What Boldness Looks Like. Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. On the cross, as Jesus completed the great sacrifice on behalf of our sins, the curtain of the temple that separated the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom. Now, through the blood of Christ, we can enter the holy place and come before God the Father, not just as his servants, but as daughter and son.

Everything has changed. Our life objective has a name. Our source of life has a name.

His name is Jesus. Our beautiful confidence and safety in our relationship with God flows out in streams of living water through our outward expression. It looks like boldness in the way we live and love. Listen as Pastor Rich unpacks Hebrews 10 19-25 in this message titled, What Boldness Looks Like. But God rescued us from that.

And God wants to rescue you from that. That's why the author of Hebrews says, Therefore, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. This whole paragraph begins with a therefore in verse 19. So what he is saying is this is what boldness looks like. This is what boldness looks like. So now he's encapsulated all the indicative that he's already gone through in the previous chapters. Now he's coming to the imperatives.

Because this is true, then it follows that this will be true about you and your behavior. Since we have this access, we can enter boldly, then it follows that you would do this. So here's the invitation.

Do this now. Now we're getting into the imperatives. So boldness looks like there's three things that boldness looks like. And they all begin with let us in these next several verses.

OK, let us. The first one is verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Verse 22. Let us draw near. This is Godward movement. What does boldness looks like?

Look like boldness looks like in your life. Godward movement that you are actually drawing near to God. The word draw near means to approach. This is not just the fact that you have access now to God.

Those are the indicative. You have to understand that. The author now goes beyond that and says, since you can draw near to God, then by all means draw near to God. What are you waiting for? Draw near to God. Approach Him.

Boldness in the life of the Christian looks like Godward movement where you are drawing closer to God. Because He is your source. He is your life. He is your satisfaction. He is your sustenance. And so when it says draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, it means that you draw near, you approach having qualification to approach God.

You approach because you have the qualification to. God has granted that to you. He has lavished that upon you. So it makes all the sense in the world that I would draw near to Him.

And that qualification is not by something that I have done. Titus 3, 5 and 6, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Spirit. The washing of regeneration and renewing of the Spirit, that's the imagery that He says here in verse 22. Having a heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, the ceremonial qualification of being made right before God.

He accepts me now. It makes all the sense in the world that I would draw near to God. Listen, I'm going to make something very, very clear this morning, okay? When I'm talking about drawing near, when I'm talking about fellowship with God and drawing near to God, I am not talking about the things that you do for God.

Okay? I'm not talking about your Christian service. I'm not talking about your checklist, like the ladies pointed out this morning. God's not up there just keeping score that you're making sure you're filling out that checklist. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about like the branch of the apple tree grafted back into the tree, drawing life from the tree. Are you drawing life from your creator redeemer? In your fellowship with Him, your communion with Him, your conversation with Him, are you drawing life from Him?

That's what I'm talking about. That's what boldness looks like because you've been granted that boldness through the qualifications of Jesus Christ. Are you taking advantage of that? Are you drawing life from the source in your fellowship with God? Think about it. In Christ, you are free to access the sovereign of the universe. You know what that is?

That's a wow is what that is. Here's the problem with contemporary Christianity. We are so used to this that we're like, oh yeah, I have access to God, isn't that great?

Just stop and think about it for a minute, okay? Who is He and who are you that He should grant you access to Him freely? And are you taking advantage of that?

You see, that's what boldness looks like, not because you deserve it, but because He has lavished His grace upon you. We all walk around with electronic devices anymore, don't we? It's either in your pocket or on your belt or in your pocketbook or wherever you have it. You get it in the mail.

Bill Bean is probably the one that delivered to most of us through FedEx or something like that. But you get it in the mail, you open it up and there's this nice little gadget and it's shiny. Oh man, isn't that neat? I have a question for you. Does it work?

Yes or no? Does it work? It does not.

Why? It has no power. It's not connected. It needs to get plugged in. It needs to get plugged in. You might understand yourself to be a Christian here this morning. You might have all the shiny, glitzy looks of what a Christian ought to be.

I have news for you. If you are not plugged in, you ain't working. What the author of Hebrews is saying is get plugged in. Draw from the source.

Draw from the power source because otherwise you're useless. Strong words, isn't it? But, you know, it's the invitation. It's the invitation that it's there. Why would I try to be a Christian and do all the things that a Christian is supposed to do? It makes about as much sense as a smartphone trying to be a smartphone without ever getting plugged in.

It doesn't work. That's what boldness looks like. It's God-ward movement. Are you drawing near to God? I'm not asking you how much you know about Him.

I'm not asking you how much you do for Him. Are you drawing near to God in deep, passionate fellowship with Him, drawing life from the source? That's what boldness looks like.

There's a second thing that boldness looks like. It's in verse 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.

And I call this joyful expectation. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope. If you have a King James, it probably says hold fast the confession of our faith. It should not be translated that way. The word is not pistis, which is faith. The word is el piste, which means hope. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope.

Now, let's make this clear. What is hope? Do we understand what hope is? Now, hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is not just wishful thinking. Oh, I hope the Cowboys win the Super Bowl. That's wishful thinking.

I have nothing upon which to base that. I can wish that, but wishing and hope are not the same thing. The hope of which He speaks here is like expecting the sunrise. We know the sun's coming up, don't we? We know it's coming up. We expect it with absolute confidence every morning. It's dark, but the sun's coming up. And that's why He says without wavering for He who promised is faithful.

Without wavering. Yeah, there's frustrating characteristics to life. There's disappointment. But you know, I'm not going to be carried back by that.

I'm not going to be taken aback by that. Like the children of Israel who had the very promise of a faithful God that He would take them into the promised land. Back to an illustration the writer of Hebrew uses earlier on. Instead of drawing back, oh man, this trusting God thing is hard. You know, all I just want to do is live a comfortable and normal life, but this trusting God thing is hard and so we draw back. That's not joyful expectation.

That's not hope. Peter speaks of this very clearly. I love what he says in 1 Peter 1, verses 5 through 8. You who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Though now for a little while if need be you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold which perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see Him yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

What is that? That's a big picture. That's why I like Peter so much because he's into the big picture.

And when we lose sight of the big picture, then we become myopic and we're focused on the troubles and we draw back and we lose our hope. That's not the picture of boldness. Boldness means that I persevere with joyful expectation. Joyful expectation. And my hope, my confidence is not based on the strength of my trust, but on the merits of the one who is trustworthy.

Big difference. Did you hear that? The strength of my confidence is not in the strength of my faith, but in the merits of the one who is trustworthy. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.