Let Us…
The book of Hebrews is filled with instructional verses and gives great further explanations of Jesus Christ and His authority. This book is also filled with warnings and verses of exhortation. In fact, if you find yourself struggling in your walk with Jesus Christ, the book of Hebrews is one that will offer guidance on why this may be and how to fix it. However, there is one passage that offers three “Let us” statements that show us what we must do as followers of Jesus Christ.
“22 let’s approach God 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. 23 Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
Hebrews 10:22-25
The first “Let us” statement is found in verse 22, ““22 let’s approach God 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” By using the phrase “Let us” the author of the book of Hebrews is declaring that this is something that we must do. It is not optional, we must approach God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having been cleaned from an evil conscience, and been washed pure. The only way that we can further our walk with Christ is by drawing closer to Him. This is not a task that we can do on our own, we need Jesus to cleanse us from our sins. There are those out there who would tell you that you must make right with Jesus on your own, that you must remove sin from your life before you are worthy to approach God. This is not a concept that is found in the Bible, but instead is a false teaching. The only one who can remove our sins is Jesus Christ Himself. That is the good news of the gospel; because we cannot do it on our own, we need someone to step up for us. We place our faith in Jesus Christ, He washes our sins away making us new creations, and in doing so the gap between man and God is closed. We can now approach God wholly and without shame because Jesus removed our shame from us.
The second “Let us” exhortation is to “23 Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;” In this verse, we are told that we need to old fast to our profession of faith. The book of Hebrews offers a list of warnings (2:1-4, 3:7-11, 5:11-6:3, 10:26-31, and 12:25-29). These warnings are in place to encourage the reader not to drift from the faith. The author of Hebrews was writing to believers who were tempted to return to Judaism in order to avoid persecution, they were wanting to let go of the hope found in Jesus until times were easier. This “Let us” statement acts as a reminder that we need to hold firmly to our hope in Jesus with the understanding that He is faithful to complete His promises. God does not change, “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 with this knowledge we can rest assured that He will remain faithful to His promises. “if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13. This “Let us” statement is in direct response with the warning passage found in Hebrews against drifting away. “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1. When we pay attention to what the word says, we grow in our knowledge of it, and do not drift away. In other words, we hold firmly to our faith in Jesus Christ.
The final “let us” exhortation is to “and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” The first part of this exhortation is to encourage one another in love and good deeds. This means that we should be encouraging others to seek after Christ. We should not be shying away from spreading the gospel. As ambassadors of Christ, it is our responsibility to show others Christ and urge them on in their Christian walk. This comes from being knowledgeable ourselves in the Word so that we can help guide those around us. I do want to point out here that while this exhortation mentions encouraging others to good deeds, these deeds cannot replace actual salvation which is only found in placing our faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that even our best works are still worth nothing, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;” Isaiah 64:6. God does not want our self-claimed righteous acts, He wants our obedience to Him, ““Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22. The ‘good deeds” in this exhortation is to follow God’s Word.
The second aspect of this “Let us” statement is to not abandon meeting together. In the last two years this has been especially hard for the body of Christ. We have been told to stay indoors for our own good. However, the body of Christ is not meant to lock itself away, we are meant to be walking in this world as light to those who are lost. When we are not meeting with other brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are okay with not meeting, there is something lacking in our spiritual walk; we have cooled off in listening to the Holy Spirit guiding us. This world will never go back to the way it was before the lockdowns or before 2020. There will always be some measure of restrictions now and in the coming days there will be new challenges to face. The author of Hebrews is encouraging us here to not cower to this world, but instead walk amongst the lost and show them that with Jesus we have no need to fear the ruler of this world. This is not only beneficial for the nonbelievers, but for the believers as well. If we lock ourselves away we do not receive the encouragement that we would get if we were around other believers. By locking ourselves away it becomes much easier for someone to walk away from the faith entirely. As the body of Christ, we need to be in communion with other believers so that we do not become fearful of this world. As followers of Jesus Christ, it is paramount that we establish ourselves firmly in approaching God in sincerity, holding firm to our faith, while encouraging and not abandoning our own meeting together. Now is not the time for us to be swayed by the world; but all the more share the gospel, hold to what the Lord has shown us in His word and in His own self, we need to love more and be more outspoken to those who are willing to listen. In the end remember that each of the “Let us” statements are calls to action. As Christians we are not called to sit on the side line of life, but actively participate as key players. For believers are too important to Christ to not be part of His calling, it is why Hebrews is filled with so much instruction and guidance all backed in the authority of Jesus Christ.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex