Four parts to approaching God; Heb 10:22; John 15:16.

Title: Four parts to approaching God; HEB 10:22; John 15:16.

 

A continued diet of Bible doctrine continues to cleanse the conscience from OSN and cosmic influence, HEB 10:22.

 

HEB 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

 

HEB 10:20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,

 

The translators have rearranged the word order here.

 

 “which access He dedicated to us a way newly slain yet living, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” (correct word order)

 

HEB 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

 

HEB 10:22 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.

 

 “let us draw near” = let us approach. It is God’s purpose for the believer to use his free will to approach Him.

 

Depending upon your status as a priest, the high priest, or not a priest your approach to the Holy of Holies was interrupted.

 

illustration: H of H.

 

The verb is a tandential present, which means the writer is asking the reader to make a habit or an exercise out of drawing near to the Holy of Holies.

 

Drawing near to the Holy of Holies [the third heaven] is a function of the believer’s royal priesthood.

 

Listed in verse 22 are four ways to approach God and each of them are directly associated with Bible doctrine.

 

 1. “sincere heart” - avleqinhj kardi,aj[alethines kardias] = true, dependable, genuine, or real. Heart = right lobe of the soul. Approaching due to a consistent desire to fill the heart with truth.

 

This means that the believer doesn’t approach God for any other reason than to accumulate the truth about His plan for him and the Church. It means that the believer doesn’t attend Bible study for any other reason than to fill his heart with the truth. This phrase points to the believer who loves the truth alone, as it is, without any ulterior motives for what the truth might give.

 

In other words, some believers in arrogance just want to accumulate knowledge so that they can appear smarter than everyone else in the room. Some attend the local church because they are lonely, they want a mate, they like the prep-school for the kids, their spouse goes so they will look bad if they don’t, they like the air conditioning, they falsely think God will bless because of attendance (I go to church every Sunday), etc. 

 

The truth in the heart of the believer produces great benefits, but if the believer’s focus is the benefits alone then he’s lost touch with the Giver as he only lusts for the gifts.

 

Deut 6:12

watch yourself [after receiving the Promised Land], lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

 

James 4:3

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

 

The gifts are both material and spiritual. For example, a believer may desire spiritual maturity greatly for its benefits; confidence, poise, courage, love, happiness, glorification of God, promotion, etc. He will never realize any of that without a love for the truth as it is, alone, for its own sake. It is the mind of Christ.

 

This is why a believer with this type of heart, one that genuinely desires truth, doesn’t care what doctrine is being taught. He loves them all. He doesn’t care about repetition since that only means that he is hearing again that which he loves, much like a favorite movie or dish.

 

So the first approach is a dependable or genuine heart that desires truth.

 

HEB 10:22 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.

 

 2. “full assurance of faith” - plhrofori,a| pi,stewj[plerophoria pisteos] = fullness, abundance, entire confidence, great richness in doctrine.

 

This refers to absolute confidence in the richness of doctrine. You may not understand much of it yet, but what you do understand is that the word of God is full of richness. This is quite different from any other knowledge which is all based on empiricism or rationalism and not faith. Therefore, many people find this strange and have a very difficult time adjusting to believing in the genuineness of something they don’t fully understand. Usually people will believe the richness of something only after it has been proven to them by sight. This is empiricism. Others will only believe something after it has been rationally deduced, scientifically, logically, or mathematically. This is rationalism. Neither of these will suffice when an infinite God is communicating a perfect plan to a finite, imperfect creature. Faith is confidence and assurance in the riches of doctrine.

 

There is always evidence to the value of the object of faith. There was evidence to the value of Christ, but to believe that He is the Messiah, the Savior can only come by faith. There if evidence to the efficacy of doctrine. People have benefited greatly by it and the new believer recognizes its value in the older believers and even in himself with the small amount of doctrine he has, but when it comes right down to it, he is going to have to believe for himself that the full realm of doctrine is full of richness.

 

The second approach is a confidence in the richness of doctrine.

 

HEB 10:22 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.

 

3. “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” - our hearts having been sprinkled from a conscience of mental sinfulness.

 

There is no word for clean in the original, only the verb sprinkled is in view. The Jews sprinkled everything with animal blood to dedicate it. The high priest, the priests, the altar, the mercy seat, all were sprinkled with animal blood for cleansing and dedication to God.

 

Dedication therefore comes into play here. What was dedicated by animal blood was used to glorify God by communicating an aspect of His plan for human history and all pointing to the work of Christ on the cross.

 

If the believer’s heart is sprinkled then it is dedicated for the purpose of glorifying God. Yet not with animal blood, but with the blood of Christ = forgiveness of sins.

 

Christ has covered all sin, and therefore; with sin and the OSN taken out of the way the believer, though still a sinner, is free to dedicate his life to God. This is a major step in understanding God’s policy and program for the Church and it is perhaps the most attacked truth in this world.

 

EPH 1:7

 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,

 

1 Peter 1:18-19

knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

 

REV 5:9

And they sang a new song, saying,

"Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

 

HEB 10:22 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.

 

Evil is the word poneros.

 

 “evil” - ponhro,j[poneros] = evil that produces labor, pain, sorrow, and malignant evil. In the conscience it refers to the very painful mental attitude sins.

 

Therefore, the third approach is a heart sprinkled from a conscience of painful mental attitude sins by the wisdom of the blood of Christ with the result that the believer is dedicated to freely serve God.

 

HEB 10:22 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.

 

4. “bodies washed with pure water” -  approach God in fellowship, cleansed from all sin by prior confession.

 

The priest could not perform any ritual or go into the holy place without washing at the bronze laver. As the laver sat between the holy place and the bronze altar where the animal sacrifices were made. It was filled with water.

 

If we draw a line through them we see the pattern of approach.

 

slide: tabernacle and laver

 

There is only one door in which represents that there is only one way to salvation. Walking through the door the first thing you see is the bronze altar which depicts the judgment of Christ.

 

Bronze depicts judgment. Outside the holy place the articles are bronze; while inside the articles are gold speaking of the purity of deity. There is only judgment outside the holy place and that judgment is on Christ. Inside the holy place there is no judgment. When cleansing is needed access to the holy place is denied until the priest is cleansed with the pure water that is in the bronze laver.

 

The priest cannot cleanse at the bronze laver without seeing the bronze altar. Likewise, the royal priest of the CA cannot rebound without seeing the work of Christ.

 

The laver never runs out of water.

 

We see that the altar has to come first, which represents the cross, then the laver, which represents confession or rebound, and then the priest can enter the holy place to partake of the bread which represents the word of God, the golden lamp stand, which represents occupation with Christ and of which the oil in the lamp represents the ministries of God the Holy Spirit, and the altar of incense, which represents intercessory prayer. Then, with a torn veil, the royal priest finds himself in a face to face proximity with God, before his physical death.

 

Therefore, this portrays the believer who desires to rebound of his own free will because he wants to be filled with the Spirit and in fellowship with God.