FHBC Sermon Notes

We are a people often of extremes. So it is with prayer.

Scripture: Hebrews 10:19-23

We so often either approach prayer as a thing of fear, sometimes not praying simply because we are afraid of doing so. Or perhaps we want to think of God in a cavalier way. We want a casual God, who pats us on the back and cheers us up when we are down.

How do we approach God in prayer?

1. We approach God in prayer on the basis of the blood of Jesus. (10:19-21)
From the earlier chapters, we understand that one of the points that the author is concerned with is the sufficiency of the sacrifice being, which is the requisite to entering into the presence of God, into the holy place. What he is saying here is that apart from the blood of Jesus we have no way of approaching.

Furthermore, the way of Jesus is a living way to approach. We are now living in Jesus, where as before our approach was as dead men. The curtain to the Holy of Holies was torn when Jesus died on the cross, and so we approach only by his work.

So great is the work of Jesus, we must pray. Do we really understand how much Jesus paid for us to enter in the presence of God? If so, how can we not pray. How much is our ingratitude if we do not take advantage of gift we have received.

2. We approach God in prayer with confidences. (10:19)
The word confidence is a rare one in the NT. What we must remember is that this confidence is one we have in humility. Our confidence is one we have because of the work of Jesus, not our own. Yet, because of this we can be bold in our request.  This fits well with the passage we looked at in SS this morning, Matthew 18.  Wherever two or more agree, Christ is there. When we agree in the Spirit, Christ is in agreement, not because we convinced Him, but because we have been convinced in the Spirit, The same Spirit that Jesus is in. How much of prayer is for what is does to us, rather than an method of convincing God to do it our way.

3. We approach God in prayer in accordance with our changed hearts. (10:22-23)
Our minds and hearts have been changed, made alive in Christ. We confess, which means we agree. We request what Jesus wants, because we have a shared heart with Him. Is this truly how why we prayer? Is it because the heart we have been given must be in God's presence and know His will, or because the heart we had before tells us we are obligated to so, the dead heart of the law, rather than the living heart of gratitude and joy.