Drawing Near, Encouraging Each Other

DRAWING NEAR, ENCOURAGING EACH OTHER

An Exposition of Hebrews 10:19-25

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: June 1, 2025

Series: Pursuing Relational Health on Communion Sundays

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Good morning. I invite you to turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Apparently we're supposed to be thinking about Hebrews chapter 10. Charlotta referred to it last week during her VBS time of sharing, and Tim referred to it this morning during the prayer time. And now I'm going to preach from it. So, Hebrews chapter 10, and I want to read verses 19 through 25. Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 19. Holy Scripture says,

¹⁹ Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through 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, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider 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 one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.(Hebrews 10:19-25)

This is the word of the Lord and it is for our good. Let's pray:

Father, I pray that you would bring encouragement, strength and hope into our hearts and lives this morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.

INTRODUCTION

God wants us to draw near to Him. It's a remarkable thing. We may be weary. We are often beset by various weaknesses, facing temptations and trials and difficulties of life. And the living God wants you and me to draw near to him and come into his presence.

Just a reminder: this sermon is part of our first Sunday of the month sermon series – Communion Sunday sermon series –   where we think about relationships and how our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with other people is interrelated. And this sermon is part of that series. But this sermon is really going to the foundations where we think at the very foundational level about our relationship with God and then briefly consider how that's supposed to affect our relationship with each other in terms of encouraging and supporting each other, like we see in verses 24 and 25.

Summary of Hebrews 10:19-25

If I were going to summarize this seven-verse passage, I would say something like this:

God invites us to draw near to him (v. 22), to maintain confidence in his promises (v. 23), and to support one another (v. 24-25), in view of three glorious realities: the past reality of what Jesus has done for us (v. 19-20), the present reality of what Jesus is doing for us (v. 21), and the future reality of what Jesus will do for us when “the Day” comes (the end of v. 25).

I think that kind of helps us see how the passage fits together.

WALKING THROUGH THE PASSAGE

And I just kind of want to walk through it in smaller chunks.

(1) Draw near to God because of what Jesus has done for us (v. 19-20, 22)

So first of all, let us draw near to God because of what Jesus has done for us. This whole concept of drawing near, or specifically drawing near to God, is a theme that recurs throughout the book of Hebrews. And it reminds us of the priority of our relationship with the Lord. And we should remember how stunning it is that we have this invitation from God.

Each and every one of us is a sinner by nature and by choice. We, looking back over the history of our lives, we all have a track record of transgressions and we rightly have guilt and shame in consequence of our sins. And yet, and yet such people as that, such people as you and me, are invited by God to draw near to him.

And we think about this access that we have to God through the gospel, which we're going to talk about, and how that contrasts with some of the limitations and restrictions that God had set up to teach us in the Old Testament. You think about when God revealed himself to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai in Exodus chapters 19 and 20. And God descended in great power and glory upon the mountain. But there was a perimeter around that mountain that no one could cross, no ordinary Israelite or even a beast – if it crossed that perimeter, it would die. Only a very select few, Moses and Aaron and a couple of Aaron's sons and the 70 elders, were allowed to draw near, as it were.

Or you think about the earthly tabernacle that was set up. You had the holy place. The holy place wasn't for the ordinary Israelite, but it was for the priests. And the most holy place was only for the high priest once a year. Access was limited by God's design until the time of fulfillment came. And we live in the time of fulfillment when this wide-open door – access into the presence of God – is available through the gospel.

On what basis shall we come into God’s presence?

When we think about drawing near to God, we have to ask: how shall we draw near to God? On what basis shall we come into God's presence?

Well, many people attempt to draw near to God on the wrong basis. You know, in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Pharisee’s mindset was, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” (Luke 18:11-12) It is as if the Pharisee was saying, ‘Of course, you're thrilled to have me come into your courts!’ And yet at the conclusion of that parable, Jesus makes it clear that that Pharisee who had that outlook, who was putting his confidence in his own good works, wasn't even justified in the sight of God, didn't even have a right relationship with the living God (Luke 18:13-14).

You think about the great Protestant reformer, Martin Luther. If you know his story, he was a nearly impossible case as this monk who was trying to draw near to God. And so, he was just conscious of all his sins, and he was trying to confess all of his sins in agonizing detail. And it never brought him peace with God.

Just a week or two ago, I learned about a Muslim girl – from a few decades ago, at least – a Muslim girl named Padina, who was raised in a Muslim family.[1] And she herself was a Muslim. And she desperately wanted to be acceptable in the sight of Allah. She wanted to be pleasing to him. She wanted to have peace. She wanted to enter into paradise after she died. You see, this is a basic human desire. Regardless of what religious context you're in, this is a basic human desire. And so even as a child, she was praying several hours a day. And when she was a youth, she attended a special school for Muslim girls to learn “how to study the Koran” and learn “how to worship”.[2] And yet she was beset by doubts: Have I washed properly? Can I produce enough tears to be acceptable in Allah's sight? And she would have these nightmares of “the spirits of the dead” haunting her.[3] For several years she sought to have peace with Allah, and it never came. So she decided she couldn't be an extraordinary Muslim. So she decided to be “an ordinary Muslim” and got married, but unfortunately she got married to a “cruel and unfaithful” man who eventually divorced her, which was like the ultimate shame in that context.[4] So she's experiencing this great shame, and her mother's dying, and she's ready “to take her life”.[5] All of that devotion, all of that religiosity, all of that devotion within her marriage to an unfaithful man, and it all came to naught. It only changed – and it did change – when she found Jesus.

Draw near to God with complete confidence in Jesus

This passage here makes it very clear as to the right way that we must approach God, that we must draw near to Him. If you go to verses 19-20, they say, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh”. This is the truth of the Gospel. We're not able to draw near to God because of any good works that we have done, because of our morality or our religiosity or our performance of certain rituals. It is only because of what Jesus has done. He offered himself as a sacrifice for sin and he made atonement for our sins through his death. If you were to look earlier in chapter 10 – I won't read specific verses – but earlier verses in chapter 10 talk about how it is through the death of Jesus that he takes away sin, that he sanctifies us, that he perfects us, that he brings us complete forgiveness.

And so we are able to draw near to the presence of God not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Jesus has done, because of his merit, because of his mercy, because of his sacrifice.

And this sacrifice of Jesus, this objective reality of Jesus’s sacrifice for sin, must then get applied to us personally, which is what you see in verse 22, which begins, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith”. In other words, let us draw near to God with utter and complete confidence in Jesus, not banking on ourselves, but throwing all of our weight on the Lord Jesus. And then verse 22 goes on to say: “with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” It is the blood of Jesus Christ that brings about the cleansing and the purifying of our heart and life.

Think about this, the problem of the evil conscience. Conscience is that part of us that has an internal sense of right and wrong. Our conscience is kind of like a God-appointed judge within our own heart that recognizes when we have done wrong, when we have failed to measure up to the standard, and then it condemns us. Everyone has this experience of feeling condemned by your own conscience.

And so we have this consciousness of sin. And just think about how insane it would be to attempt to draw near to God when you're fully conscious of all of your sin, guilt and shame and it hasn't been addressed, you're aware of all of the sin, guilt and shame, and it is unaddressed sin, unaddressed guilt, unaddressed shame. What do you want do when that's going on? You want to run, you want to hide, you don't want to run into the presence of God, you want to run away from the presence of God, which is what Adam and Eve did in Genesis chapter 3 – let's hide, let's cover ourselves, let's get out of here.

I'm 48 years old. If I have sinned once a day, every day of my life – you're thinking it's a lot more than that, well, I know it's a lot more than that, but I'm trying to make a point – if I've sinned once a day for my entire life up until this point, that puts me at 17,500 sins. That's sinning once a day. If I’ve sinned 10 times a day, that is 175,000 sins. I mean, how would we draw near to God? How would we dare to minister on God's behalf when our conscience is stricken with the guilt of sin and the memory of all that we have done that is wrong and displeasing to God? And yet, God wants you and me to come into his presence with the sin problem fully resolved – fully and completely resolved – not because we got all smart and figured out how to manipulate things, but because we're looking to Jesus. His blood covers it all. He has paid the price. His grace is infinitely greater than my sin and renders me whole and holy.

And it's interesting, something that we don't often think about – we think about the cleansing of our hearts, but we don't often think about the washing of our bodies. And keep in mind, he's not talking about physical realities. He's not talking about physical washing, but spiritual washing. You see, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And in Jesus Christ, your body is not defiled. Your body was defiled when your whole self was caught up in sin. But now your whole self, the totality of you inside and out, is sanctified and rendered holy in God's sight. And now you have clean hands, now you have purified lips, so that you can use your body and your embodied life in order to serve the living God as a priest through Jesus Christ.

So we draw near to God because of what Jesus has done for us.

(2) Draw near to God because of what Jesus is doing for us (v. 21-22)

Secondly, let us draw near to God because of what Jesus is doing for us. And now I'm referring to verses 21 and 22. In verse 21, the reason given for drawing near to God is “since we have a great priest over the house of God”. The One who died for us now lives for us. The One who made atonement for us on the cross now intercedes for us in heaven in the heavenly sanctuary. It says in Hebrews 7:25 that Jesus, the great high priest, “always lives to make intercession for [us].” And if you were to go back to Hebrews chapter 2 and Hebrews chapter 4, you would read about how Jesus, our great High priest, the Son of God who lives forever, he is able to help us in our weaknesses, he is able to sympathize us with our weaknesses.

And because of his priestly presiding over the house of God, we are able to draw near to the throne of grace with the confident expectation of obtaining grace and mercy and help to help us in our time of need.

A word to unbelievers

By the way, I just want to share a brief word here. Perhaps there are few people here this morning who don't know the Lord. And you know, some people – this could be you – some people have this generic belief that there is a God and that if there is a God, he is probably good and he is probably willing to forgive me – ‘after all,’ you think, ‘I'm not that great of a sinner.’ And so there you put your hope, that a God that you don't know very well will probably be merciful to you because you're really not that bad. I think that would be a very common experience for those who have been raised within a broad Christian culture.

But I'm here to tell you that you cannot successfully draw near to God and find his favor apart from the mediator, apart from the go-between, apart from the great High Priest that He himself has appointed. The Father so loved the world that he gave his only Son – He gave his only Son as a mediator, as a great High priest. And God would delight for you to draw near to him and put your trust in him, but not apart from the Mediator. Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) And so I urge you, don't settle for a view of a generic and generally good God who will probably make it okay for you in the end, because that runs contrary to the teaching of the Bible. The teaching of the Bible is that the Holy One of Israel, who is revealed in the pages of the Bible, has appointed His Son Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world, and everyone who believes in him will be saved.

(3) Maintain confidence in God’s promises (v. 23)

Thirdly, moving forward in the text, let us maintain our confidence in God's promises. It says in verse 23 there, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” When we hear that word hope, hope is future-directed. We have a confident expectation that God will keep his promises, that God is faithful to his promises. God will keep his promises in the short-term – like in 10 minutes, and in 10 days – and in 10,000 years when we're gathered around the throne of God in the new heaven and the new earth. God will be faithful to his promises. And it seems to me that in the context of Hebrews, hope has both that short-term and long-term dynamic.

For example, in chapter 6, starting in verse 19, it says: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf” (Hebrews 6:19-20). Our hope enters into the holy place. And then it says in chapter seven, verse 19, where it is talking about the superiority of Jesus and the new covenant, that – in the middle of verse 19 – “a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” (Hebrews 7:19) We draw near to God through the hope that we have. When we enter the holy places, he will accept us and welcome us. When we draw near to the throne of grace, he will supply the help that we need (Hebrews 4:16). When we walk with God, he will refine us and equip us and strengthen us (Hebrews 12:3-11, 13:20-21). When we serve God on the basis of Jesus’s sacrifice, he will be pleased with our sacrifices of praise and our sacrifices of generous service (Hebrews 13:15-16). And that's all in the short-term.

And then looking to the long term, which is in view in verse 25, right, when it says “as you see the Day drawing near.” That's the ultimate object of our hope, that a day is coming when Jesus will come again (Hebrews 9:28). And when he comes again, he will bring all of God's saving purposes to completion and we will enter into eternal rest. We will see the Lord and we will enter into that holy and eternal city of God.

(4) Support one another in our walk with God (v. 24-25)

Finally, moving to verses 24 and 25, let us support one another in our walk with God, especially “as [we] see the Day drawing near.”

Now remember, verses 24 and 25 talk about one anothering, right? Our responsibility to one another, okay? To consider one another, to stir up one another, to encourage one another. And then, of course, you have within it that we're stirring up each other “to love and good works”. And again, I want you to see how closely related worship and love are, right here in the book of Hebrews. We draw near to God to worship him, to declare his praise, to make our requests known to him, to sing his praise and worth (v. 19-22). And yet at the very same time, as part of our life as worshipers and as priests and as brothers and sisters to each other, we are called to encourage each other and to love one another (v. 24-25). And you see these same things appear very closely together at the end of chapter 12 and the beginning of chapter 13. I just want you to see a second witness just a few chapters later. In Hebrews chapter 12, in the middle of verse 28, it says: “let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28b-29) Then the next words – remember, there is no chapter division in the original text, that's just something made up by people later on – the next words are: “Let brotherly love continue.”

And I want to say, as we look at verses 24 and 25, don't try to be more spiritual than God intends for you to be. You know, someone might say, ‘Well, you know, God is enough. I don't need anybody else.’ That sounds really pious. But the fact of the matter is, is that God designed our life to work in such a way that in a very real sense, we do need one another. And that's what he's calling us to do here. We're not just individual, stand-alone worshipers who are drawing near to God on some isolated mountain, but we're called to gather together. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but gather together, be together, encourage each other, come alongside of each other, support one another, stir one another up to love and good deeds. God doesn't need us, of course. He could do all the stirring up and all the encouragement – he could do all of it by himself, without us. But he wants us to participate in that work. He wants us to come alongside one another to encourage and comfort and counsel and exhort and remind. And he wants us to come alongside of each other in order to stir up and stimulate one another to live a life faithful to God.

Keep in mind, and you can read the Book of Hebrews for a very real description of the challenges that we face as Christians, but remember, at any given time, your brothers and sisters are experiencing weariness or sluggishness, or they're starting to drift from the Lord, or they're beset by weakness, or they're facing temptation, or they're suffering persecution or false teaching is coming at them, like how the Judaizers might have been affecting these Hebrews – you know, come back to Judaism. We can experience the same temptation – what's the latest new idea?

But there are so many factors that weigh on us as we're seeking to walk with God. And we might often be discouraged. And how sad it is – this has happened here, this has happened in other church contexts – but one of the saddest things is when a believer, who is part of the church is going through a really difficult time, whatever that difficult time might be, and they're not really feeling energized to connect with us, but we should read a passage like Hebrews 10:24-25, and we should be energized to connect with them, and yet it is one of the saddest things when we don’t. How often does a believer feel isolated, neglected, forgotten? Nobody called, nobody showed up, nobody encouraged me. And they drift away. And so – Tim, great words that you shared this morning during the Prayer Time – let’s be encouraged all the more to really be attentive to one another, to notice one another, to express appreciation for one another, to call attention to how you have seen God work in the lives of your brothers and sisters. We see a couple of examples of that right in the book of Hebrews, which I want to show you.

Hebrews 6:10

Look at Hebrews 6:10. One of the ways to encourage one another is to remind one another of how you have seen God working in their life in the past, how you have seen them express devotion to the Lord in the past. Oh, my brothers and sisters, they see me, they noticed, they appreciate me, they're honoring me – and that's meant to be an echo or a reflection of the fact that God sees you. Look at Hebrews 6:10, which says: “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” (Hebrews 6:10) God is not unjust so as to overlook the fruit of your faith.

Hebrews 10:32-36

Or look in Hebrews chapter 10, and drop down to verse 32. It's the same kind of thing. How easily we can lose heart or get to thinking that, ‘Is this really worth it?’. ‘Are these sacrifices worth it?’ They're so costly. They feel so costly in an earthly sense. ‘Is it worth it?’ Well, look at what the author of Hebrews tells his people, these people, in chapter 10, verses 32-36:

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. (Hebrews 10:32-36)

Take note of those words: “you have need of endurance”. All of us have a need for endurance. And that's where that mutual supporting and that mutual stirring up comes in, that we would help each other to have endurance.

Hebrews 13:16

Also look in chapter 13, verse 16. It's also good to tell people that God is pleased with their labors. Look at what says in verse 16: “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:16)

You know, Dane and I have been addressing worm theology in the last two podcasts. I encourage you to check it out if you haven't. But another way that worm theology expresses itself in Christian contexts is when believers think that their good works are like filthy rags. That is a complete twisting of a verse in the Old Testament. If you are outside of Christ, if you are seeking to commend yourself to God by your own good works, if you are trying to build your own little tower of Babel and you're trying to build your own little kingdom, if you're trying to be impressive to God by trusting yourself and what you can do, then yeah, your best deeds are like filthy rags. But that is not true of one who has been born again, regenerated by the Spirit, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. God is working in your life. He's equipping you. He's strengthening you. You have a new heart. Your labors of love that are the fruit of your faith in Jesus, are genuinely pleasing to your heavenly Father.

FINAL ENCOURAGEMENT

And so, let's be faithful to come alongside one another, always reminding people of what Jesus has done, always reminding people of what Jesus is doing, and always reminding people of what Jesus will do when he comes again. And it's our privilege as brothers and sisters to walk with each other and to support each other until that day comes.

Let me pray: 

Father, I pray that you would take this rich passage and that you would bring encouragement to us. For those who are weary, for those who feel dull in spirit, for those who are facing acute temptation or suffering or opposition, or who feel alone, Father, I pray your Holy Spirit would work mightily within them. But I also pray that your Holy Spirit would stir us up to pursue each other and to love each other and to encourage each other on this journey. I lift up all these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

ENDNOTES

[1] For Padina’s story, see: Rebecca Davis, Living Water in the Desert: True Stories of God at Work in Iran (Hidden Heroes 6). Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2020 (originally published in 2015): p. 103-118 (Chapters 14 & 15).

[2] Ibid., p. 104.

[3] Ibid., p. 107.

[4] Ibid., p. 108.

[5] Ibid., p. 112.