities they had in Christ and under the new covenant. And that's where we get the title of the message.

This is all about the privileges and responsibilities of the new life. This is a part one. But some of you are note takers and you want to write that title down, the privileges and responsibilities of the new life. So let's get started. Number one, I want us to see the privileges of the new covenant. You could say the new life in Christ. The privileges, and we will see they are ours, our privileges in the new covenant or in the new life in Christ out of verses 19 to 21. Now I don't know if I have ever told you this, but growing up I lived a double life.

I grew up in Laurel in a nice neighborhood with all the things that come from neighborhood life. We had neighbors, good and bad. I won't call any names. We rode our bicycles all over that neighborhood. We built tree houses and forts. We did all the things you do in the neighborhood. We played outside into the night on weekends and in the summers. It was the kind of neighborhood that everybody knew everybody and you went next door to borrow a stick of butter, usually without even calling. But I had another life that many didn't know much about.

My mother is from Woodville, Mississippi and my grandfather in Woodville owned 450 acres and it had a big house right in the middle of that property. That farm was the family mecca. During the holidays and at many other times throughout the year, family would descend to the camp for what I call good country life. My granddad's place was called Buck Ridge because it was a part of the old Kegler plantation and that section was called Buck Ridge since the 1830s. As a matter of fact, I have the old paperwork from the property that goes back into the 1830s and you can see that it was called Buck Ridge a long time.

Look, life on Buck Ridge was truly a privileged life. You know what it means to be privileged? Being privileged means to have special rights. Being privileged means to have special advantages, special opportunities. Look folks, I was privileged because I had the opportunity to flip over dry cow patties from my granddad's cows looking for those big black crickets to fish with. I was privileged because I had a cricket box my granddad made just for us. He didn't go buy one, he made us one. See, to go buy one meant you spent money. I was privileged in that when we went fishing and it got too hot, we just went swimming in the pond.

I was privileged because we didn't just fish off the bank, we had a 10 foot aluminum boat that came from Sears and Roebuck. Some of you have no clue what Sears and Roebuck was. In my day as a kid, it was better than Bass Pro. I was privileged because in the big pond behind the house, really it was a lake, my granddad built a diving platform out of old telephone poles with a long cypress plank for a diving board. I was privileged because when I went squirrel hunting, my granddad shook the vines, I shot the squirrels, he skinned the squirrels, granny fried the squirrels and I ate the squirrels. It doesn't get any better than that.

Look, I was so privileged, I didn't skin my own deer until I was in my mid-20s. My granddaddy did all that, we just stood back and watched. Well that is what we see here in verses 19 to 21. The author was and is explaining the great privileges, the great rights and opportunities that come from possessing Jesus as one's personal Lord and Savior and life in and under the new covenant. Now to start off, I want us to see how the author leads up to these privileges. The English Standard starts off with this word therefore, which links what he is about to say to what he has said before.

Simply life in Christ and under the new covenant is connected to what he is about to explain with these privileges. He also addresses them as brothers and this term in the original can mean brothers or sisters. So this tells us that he loved them and he cared for them dearly and how he addressed them. But this leads us to a question that really is debated. Was he writing to believers, brothers and sisters in Christ or was he writing to fellow Jews who were unbelieving brothers and sisters in Judaism? Well I think it can be both.

I believe he was calling on genuine believers, brothers and sisters to truly see and understand the great privileges and responsibilities that they had in Christ in the new covenant. But I do believe he was writing to fellow Jews in this congregation that he knew had not come to truly believe in Christ savingly. And he was writing to call them to truly believe savingly in Jesus. He was continuing to preach Christ. Now I want to talk to you for just a moment as your pastor. And what I mean by that is this. I am a pastor who loves you and I care for you dearly. I care about your spiritual condition. I pray for you.

I don't watch you like I'm the Holy Spirit police. No, but I love you and I care for you and I pray for you often. And look brothers and sisters, I want us to work hard to grasp the greatness of these privileges. My prayer is that we all are gripped by what is before us so that we are able to accept our responsibilities that are to come and to fulfill those responsibilities daily and throughout the weeks and months and years to come. And look, brother, sister, you need this more than you know. I do as true blood-bought believers, members of Grace Life Church, we need this more than we know.

But there are some of you here you've not come to saving faith in Christ. And look, I love you and I pray for you. Some of you I know who you are. Maybe we've counseled. Maybe you've been honest to share that you know you're not a born again Christian. Some of you I don't know who you are. But what I'm saying is this. I love you and I pray for the lost in the life of our church. And my prayer is that God will open your eyes to see Christ Jesus and the new life and the privileges that come in this new life and that you would come to Christ to be saved. I say this from time to time. We don't give a traditional invitation.

But all through the message there are invitations, invitation after invitation. And sometimes I pause to give an invitation. And if you've not come to saving faith, please come to Christ, repent of your sin. I said this last week. There's nothing incomplete about the gospel. Everything has been done. The problem is with you. Come to faith in Christ. Now in getting back into our verses we will see that he lists three privileges. First the author shows us we are privileged in our approach to God. We see this in verse 19. We are privileged in our approach to God. Here he called them to see that they should possess a spiritual confidence.

The King James uses the word boldness. And this confidence or boldness, this speaks of a confidence and a boldness really in a general sense. In the idea here is this. Christ provided redemption for man. And after he entered into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, therefore providing an open way to come so that those who savingly believe in his name can come with confidence and great boldness. But notice to where? The author says to the holy places. The King James says holiest. And this would have certainly gotten the attention of those Jews.

That is because in using this language the author was referencing the holy place that was in the tabernacle or the temple. This spoke of the holy place which was where God actually dwelt among his people. And under the old covenant laws and regulations only the high priest could enter into the holy of holies once a year and that was on the day of atonement. But as we have learned the author was not actually speaking of the holy places in the temple on earth, no. He was referencing the holy places in heaven for that is where Christ dwels. That is where God dwels. So the point here is this.

Whereas those old covenant Jews could not go into the holy of holies, into the very presence of God ever, only the high priest could once a year, that was not the case with those who had savingly believed in Jesus. The believer in Christ could confidently and boldly go into the very presence of God. Listen to verse 19 in the Amplified. It reads, "Therefore believers, since we have confidence in full freedom," I like that, "confidence in full freedom to enter the holy place, the place where God dwels by means of the blood of Jesus." And this was a privilege notice that even those great saints under the old covenant could never have dreamed of.

You ever thought of that? You never had this privilege, Moses never had this privilege, those Old Testament prophets never had this privilege, think about that, Moses never had the privilege to enter boldly into the holy of holies to meet with God any time. He didn't have that privilege. The second privilege. We are privileged in our way to God. We see this in verse 20. We are privileged in our way to God. Now at the end of verse 19, the author alluded to this way when he mentioned the blood of Jesus. But here he says that this bold and confident way into the presence of God, notice, is a new and living way.

And notice what this means here, this new and living way. There's really a lot more than you know. This way to God is new because what Jesus did in providing perfect salvation for man was completely new, a completely new way involving a completely new covenant. This way is living because the way that Jesus provided is bound up in the ever living Lord Jesus, not a dead animal sacrifice. In this word way here in the original, this spoke of a way, a road, or a road traveled. And notice that the English standard says that this new and living way was opened up for us, the legacy standard Bible says inaugurated for us.

And this comes from language in the original that means new, consecrated, newly inaugurated. Now the point here is this. Jesus inaugurated or consecrated this new, this newly slain, this newly slain and living way, this newly slain and living road. One scholar that I read this week pointed out a contrast that those Jews would have picked up on here. He said these Jews would have known about the old slain road of the earthly tabernacle where the high priest would sprinkle the blood of an animal sacrifice seven times on the ground as he approached the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. He's referencing Leviticus 1614.

But this newly slain road, this newly slain way into the heavenly Holy of Holies was sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb of God, not some animal. And this word inaugurated or opened up for us is the same word used of the dedication of the first covenant that's seen back in chapter 9 verse 18. This tells us that this old way or the old covenant, it was inaugurated by blood, but the blood of animals. But this new way or the new covenant, it was inaugurated by blood, but the blood of the Son of God. And notice what else he points out that highlights this new way, this new road, and this reminded them of the old way.

He says this new way, this new road was opened up through the curtain, but then he mentions the flesh of the body of Jesus, and this language of the curtain here took these Jews to the imagery of the curtain that hung in the very tabernacle at the entrance of the Holy of Holies. That curtain in the Holy of Holies literally shielded the very presence of God in the Holy of Holies from man, and no man was able to enter through the curtain and into the presence of God except the high priest, and that was once a year on the Day of Atonement. And the point here is this.

When Jesus was crucified, his body was torn, it was destroyed, so that the curtain which shielded men from God was torn, it was destroyed. And the result, all who come to God through Christ Jesus do not come like those old covenant high priests came, only once a year, worshippers who come through Christ Jesus and his sacrifice can come into the very presence of God permanently at any time. I like how the Bible scholar Kenneth Wost explains verse 19 and verse 20, and I'm quoting him.

This translation says this, "Having therefore brethren boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, which entrance into he inaugurated for us a road fleshly slain and living through the veil, namely his flesh." And again, think about this. This was a privilege that no saint of God enjoyed under the old covenant, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they never had this privilege. Abraham, the great father of the faith, could not go boldly into the very presence of God permanently any time he wanted. And then third, the third privilege, we are privileged in our priest who takes us to God. This is in verse 21.

We are privileged in our priest who takes us before God. Now before the author explained this third privilege, notice that he reminded his readers of who Jesus was and is. Now let me explain that. Here he says, "And since we have a great priest," and scholars tell us that this title, "Great Priest," is a literal reading of the Old Testament Hebrew title that we know as "High Priest." And this Old Testament language certainly would have caught the attention of those original readers. They were Jews, but what is the point?

One of the authors made sure to remind these Jews who Jesus was and who Jesus is, and he is the great and high priest in the great and high place. Yes, Jesus had come in the flesh and taken the lowest of places by going to the cross to provide salvation for a man by his own blood. It did not get any lower than death on the cross, but he was reminding them that Jesus was not only made the lowest of low, he was also made high. He had ascended to sit at the right hand of God as the great high priest. But a question, what is this house of God? Or better asked, who is this house of God? This is simple.

The house of God consists of all those who are redeemed in Christ, all. All who have savingly believed in Christ Jesus. And we see this in other places in the New Testament. I'll mention too, in 1 Timothy 3.15 Paul spoke of the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. In 1 Peter 4.17 Peter said, "It is time for judgment to begin at the house of God or the household of God." So the point here is this, the author was explaining that those who possess a saving faith in Christ Jesus have a great high priest who is over all the redeemed or all of the house of God.

And listen to verse 21 in the Amplified, it's real simple. And since we have a great and wonderful priest who rules over the house of God. Now let's take a step back here. And let's look at what the author has given us here in verses 19-21. Three privileges that come with life in Christ, life in and under the New Covenant. Believers in Christ Jesus have the privilege of boldly going into the very presence of God by and through the blood of Christ. Believers have the privilege of this new and living way, the death of Christ was new as opposed to the old ways of those old animal sacrifices. But he is not dead.

Christ Jesus is living because he was resurrected and he ascended. And by his death he is open wide the curtain or the barrier between God and man. And believers have the privilege of possessing Jesus as the great and new high priest who rules over all his people. Again these are privileges that those Old Testament saints never possessed and they never enjoyed. And I would venture to say that for those of us who know these things we take these things for granted. I would venture to say that if we know these things we take these things for granted. But for some of you these are new truths.

Now this reminds me of something my mother did quite a few years ago. My mother has always been interested in her family tree or her ancestry. I used to listen to her talk to her aunt and my grandfather about their family tree, their ancestry. But quite a few years ago she applied for membership into the daughters of the American Revolution and that meant that she had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was a direct descendant of a soldier who fought in the revolution. I was a little bit curious this week I looked it up and I got a taste of how serious and hard it is to get into the DAR.

And while she was doing all that I used to kind of poke fun at her. She would show me pictures and descriptions of all these ancestors of ours and I would tell her that if she kept digging around and digging around in our ancestry she would uncover some great great great uncle that was a horse thief and a criminal. You know I never saw who that Revolutionary War soldier was. I don't know if he was a private or a general. Probably was a private. But think about something with me. If you were digging into your family ancestry it would be a shocker if you found out you were a descendant of royalty or some European king.

Well as born again believers in Christ we are King Jesus as our personal great and living high priest who sits at the right hand of God in the most honorable the most powerful place in the universe. And in Christ Jesus we have certain special advantages special opportunities we are privileged. And listen brother and sister are you taking advantage of your privileges. Are you taking advantage of your privileges or are you spending all of your love all of your devotion all of your time on other things. Social media get all of your love devotion in time. Do entertainments get all of your love and devotion in time.

Is recreation get all of your love and devotion in time. Now I'm not against those things if they are done in balance under the Lordship of Christ but we need to ask those kinds of questions. Two more. Does work get all of your time. Oh we should work the Bible says if you don't work you don't need. But you can be out of balance here does work get all of your time and devotion and love. What about family. Does family get all of your love devotion in time. Oh I'm not against family family was instituted by God but you can get out of balance there. But what am I trying to show you. Trying to get you to think about these things.

Are you taking advantage of your of your privileges. Or are you spending all of your love all of your devotion all of your time on other things. And this is all about the privileges and the responsibilities of the new life in Christ and in the new covenant. Now as I close I want to circle back around to how the theological relates to the practical. Remember I said that understanding this was vital for this congregation and look this is vital for us too. Some of you need to chew on this and study about this.

But if we do not truly grasp what Christ did by going to the cross and providing perfect and permanent salvation for man and by his death providing the new covenant that fulfills and replaces the old covenant. And if we do not truly grasp the difference in the old covenant and the new covenant all of which is explained from chapter 5 to chapter 10 verse 18 then our ability to comprehend and enjoy the great privileges we have in the new life in Christ will be severely hampered and hamstrung.

And if that is the case with us then we will not be spiritually motivated to take advantage of our privileges and we will not be spiritually motivated to fulfill our responsibilities in Christ as laid out for us starting in verse 22. And again some of you need to think on this. This isn't a sermon where I give you all of the answers. I heard it said once that good preaching starts up questions. I'm not saying that I'm good at preaching here but this is a message where you need to think on these things. You need to pray over these things. You need to meditate over what I've been sharing. You need to study over these things this week.

And next Lord's Day we will quickly revisit these privileges. Hopefully you are more solidified here and then we will move into our responsibilities. And again this is all about the privileges and responsibilities of the new life. And let me say this before I close. This will if we embrace these things radically affect our personal life but this will radically affect our church. And we need this more than you know. So let's pray together.