Well, if you have a Bible, would you turn with me, please, to the book of Hebrews in chapter 10. Hebrews in the New Testament, chapter 10. And we're going to read this morning verse 22, but we're going to put it in context. So I'm going to read to you verse 19 through to 25. That's the context of this passage. I'll just pray before we begin. Lord, thank you for your word. We thank you that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. We thank you the Holy Spirit is present here today to open the eyes of our hearts to understand these things. And we pray that he would do that and that he would move among us. Lord, press home your word in our hearts. Lord, make it a living reality to us. Lord, we thank you that you can do this and we humbly ask that now in Jesus name. Amen. Verse 19, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Verse 22 again as I said is our key text. Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. I'm sure we've all been very conscious of the fact that the new American president has taken up his residency in the White House this last week. It's been in the news. It's been hard to get away from it, hasn't it? And the one question everybody wants to ask is, what do you think of him? We've got a lot of different opinions. But you know what? The White House today is a very difficult place to get into. And there's no free access to the average man off the street into the White House. It's, as you can imagine, It's absolutely chock full of security, but it wasn't always like that. In fact, in the days of John Adams, who was the president number two, and he was the first president to actually live in the White House, it was open access to all citizens of America. And anybody who wanted to could literally go to see the president about a problem you might have in your life. Isn't that an amazing thing? Well, of course, needs have meant that they've had to change that. But that's a little picture of the change that has come in man's relationship with God. It used to be that man walked with God in the Garden of Eden, but because of our sins, as I was saying in the children's talk, we've been separated from God and now access to God has been closed off. But the wonderful news of the Gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ through his death on the cross and resurrection has opened the way for us to come back to God. And as we read there in verse 20, by a new and living way opened for us, the Lord Jesus by his death opened the way for us to come back to God and back into a relationship with our Heavenly Father so that we can approach him. And that's what we're talking about here this morning in this passage of scripture. The verse we're looking at, verse 22, begins with this phrase, let us draw near to God. Let us draw near to God. And it means that as we come to God, as we become Christians, we're to keep drawing near to our Father in heaven in our Christian life. Now, the imagery here in Hebrews is taken from the days of the temple in Jerusalem. The letter was written actually to Jewish Christians, hence the name Hebrews, who were, around the year 68 AD, tempted, because of the rising persecution in the land of Israel, to go back to Judaism, going back to actually Jerusalem, to worshipping in Jerusalem, to avoid Christianity's persecution. and being persecuted for the name of Christ. And of course the author to the Hebrews is saying, don't go back to the old temple, don't go back to the old way, we have a new and living way through Christ. And he says, let us draw near to God through him. But the imagery he's using here is all imagery they would have understood from the temple. You see, after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, the way was cut off for man to come back to God. God established in the Old Testament a sacrificial system which operated first through a tent version of this, but then through the tabernacle, called the tabernacle, and then through the temple in the days of David and Solomon. and well Solomon built the first temple and this was the system that was in place in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ up until time when he died on the cross and was still in operation but coming to an end at the time when the book of Hebrews was operating and the priests were the ones who could come near to God. They would offer the sacrifice on the altar. There's the altar there at the front of the temple, and they would collect the blood. And on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would be able to come in to that building. Everyone else had to stand outside, but they could come in by the way of the blood into the temple to come and meet with God. And that was the way in. What happened to make the change was when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple, the curtain inside, was ripped in two from top to bottom. Now that wasn't the priests doing that, that was God doing that. God made the temple curtain rip from top to bottom. He was saying the way is now open for you to come to me. And this is what the writer to the Hebrews is talking about, but he's using the language they would have understood from the past to help explain the reality in the present. Now we can draw near to God through Jesus' blood, not the blood of animal sacrifices, but through his death on the cross, and we can enter into a relationship with God through him. And that's not just how we begin the Christian life, that's how we go on in the Christian life. And we are to continue, regularly, continually, drawing near to our Father in Heaven. One of the great preachers of our day was Dr. John MacArthur, and in his commentary on the book of Hebrews he said this, God's ultimate desire for men is for them to come to Him. His ultimate desire for believers is that they continue to draw nearer to him. God's goal in all that he does is that they might come into his presence. Drawing nearer to God is the essence of Christianity. Drawing near to God is the Christian's highest experience. He's exactly right and that's what the writer here is urging us to do. Let us draw near to God. And in reality that means in my home I read my Bible and I pray to God and I have time of fellowship with the Lord, meeting with Him. and on Sundays I come to church with the people of God and I come to draw near to God to worship Him with them and come close to Him. And this is something the Bible urges us again and again to do. The book of James, the book that follows the book of Hebrews says this in James 4 verse 8, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Isn't that a wonderful verse? He will draw near to you. If you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. What a gracious promise our Father is making to us. That if we have our quiet times at home, He will come near to us. That if we meet with the Lord here at church, He will come near to us. It's a wonderful thing. That's why I know God is here today. As the hymn writer said, God is here in that to bless us with the Spirit's quickening power. Praise God. He's here. He will draw near to us as we draw near to him. And this is what each one of us must be careful to do. And as Christians, what we need to continually do. The great writer J.C. Ryle, a famous preacher from the Victorian era, said this. No man ever said at the end of his days, I have read my Bible too much. I have thought of God too much. I have prayed too much. I have been too careful with my soul. That's thought provoking, isn't it? No one ever said that on their deathbed. The wise person says, no, I'm going to make sure I draw near and keep drawing near to the Lord. we want to understand today. And we see here in the book of Hebrews that the writer tells us to draw near to God with four different aspects of our lives. With a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water. And so I want us to have a look at each of these in turn this morning so that we can make sure that we are drawing near to God in these ways as well. So first of all then, he says, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart. You know, they say 1924 was the year, the golden year of American baseball. And the World Series of that year was between the Washington Senators and the New York Yankees. And it was a classic game. And it says in a book I read, in the ninth inning of the seventh game, the score was tied, two to two. New York came to bat, three batters up and three batters down. The Washington fans started screaming. Washington could win the game with a run, a single run of the ninth. First two Washington batters were unable to reach the base. With two outs, up to the plate stepped a batter by the name of Gorslund. The fans felt their hopes die because Gorslund was not a good hitter. The pitcher threw two strikes, then two balls. When the pitcher threw his fifth pitch, Gorslund stepped into the pitch and by the crack of the bat, you knew the ball was going somewhere way out of the field, left centre field. The centre fielder went back, the other fielders also ran towards the fence, hoping the ball would not go over the fence for a home run. The ball hit the top of the fence six inches from the top. It corroded off the fence and one of the fielders chased it down. Gorslund meanwhile was between second and third bases. The third base coach thought this might be the only chance to win so he waved Gorslund home. The throw from the outfield was taken first by the shortstop and then relayed to the home plate. Gorslund slid into home just as the catcher pegged him with a perfect throw from the shortstop. Everyone could see that Gausland had beat the throne. Still, the umpire cried, you're out. The fans went crazy. They threw drink bottles and yelled obscenities when the plate umpire conferred with the other men in black. Then the men on the field signaled for silence. Everybody got quiet. The fans thought they would hear a reverse of the call, but the umpire shouted, the runner is not out because he didn't beat the ball to the plate. He is out because he didn't touch the first base. And it was true. He was running so hard, he forgot to touch the first base. Now, that is a little picture about how so many people come into Christianity. They come into Christianity, and they get involved in the church, and it's all flat out, and they go. They come to the services, and they're singing the hymns, and they're getting involved in the ladies' work, or they're getting involved in the mothers' and toddlers' and different things in the church. And it's great. And yet it's possible to do that and still never touch first base. To still never actually have become a Christian before you started doing that. This is what happens sadly with lots of people who grow up in the church. They grow up in the work of the church and they're encouraged to help do something in the church at a young age and yet they've never actually come to the Lord and asked him to save them. They've never actually become a Christian. And so this is why the writer says here, to start off, he said, let us draw near with a sincere heart. A sincere heart. The Greek word for sincere is a true heart. A heart that's right with God. You know, David said this in the Psalms, in Psalm 51, verse 6. He said, to God, surely you desire truth in the inner parts. in the inner parts. God wants a true heart, somebody who is truly right with God and trusting in Jesus Christ and is saved by him. This is the first thing we need to make sure when we're coming to God that we have a true conversion experience. I read a book which was all about the left behind series of novels. I'm sure some of you remember those Christian novels about the second coming. And there was a book that was written after they were all published, which was a book of testimonies of different people who'd become Christians through them. And there was a lady by the name of Christine Hill, who was converted, actually, through them. And what happened was that she was in the car one day, driving the kids to school, and the traffic was bad and everything, and she started hooting the horn and having to go to the driver in front and everything. And the little boy in the back said, Mommy, I wish you'd become a Christian. And she's like, what? I, you know, I am a Christian. You know, my mum had me baptised as a baby and then we were confirmed in the church. What more does God want? Anyway, that was the end of that conversation. But the next day, her sister said to her, I wish you'd find God. And she had the same thing, well, you know, what are you on about? You know, I've done all the religious things that, you know, everybody does. But it was evident that she didn't know the Lord. Well, anyway, her mum ran a shop, a second-hand bookshop. And she'd heard in the town that a Christian bookshop somewhere else in the town was closing down. And so her daughter, Christine, went off to find if there were any cheap books that she could buy for her mum's second-hand books and, you know, they could make a profit on them. And while she was there, she saw these left-behind books. She thought, yeah, all right, I'll read one. I know they've hit the bestseller list and it's the sort of thing I'd like to read. She took one home and read it. In the story, of course, it's how people who are in the last days before Jesus comes back find out the truth of the Bible and become Christians. As she was reading it, this was her experience too. She realised, she didn't know anything about the Bible, about what the Bible said. And as she read it, she found out what true Christianity was. And it brought her to the point where she got on her knees and she asked the Lord to forgive her her sins on the basis of Jesus' death and to come into her life. I just wonder, friend, have you done that? Maybe you've been caught up in the life of the church, you've been very religious, you've been a good churchgoer, never miss a carol service and all the rest of it, watch songs and praise. But have you been born again? Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb, as the hymn says? Each one of us needs to come to God with a sincere heart. The American baseball player who became a Christian by the name of Billy Sunday was a very fiery preacher and a very down-to-earth preacher, and he warned, you know, there are whole rooms in hell that are full of church members. That's a sobering reality, isn't it? Whole rooms in hell that are full of church members. People who never were actually Christians. They came to church, but they hadn't had a true heart conversion to Christ. So let's make sure that's where we begin. You know, when you're buttoning up a shirt, if you get the first button in the wrong hole, all the others are going to be in the wrong hole, aren't they? So let's make sure we start off in the right place. Let's make sure we have come to God and asked him to save us and we have a true heart. Then secondly he says let's draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. And he's sort of moving on here and really what we have is I think a progression through this verse. What do we mean by full assurance of faith? The phrase in the Greek, according to one commentator I read, is the same phrase that is used for a ship in full sail. It's got its sail up, and it's really driving with the wind in it, and it's moving beautifully through the water. He's saying this is how we come to God. We come in full assurance of faith, in an assured way that we're Christians and we are going on with him. You know, there are people, I'm sorry to say, who even after they've become Christians, they struggle with what we call assurance. They're worried that they're not really Christians, even though they've trusted the Lord. I saw this story in the newspaper a while back. A prisoner held for robbery is freed from jail by mistake. And this was out in the news in 2016, and they were trying to get somebody back they'd let free from one of the prisons up at Durham. And I'm sure there's lots of people who actually feel that's true for them, you know, since they became a Christian. Somehow there's a mistake, and I'm not really a Christian, or I shouldn't be a Christian, or there's something wrong. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, you can go to God in faith, but it is not of necessity full assurance of faith. You can have just enough faith to take you to God at all, but how different is that from the full assurance of faith and a holy boldness, and knowing that you are saved? Well, I want to tell you today, dear friends, you can know that you're saved and be sure of it. The Apostle John said this in 1 John chapter 5 verse 13. He said, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. so that you can know, absolutely know with certainty that you have eternal life and you're saved. And this is what God wants us to do. He wants us to come like that ship in full sail into his presence. As Wesley said in his hymn, bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own. We don't have to come like little nervous kittens. We can come and say, he's my father and he loves to receive me and I'm able to come. into his presence in such a way. You know, I find actually, as a pastor, there are lots of people who have this battle. And I want to spend some time just for a moment dealing with it, because I know pastorally this is going to be a reality, hopefully, and I'm going to address for a lot of people. I've found, over the years, that there are three basic types of people who lack assurance. And there's a fourth one, actually, that we get to deal with in the next thing in the verse. But there's three types of this. First of all, you have people who doubt their conversion. they doubt their conversion. They've been to the Lord, they've asked him to forgive them and save them, maybe, especially as a child. This often happens with people who are converted when they're children. But sometimes they just don't have that assurance, they're nervous that somehow God didn't save them or it didn't work. What I want to tell you this, dear friends, is you need to base your faith on solid acts and solid facts. Those two things. Solid acts. Did you actually go to the Lord in prayer and ask him to save you? If you didn't, if it's just something, oh, I think I did sometime in the past, then if you've got no recollection of it, then go to the Lord. Start as if you're starting again. That's the best thing to do. Solid act. But if you know you did and you have asked the Lord, then base it on solid act and solid facts. You see, the Bible tells us as a fact that God will receive us in Christ. John chapter 6 verse 37, the Lord Jesus, not me, the Lord Jesus said this, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never drive away, never cast out. Now that's a wonderful promise of scripture, isn't it? He says, all that the Father gives me comes to me. So if you've come to him, guess what that means? You're one of the ones the Father has given the Son. Isn't that wonderful? If you've come to him, then you've got his promise. You're one of the ones the Father has given to Jesus to say, to be his people. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And what does the next part of the verse say? And whoever comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. I won't drive them away. So he won't reject you if you've come to him and asked him for mercy on the basis of his cross. Another verse I find very helpful is Acts chapter 13 and verse 48. If you have your Bible just turn to this one because this is a verse to have in your memory banks. It may help you, it may help someone else, but I want you to read the black ink on white paper and take it in. Now in the story in Acts chapter 13, the Apostle Paul has been preaching at a place called Poseidon Antioch in a synagogue there and he's brought his message to a close and there's been a response from some people, some people for, some people against. but look what it says in verse 48 it says when the gentiles the non-jewish people heard this they were glad and honored the word of the lord now this is the bit i want you to get and all who were appointed for eternal life believed Now, I want you to notice there, it says, all who were appointed for eternal life believe. This is the doctrine of predestination, that God chooses and draws sinners to Jesus for salvation. But I want you to notice this verse says, those who were appointed for eternal life believe, not those who believed were appointed to eternal life. And what I want you to know is this, that if you've believed, God has appointed you for eternal life. Do you see that? If you've asked Jesus to save you, if you've believed and trusted in Christ, then you can work it backwards. God has appointed you for eternal life. So how can you know? If you doubt your conversion as a child or something like that, then take it to the Word of God. Solid acts and solid facts. You have the promise of Christ. to receive you and never cast you out. And God says that your faith itself is evidence of the fact that he has appointed you. It's a wonderful thing that. But then I find other people are lacking assurance because they're doctrinally confused. And what I mean by that is there's something in the Bible that makes them feel like they've lost their salvation. And normally this coincides with something in their life as well. There's two things especially I want to deal with that this person normally has. Some people feel they've committed a sin called the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It's something Jesus spoke about in Mark chapter 3 to the nation of Israel. And he said there that if anyone commits the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then their sins will not be forgiven. The exact word says whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of an eternal sin. And lots of people, because they read that in the Bible, sometimes that triggers in their mind, oh no! Have I done that? And lots of people think, I bet I have. And the fact that it's there seems to frighten them on the matter of their assurance. Well, I want to tell you that's doctrinal confusion. Because if you have come to Christ and asked him to save you, then you haven't committed the sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, if you read that story, is when the Holy Spirit gave the power to the Lord Jesus to do miracles, and the Bible says in that passage that the Spirit was revealing the truth about Him as the Messiah to Israel, but the leaders rejected Him and said, no, He does it by Beelzebub, by the devil. And they rejected Christ when the Holy Spirit had revealed Christ to them. Now, if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ after God has given you the clarity to see the gospel, and you go like that all the way to your deathbed, then yes, you've committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. A person who dies without Christ commits the blasphemy of the Spirit, because Christ has revealed it to you. But if you've been to Christ and asked him to save you, you haven't committed that sin. So the doctrinal confusion is one that can be settled. And there are people, there are theologians who say this was actually even something which was only relevant to Israel at that time. Although I would put it the other way, as I've just said. So don't get hung up with your assurance on that, thinking that you've done something which is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Listen, all sins can be forgiven by God, by the blood of Jesus. That's the wonderful thing. There's no sin too great. You're not such a good sinner that you can out-sin the Saviour. The Saviour is a mighty Saviour. The other one that people get hung up on is the Mark of the Beast in Revelation chapter 13. And unfortunately, this has had a resurgence of affecting people since the COVID vaccination campaign back in lockdown. And there were videos online of people saying, don't take this, this is the Mark of the Beast. And if you take it, then you'll lose your salvation. I want to tell you, it is not the Mark of the Beast. It was a vaccination against COVID. The Mark of the Beast, if you look in Revelation 13, is a loyalty mark to the Antichrist when he appears. Now, the Antichrist has not appeared yet, and therefore the loyalty mark hasn't been enforced. And the punishment for not taking the Mark of the Beast in Revelation 13 was beheading. Now, there was no beheading for not taking the vaccine, was there? So that is not the mark of the beast. And I would just say this to you as well. In Mark chapter seven, verse 15, the Lord Jesus said this, nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. So having a vaccination will not make you unclean in the eyes of God so that you can be saved. The unbelief of rejecting Christ is the sin that you need to watch out for. So doctrinal confusion sometimes leads people to doubt their assurance. And the third people are the people who actually at some point have denied Christ. Perhaps they've been in school and somebody said, you're a Christian, aren't you? Oh, no, no, no, no, not me. You know, what have I done? I've seen preachers, famous preachers even do this on television in interviews. Jesus is the only way to heaven. No, no, he's not. And then realize later what they've said, what they've done. You know, it's a wrong thing and a sad thing to do. But let me tell you this, that is not an unforgivable sin. If you remember, it even happened to Peter on the night of the Lord Jesus' betrayal and death. And the scripture you really need to take to heart is 2 Timothy chapter 2, verses 11 to 13. Now let me just read it to you. It says, here is a trustworthy saying, if we died with him, we will also live with him. if we endure we will also reign with him now this is the bit that upsets people if we disown him or some translations say deny him he also will disown or deny us and they go there you go he'll deny us well the denial there is the denial of blessings in our life and we can lose our blessings by not standing firm for the lord but look at the last verse in that little clause it says if we are faithless He will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. That's how that passage ends. And the reassurance at the end there is that God cannot disown himself, and you are the body of Christ. So Christ isn't gonna desert his own body. And so we can have assurance. And you may feel that what you've done is wrong and somehow this is a terrible sin. It is a terrible sin. And each one of us should say, Lord, I never want to do that again. I want to stand firm and be a witness for you. and ask His forgiveness and be at peace, you are still saved and you are still assured of salvation. Listen, the book of Hebrews was not written to scare people, it was written to encourage people. That's the main purpose of it, to encourage them towards salvation and an ongoing Christian life. One of the verses that encourages me so much in this book is chapter 7 verse 25. I want you to come back to chapter 7 verse 25 with me. In chapter seven, the theme, as I was saying earlier, this is all about the priests in the temple. And he's saying about how Christ is our great high priest. And the priest offered sacrifices for the sins of the people. And he's saying that's what Jesus did when he died on the cross. And now, as our high priest in heaven, he upholds that work on our behalf. And verse 25 says, therefore he, that's Jesus, is able to save completely, or as the King James says, to the uttermost, those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. You know what that is? That's the unfinished work of Christ. The finished work of Christ was what he did on the cross when he paid for your sin in full. The ongoing work of Christ is where he acts as your priest in heaven. And every time you and I sin, the blood of Christ is brought before the throne of God, and the price has been paid for that sin. that person does not lose their salvation, they're secure. Now do you realize if you're saying, oh no, I've lost my salvation, what you're actually saying as well is Jesus has failed as the priest. And I don't think you mean to say that. Do you really believe Jesus has failed in his ministry as a high priest? I don't think you do. Christ's intercession goes on for you. So he says, come with full assurance of faith. And that's how you and I need to come into the presence of God as well. The third thing he says here is we're to come to God, oh look at that, I've got that twice. The third thing is he says, come having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us. from a guilty conscience. Now this is a development of course of the previous thought on the matter of assurance. And it may surprise you to know that lots of people struggle to know whether or not this is something that they can really experience, a conscience that is cleansed as well as a heart that's right with God. But the book of Hebrews is clear to make sure that the reader understands it's not just your sins that Christ washed away. He cleanses the conscience so that we can have peace with God. as a result of his saving work. Now we talked about this just recently when I preached on chapter nine and verse 14, but let's just have a look at that verse again. He goes back and he says, how much more then will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God. And the Lord Jesus Christ came to cleanse our consciences so we can be at peace before God. I read this story in a little book some time back. It said, a little girl broke her mother's favorite vase. It was an accident, and she was very sorry. She came to her mother to confess, Mommy, I'm very sorry. I'm afraid I've broken your vase. The next day, the girl went to the dustbin again and picked out the broken pieces of glass. She went to her mother and started again. Mommy, I'm afraid I've broken your vase. I'm so sorry. That's all right. I forgave you yesterday. Just throw the pieces into the dustbin and forget all about it, said her mother. The next day the girl once more went to the dustbin and pulled out the pieces. Again she went to her mother to make confession. You really must believe me, said her mother gently but firmly. I forgave you two days ago. It is all finished with. Don't worry about it anymore. Just throw the bits into the dustbin and leave them there. Now you know what friends, sometimes we can be like that with God. There's some sin in our past that we're so particularly ashamed of that we just can't seem to believe that we have a right standing with God. But the Bible tells us here our conscience has been cleansed by God. And I want you to know, he doesn't say, draw near to God to have your conscience cleansed. Look at the word. What does he say? Draw near to God, having. God has already done it. Isn't that beautiful? He's already done it. So you should be at peace with him. Now, I've told you before, I know it's not a surprise to you, especially not to my wife, but I'm a sinner. And I'm good at it. I've spent my whole life perfecting the art. And therefore, this has been a big issue in my life, to know that I'm forgiven for my sins. And I want to share with you some of the verses that have really helped me to know that I have been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Again, this is going to require just one or two places to turn to, but it will be worth your effort to do so. If you just turn with me to Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4 and verse 5 to 8. In Romans chapter 4, Paul is pressing home the doctrine of justification by faith, that we're saved just as if I'd never sinned by God, by putting our trust in the Lord Jesus. That's what we mean by faith, resting our salvation on Him and what He did for us alone. And look what he says in verse 5, he says, however to the man, well start in verse 4, he says, now when a man works his wages are not credited to him as a gift but as an obligation. So he's saying there that, you know, if we were to work for our salvation then God would be obliged to give it. But God doesn't work on the basis of works, he works on the basis of a gift. It's a gift, not an obligation. So salvation is not by our good works. In fact, he says in verse 5, however, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. Now that's an amazing thing. That tells me there, God doesn't justify the good person, who's always, I've always done my best, I've always tried to be a nice person. It's the wicked God justifies. Well, I qualify. I qualify. I've blown it, big time, since my conversion. I qualify. God justifies the wicked. And my faith, according to this, is credited as righteousness. And as far as God's concerned, I am standing righteous in his sight. Verse six says, David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. And then comes a quote from David's psalm, Psalm 32. It says, blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Listen to this, blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him. Isn't that an amazing thing? To whom the Lord will not impute iniquity is the way it was worded in the old version. He's saying, God hasn't even put it on your account. I hear preachers saying sometimes, now, if you're a wise Christian, you'll keep short accounts with God. And what they mean is, as soon as you sin, like you think you're sinning, your account's like a bill, you're building up at the shop. Everything you buy, you take home without paying. You're building up an account, and you've got to go in and pay for that. And they're saying, you'd be wise. Every time lots of things go wrong, you go back to God and make sure that you have your nose rubbed in it, and then you'll get that account down again. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says you haven't got an account with God. When you get saved, it's not even on your account. Isn't that wonderful? Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Our sin is never counted against us again. That's a remarkable thing. And who said that, by the way? David did. And did David sin? Oh yeah, yeah, big time. Adultery and murder. Big enough for you? And that was the context of him saying these words. God justifies the wicked. Now, if God will do that for David, then Paul's saying God will do that for you and me too. Now you're in Romans, just go on to chapter eight a minute. Chapter eight and verse 34. I'm just going to take the time to do this because, you know, this is reality for people. This is what keeps people awake at night. I've been with Christians at the end of their lives and this is what bugs them and worries them. Are they going to go to heaven? The lack of assurance. I want you to know you can be saved and saved with full assurance of faith and have your hearts sprinkled. Look at verse 34. He says, who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died. More than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Now that's a phenomenal verse because you say, who is he who condemns? In other words, who's going to be the judge on the day of judgment who's condemning people? It's Jesus. He's the one who condemns. But it's the same Jesus who died for your sins. And if you've trusted in him to save you, then guess what? You've got the court rigged. The judge is on your side. He's not going to pay for your sin and then condemn you, otherwise he died for nothing, is he? You see that? That's such a beautiful verse. The court is rigged in your favour, the judge is the one who has already paid for your sin. So you are safe in him. That's why in Ephesians chapter 6 when we talk about the armour of God, one of the pieces of armour we're told to put on is the helmet of salvation. You know what the helmet of salvation is for? It's when you have a fall. when you get hit on the head and you clunk and you could have had a fatal blow if anything could have lost my salvation this was it what I've just done but the helmet of salvation means you're kept safe the saving work of Jesus Christ on your account so dear friends listen this is how to come to God with a heart sprinkled by the blood of Jesus. And it's called sprinkling here because that's how they used to put the blood on the doors at Passover. They used to sprinkle it on. And do you know what they did? They put it on with hyssop, a little plant. If you look at the Passover in Exodus chapter, they painted it on, the blood of the sacrifice, with a hyssop plant. Now, a hyssop is not a very strong plant. It's a very frail plant. But they weren't saved by the strength of the plant. They were saved by the power of the blood. And it's not the strength of your faith even that's going to save you. It's the power of the blood. that cleanses your conscience from accident to death. You know, this is such a wonderful gospel that helps people, that when some missionaries went from New Tribes Mission to Papua New Guinea and shared the way of salvation with people in the tribes there, one of the ladies, when she got saved, she put it like this, I heard this talk, this Christian talk, I heard this talk, and now my insides are sleeping. You know what? She had peace. Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what you and I can have too. That's how we come to God. And the final thing he says to do is to come to God having our bodies washed with pure water. Now, there's a number of ways in which this can be understood, but the background to this is that the priests, when they went to the temple to serve, before they went in, they would have what was called a mikvah, like a baptism, and there was a pool that they used to go and wash in, have a ceremonial wash before they then put on their robes to take in the blood sacrifice into the temple. Well, this is how we come to God as well, with something eternal on the inside, but then we have something on the outside too. We have our bodies washed in pure water. And what I think this is referring to for Christians is baptism, believers' baptism. Having been saved, this is a progression with a true heart and we have full assurance of faith. We know our sins have been washed away and we have a clean conscience before God. Let's get baptised. Let's show on the outside what God has done on the inside. Now baptism itself will not save you, let that be known. Water on the skin will not get rid of sin in the heart. And you will not get to heaven by baptism alone. You need to come to the Christ who saves by his death. But when you have done that, you need to be baptised. And that means to be fully immersed in water, as symbolically pictures the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ on your behalf. So it's a statement that you're trusting in him. And if you've never been baptised, the Bible says, let us draw near to God with this as well. Let's make sure we do get baptised so we come near to God as he calls us to. It's a command of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in conclusion, let me just say this, let us draw near to God. All of us are going one way or the other as far as God's concerned. We're either drawing closer to Him or we're drifting further away from Him. You know, if you come closer to a fire, you get warmer, don't you? You go further away from a fire, you get colder. If you come closer to the light, you get more illumination and the world is brighter. You go further away from the light, you're in the darkness, in the shadows. Which way are you going? Which way do you want to go? Let's each one here today draw near to God in these ways, as Hebrews 10 says, with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water. Amen.