Hebrews 10:19

The apostle having thus finished the doctrinal part of his discourse, and informed their judgment of the excellency of the evangelical service above the Levitical sacrifices, he comes now, in several weighty and important duties, which appeared to be incumbent upon them; as namely to "draw near to God," to preserve in the Christian profession, to stir up one another to love and good works, to continue in Christian communion, Hebrews 10:22-25.

The first duty exhorted to is to draw near to God, seeing we have boldness, &c. Let us draw near with. true heart.

Note here, 1. The duty exhorted to, and that is, to draw near to God; in general, to worship him; in particular, to pray unto him, and seek remission fo sin and eternal life from him; to come unto God as clothed with glorious majesty, sitting upon. throne of grace, and propitiated by the blood of Christ.

Note, 2. The manner of performing this duty, with. pure heart, and in full assurance of faith: With the heart, or we give him. skin instead of. sacrifice: With sincerity of heart, which is the life and soul of all acceptable worship; and with. full assurance of faith grounded upon the fidelity of God, and the immutability of the promise.

Note, 3. THe qualifications of the person: He that draws near to God must:

1. Have his heart sprinkled from and evil conscience, that is, his soul cleansed by the blood of Christ, and freed from the accusatons of an evil condemning conscience.

2. His body washed with pure water, to wit, the lover of regeneration, which was signified by the legal washings.

Note, 4. The encouragement we have thus to draw near to God; and that is threefold:

1. We have a new and living way unto the holiest by the blood of Jesus; an allusion to the legal dispensation, wherein the high priest had. way to pass through the vail with blood into the holiest, to expiate the people's sins, and obtain mercy for them: Ours is called a new way, because newly made manifest; and a living way, because it leads to and ends in life eternal; or. living way, in opposition to the typical way of of going into the holiest, which was. dead way to all but the high priest, and to him too if he entered above once. year, and then also if he entered without blood.

Farther, this new and living way is here said to be consecrated through the vail of Christ's flesh; that is, made passable for penitent sinners, the throne of grace made accessible through the blood of. mediator. When Christ died, the vail of the temple was rent, to signify that our great High Priest was ready to enter the holy place of heaven, to procure eternal redemption for us.

2. Encouragement is boldness, or freedom and liberty to enter into the holiest;. freedom for our prayers to enter heaven whilst we live and. right and liberty for our persons to enter it when we die.

3. The mean whereby we obtain this liberty, By the blood of Jesus. We, that before could not come near him for our sins, may now come near him by faith in the blood of his Son; for that blood satisfied justice, merited divine favour, and made God accessible.

Learn hence, 1. That as sin had mad God inaccessible to sinners, as sinners; so the blood of Christ, that new and living way, has made him accessible to believers.

2. That although, from the first promise of Christ, there was always. way for believers to come to God, yet it was not so manifest, as it was after Christ's death and ascension, and the gospel's revelation.